Privacy policy

1. About this policy

Home Grown Solutions Pty Ltd, trading as HG Hire / HG Equipment Hire ("HG Hire", "we", "us" or "our"), respects your privacy. This policy explains how we handle personal information for enquiries, equipment hire, property services, online submissions and electronic agreements. We comply with the Australian laws that apply to us.

Privacy contact: The Director, Home Grown Solutions Pty Ltd

Email: hire@homegrownsolutions.com.au | Phone: 0422 735 835

Address: 43 Karrabin Rosewood Rd, Karrabin QLD 4306

2. What we collect and how

We collect information reasonably needed for your enquiry, booking or service. This may include your name, contact details, residential or service address, business details, date of birth, relevant driver licence details and images, signature, agreement records, booking instructions, payment and transaction records, and communications with us.

Relevant licence details may include the licence and card numbers, issuing authority, expiry date and driving class. Equipment-condition, service and incident photographs may also contain personal information. Our online services may collect technical information such as IP address, browser type, pages visited and interactions.

We generally collect information directly from you through online forms, email, SMS, phone calls, in-person dealings and Square. Where lawful and reasonably necessary, we may also receive information from an authorised representative, payment provider, insurer or another party involved in a transaction or incident. Please provide another person's information only with their authority and make them aware of this policy.

You may make a general enquiry without identifying yourself. We need sufficient accurate information to enter an agreement, verify identity where necessary and provide the hire or service.

3. Driver licence checks and photographs

For new customers, or customers whose identity has not been verified, our normal pre-hire process is to inspect a current driver licence and photograph its front and back before the hire period begins. The purpose is to verify identity, age and, where relevant, driving or towing eligibility, and reduce the risk of impersonation, fraud or theft.

We explain the collection before taking photographs. We limit the information captured and retained to what is reasonably necessary and use a less intrusive verification method where it is sufficient. We avoid capturing unnecessary information, including unrelated health information, by masking it or using another sufficient verification method. If sensitive information is genuinely needed, we obtain any consent required by law or rely on a lawful exception.

Please contact us before collection or delivery with any concerns or to discuss an alternative. Where reasonably necessary identity checks cannot be completed, we may be unable to release the equipment.

We do not use licence numbers as our general customer-account identifiers or use licence images for marketing. Licence numbers, and images containing them, are only used or disclosed on a basis permitted by applicable law, such as necessary identity verification or appropriate action concerning suspected unlawful activity. The general business disclosures below do not override these restrictions.

4. Online submissions and Square agreements

Information submitted online may be transferred to our booking, email, calendar and customer-management systems to respond to you and administer your booking.

We use Square (Squareup) to prepare, send and manage digital agreements and to maintain relevant customer and transaction records. Information needed for the agreement may be entered into Square. Completed agreements, signatures and available signing records may be retained by HG Hire and Square.

Where you pay through Square, Square processes the payment and we receive relevant transaction information. Do not send full payment-card details or card security codes through our enquiry forms, email or SMS.

Square also handles information under its own Buyer Privacy Notice. Using Square does not remove our responsibility for information we hold or control.

Square Buyer Privacy Notice

5. Why we use your information

We use information to answer enquiries, provide quotes, verify identity where necessary, manage agreements and bookings, arrange pickup or delivery, perform services, communicate instructions and reminders, and process payments, refunds and account enquiries.

We may also use relevant information to maintain business records, improve our services, investigate incidents, prevent or investigate suspected fraud or theft, manage insurance claims and payment disputes, recover equipment or money lawfully owed, resolve complaints, establish or defend legal rights, and meet legal obligations.

Optional feedback, review requests and marketing are subject to section 10. Licence information remains subject to the additional restrictions in section 3.

6. Sharing information with third parties

We do not sell or rent customer information for third-party marketing. We may share relevant information where reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy and permitted by law, including with:

• Square and providers supporting our website, booking system, hosting, data storage, email, SMS, calendar, accounting and IT; and contractors arranging delivery, collection, maintenance or services.

• Insurers, insurance brokers, assessors, professional advisers, payment providers, and lawful debt or equipment-recovery providers involved in a claim, dispute, recovery or other relevant business matter.

• Police, regulators, courts, tribunals and government authorities where disclosure is required or authorised by law, or otherwise lawfully justified; and a person you authorise, where that disclosure is lawful.

We limit disclosure to information relevant to the task and use appropriate confidentiality and security arrangements with providers acting for us. In a proposed business sale or restructure, we use de-identified information where practicable and disclose identifiable information only on a lawful basis with appropriate safeguards. A general business purpose does not by itself justify sharing a complete licence image.

7. Overseas processing

Our technology providers may store or process personal information outside Australia. Square identifies the United States, Canada, Japan, Ireland, France, Spain and the United Kingdom as possible overseas locations. The location involved depends on the provider and service.

We take reasonable steps required by applicable law to protect information handled overseas. This policy does not ask you to waive protections that otherwise apply. Contact us for information about relevant providers and locations. We update this policy as our arrangements change.

8. Storage, security and retention

Information may be held in electronic agreements, booking and customer records, business email and cloud storage, authorised business-use devices and any necessary paper records. Access is restricted to people who need the information for their work.

We take reasonable technical, organisational and physical steps to protect information from loss, misuse and unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure. These include appropriate access controls, device protection and secure handling of identity documents. No system is completely secure; this does not exclude any responsibility imposed on us by law.

We do not apply a single fixed retention period to every record. We keep personal information only while reasonably necessary for a lawful purpose described in this policy, or for a period required by law or a court or tribunal order. Relevant records may be needed after a hire ends for accounting, insurance, payment disputes, recovery or legal claims.

We assess licence photographs separately from ordinary contracts and transaction records. Keeping an agreement does not automatically justify keeping a complete licence copy for the same period. Licence photographs are retained only while the copy itself is reasonably necessary for a permitted purpose.

We periodically review retention and take reasonable steps to securely destroy or de-identify information no longer needed. This includes copies we control in email, devices, provider systems and backups. Where immediate removal from a backup is technically impracticable, we put the information beyond use with appropriate safeguards and arrange permanent deletion as soon as reasonably practicable, subject to legal retention requirements.

We assess suspected data breaches, take reasonable steps to contain them and reduce harm, and notify affected people and regulators where required by law.

9. Website, maps and analytics

Our website and booking tools may use cookies, logs and similar technologies for functionality, security and understanding how the services are used. Third-party features, such as Google Maps or review links, may collect information when they load or you interact with them, under their own privacy policies.

We do not intentionally send licence details, licence photographs, dates of birth or private form contents to advertising or behavioural-analytics services. You can manage cookies through your browser, although some features may not work properly. We provide additional notices or seek consent where required for particular tracking technologies.

10. Messages, reviews and marketing

We may contact you about your enquiry, agreement, booking, payment or safety matters. We may also invite feedback or a review, or send promotional messages, where we have the consent required by law.

You may opt out of optional review requests and marketing through the message instructions or by contacting us. We honour marketing unsubscribe requests within five working days. Opting out does not prevent essential, non-promotional booking, payment or safety communications. Marketing consent is not a condition of hire.

11. Access, correction and deletion requests

Contact us using the details in section 1 to request access to your information, correct it, or ask us to delete information, including licence photographs. We may reasonably verify your identity before acting on a request.

We consider deletion requests individually. We may retain information where required by law or where continued retention is reasonably necessary and lawful, including for an unresolved transaction, claim or dispute. We explain any refusal and available complaint options, unless prevented by law. Deleting information does not cancel an agreement or extinguish a lawful debt.

We aim to respond within 30 days, or explain any delay. There is no charge to make a request or seek correction.

Any charge for providing access will be reasonable, explained in advance and imposed only where permitted by law. We take reasonable steps to address relevant copies held by providers on our behalf; a provider may separately retain records it is legally entitled or required to hold.

12. Complaints and policy changes

Please direct privacy complaints to the Director using section 1. We will consider the concern, investigate as appropriate and aim to provide a response within 30 days. We will explain any delay and the next steps.

If you are not satisfied, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 1300

363 992 or through its privacy-complaints service. The OAIC can consider complaints within its jurisdiction.

OAIC privacy complaints

We may update this policy as our practices or legal requirements change. The current version will be available on our website or from us. We provide additional notice, and obtain consent, where required for a material change. This policy does not waive your legal rights or authorise handling prohibited by law.