Privacy & Cookies Policy

While we have not made any material changes to the way we process data about our users, we have updated this policy to comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation in force from May 25, 2018.

We respect your privacy and want you to understand how we collect, use and share data about you. This Privacy & Cookies Policy covers our data collection practices and describes your rights to access, correct, or restrict our use of your personal data.

Unless we link to a different policy or state otherwise, this Privacy & Cookies Policy applies when you visit or use the GardensInWonderland website, mobile applications, APIs or related services (the “Services”).

By using the Services, you agree to the terms of this Privacy & Cookie Policy. You shouldn’t use the Services if you don’t agree with this Privacy & Cookies Policy or any other agreement that governs your use of the Services.

When accessing the https://gardensinwonderland.co.za website, we will learn certain information about you during your visit.

Similar to other commercial websites, our website utilizes a standard technology called 'cookies' (see explanation below) and server logs to collect information about how our site is used. Information gathered through cookies and server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our site, and the websites visited just before and just after our own, as well as your IP address.

Use of Cookies

A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. Cookies may be either “persistent” cookies or “session” cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed. Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.

We use cookies for the following purposes:

  • authentication – we use cookies to identify you when you visit our website and as you navigate our website.
  • status – we use cookies to help us to determine if you are logged into oury website.
  • personalization – we use cookies to store information about your preferences and to personalize the website for you.
  • security – we use cookies as an element of the security measures used to protect user accounts, including preventing fraudulent use of login credentials, and to protect our website and services generally.
  • advertising – we use cookies to help us to display advertisements that will be relevant to you.
  • analysis – we use cookies to help us to analyze the use and performance of our website and services.

We use Google Analytics to analyze the use of our website. Google Analytics gathers information about website use by means of cookies. The information gathered relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of our website. Google’s privacy policy is available at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/

Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version.

Please note that blocking cookies may have a negative impact on the functions of many websites, including our website. Some features of the website may cease to be available to you.

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

IP Addresses

IP addresses are used by your computer every time you are connected to the Internet. Your IP address is a number that is used by computers on the network to identify your computer. IP addresses are automatically collected by our web server as part of demographic and profile data known as “traffic data” so that data (such as the Web pages you request) can be sent to you.

Email Policies

We may collect your email address, but only if you voluntarily provide it to us. This may occur, for example, if you sign up to receive an email newsletter, leave a comment, or enter a promotion. We will use your email address for the purposes for which you provided it to us. 

If you are a resident of a country in the European Economic Area (EEA), please refer to the section below entitled “Additional Rights of EEA Residents.”

What Rights You Have Over Your Data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Additional Rights of EEA (European Economic Area) Residents

If you are a resident of a country in the EEA, you have the rights, among others, to:

  • access your personal data.
  • ensure the accuracy of your personal data.
  • the right to have us delete your personal data.
  • the right to restrict further processing of your personal data.
  • the right to complain to a supervisory authority in your country of residence in the event that data is misused.

If you believe that our processing of your personal information infringes data protection laws, you have a legal right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority responsible for data protection. You may do so in the EU member state of your residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement.

You may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data by written notice to us via our contact form.

How Do We Use the Information That You Provide to Us?

Broadly speaking, we use personal information for purposes of administering our business activities, providing customer service and making available other items and services to our clients and prospective clients.

Gardens In Wonderland will not obtain personally-identifying information about you when you visit our site, unless you choose to provide such information to us, nor will such information be sold or otherwise transferred to unaffiliated third parties without the approval of the user at the time of collection.

We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights.

How Long We Retain Your Data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

User Names and Passwords

Your access to parts of our website may be protected by a user name and a password. Do not give your password to anyone. If you enter a section of our website that requires a password, you should log out when you leave. As a safety precaution, you should also close out of your web browser completely and re-open it before viewing other parts of the Internet.

If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

Comments, Registration or Account Data

As you use the site, we collect other data that you provide voluntarily. For example, if you leave a comment, the site will record your name as provided. You are welcome to use a nick-name instead, if you would rather not have your name published in conjunction with the comment.

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

We may also collect information about you through other voluntary methods, including research surveys.

We may use your personally-identifying information for a variety of our internal business purposes, such as creating a better user experience for the website, diagnosing and troubleshooting malfunctions on the site, better understanding how the site is used, and making personalized recommendations to you.

If you are a resident of a country in the European Economic Area (EEA), please refer to the section above entitled “Additional Rights of EEA Residents.”

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

CAN-SPAM Compliance

In compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act, all e-mail sent from ourselves will clearly state who the e-mail is from and provide clear information on how to contact the sender. In addition, all e-mail messages will also contain concise information on how to remove yourself from our mailing list so that you receive no further e-mail communication from us.

Choice/Opt-Out

Our site provides users the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from us and our partners by reading the unsubscribe instructions located at the bottom of any e-mail they receive from us at anytime.

Users who no longer wish to receive our newsletter or promotional materials may opt-out of receiving these communications by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail.

Affiliated Sites, Linked Sites and Advertisements

https://gardensinwonderland may contain links to many other websites. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of information found at any linked site. Links to or from external sites not owned or controlled by us do not constitute an endorsement by us or any of the employees of the sponsors of these sites or the products or information presented therein.

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

By accessing this website, you are agreeing to be bound by these website Terms and Conditions of Use, all applicable laws and regulations, and agree that you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws. If you do not agree with any of these terms, you are prohibited from using or accessing this site. The materials contained in this website are protected by applicable copyright and trade mark law.

Intellectual Property Rights

All copyrights, trademarks, patents and other intellectual property rights in and on our website and all content and software located on the site shall remain the sole property of Gardens In Wonderland or its licensors. The use of our trademarks, content and intellectual property is forbidden without the express written consent from us.

You must not:

  • republish material from this website without prior written consent.
  • sell or rent material from this website.
  • reproduce, duplicate, create derivative, copy or otherwise exploit material on this website for any purpose.
  • redistribute any content from this website, including onto another website.

Children

Gardens In Wonderland does not knowingly collect or solicit Personally Identifiable Information from or about children under 13 except as permitted by law. If we discover we have received any information from a child under 13 in violation of this policy, we will delete that information immediately. If you believe gardensinwonderland.co.za has any information from or about anyone under 13, please contact us at the address listed below.

Here are a few tips to help make a child’s online experience safer:

  • Teach kids never to give personal information, such as name, address, phone, school, etc, unless supervised by a parent or responsible adult.
  • Know the sites your kids are visiting and which sites are appropriate.
  • Look for website privacy and cookie policies. Know how your child’s information is treated.
  • Check out the FTC’s site <http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/kidzprivacy/index.html> for more tips on protecting children’s privacy online.

Acceptable Use

You agree to use our website only for lawful purposes, and in a way that does not infringe the rights of, restrict or inhibit anyone else's use and enjoyment of the website. Prohibited behavior includes harassing or causing distress or inconvenience to any other user, transmitting obscene or offensive content or disrupting the normal flow of dialogue within our website.

You must not use our website to send unsolicited commercial communications. You must not use the content on our website for any marketing related purpose without our express written consent.

Restricted Access

We may in the future need to restrict access to parts (or all) of our website and reserve full rights to do so. If, at any point, we provide you with a username and password for you to access restricted areas of our website, you must ensure that both your username and password are kept confidential.

Use of Testimonials

In accordance with the FTC guidelines concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising, please be aware of the following:

  • Testimonials that appear on this site are actually received via text, audio or video submission. They are individual experiences, reflecting real life experiences of those who have used our products and/or services in some way. They are individual results and results do vary. We do not claim that they are typical results. The testimonials are not necessarily representative of all of those who will use our products and/or services.
  • The testimonials displayed in any form on this site (text, audio, video or other) are reproduced verbatim, except for correction of grammatical or typing errors. Some may have been shortened. In other words, not the whole message received by the testimonial writer is displayed when it seems too lengthy or not the whole statement seems relevant for the general public..

Gardens In Wonderland is not responsible for any of the opinions or comments posted on https://gardensinwonderland.co.za. This site is not a forum for testimonials, however, it provides testimonials as a means for clients to share their experiences with one another. To protect against abuse, all testimonials appear after they have been reviewed by us. We do not share the opinions, views or commentary of any testimonials on https://gardensinwonderland.co.za - the opinions are strictly the views of the testimonial source.

How Do We Protect Your Information and Secure Information Transmissions?

Email is not recognized as a secure medium of communication. For this reason, we request that you do not send private information to us by email. However, doing so is allowed, but at your own risk. Some of the information you may enter on our website may be transmitted securely via a secure medium known as Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL. Credit Card information and other sensitive information is never transmitted via email.

We may use software programs to create summary statistics, which are used for such purposes as assessing the number of visitors to the different sections of our site, what information is of most and least interest, determining technical design specifications, and identifying system performance or problem areas.

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, we use software programmes to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.

Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability

We make no representations, warranties, or assurances as to the accuracy, currency or completeness of the content contain on this website or any sites linked to this site.

All the materials on this site are provided 'as is' without any express or implied warranty of any kind, including warranties of merchantability, non-infringement of intellectual property or fitness for any particular purpose. In no event shall Gardens In Wonderland or its agents or associates be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of profits, business interruption, loss of information, injury or death) arising out of the use of or inability to use the materials, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such loss or damages.

Sale of Business or Assets

We may change this Privacy & Cookies Policy from time to time. The most recent version of the Privacy & Cookies Policy will always be posted on the site, with the “Last Updated” date posted at the bottom of the Policy. We may revise and update this Privacy & Cookies Policy if our practices change, as technology changes, or as we add new services or change existing ones. If we make any material changes to our Privacy & Cookies Policy or how we handle your personal information, or we are going to use any personal information in a manner that is materially different from that stated in our Privacy & Cookies Policy at the time we collected such information, we will give you a reasonable opportunity to consent to the change. If you do not consent, your personal information will be used as agreed to under the terms of the Privacy & Cookies Policy in effect at the time we obtained that information. By using our site or services after the Effective Date, you are deemed to consent to our then-current Privacy & Cookies Policy. We will use information previously obtained in accordance with the Privacy & Cookies Policy in effect when the information was obtained from you.

Governing Law

This policy and the use of this website are governed by South African law. If a dispute arises under this Policy we agree to first try to resolve it with the help of a mutually agreed-upon mediator in the following location: Johannesburg, South Africa. Any costs and fees other than attorney fees associated with the mediation will be shared equally by each of the parties.

If it proves impossible to arrive at a mutually satisfactory solution through mediation, we agree to submit the dispute to binding arbitration at the following location: Johannesburg, South Africa under the rules of the South African Arbitration Association. Judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitration may be entered in any court with jurisdiction to do so.

gardensinwonderland.co.za is controlled, operated and administered entirely within South Africa. This statement and the policies outlined herein are not intended to and do not create any contractual or other legal rights in or on behalf of any party.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy and Cookies Policy, or the practices of this site, please get in touch with us via our contact form.

Last Updated: 19 January 2023

>