CUSTOMER CONSENT TO PROCESS PERSONAL INFORMATION

By using or continuing to use their Business Buddy account or conducting business with a member of the Business Buddy group of companies (“Business Buddy”), the customer (“Customer”) accepts and agrees to Business Buddy processing, as set out herein, Personal Information (“PI”) supplied to, held or collected or Processed by any member of the Business Buddy, whether the PI was or is obtained previously, now or in the future.

A. GENERAL

Business Buddy has committed to protecting the Customers PI and to complying with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPI”) and all other applicable legislation.
For purposes hereof the terms “Personal Information” (or PI) and “Processing” have the meanings given in POPI. “Process” and “Processed” shall be defined with reference to Processing.
It is a condition of any member of the Business Buddy group of companies opening an account for or trading with any Customer, that the Customer provides the consents referred to herein for so long as the account remains open or orders are placed on Business Buddy. This consent will be deemed to have been given if the Customer submits an account application to Business Buddy or purchases or places any order for goods or services on Business Buddy.
Business Buddy consists of ONLINE BUSINESS BUDDY (Pty) Ltd
PI is collected from the Customer, the Customers interaction and trading activities with Business Buddy, credit bureaus or credit insurers and may also be supplied by vendors whose goods and services are sold by Business Buddy. Where the Customer provides Business Buddy with any information of a third party, such as to allow delivery of goods, the Customer is responsible for and warrants that the information is provided with the appropriate consent of the third party.
The PI that Business Buddy may process includes the information and data referred to in this consent and includes: names, addresses, contact details, ordering and purchasing history and information and patterns, financial information, details (PI) of persons providing security and persons representing the Customer in dealings with Business Buddy, credit limits, account defaults, company structures and information required by credit bureau’s and credit insurers to identify the Customer and assess risk.
PI is Processed mainly in South Africa but may be processed outside of South Africa, subject to Part E hereof. PI is processed and stored on secure access controlled servers and premises and save as set out herein is accessible only by staff of Business Buddy. Business Buddy will keep PI confidential, accurate and complete.
The Customer hereby consents to Business Buddy Processing and continuing to Process the Customers PI for the purposes and as set out herein. This consent is provided voluntarily and expressly.

B. USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Business Buddy may retain and process the Customers PI for any or all of the purposes mentioned in this consent, for so long as reasonably required or lawfully entitled, including but not limited to:

1. opening, managing and maintaining an account with Business Buddy, assessing credit worthiness and appropriate credit terms and limits, obtaining credit insurance, establishing and verifying the Customers identity and any information given to Business Buddy, including PI, and re-verifying and reassessing the aforegoing from time to time;
2. processing any orders or complying with contractual obligations to the Customer or the vendor of the goods or services and enforcing any right of Business Buddy including the collection of any amounts;
3. storing and backing up all PI;
4. in the event that the Customer’s account or credit application is unsuccessful or credit is withdrawn, Business Buddy may use PI to re-check the Customers credit record at a later stage and from time to time enable Business Buddy to contact the Customer with an offer to open a Business Buddy account again or take up credit;
5. enabling Business Buddy to detect and report fraud and / or any criminal activities and to take the necessary measures to prevent any suspicious or fraudulent activity on the Customers Business Buddy account;
6. processing the Customer’s orders or purchasing information, trends and online browsing behaviour (where the Customer has consented to such tracking on a Business Buddy website, mobile website or apps or in a software license) for any or all of the following purposes: market and product analysis; Customer analysis; monitoring the Customer’s buying patterns, or using credit bureau data to enrich the Customers profile to enable Business Buddy to improve or customise its personalised marketing offers to the Customer and generating statistical and research reports for Business Buddy account use or where a Vendor requires it. Should Business Buddy produce such research or statistical reports for external use, these reports will not contain any PI that identifies the Customer;
7. providing the vendor of the goods or services with information that they require to: verify the purchaser of their goods or services, ascertain details of the goods or services sold or used; analyse product performance or purchasing behaviour or trends; assess license compliance and / or compliance with the vendors territorial or resale or other requirements; or assess Business Buddy compliance with the vendors distribution terms;
8. communicating within the Business Buddy group of companies to process orders, generate invoices – finances across the Business Buddy group are centralised, capture transactions and payments and to consider and assess and communicate value added propositions within the Business Buddy group to the Customer;
9. communicating with the Customer on account matters, orders, offers, queries and for purposes of identifying and marketing of products within the Business Buddy group that Business Buddy believes may be of interest to the Customer;
10. without limiting the aforegoing the Customer consents to Business Buddy sharing it’s PI with and using it’s PI as and when required for undertaking credit and previous payment performance checks and credit insurance. This may involve sharing PI with and obtaining PI from: registered credit bureau(x), credit insurance companies, the South African Credit and Risk Reporting Association (SACCRA), any organisation representing credit bureau(x), any suppliers, the Department of Home Affairs and other sources from time to time. In this regard:
  1. Business Buddy will share with credit bureau(x) and credit insurers, information concerning the Customer’s account and credit application, the Standard Terms and conditions of trade, credit limits, trading and payment patterns and defaults, this consent and the termination thereof as well as information about the Customers Business Buddy account and any non-compliances;
  2. The Customer acknowledges that the credit bureau(x) will provide Business Buddy with a credit profile and possibly a credit score on the Customers credit worthiness. The Customer has the right to contact such credit bureau(x), to have the credit record(s) disclosed and to correct any inaccurate information. The Customer acknowledges that Business Buddy may also utilise alternative profile information such as: historical cash purchase behaviour at Business Buddy, educational qualifications, household structure data, mobile device data, geographical data and / or property ownership when assessing an account or credit application;
  3. Business Buddy may share any transaction details of any purchases from a Business Buddy company and any credit or account performance and details of any defaults within the Business Buddy group;
  4. The Customer consents to other suppliers and credit bureau(x) and credit insurers, sharing with Business Buddy, positive and negative information (which may be PI) about the Customer and its trading with Business Buddy, including any non-compliances, and to Business Buddy sharing, on request such information with them;
  5. Business Buddy may share PI with payment processing service providers, merchants and banks and other persons that assist with the processing of the Customers payment instructions, as well as with law enforcement and fraud prevention agencies and other persons tasked with the prevention and prosecution of crime, including the SAFPS (the South African Fraud Prevention Services) to prevent futuristic identity fraud; Regulatory authorities, industry ombudsmen, governmental departments, local and international tax authorities and other persons that Business Buddy is, in accordance with applicable laws, required to share the Customers PI with;
  6. PI may also be shared with Business Buddy’ service providers, agents and sub-contractors that have been contracted by Business Buddy, including Attorneys and Debt Collecting agencies; persons to whom Business Buddy cedes its rights or delegates its authority to in terms of this consent or any Terms and Conditions, without the Customers consent and without notice. Business Buddy may sell the Customers account to third parties in the event of default. In such an event the third party will then process the PI.

C. CUSTOMERS RIGHTS

The Customer has the rights given under POPI, which includes:
1. the right to access the Customers PI held by Business Buddy, during office hours within a reasonable time after we have received such a written request for access. A request to access PI and/or to lodge a complaint may be emailed to info@businessbuddy.co.za;
2. the right to request Business Buddy to correct, amend or delete PI that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, no longer required, misleading or contended to have been obtained unlawfully;
3. the right to object to the Processing or further Processing of PI at any time – i.e. to withdraw this consent;
4. the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator on IR@justice.gov.zaor for general enquiries on inforeg@justice.gov.za

D. CONSEQUENCES OF A REFUSAL TO GIVE CONSENT OR A CONSENT WITHDRAWAL

If consent to Process PI is not given or is withdrawn at any time or consent to changes to this consent agreement is rejected or refused, then Business Buddy may, without claim from the Customer:
1. refuse to process any further order and / or cancel any pending orders;
2. decline to open, continue or extend an account or further credit to the Customer;
3. Where consent to Process PI is not given or is withdrawn then all accounts and credit facilities extended to the Customer may be withdrawn by Business Buddy and in such event all amounts then outstanding shall be and automatically become fully due, owing and payable to Business Buddy.

E. CROSS BORDER CONSENT

Where necessary, PI may be shared with the vendors of goods and services supplied to Business Buddy and may be Processed and backed up. This may require the transfer of PI outside of South Africa.
The Customer consents to the transfer and processing of PI outside of South Africa for the purposes of storage, back-ups and sharing with vendors for the purposes in this consent.
Business Buddy agrees that PI will not be transferred outside of South Africa unless it is to be transferred to a country which subscribes to similar data protection laws to South Africa. Where the recipient is in a country that does not subscribe to similar data protection laws, Business Buddy will enter into an agreement with such entity in terms whereof such entity will be liable to ensure the adequate protection of the Customers PI.

F. CHANGES AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES

Business Buddy reserves the right to amend these terms of consent from time to time by publishing them on its website and such changes shall apply within 7 days of publication unless the customer objects. Clause 11 and 12 above apply hereto.
Where the Customer allows any other entity to purchase on its account, the Customer warrants that it can and does bind and has bound that entity to these consent terms.
Business Buddy will comply with it’s Privacy Policy, available on it’s website, as published and updated from time to time.