This privacy statement explains the information that is collected by Vodacom through the services we provide to you as part of the V-Home by Vodacom product ('V-Home') and how this data will be processed. You can view this statement, and the statement for our Connected Devices in the Settings menu of the V by Vodacom app at any time. V-Home is developed in partnership with Samsung, who will process your personal data as a data controller as part of the SmartThings connected hardware ecosystem. You can view its privacy statement here; however, you can also access this within the SmartThings App.
Changes to our privacy policy
This Privacy Policy gets updated from time to time; whenever we make a change, we'll update the content and let you know. We have recently revised our Privacy Statement for this app and service; the main changes are listed below.
Who we are
We are Vodacom (Pty) Ltd. We are the parent company for the Vodacom Group. If you go to http://www.vodacom.com you can find links to the Vodacom operating company. In this privacy policy:
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"we/us" means Vodacom (Pty) Ltd
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"third party" means someone who is not you or us; and
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"Vodacom Group" means Vodacom (Pty) Ltd and any company or other organisation in which Vodacom (Pty) Ltd owns more than 15% of the share capital.
Our registered office is Corporate Park, 082 Vodacom Boulevard, Vodavalley. Vodacom (Pty) Ltd is registered with the registration number 1993/003367/07/. Our main switchboard is +27 11 653 5000 or you can email us at
[email protected]
How to contact us
Your opinion matters to us – if you have any questions about our privacy policy, you can email us at: [email protected] or you can write to our privacy team at: Vodacom Privacy Team - Group Legal Corporate Park 082 Vodacom Boulevard, Vodavalley, 1682
If you are a Trusted Contact
If you are a Trusted Contact of one of our customers, we collect your information when they register you in the V by Vodacom app. You will receive an alert through text message when this happens.
We will receive the following information about you:
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Your mobile phone number;
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Your full name; and
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(If provided) your relationship to our customer (for example, mother or spouse)
Personal information we collect about you
Address Book
If you are a Trusted Contact of one of our customers, we collect your information when they register you in the V by Vodacom app.
You will receive an alert through text message when this happens. We will receive the following information about you:
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Your mobile phone number;
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Your full name; and
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(If provided) your relationship to our customer (for example, mother or spouse)
One of our Assisted Alarm Service agents will contact you when our customer is unresponsive to an alert from one of the connected devices in their V-Home. We will not use your data in any other way.
You can remove yourself as a Trusted Contact at any time by either:
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Asking our customer to remove you from their list;
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Asking an agent when you are contacted (please quote the ID provided in your SMS alert); or
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Request removal via customer services via vodacom.co.za.
How we use your personal information
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To provide you with your service
We use your information for service provision and to fulfil any purchases you have made:
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to help us identify you and any accounts you hold with us;
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to provide you with the V-Home and Vodacom Assisted Alarm Service;
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for billing and customer care; and
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for identity verification.
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Contact our customer services team via vodacom.co.za;
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Click the link at the end of a marketing email, text or picture message to unsubscribe from that channel
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Change your communication preferences by texting the relevant code in this table [PDF: 342KB]
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Tell the adviser if you receive a marketing call
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Disable push notification messages, including marketing messages, at any time in our apps by changing the notification settings on your device or by uninstalling the app
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Contact our customer data team for guidance
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Email [email protected]
If you are opted into marketing and given us permission to use your data to tailor these communications, we'll use your interactions with this App and data from your Connected Devices to inform the sorts of marketing we should be sending you so that it's the most relevant for you.
Other profiling and automated processing
Outside of the profiling we conduct for marketing purposes to tailor and personalise the communications we send, we also profile you for credit, fraud and security purposes.
This can sometimes use systems to make automated decisions based on personal information we have or are allowed to collect from others. The goal is to make the decisions as quick, efficient, fair and correct as possible, based on what we know. It can affect the products or services we may offer you now or in the future.
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We will carry out a credit check when you apply for a contract for your products and services with us. For more details, you can visit our credit checks page.
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If you are not already a Vodacom customer, we will use your personal information for identity verification purposes. We sometimes supplement the information we collect about you with information from other sources (such as the electoral roll). This will be prompted to you on first registration of a connected device within the V by Vodacom. We also use this verification for access to your account and for general account management. However, this identity verification process is supported by human agents that will verify the output of the automated decision.
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We will process your personal data in order to protect against and detect fraud, and to recover debts or trace those who owe us money resulting from the use of our services.
Service improvement
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We collect anonymous, de-identified or aggregate information in order to improve the service we offer to everyone. None of these analytics are linked back to you in any way.
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To protect our networks and manage the volumes of calls, texts and other uses of our networks. For example, we identify peak periods of use so we can try and ensure the networks can handle the volume at those times; and
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To understand how you use our networks, products and services. That way we can seek to review, develop and improve these, develop more interesting and relevant products and services, as well as personalising our products and services.
How we share your personal information
Where applicable, we share information about you with:
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Companies in the Vodacom Group; Partners, suppliers or agents involved in delivering the products and services you've ordered or used;
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Companies who are engaged to perform services for, or on behalf of, Vodacom Limited, or Vodacom Group;
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Credit reference, fraud prevention or business scoring agencies, or other credit scoring agencies;
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Debt collection agencies or other debt recovery organisations;
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Law enforcement agencies, government bodies, regulatory organisations, courts or other public authorities if we have to, or are authorised to by law; or
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A third party or body where such disclosure is required to satisfy any applicable law, or other legal or regulatory requirement.
We also share aggregate performance information with Samsung to understand how products and the V-Home offering is performing commercially. For example, if we know that certain features are well received, we can focus on developing more of the same. This information does not identify you personally.
International data transfers
If you are a non-Vodacom customer and we need to verify your identity, we will need to transfer your data to our service provider, which is based in India. Additionally our customer care centres are run by Vodacom Shared Services which is based in Hungary, Egypt, India and Romania.
When Vodacom SA sends your information to another country, we make sure that your information is properly protected. We will always ensure that there is a proper legal agreement that covers the data transfer. In addition, if the country is not considered to have laws that are equivalent to South African data protection standards then we will ask the third party to enter into a legal agreement that reflects those standards
How long we keep your personal information for
We'll store and process your information for as long as we have to by law or as long as we need to be able to deliver you the services you have requested. We'll keep some personal information for a reasonable period after your contract with us has finished in case you decide to use our services again. We, or one of our partners, may contact you about Vodacom services during this time if you haven't opted out of receiving marketing communications from us. Once these bases have expired, we'll delete that information.
Keeping your personal information secure
We have specialised security teams who constantly review and improve our measures to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, accidental loss, disclosure or destruction.
Communications over the internet (such as emails) aren't secure unless they've been encrypted. Your communications may go through a number of countries before being delivered, as this is the nature of the internet.
We cannot accept responsibility for any unauthorised access or loss of personal information that is beyond our control.
We'll never ask for your secure personal or account information by an unsolicited means of communication. You're responsible for keeping your personal and account information secure and not sharing it with others.
Our website may provide links to third-party websites. We cannot be responsible for the security and content of such third-party websites. Therefore, make sure you read that company's privacy and cookies policies before using or putting your personal information on their site.
The same applies to any third-party websites or content you connect to using our products and services.
You may choose to disclose your information in certain ways such as social plug-ins (including those offered by Google, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest) or using third-party services that allow you to post reviews or other information publicly, and a third party could use that information.
Social plug-ins and social applications are operated by the social network themselves and are subject to their own terms of use and privacy and cookies policies. You should make sure you're familiar with these.
Your rights
Below we set out details on how you can exercise your rights. If you have a question or cannot find the answer, please contact our customer care team via vodacom.co.za.
Right to correct personal data
You have the right to have your personal data corrected if it is incorrect. You can request this by contacting our customer care via vodacom.co.za.
Right to access personal data
You have the right to make a request for a copy of the personal data that Vodacom holds about you. To make this request as an individual or an authorised 3rd party, please contact the customer care team via. vodacom.co.za.
Right to object to use of personal data
In certain circumstances, You have the right to object to the use of your personal data. Contact the customer care team via vodacom.co.za.
How to lodge a complaint
If you want to contact us about any of your rights or if complain about how we use your information, contact our customer care team via vodacom.com. We'll do our best to help but if you're still unhappy, you can contact the Information regulator – their details are at http://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/.
Right to restrict use of your data
If you feel data we hold on you is inaccurate or believe we shouldn't be processing your data, please contact our customer care team via vodacom.co.za to discuss your rights. In certain circumstances you will have the right to ask us to restrict processing.
Right to erasure
Vodacom strives to only process and retain your data for as long as we need to. In certain circumstances you have the right to request that we erase personal data of yours that we hold. If you feel that we are retaining your data longer than we need, it is worth first checking that your contract with Vodacom has been terminated which you can do with Customer Services. If your contract with Vodacom has been terminated, we may still have lawful grounds to process your personal data. For more information on retention periods please see our www.vodacom.co.za/privacy.