Privacy Policy

The Pool Police ("we," "us," "our") operates thepoolpolice.com (the "Site"). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. We've written this in plain English because you shouldn't need a lawyer to understand what happens when you visit our website.

What we collect

Automatically, when you visit the Site:

• Your IP address, browser type, device type, and operating system.
• Pages you visited on our Site, how long you stayed, and the site that referred you.
• Aggregate analytics collected by Google Analytics 4 via Google Tag Manager (container GTM-P2NTMS7V).
• Anonymized usage recordings and heatmaps collected by Microsoft Clarity (loaded through the same Tag Manager container). Clarity records how visitors scroll, click and move through pages; text you type into forms and other sensitive content is masked before it leaves your browser, and Clarity never receives the contents of an inspection report.

Information you provide directly or as a customer:

• If you request service, call, email, or become a customer, we receive the information needed to respond and provide service — typically your name, phone number, email, service address, and pool service needs.
• We may use customer or subscriber contact information to send useful pool-care updates and occasional information about our services. Every marketing email includes a way to unsubscribe, and an opt-out does not stop transactional messages about requested or active service.

Information we do NOT collect:

• We do not offer public customer accounts or collect payment-card information through the Site.
• We do not sell your information to anyone.
• We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13.

Cookies and similar technologies

Our Site uses first-party and third-party cookies and similar technologies. The main ones:

• Google Analytics cookies (_ga, _ga_<container-id>) — measure site traffic and usage patterns. These expire up to 2 years from your last visit. We use this data in aggregate to improve the Site. They are set only after you choose Accept all in the cookie notice; if you choose Reject all, or have not chosen yet, Google Analytics receives only cookieless, non-identifying measurement.
• Microsoft Clarity cookies (_clck, _clsk) — identify a browser across a session so Clarity can stitch one visit into one recording. _clck expires after 1 year and _clsk after 1 day. Clarity does not run at all unless you have chosen Accept all in the cookie notice, and it honours the Global Privacy Control signal (see below).
• Cloudflare session cookies — our hosting provider sets these for bot protection and performance. They are strictly functional.

You can disable cookies in your browser settings, or install the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on to prevent GA4 from measuring your visits. Disabling cookies will not prevent you from using the Site.

Third parties we share data with

We don't sell your data. Limited information is shared with the following service providers strictly to operate the Site:

• Google Analytics / Google Tag Manager (Google LLC) — analytics. Google's privacy policy.
• Microsoft Clarity (Microsoft Corporation) — session recordings, heatmaps and usage analytics. We partner with Microsoft Clarity to capture how you use and interact with our website through behavioral metrics, heatmaps, and session replay to improve and market our products and services. Website usage data is captured using first- and third-party cookies and other tracking technologies to determine the popularity of products and services and online activity. For more information about how Microsoft collects and uses your data, visit the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
• Google Places API — used to display our Google reviews. When the Site loads our reviews widget, it requests data from Google's servers.
• Cloudflare, Inc. — hosts this Site and provides DDoS protection, CDN, and security services. Cloudflare's privacy policy.
• Resend — sends transactional and marketing email, manages delivery events, and processes email preferences and unsubscribes. Resend's privacy policy.
• Amazon Associates — our /shop page contains Amazon affiliate links. When you click through to Amazon, Amazon may collect data under Amazon's privacy policy. We earn a small commission on qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

We may also disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or court order, or to protect our legal rights.

Your rights and choices

Everyone:

• Call us anytime at (512) 300-4136 to ask what information we have about you, request deletion, or correct any inaccuracy.
• Choose Reject all in the cookie notice when you first visit. To change a choice you already made, clear this site's data in your browser and the notice will appear again.
• Use your browser's Do Not Track setting or the Google Analytics opt-out linked above.

California residents (CCPA):

• You have the right to know what personal information we collect, to request deletion, and to opt out of the sale of personal information. We do not sell personal information.

EU/UK residents (GDPR):

• You have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict processing, and object to the processing of your personal data. Contact us to exercise these rights. Note: we are a US-based local service business and do not actively target EU/UK residents.

Data retention

• Analytics data: retained for 14 months by Google Analytics (our configured retention period).
• Direct inquiries (phone/email): retained as long as needed to respond and for reasonable business records thereafter.
• Customer communication records: retained while the customer relationship or subscription remains active. Unsubscribe, bounce, and complaint status may be retained as a suppression record so we do not contact that address again.

Security

We rely on Cloudflare's enterprise-grade infrastructure and industry-standard security practices. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable measures to protect the limited data we handle.

Changes to this policy

If we materially change how we handle data, we'll update the "Effective date" at the top of this page and post the revised version here. Material changes will also be noted in a change log on this page.

Contact

The Pool Police
Owner: Keith Mallette
Leander, Texas
Phone: (512) 300-4136