Who we are
Flat Out Automations builds and runs lead recovery systems for trade businesses in Western Australia. In this policy, "we" and "us" mean Flat Out Automations. You can reach us on 0480 806 476, at hello@flatoutautomations.com, or through the contact page.
We handle personal information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. Our SMS work is also governed by the Spam Act 2003, enforced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
What we collect from you
When you book an audit on this site, we collect your name, business name, email, mobile number and your answers to a few short questions about your business. We use them to contact you about the audit you asked for. If you tick the box for occasional emails, we also email you no more than once a month, and you can unsubscribe at any time. The short "another time" form on the booking page asks only for your name and mobile. It is delivered to our inbox by FormSubmit, a form delivery service, which processes your details only to pass them on.
If you call or email us, we keep whatever you tell us in that conversation so we can pick up where we left off. If you become a client we collect more, including business details needed to build and run your system.
We do not ask for and do not want your payment details, government identifiers, or anything about your health or finances beyond what is needed to scope the work.
Calls we make to trade businesses
We sometimes phone trade businesses in Western Australia to introduce our service. We take business names and phone numbers from public business listings and the business's own website, and we check every number against the Do Not Call Register before we call. We only call within the hours the telemarketing industry standard allows: 9am to 8pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm on Saturdays, local time, and never on Sundays or national public holidays.
Some of these calls may be made by an AI voice assistant. At the start of the call it says that it is an AI calling for Flat Out Automations and that the call is recorded. We use recordings only to review the call and keep a record of what was said, and we keep them under the same rules as the rest of this policy.
If you ask us not to call again, on the call or by emailing hello@flatoutautomations.com, we will not call that number again.
Why we collect it
- To text or ring you back about the audit you asked for
- To prepare properly for that call, so we are not wasting your half hour
- To provide the services you engage us for, if you become a client
- To meet our record-keeping obligations, including consent records under the Spam Act
We do not use your details for anything else without asking you first.
What we will never do
We do not sell your information. We do not rent it, trade it, or hand it to a data broker. We do not add you to a marketing list because you enquired once. We do not share your number with other trade businesses, and we do not use one client's customer list for another client's campaign, ever.
SMS, consent and opting out
If you give us your mobile number when you book an audit or ask for another time, you agree to us texting you about that booking. We do not send marketing texts from our own number. Every message we send identifies us as Flat Out Automations and can be stopped by replying STOP. We action opt-outs within five business days, as the Spam Act requires, and usually within minutes.
When we run SMS on behalf of a client, the same rules apply to their customers. We build consent capture, business identification and unsubscribe handling into every system we deliver, and we lodge the client's Sender ID with ACMA. We will not build a campaign to a list that cannot demonstrate consent.
Who else sees your information
We use third-party services to run our business, and some of your information passes through them. The main ones are:
- A CRM and messaging platform, used to send and record the SMS we promised you
- An automation platform used to move information between systems
- A calendar and email provider, used to book and confirm your audit
- A telecommunications carrier, used to actually deliver the message
Some of these providers store data outside Australia. We choose providers with reasonable security practices, but we cannot control their systems, and you should assume some of your information is held overseas.
How long we keep it
If you enquire and we never work together, we keep your details for two years so we know who you are if you come back, then we delete them. If you become a client, we keep records for seven years after the engagement ends to meet Australian business record-keeping requirements. Consent and opt-out records are kept as long as the Spam Act requires.
Getting your data, or getting it deleted
You can ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email hello@flatoutautomations.com or ring 0480 806 476 and we will action it within 30 days, usually much sooner. There is no charge and we will not ask you why.
If we cannot delete something because we are legally required to keep it, we will tell you exactly what and exactly why.
Security
We use reputable providers, restrict access to client data to the people who need it, and do not keep information we have no use for. We are a small business rather than a bank, so we will not pretend to guarantee anything. If a breach ever affects you we will tell you promptly, and we will notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner where the law requires it.
Cookies and tracking
This site uses Google Analytics 4, loaded through Google Tag Manager, to see which pages people read and which ones lead to a booking. It sets a cookie in your browser and sends Google an anonymised record of your visit. We use it to improve the site, nothing else.
We do not sell or share this data. If we later run ads, we will add advertising tags to the same container and update this section before we turn them on.
You can opt out with Google's browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout, or by blocking cookies in your browser. The site works normally either way.
Complaints
If you think we have mishandled your information, tell us first on hello@flatoutautomations.com and we will look into it and come back to you within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can take it to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top. If the change is significant and affects people we already hold information about, we will contact them rather than quietly editing the page.