Privacy Statement to our Customers in the United States
Whirlpool Corporation is a leading global manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances. Major brand names used in the United States include Whirlpool®, Maytag®, KitchenAid®, Jenn-Air®, Amana®, Gladiator®, Roper®, Estate®, Admiral®, Laundry 1-2-3™, Affresh®.
We understand that visiting a company’s web site or doing business by email, phone, fax or direct (postal) mail requires trust on your part. We value this trust, and if we collect or use information about you, we will do so in a responsible manner consistent with this Statement.
This page describes how Whirlpool Corporation and its brands handle information we learn about customers in the United States. Certain specialized services offered by Whirlpool Corporation, such as the Smart Appliance Services, have their own websites and corresponding privacy statements that can be viewed on those websites.
Your consent and preferences
Whirlpool Corporation may, from time to time, contact you with communications regarding our products or services. These communications may come from Whirlpool Corporation or one of its brands, and may involve product information, marketing or promotions, research, and/or other topics. To contact you, Whirlpool Corporation and its brands may use the information you provide to us, including e-mail, direct (postal) mail, fax or phone. You may, at any time, inform us that you do not want Whirlpool Corporation and its brands to contact you by sending your request to our Privacy Officer using the contact information below. You may also opt-out of promotional e-mail communications from one of our brands by clicking on a link provided in that brand’s promotional e-mail message. However, please note that you cannot opt-out from all communications, as Whirlpool Corporation and its brands may need to send you information related to our products (e.g. warranties, service reminders, etc.), your orders or accounts, etc.
What kind of information does Whirlpool Corporation collect?
Whirlpool Corporation collects two types of information: Personal information and aggregate or “combined” information. Personal information is data specifically about you, which you typically provide on a voluntary basis. Aggregate or combined information includes data that is related to you but studied as a group and does not identify you specifically. You cannot “opt-out” from having aggregate information collected.
What are cookies, web beacons, and log files?
Cookies – cookies are small text files that we may store on your computer to help us identify your computer the next time you visit or to enable some functions on our web sites. Whirlpool Corporation’s third party service providers and business partners may also use cookies to collect nonpersonal information from visitors to our sites. We may use such information to measure the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns and web sites. If you are not comfortable with our use of cookies, please review your browser software to learn how it may be set to notify you when you receive a cookie or to reject all cookies. However, disabling cookies may limit some functionality and your experiences on our web sites.
Web beacons – web beacons are miniscule electronic image files that can be embedded within a web page or included in an e-mail message, and are usually invisible to the human eye. When used, web beacons (also known as “clear GIFs“ or ”tracking pixels”) may tell us such things as: how many people are coming to our web sites, whether they are one-time or repeat visitors, which pages they’ve viewed and for how long, how well certain online advertising campaigns are converting, and other similar web site usage data. When used in an e-mail, web beacons can tell us the time the e-mail was opened, if and how many times it was forwarded, and what links users click on from within the e-mail message. Based on this information, we can adjust the content, products, services, and promotions we provide you to better meet your interests, as well as make you aware of Whirlpool Corporation products, services, and/or special offers in which you may be interested.
Log Files – these are files that record web activity and gather non-personal statistics about your visit to or use of our web sites. Log files may help us capture, among other things: (i) your IP Address, which is a unique set of numbers assigned to your computer by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) (note that, depending on your ISP, the number assigned to your computer can be different every time you connect to the Internet); (ii) the type of browser and operating system you use; and, (iii) other information about your online session, such as the URL you came from to get to our web site and the date and time you visited our web site. In addition to using this information to better understand how our web sites are used, we may use information captured through log files such as an IP Address (together with your personal information) to troubleshoot technical problems, maintain online safety and security, and if necessary, prohibit or restrict access to our Online Services by certain users.
Interest-based Advertising – We allow trusted third parties to place advertisements for our products and services on sites operated by others. These trusted third parties will use cookies and web beacons to measure the effectiveness of our ads and to determine the display of content and advertising to you based on your interests both on our site and other sites that you may visit. To support this interest-based advertising solution, we and the companies we have contracted with may use anonymous information about your visits to our and other web sites. The information collected and used by this process is always anonymous and does not enable any third party to identify you individually. If you would prefer not to receive our interest-based advertising, you can opt out of this activity at the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) website (http://www.aboutads.info) by clicking here.
How does Whirlpool Corporation use and disclose information about me?
Unless otherwise stated at the point of collection, Whirlpool Corporation may use your personal information for several reasons, including but not limited to, fulfilling orders, informing you about product service and warranty issues, sending you marketing communications, auditing and improving upon the level of service we provide to our customers, etc. Regardless of what may be said at the point of information collection, Whirlpool Corporation reserves the right to contact you in the event of a service notification for your registered appliance, or to issue other notices concerning the safety of your appliance regardless of your stated privacy preferences. Whirlpool Corporation uses aggregate information only as anonymous grouped data to better understand how visitors use our site, such as the pages most frequently viewed, the paths visitors use while navigating the site to optimize the experience, and to count the number of visitors.
Whirlpool Corporation may disclose your information to third parties acting on our behalf, such as call center operators, shippers, servicers, people who analyze data for us, etc. While these third parties have access to some of the information Whirlpool Corporation may have about you, the information is limited to what they need to know to do their jobs. Whirlpool Corporation may disclose and share your information with our brands, such as the ones listed at the beginning of this policy. If Whirlpool Corporation sells an affiliated company or other business asset, we reserve the right to transfer your personal information in connection with such a sale. Also, Whirlpool Corporation may disclose your information as necessary (1) if we determine a web site or policy violation has occurred; (2) if we believe such disclosure is necessary to identify, contract or bring legal action regarding injury or interference with the rights and property of Whirlpool Corporation; (3) to respond to judicial process and in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, or as otherwise required by law; and (4) to assist us in fraud prevention or investigation.
California residents: your California privacy rights
If you are a California resident, you may have the right to request and receive certain information about our disclosure of your personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, and your choices with respect to such disclosures. Because it is our policy not to share your personal information with third parties for their own marketing purposes unless you are first given the opportunity to opt-out from such sharing, we are exempt from having to meet this requirement. If you still wish to learn more about our compliance with this requirement, please contact us using the contact information provided in this Policy.
- If we are bought or acquired by another company (either fully or partially), merged with another company, or experience a reorganization, bankruptcy, or other similar event, your information may be shared with our successor or assign (the new company or the company that takes over), subject to the notification procedures set forth below.
- If we are required to share your information because such action is reasonably necessary to comply with legal-related processes, enforce contract terms, respond to or resolve any claims (including valid consumer complaints), or otherwise protect or enforce the safety or rights (including intellectual property rights) of Whirlpool Corporation our business customers and partners, our consumers, or the general public.
- If we wish to generally assess (with the help of a third party company) how our Online Services are performing in the Internet marketplace, their popularity or use amongst certain consumer demographics or profiles, and other similar performance metrics. The information disclosed for these purposes will be in aggregate form and limited to demographic or other anonymous data; no personal information will be shared.
How will Whirlpool Corporation make changes to this policy?
From time to time, we may update this Policy. If we do, we will note near the top of this page the date that any changes are made and/or when they become effective. If the changes being made are material (that is, we make a major change in the important points of the policy), we may alert you to the changes in a more prominent way. For example, we may temporarily highlight the new or revised sections in this Policy, temporarily post a prominent notice on our home page or registration/login page, or temporarily add the word “Updated” to the title of this Policy and any hypertext links pointing to this Policy. In some instances, we may also send you an e-mail message or other communication telling you about the changes and any choices you may have or actions you can take before they go into effect. Your inaction or continued use of our Online Services after any such alerts or notices, or your acceptance of any changes for which we require your prior approval, will tell us that you agree to these changes. If any changes we make will affect, in a material way, the way we treat any personal information collected directly from children/students, we will first contact parents (or, in the school context, the appropriate educators) and obtain the required form of consent.
How does Whirlpool Corporation secure my personal information?
Whirlpool Corporation is committed to maintaining the security of the data you provide us and will take reasonable precautions to protect your personal information from loss, misuse or alteration. Please note that there is always some risk in transmitting information over the Internet. We do use secure connections on our web sites to protect credit card information during its transmission.
What about the security of linked sites?
Some of our web sites may contain links to web sites owned by other companies. Because Whirlpool Corporation has no control over the privacy practices or content of these linked sites, we recommend that you carefully review the privacy statement of each site you visit. Whirlpool Corporation is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of sites owned by other companies.
Information Collected from Children Under the Age of 13
Our website and applications are aimed at a general audience and Whirlpool Corporation does not generally seek to collect information about children under the age of 13. If we offer an app or website feature that collects information about a child under age 13, we will detail the type of information that we collect and how we use and disclose that information. We will obtain parental consent before we collect, use, store or disclose any personal information about a child under the age of 13. A parent or guardian of a child may contact us to request that we delete such information, if any, from our records. To do so, contact our Chief Privacy Officer.
EU and Swiss Safe Harbor
Whirlpool complies with the U.S. – E.U. Safe Harbor framework and the U.S. – Swiss Safe Harbor framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of data from the European Union and Switzerland respectively. Whirlpool has certified that it adheres to the U.S – EU and Swiss – EU Safe Harbor Privacy Principles of notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access, and enforcement. Information regarding both the E.U. and Swiss Safe Harbor Frameworks can be found at: http://export.gov/safeharbor.
If you have an unresolved privacy or data use concern that we have not addressed satisfactorily, please contact TRUSTe at https://feedback-form.truste.com/watchdog/request. Please click here for fax and postal mail information. TRUSTe’s Dispute Resolution process is only available in English.
Can I update or change my information?
If you are a registered user of this site, you may review, revise, correct or update your information at any time by updating your profile. You may also submit a request to our Chief Privacy Officer if you would like to update or change personal information that Whirlpool Corporation has about you.
For more information, contact our Chief Privacy Officer.
By Postal Mail:
Chief Privacy Officer
Whirlpool Corporation
2000 N. M-63
MD 8522
Benton Harbor, MI 49022
By E-mail:
whirlpool_privacy@whirlpool.com
If we make photocopies of information related to your request, we reserve the right to recover related photocopy charges.
Your acceptance of our privacy practices
By using this web site or any other Whirlpool Corporation web site, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Statement. This Privacy Statement applies only to information provided by or collected from customers in the United States and is not intended to describe data handling procedures for information collected by other linked web sites or business partners.
We reserve the right to change or update this Privacy Statement at any time.