Privacy Policy

Who we are

PG Picks is a local directory of home-service businesses serving Prince George, British Columbia. In this policy, "PG Picks", "we" and "us" mean the operator of the PG Picks website. For any privacy question, contact info@pgpicks.ca.

Information you give us

You can browse PG Picks without an account. We collect information you choose to give us when you:

• Create an account. Your email address and password. Passwords are handled by our sign-in system and are not visible to PG Picks staff. Email confirmation is required.
• Submit a business. Public listing details (business name, category, services, service area, description, business phone, email, website, hours, photos) and private details used only for review (contact name, role, contact email and phone, optional mailing address, verification notes and any credentials you mention).
• Claim a business. Your name, contact details, relationship to the business and any proof you choose to provide.
• Manage a listing as an owner. Requested edits, uploaded photos, cover/order choices and photo-removal requests.
• Write a review or owner response. Your rating, review text, the display name you choose, and any edits.
• Report content. The reason and any details you include.
• Request a quote. Your name, email and/or phone, preferred contact method, the service you need and your project description. This is shared only with the one business you chose so it can respond; it is not shown publicly or included in site analytics. PG Picks stores it securely and staff see only counts.
• Pay for a membership. See "Payments" below.
• Email us. Whatever you include in your message.

What is public and what stays private

Only approved listing details for businesses that PG Picks has verified and published are shown publicly, along with photos PG Picks has approved, published reviews (with the reviewer's chosen display name) and approved owner responses.

Private submission and claim contact details, verification information, credentials, account emails, payment and membership-source records, reports, moderation notes and internal activity are not shown on public pages. Uploaded photos stay private until approved.

Moderation

PG Picks staff review business submissions, claims, owner edits, photos, reviews, review edits, owner responses and reports before anything is published or changed publicly. Staff can see the private information needed for that review.

Payments

Paid memberships are processed by Stripe, a third-party payment processor, on Stripe-hosted pages. Your card details are entered with Stripe and are not received or stored by PG Picks. PG Picks keeps records such as the plan, amounts, payment and subscription status, dates and Stripe reference identifiers so it can manage memberships. Stripe handles your payment information under its own privacy policy.

Site analytics

PG Picks uses its own first-party analytics — no Google Analytics, advertising pixels or third-party trackers. We record a limited set of events, such as page and profile views, searches, suggestion selections, taps on a business's call/email/website buttons, and when a business submission, claim or review is submitted.

Each event stores the event type, time, related public business or category, and a random session identifier kept in your browser's session storage for that browsing session. Search terms are stored after email addresses and phone numbers are removed.

Analytics does not intentionally store your name, email address, phone number, account identity, IP address, the text of reviews, claims or submissions, or payment information. Analytics is used only to understand how the directory is used in aggregate and to show business owners summary activity for their own listing.

Cookies and browser storage

PG Picks uses your browser's local and session storage for things the site needs to work: keeping you signed in, remembering your comparison choices and form progress, and the random analytics session identifier described above. We do not use advertising cookies.

How we use information

• To run the directory and show approved public listings and reviews.
• To review, verify, publish and moderate content.
• To manage accounts, owner access and memberships.
• To respond to your questions, reports and requests.
• To keep the service secure and prevent misuse.
• To understand overall site usage and improve PG Picks.

We do not sell personal information.

Sharing with service providers

We rely on service providers to host the website, store data, handle sign-in and email delivery, and process payments (Stripe). They receive only what they need to provide their service to us. We may also disclose information if required by law or to protect the safety of users or the service.

Security

We use reasonable safeguards, including access controls that keep private information restricted to authorized PG Picks staff and private storage for unapproved photos. No website or online service can be guaranteed completely secure.

Keeping and deleting information

We keep information for as long as it is reasonably needed for the purposes above, including keeping records of payments and moderation decisions. You can ask us to access, correct or delete your information by emailing info@pgpicks.ca. Some records may need to be kept where required for legal, financial or safety reasons.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as PG Picks changes. The "last updated" date above shows the latest version. See also our Terms of Use.

Contact

Privacy questions or requests: info@pgpicks.ca.