Optical Outlet Direct respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and disclose personal information when you interact with us, including through our website, by telephone, through our virtual receptionist, when making an appointment, or when receiving our optometry services. We handle personal information in accordance with applicable Australian privacy laws, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) currently defines "personal information" as meaning information or an opinion about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:
1. whether the information or opinion is true or not; and
2. whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.
If the information does not disclose your identity or enable your identity to be ascertained, it will in most cases not be classified as "personal information" and will not be subject to this privacy policy

The information we collect depends on how you interact with us and the services you use. It may include: your name, telephone number, email address, address, suburb or postcode, appointment details, information about your enquiry, information you provide during telephone conversations, information required to provide optometry services, account or login information where applicable and payment information where applicable.
As an optometry practice, we may also collect health information where it is reasonably necessary to provide optometry and related healthcare services.
We aim to collect only the information reasonably necessary to provide our services.

We may collect personal information when you:
contact us by telephone, speak with our virtual receptionist or staff, make change or cancel an appointment, visit our practice, provide information through our website, purchase products or services from us, communicate with us by email or other means or otherwise provide information to us.
Our website may also use cookies to help operate the website and improve your online experience. As a general rule however it is not possible to identify you personally from our use of cookies.

We use personal information to provide and manage our services, including to:
respond to enquiries, make, reschedule and cancel appointments, provide optometry and related services, communicate with patients and customers, provide information about orders and services, operate and improve our customer service, maintain appropriate business and patient records; and meet our legal and professional obligations.
We may use trusted service providers to help us deliver these services. We customarily disclose personal information only to our service providers who assist us in operating and managing our services.
Your personal information may also be exposed from time to time to maintenance and support personnel acting in the normal course of their duties.
By using our services, you consent to the receipt of direct marketing material. We will only use your personal information for this purpose if we have collected such information direct from you, and if it is material of a type which you would reasonably expect to receive from us.
We do not use sensitive personal information in direct marketing activity. Our direct marketing material will include a simple means by which you can request not to receive further communications of this nature.

We use an AI-powered virtual assistant to help answer incoming telephone calls and provide routine reception services. When you call us, the virtual receptionist may assist with activities such as:
answering general questions, making appointments, rescheduling or cancelling appointments, checking approved order-status information, taking messages.
The virtual receptionist may process information you provide during the conversation in order to understand and respond to your request.
The virtual receptionist is provided for reception and administrative purposes only. It does not provide medical diagnosis, clinical advice or treatment recommendations.
We use specialist technology providers to help operate this service, including providers of telephone, artificial intelligence, cloud and related technology services.

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. We use appropriate technical and organisational safeguards and limit access to personal information to people and service providers who require it for authorised purposes. Where call transcripts or other information are retained as part of the virtual receptionist service, we aim to retain them only for the period reasonably required for the relevant purpose and apply available privacy and data-protection controls.

Australian Privacy Principle 12 permits you to obtain access to the personal information we hold about you in certain circumstances, and Australian Privacy Principle 13 allows you to correct inaccurate personal information subject to certain exceptions.
If you would like to obtain such access, please contact us as set out below.

If you have a complaint concerning the manner in which we maintain the privacy of your personal information, please contact us as set out below.
All complaints will be considered by Optical Outlet Direct and we may seek further information from you to clarify your concerns.
If we agree that your complaint is well founded, we will, in consultation with you, take appropriate steps to rectify the problem.
If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome, you may refer the matter to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Some of the technology providers we use to operate our systems and AI virtual receptionist are located outside Australia or use infrastructure located outside Australia.
As a result, some personal information may be disclosed to or processed by approved service providers overseas, used by our approved technology providers.
Where Australian privacy law applies to an overseas disclosure, we take reasonable steps appropriate to the circumstances to ensure personal information is handled consistently with applicable Australian privacy requirements.

If you have any queries, or if you seek access to your personal information, or if you have a complaint about our privacy practices, you can contact us through:
admin@opticaloutletdirect.com.au.