Privacy Policy

Revised: 1/1/2020

Our Company respects the privacy of our website visitors. Our Mission to being the most professional, ethical, and highest quality funeral and cemetery service organization in the death care industry extends to this Privacy Policy (“Policy”), and we want to ensure that our website visitors know how we collect, use, and protect personal, and other, information.

This Policy applies to personally-identifying information provided by website users, including personally-identifying information collected from any mobile applications. This Policy does not apply to personally-identifying information that website visitors provide to a business partner or third party, even if such business partner or third party is linked to our website.

When you use this site, you agree to the Policy that follows. If you do not agree with this Policy or our Terms of Service, you should immediately cease use of our website.

California residents and consumers visiting our website should review the “Additional Information for California Residents” section below.

Information We Collect

We do not collect personally-identifying information from users unless they provide it to us voluntarily and knowingly. We do not share any information with anyone outside our Company, except: (1) to allow third parties to process payment for purchases of Tributes, like flowers, (2) when publishing obituaries, guest books, condolences page postings, or other messages intended for online publication, and (3) for Google Analytics (explained in more detail below).

The types of information we may collect are, among other things:

• your name;
• email address;
• address or postal code;
• telephone number; and
• if you purchase flowers or other Tributes, we may collect credit card and other necessary financial data for those purchases.

In addition, when you visit our site, your browser automatically sends us an IP (Internet Protocol) address and certain other information, including the type of browser you use and browser and standard web server log information. We may use this IP address and other information to give you access to the site and otherwise administer the site. However, at this time, we do not send this information to third parties, except as it pertains to Google Analytics.

Cookies

We use cookies – small data files stored on the computer or device you use – that record your preferences. Cookies help us make sure that our websites work, and work efficiently, and help us understand website traffic. Cookies may also help us enforce our Terms of Service and maintain website security. In addition, you may get cookies from other companies that have a link on our websites, but we have no control over these companies’ cookies. These third party cookies do not fall under our Policy. Most likely, your web browser has a setting that allows you to modify your preferences so that you can decline cookies. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of the websites. Please see http://www.allaboutcookies.org/ for more information on cookies. Our websites do not currently respond to web browser “do not track” signals.

Web Beacons

Pages of websites may contain web beacons, which are small electronic files that permit us to count visitors who have viewed our pages. We collect certain usage information about our site, such as the number and frequency of visitors to certain parts of the site. This data is used only in the aggregate and does not include any personally identifying information. Web beacons also help us collect other website statistics that help us better understand the functionality and popularity of our website and its content.

Google Analytics

We also use Google Analytics on our sites. Google Analytics is a service that anonymously collects website traffic data through cookies. The data, which includes geolocation data, helps us analyze and review how our website visitors use our websites. The anonymous data is send to, and stored by, Google on servers that are housed in the United States, but the data is not sent to any other third parties. If Google is required to by law, it may transmit the anonymous data to a third party.

Visitor Provided Information

In certain parts of the site, we may ask you to provide us with your name or other information so that we can provide you with information you request or take other action indicated in the part of the site where the information is requested. You are under no obligation to provide us with this information, but without it, we may not be able to take the action requested. The site also includes features that allow you and us to communicate by electronic mail, text message, or otherwise.

If you choose to use these features, you will be required to provide us your e-mail address and other personally-identifying information (such as your name, phone number, or street address) we may deem necessary to communicate with you electronically, by text message, or otherwise, or review your request. When you provide any personally identifying information to us, you acknowledge that you are knowingly and voluntarily providing us the information. We will not use such information for marketing purposes, but we may respond to the electronic mail messages you send us, take other action indicated in the part of the site where the information is requested, and use such information for any other business purpose, including sending you subsequent communications concerning this site, or our Company.

You may also give us information about other people, including a spouse, parent, child, other family member, or friend. We only use this information for the specific reason for which you provide it to us. Note: personally-identifying information included in any portion of an online Tribute, guest book, and condolence, for example, is publicly available, and this Policy does not apply to that information. When buying flowers, users may be given the options to choose to publish the name and card message, publish the name only, or publish neither the name nor the card message

Your Privacy

The information collected is never revealed, sold, or made public for any reason, except for the reasons otherwise stated in this Policy. Personally identifiable information (name, email, phone number, or home address, etc.) is never disclosed to any third party individual or business, except for the reasons otherwise stated in this Policy.

How We Use the Information Collected

We use the information provided to us to:

• Present our websites and their contents to you;
• Provide you with information, products, or services;
• Allow you to participate in the interactive features on our websites;
• Fulfill any other purpose for which you provide the information;
• In any other way as described to you when you provide information;
• Determine your geographic location;
• Work with a potential buyer or seller in the event of a divestiture or acquisition in which personally identifying information held by us through our website is among the assets transferred, provided that, however, such buyer or seller agrees to protect and respect your personally identifying information in a manner consistent with our Policy;
• For any other purpose with your consent.

What Information We Share

We try to make sure that the personally identifying information you provide us remains private. We will not sell, rent, trade, or otherwise disclose the personally-identifying information you provide to anyone outside of our Company, and its respective affiliates, successors, and service providers, except, and subject to the other provisions in this Policy: (1) in response to a Court Order or other legal or government process in which we believe in good faith that disclosure is legally required by us; (2) to defend us or our property, including our websites and users, including to enforce our website’s Terms of Service; and (3) if necessary in the unlikely event of an emergency, to protect us, our agents, our website visitors, or the public as required by law, or in a situation in which public authorities are required to deal with an emergency situation.

Please be aware, however, that it may be possible for others to read messages that you send over the Internet, so do not send by e-mail, or post online, any information that you would like to keep confidential.

Other Information You Submit

If you use the communication features of this site to provide us with information other than personally-identifying information, including suggestions about the site, product and advertising ideas, and any other such information, that information will belong to us and may be used, reproduced, modified, distributed and disclosed by us in any manner we choose, without paying compensation to you, to the extent allowed by law.

Children Under 13

We neither market our website to children under the age of 13 nor knowingly collect personally identifying information from children under 13. Website visitors who are under the age of 13 should not use our websites and should not send us personally identifying information. If we learn that personally identifying information regarding a child under the age of 13 has been collected on our websites, we will delete such information.

Links

This web site may contain links to other sites and banner ads that take a visitor to another website. In no case is subscriber information or cookies provided to the third party sites. However, please be aware that we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of any other site that collects personally identifiable information. On the Internet, many sites do attempt to capture visitor information when you browse those sites.

Changes to Privacy Policy

We reserve the right, at our complete discretion, to change this Policy at any time by posting revised terms on the site. It is your responsibility to check periodically for any changes we may make to this Policy. Your continued use of this site following the posting of changes to these terms or other policies indicates that you accept the changes. If material changes are made to how we treat our visitors’ personally identifying information, we will put a notice on the website with “[UPDATED]” in brackets next to the Policy link. The date that the Policy was last revised will also be identified at the top of the Policy.

How to Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us by e-mail by visiting the Contact Us section of our website.

Miscellaneous

This Privacy Policy as stated herein constitutes the entire agreement between you and the Company with respect to the Company’s Policy. No changes to the Policy shall be made except by a revised posting on this page, and you are responsible to be aware of all such changes.

This Policy shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas applicable therein, without regard to conflict of laws. You irrevocably consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in the State of Texas in connection with any action arising out of or related to these terms of use or their subject matter. You waive any objection based on lack of personal jurisdiction, place of residence, improper venue or forum non-convenience in any such action.

If any court having competent jurisdiction holds any provision of this Policy invalid or unenforceable in any respect, such provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law, and the remaining provisions of this Policy shall continue in full force and effect. No waiver of any provision of this Policy shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such provision or any other provision of this Policy.

Additional Information for California Residents

“Shine the Light Law”: California Civil Code Section 1798.83 allows our California resident website users to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personally identifying information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, if any. To make such a request, please contact us by e-mail by visiting the Contact Us section of our website.

“California Consumer Privacy Act Disclosure”: Your privacy is important to us. This additional disclosure explains how Carriage Services, Inc. and its affiliates (“Company,” “we,” or “us”) collect, use, and disclose personal information relating to California residents covered by the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) (for more information on the CCPA, please visit https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa. This disclosure and notice is provided pursuant to the CCPA.

Introduction

Under the CCPA, ‘Personal Information’ is information that identifies, relates to, or could reasonably be linked directly or indirectly with a particular California resident. The specific Personal Information that we collect, use, and disclose relating to a California resident covered by the CCPA will vary based on our relationship or interaction with that individual. For more information about how we generally collect, disclose, and secure information relating to our customers, please refer to our Privacy Policy above.

Keeping Personal Information secure is one of our most important priorities. Consistent with our obligations under applicable laws and regulations, we maintain appropriate safeguards that are designed to protect personal data against accidental, unlawful, or unauthorized destruction, loss, alteration, disclosure, or access, whether it is processed by us or elsewhere.

Collection and Disclosure of Personal Information

In the past 12 months, we have collected, and disclosed to third parties for our business purposes, the following categories of Personal Information relating to California residents covered by this disclosure:

• Identifiers, such as name, postal address, unique personal identifier, email address, account name, or other similar identifiers;
• Personal information, as defined in the California safeguards law, such as contact information and financial information, as applicable;
• Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law, such as sex and marital status; and
• Internet or network activity information, such as browsing history and interactions with our website;

The categories of sources from whom we collected this Personal Information are:

• Directly from a California resident or the individual’s legal representatives
• Service Providers and other third parties
• Public record sources (Federal, State or Local Government sources)
• Information from our affiliates
• Website/Mobile App Activity/Social Media
• Information from customer directed third parties representing a customer

The categories of third parties to whom we disclosed Personal Information for our business purposes described in this CCPA privacy disclosure are:

• Carriage Services, Inc. and affiliates and subsidiaries of Carriage Services, Inc.
• Service Providers who provide services such as website hosting, data analysis, payment processing, order fulfillment, information technology and related infrastructure, customer service, email delivery, marketing and marketing research activities
• Other third parties who enable customers to conduct transactions online and via mobile devices (at the direction of the customer), such as purchasing flowers or Tributes
• Government agencies as required by applicable laws and regulations

Use of Personal Information

In the past 12 months, we have used Personal Information relating to California residents to operate and manage our business, to provide our products and services, and to accomplish our business purposes and objectives, including the following:

• Performing services, including maintaining or servicing customer accounts, providing customer service, processing transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments, providing financing, providing advertising or marketing services, providing analytic services, or providing similar services.
• Complying with laws and regulations and to comply with other legal process and law enforcement requirements (including any internal policy based on or reflecting legal or regulatory guidance, codes or opinions)

Do Not Sell My Personal Information/Notice of Right to Opt Out

Under the CCPA, the ‘sale’ of your Personal Information means the sharing of your personal information with certain third parties. Under CCPA, consumers have the right to direct a business that sells Personal Information about the consumer to third parties not to sell the consumer’s Personal Information. Currently, we share your Personal Information in a manner that would be considered a sale under CCPA. Further, we disclose your Personal Information to our Service Providers pursuant to contracts that prohibit the Service Provider from using your personal information for any purpose other than those services specified in the contract.

Rights under the CCPA

If you are a California resident, you have the right to:

1. Request we disclose to you free of charge the following information covering the 12 months preceding your request:
• the categories of Personal Information about you that we collected;
• the categories of sources from which the Personal Information was collected;
• the purpose for collecting Personal Information about you;
• the categories of third parties to whom we disclosed Personal Information about you and the categories of Personal Information that was disclosed (if applicable) and the purpose for disclosing the Personal Information about you; and
• the specific pieces of Personal Information we collected about you;
2. Request we delete Personal Information we collected from you, unless the CCPA recognizes an exception; and
3. Be free from unlawful discrimination for exercising your rights under the CCPA.
4. Right to Opt-Out of the Sale of Personal Information. You have the right, at any time, to direct us not to sell your personal information.

See “How to Exercise Your Rights” below to exercise these rights.

We will acknowledge receipt of your request and advise you how long we expect it will take to respond if we are able to verify your identity. Requests for specific pieces of Personal Information will require additional information to verify your identity.

If you submit a request on behalf of another person, we may require proof of authorization and verification of identity directly from the person for whom you are submitting a request.

In some instances, we may not be able to honor your request. For example, we will not honor your request if we cannot verify your identity or if we cannot verify that you have the authority to make a request on behalf of another individual. Additionally, we will not honor your request where an exception applies, such as where the disclosure of Personal Information would adversely affect the rights and freedoms of another consumer or where the Personal Information that we maintain about you is not subject to the CCPA’s access or deletion rights.

We will advise you in our response if we are not able to honor your request. We will not provide social security numbers, driver’s license numbers or government issued identification numbers, account passwords or security questions and answers, or any specific pieces of information if the disclosure presents the possibility of unauthorized access that could result in identity theft or fraud or unreasonable risk to data or systems and network security.

We will work to process all verified requests within 45 days pursuant to the CCPA. If we need an extension for up to an additional 45 days in order to process your request, we will provide you with an explanation for the delay.

How to Exercise Your Rights

If you are a California resident, you may submit a request by:

1. Completing an online Personal Information Request Form
2. Calling 866.859.7766; or
3. To Opt-Out of the Sale of Personal Information, please click here.

Questions or Concerns

You may contact us with questions or concerns about this Disclosure and our practices by:

1. Writing us at: Carriage Services, Inc. Attn: Legal Counsel – California Consumer Privacy 3040 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 300 Houston, TX 77056
2. Emailing us at consumerprivacy@carriageservices.com

Changes to This California Consumer Privacy Act Disclosure

We may change or update this Disclosure from time to time. When we do, we will post the revised Disclosure on this page with a new “Last Updated” date.