Our Privacy Policy: How We Protect Your Data

Who This Policy Applies To

This policy covers Southern Summit Heating & Cooling LLC (“Southern Summit Heating & Cooling,” “we,” “us”) and this website. We are a heating and cooling contractor based in Hickory, NC, and we serve homes across the western North Carolina foothills.

What we collect

Information you give us. When you call, text, fill out a form, use the chat on this site, or book an appointment, we collect your name, phone number, email address, service address, and whatever you tell us about your system and what it is doing. If you send photos of your equipment, we keep those with the job.

Job records. Once we have worked on your home we keep a record of it — the equipment, the dates, what we did, what we charged, and any warranty that applies.

Website information. Like nearly every website, ours records basic technical information automatically: your IP address, your browser and device type, the pages you looked at, and the site that sent you here. We use it to see what is working on the site and to keep it running, not to identify you personally.

What we do not collect. We do not ask for or store Social Security numbers, and we do not store card numbers on this website. Payment for work is handled in person or through a payment processor that keeps the card details on its own systems, not ours.

How we use it

We use your information to do the job you asked us to do and to run the business: to reach you about an appointment, to diagnose and repair or install equipment, to send an estimate or an invoice, to honor a warranty, to remind you about seasonal maintenance, to ask you how we did, and to answer questions you send us. We also use it to meet our obligations as a licensed North Carolina contractor.

We do not sell your information. We do not rent it, trade it, or hand it to anyone who wants to advertise to you.

Text messages and phone calls

If you give us your mobile number, we may text you about your service — appointment confirmations and reminders, a heads-up that we are on the way, estimates, invoices, follow-up after a job, and seasonal maintenance reminders. Some of these are sent automatically, and some replies may be handled by an automated assistant before a person takes over.

You are never required to agree to texts in order to get service from us. Call us instead and we will work with you the same way.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Mobile information will not be sold, rented, or traded to anyone. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent are not shared with any third party for any purpose other than delivering the messages you asked for. Information sharing with subcontractors who provide support services on our behalf — such as our messaging provider or our customer service platform — is permitted only so those messages can be delivered and answered.

Stopping texts. Reply STOP to any message and the texts end. Reply HELP and you will get our contact information. You can also just call or text us at (828) 308-0928 and ask us to take your number off. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Our full text messaging terms are on our Terms of Service page.

Calls. Calls to and from our business line may be logged, and in some cases recorded or transcribed, so we have an accurate record of what was discussed and can train the people who answer the phone. If you would rather not be recorded, tell us and we will make a note of it.

The chat window on this site

The chat box in the corner of this website is run for us by our marketing and customer-communication provider. It is answered by an automated assistant first. The assistant can answer general questions about what we do, where we work and when we are open, and it can take down your name, phone number, email address and a description of your problem so one of us can call you back. It is not a person, and it will tell you so if you ask.

What the chat keeps. Whatever you type into it, along with the phone number or email address you give it, is saved to our customer records the same way a phone call or a form submission would be. The chat also stores a small identifier in your browser so that if you come back, the conversation you already started is still there. That identifier is not used to advertise to you and it is not shared with an advertising network.

What the chat will not do. The assistant does not quote prices, does not diagnose your equipment, and does not take payment. It does not ask for a Social Security number, a card number or a bank account, and you should never type one into it. If it cannot help, it hands you to us.

If you would rather not use it. Do not open it. Call or text (828) 308-0928 instead and you will get exactly the same service. Nothing on this site requires you to chat.

Who else sees your information

We share what is necessary, with the companies that help us run the business, and nothing more. That list is:

Our website host; our marketing and customer-communication provider, MCM Digital Products, and the software it runs on our behalf; our text messaging and phone provider; our payment processor; our accountant and bookkeeping software; equipment manufacturers and distributors, where a warranty claim or a part order requires it; and any subcontractor we bring onto your job, who gets only the address and the job details.

Each of these is allowed to use your information only to do the specific job we hired them for. None of them may use it for their own marketing.

We will also hand over information when the law requires it — a subpoena, a court order, a legitimate request from a regulator — or when we need it to protect someone's safety or to enforce an unpaid bill.

Cookies and website measurement

This site uses cookies and similar technology to remember your preferences, keep the site secure, and measure how the site is used. We also use measurement tools that report visits, traffic sources and page performance in aggregate. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; parts of the site may work less well if you do.

The chat window sets its own cookie so it can recognize a conversation you already started. If you clear your cookies, the chat starts over.

This site does not run advertising networks that follow you around the internet.

How we protect it

The site runs over an encrypted connection. Access to customer records is limited to the people who need it to do their job, and the software we use is protected by passwords and, where available, two-step verification. No system is perfect and nobody honest will promise you one is — but we do not keep more than we need, which is the most effective protection there is.

How long we keep it

We keep job and warranty records for as long as the warranty could reasonably be claimed and as long as North Carolina tax and business records rules require — generally seven years. Inquiries that never became a job are kept for about two years. Text and call records are kept for about two years. Ask us to delete something sooner and we will, unless we are required to keep it.

Your choices

You can ask us for a copy of what we have about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. You can opt out of texts by replying STOP, out of marketing emails using the unsubscribe link, and out of maintenance reminders by telling us. Call or text (828) 308-0928 or email southernsummit1@gmail.com and a person will handle it. We will not charge you for it and we will not treat you differently for asking.

Children

This site is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has sent us information, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy we will update the date at the top of the page. If the change is significant we will say so on the site.

How to reach us

Southern Summit Heating & Cooling LLC
7526 George Hildebran Rd.
Hickory, NC 28602
Phone / text: (828) 308-0928
Email: southernsummit1@gmail.com
NC License #33148

Questions about anything on this page? Call or text (828) 308-0928. See also our Terms of Service.