Privacy Policy

The short version

• What we collect: what you choose to send us — your name, phone number, email, service address, the kind of service you need and your message — plus basic technical information from your browser, and whatever you tell us by phone or email.
• Why: to answer you, schedule and perform your heating and cooling work, keep service and warranty records, keep spam off our forms, and improve this website.
• We do not sell your personal information. We do not run advertising pixels, and we do not record your phone calls.
• Who helps us: only service providers that run this website and our business for us — for example our website and form provider, and Google for spam protection, fonts and, when enabled, site analytics.
• Your choices: change your cookie choice any time from Cookie Preferences in the footer; we honor Global Privacy Control; and California residents can ask to know, correct or delete their information or opt out of any sale or sharing. Email info@fas-mech.com or call (530) 212-0057.
• Texts: we do not currently run a text-messaging program, and we will text you only with your consent.

1. Who we are and what this policy covers

This Privacy Policy explains how Foothill Air Systems (“Foothill Air Systems,” “we,” “us” or “our”), a licensed California heating, ventilation and air-conditioning contractor based in Grass Valley, CA 95945, collects, uses, discloses and protects personal information. It applies to our website at fas-mech.com (the “Site”) and to information you give us when you call, email or otherwise contact us about our residential and commercial services in Nevada County, Placer County and the Truckee/Tahoe area.

This policy also serves as our notice at collection for California residents. It does not apply to websites or services run by others that we link to, such as our financing partner or social media platforms, which have their own policies. By using the Site you acknowledge the practices described here.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us

• Service requests and contact forms. Your name, email address, phone number, service address, the type of service you need, and anything you write in your message. Our forms also contain a hidden field that people cannot see; it exists only to catch automated spam.
• Job applications. When you apply through our Careers page, we collect your name, contact details, the position you are interested in, your cover note and any résumé you upload. Please do not include Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, health information or other sensitive details in an application.
• Phone calls and email. Whatever you share with us when you call or write, such as your address, your equipment and the problem you are having. We do not record phone calls, and we do not use call-tracking numbers on this Site.
• When you become a customer. Information needed to perform and document your work — the property and equipment serviced, estimates, agreements, invoices, payment records, membership details, and warranty and permit information. Payment is arranged directly with us; we do not take card payments on this Site.

Information collected automatically

• Device and usage information. Like nearly all websites, our hosting and content-delivery providers receive your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you request, the referring page, and the date and time of your visit. From your IP address a general location (such as city or region) can be inferred. We do not collect precise geolocation from your device.
• Spam and abuse protection. Our forms are protected by Google reCAPTCHA, which collects information about your device and interactions (such as IP address, browser details and mouse or touch activity) to tell people from bots. See section 6.
• Web fonts. The Site loads its fonts from Google Fonts, which means your browser connects to Google’s servers and shares your IP address and browser information with Google.
• Analytics. The Site is built to use Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4 to understand how visitors use it (pages viewed, time on page, approximate location, device type, and how you arrived). When these tools are enabled, they use cookies and similar technologies subject to the cookie choices described in section 6.
• Your cookie choice. When you choose Accept or Decline on our cookie notice, we store that choice in your browser’s local storage so we can respect it on later visits.

Information from others

• Financing. If you apply for financing through our third-party lender, the lender may let us know the status of your application so we can plan your project. The lender’s own privacy policy governs the information you give it.
• Manufacturers, distributors and program administrators. We may receive information about equipment registration, warranty claims, or utility and government rebate programs you ask us to help with.
• People who refer you. Someone may give us your contact information to recommend our services to you.

3. How we use information

• To respond to your questions and service requests, and to schedule and confirm visits.
• To prepare estimates, perform, document and bill for our work, obtain permits, and provide membership benefits.
• To register equipment, process warranty claims, and help with rebate or incentive paperwork you request.
• To communicate with you about your service, membership or application.
• To review job applications and make hiring decisions, when we are hiring.
• To operate, secure and improve the Site, including detecting and preventing spam, fraud and abuse.
• To comply with law, including contractor-licensing, tax and employment record-keeping requirements, and to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

We do not use your information to make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you, and we do not build advertising profiles about you.

4. How we disclose information

We do not sell your personal information. We disclose it only as follows:

• Website and form provider. CI Web Group builds, hosts and maintains this Site and relays form submissions to us. It processes your information only to provide those services to us.
• Google. Google LLC provides reCAPTCHA (spam protection), Google Fonts and, when enabled, Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics.
• Business software providers. Providers of email, scheduling, customer and job management, accounting and file storage tools we use to run our business.
• Manufacturers, distributors and program administrators, when needed to register equipment, process a warranty claim, or submit a rebate or incentive application you ask us to handle.
• Permitting authorities and inspectors, when your job requires a permit or inspection.
• Professional advisers such as accountants, insurers and lawyers, under duties of confidentiality.
• Legal and safety reasons. When required by law, subpoena or court order, or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is needed to protect the rights, property or safety of our customers, our team, the public or us.
• Business transfers. If our business is sold, merged or reorganized, the information may transfer to the successor, which must honor this policy for information collected under it.
• With your direction or consent.

Our service providers are contractually limited to using personal information to provide services to us. We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes.

5. Text messages (SMS)

We do not currently run a text-messaging program, and this Site does not currently collect consent to receive text messages. We will text you only with your consent. If and when we offer text messaging, the following terms will apply to our program, which will be identified as Foothill Air Systems:

• Express written consent. We will text you only if you give your express written consent — for example by checking an unchecked box on a form that describes the program. Consent is not a condition of purchasing any goods or services.
• Message types. Service and appointment messages, such as appointment confirmations and reminders, technician arrival updates, and follow-ups about your service request or job. We will not send marketing texts unless you separately agree to receive them.
• Frequency. Message frequency varies.
• Cost. Msg & data rates may apply.
• Opting out and help. Reply STOP to any message to opt out; we will send one confirmation and then stop. Reply HELP for help, or contact us at info@fas-mech.com or (530) 212-0057. You may also opt out by any reasonable means, such as replying “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “cancel” or “unsubscribe,” or by telling us by phone or email; we will honor your request within 10 business days.
• Carriers. Wireless carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
• No sharing of mobile information. Mobile information, including phone numbers and text-messaging opt-in data and consent, will not be shared with or sold to third parties or affiliates for their marketing or promotional purposes. We may share it only with service providers that help us deliver messages.

We will update this section and our forms before any text-messaging program begins.

6. Cookies, analytics and similar technologies

Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser; “local storage” is a similar browser feature. We use them as follows:

• Necessary. Technologies the Site needs to work and stay secure — for example Google reCAPTCHA’s security cookie and the local-storage entry that remembers your cookie choice. These are always active.
• Analytics. When enabled, Google Analytics sets cookies (such as those beginning _ga) to count visits and understand how the Site is used.
• Advertising. We do not currently use advertising pixels (such as the Meta Pixel or Google Ads conversion tags) or run retargeting campaigns. We will update this policy before adding any.

Your cookie choices

• When analytics is enabled, visitors in the United States receive analytics cookies by default and can opt out at any time by choosing Decline on the cookie notice or from Cookie Preferences in the footer of every page. Declining applies immediately in that browser and removes the analytics cookies already set.
• Visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland receive analytics and advertising cookies only after choosing Accept.
• Your choice is saved in your browser’s local storage. If you clear your browser data or use a different browser or device, you will be asked again.
• Global Privacy Control (GPC). If your browser sends a GPC signal, we treat it as a valid request to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information and turn off analytics and advertising cookies for that browser, even if you previously chose Accept (or choose it later).
• Do Not Track. Other than honoring GPC as described above, the Site does not respond to browser “Do Not Track” signals, because there is no common standard for them.
• You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings, and install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. Blocking necessary technologies may stop our forms from working.

Google services

Our forms are protected by reCAPTCHA, and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. You can learn how Google uses information from sites that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

7. Your Privacy Choices — Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Foothill Air Systems does not sell your personal information for money or other valuable consideration, and in the 12 months before the date of this policy we have not sold or “shared” personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, as those terms are defined in the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CCPA”). We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16.

Because some analytics and advertising technologies can count as “sharing” under the CCPA, you can opt out at any time, and your choice will apply to any such technology we use in the future:

• Choose Decline on the cookie notice, or reopen it from Cookie Preferences in the footer. This applies on this browser immediately and clears the analytics cookies already set.
• Turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser, which we honor as an opt-out request for that browser: it turns off analytics and advertising cookies there, even if you chose Accept.
• Email info@fas-mech.com or call (530) 212-0057 and tell us you want to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. We do not need to verify your identity for an opt-out request.

We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for any purpose that would give you the right to limit its use under the CCPA.

8. Your California privacy rights

We serve customers in California, and we extend the rights below to California residents whether or not the CCPA’s size thresholds apply to our business.

Categories of personal information we collect

In the past 12 months we have collected the following categories:

• Identifiers — name, email, phone number, service address, IP address and similar online identifiers. Source: you and your device.
• Customer records (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80) — name, address, phone number and records of payments made to us. Source: you.
• Commercial information — services requested, estimates, work performed, equipment, membership and purchase history. Source: you and our work records.
• Internet or other electronic network activity — pages viewed, referring pages, interactions with the Site and spam-protection signals. Source: your device.
• General geolocation — approximate location inferred from IP address. Source: your device.
• Professional or employment-related information — for job applicants, work history, qualifications and résumé contents. Source: you.

We use each category for the purposes in section 3 and disclose it for business purposes to the categories of recipients in section 4. We do not intentionally collect sensitive personal information, and we do not derive inferences to profile you.

Your rights

• Right to know the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the sources, our purposes, and the categories of recipients, and to receive the specific pieces in a portable, readily usable format.
• Right to delete personal information we collected from you, subject to legal exceptions (for example, records we must keep for warranty, tax or licensing purposes).
• Right to correct inaccurate personal information.
• Right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information (see section 7).
• Right to limit the use of sensitive personal information — we do not use it in ways that trigger this right.
• Right to non-discrimination. We will not deny you service, charge you a different price or provide a different quality of service because you exercised these rights.

How to make a request

Email info@fas-mech.com, call (530) 212-0057, or use our online contact form. To protect you, we verify requests to know, delete or correct by matching information you give us (such as your name, phone number, email and service address) with our records, and we may ask for more information if needed. You may use an authorized agent; we may ask the agent for your signed permission and ask you to verify your identity directly. You do not need an account to make a request.

We confirm receipt within 10 business days and respond within 45 calendar days. If we need more time (up to another 45 days), we will tell you why. If we cannot fully honor a request, we will explain the reason. We act on requests to opt out of sale or sharing within 15 business days. We keep records of requests for at least 24 months, as the law requires.

“Shine the Light”

California Civil Code § 1798.83 lets California residents ask whether a business has disclosed personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. We do not make such disclosures.

Residents of other states

Our services are provided in California. If you live elsewhere, you may have privacy rights under the laws of your state; contact us and we will consider your request in line with applicable law.

9. Children’s privacy

The Site is intended for adults and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

10. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described here, and then delete or de-identify it. Our general retention periods are:

• Service requests that do not become a job: up to 3 years after our last contact with you.
• Customer, job, warranty, permit and billing records: for as long as you are a customer and for 7 years after, to support warranty, tax and contractor-licensing obligations and any claims.
• Job applications: 4 years after the hiring decision, as California law requires.
• Analytics data, when enabled: up to 14 months.
• Server and security logs: generally no more than 12 months.
• Your cookie choice: until you clear your browser’s storage.

We may keep information longer where the law requires it or to resolve a dispute.

11. How we protect information

We use reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards appropriate to the information we hold — including encrypted (HTTPS) connections to the Site, spam and bot protection on our forms, and access limited to people who need it. No website, transmission or storage system is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. Please do not send payment card numbers, Social Security numbers or passwords through our forms or by email. If a breach affects your personal information, we will notify you as required by law.

12. Third-party links and services

The Site links to services we do not control, including our financing partner, Optimus Financing, and the online application platform it uses, and our Facebook and Instagram pages. Financing applications are completed on the lender’s application site, not on this Site. When you follow those links, the other company’s terms and privacy policy apply, including to any financing application you submit. We are not responsible for their practices.

13. Where information is processed

We operate in the United States, and personal information is stored and processed in the United States by us and our service providers.

14. Changes to this policy

We review this policy at least once a year and update it when our practices change — including before we add text messaging, advertising pixels, live chat or online booking. The “Last updated” date above shows when it last changed. If we make a material change, we will post a prominent notice on the Site, and where the law requires, ask for your consent.

15. Contact us

For privacy questions or requests, contact Foothill Air Systems:

• Email: info@fas-mech.com
• Phone: (530) 212-0057
• Online: our contact page
• Location: Grass Valley, CA 95945