Privacy Policy.

Who We Are, and Who Is Responsible for Your Data

Applicare is a unit of Sony Enterprises (GSTIN: 03ASPPS4069Q1ZT), 48 Oakwood Lane, Palm Grove, Airport Road, Amritsar, Punjab 143101. We repair home appliances at people's homes across India.

Sony Enterprises is the organisation responsible for your personal information. It decides what is collected and why, and it carries the obligations in this policy. Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 that role is called the data fiduciary. Everything below is undertaken by Sony Enterprises, trading as Applicare. Our technicians, our office staff and our software all act for Sony Enterprises.

This policy explains what we collect through applicare.in (and, for our own technicians, through the Applicare Tech app, covered in its own section below), why, who else sees it, how long we keep it, and what you can ask us to do about it.

Where This Policy Applies

Applicare operates only in India and does not target EU or US jurisdictions. This policy is written for the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Information Technology Act, 2000 as they apply in India.

Information We Collect

We ask for as little as the job needs. When you book a repair or send us an enquiry, we collect:

• Your name, so the technician knows who he is meeting.
• Your phone number, the number the technician should call. We send one WhatsApp OTP to it to confirm the number is really yours. That code confirms your phone number and nothing else. Applicare will never ask you for a bank or payment OTP. If anyone claiming to be from Applicare asks for one, it is not us. Put the phone down and call us on the number below.
• Your service address and pincode, and your city, to check we cover your area and to send the technician to the right door.
• The appliance and what is wrong with it, in your own words, plus the make and model where it matters for the part.
• Your email address and an alternate mobile number, both optional. The booking form asks for an email (for your booking updates and receipt) and for a second mobile number (another number the technician can call if you do not pick up); you can leave both blank. The contact form also has an optional email field.
• Your service history with us: past jobs, parts fitted, warranty dates, invoices, and notes from calls or WhatsApp about a booking.
• Payment details: we take cash, UPI and card. Card and online payments are handled by our payment partner. We do not store your card number or bank details; we see that a payment succeeded, not the instrument behind it.
• The exact location of your service address. The booking form asks you to drop a pin on the map, or tap Use my location, so the technician is sent to the right place; the pin is part of the booking, not an extra you can skip. The map is provided by Google Maps, which processes the point. If the map cannot load on your device, the address you type is enough, and we may look it up on Google Maps to check that a technician covers it.
• What you send us through Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp ads. If you fill in a form inside a Facebook or Instagram ad, or message us from a WhatsApp ad, Meta collects your name, phone number and what you need under its own terms and passes them to us so we can call you back.
• Your job application, if you apply on our Join Us page: your name, mobile number, city, the role you are applying for, what you can repair, your experience, and anything you write in the message box. We use these details only to consider your application and to call you about it; your number is never used for marketing. We keep the application while it is being considered, and you can ask us to delete it at any time.
• How you use this website: through Google Tag Manager (container GTM-PDHNCVXF), Google Ads tags and the Meta Pixel. This is pages viewed, device and browser, and which ad or link brought you here.
• Ad click information: if you arrive from a Google or Meta ad, your browser stores that ad's click ID and any campaign tags in a first-party cookie on your own device for 90 days, so we can tell which ads actually lead to real bookings.
• Our own check for fake ad clicks. Every time a page on this site loads, whether or not you came from an ad, a small script sends our own systems a record of the visit: the page address (including any Google ad click ID or campaign tag in it), a short code scrambled from your browser and device settings (browser type, language, screen size, time zone, processor count and how your device draws a tiny test image), and how long you stayed on the page, counted up to ten seconds. Our server notes your IP address and browser type alongside it. We use this record to tell real ad clicks from fake ones. We keep it only as long as it is useful for that. The code is a one-way scramble, not a list of your device details, and the record is not linked to your name or phone number.

We do not ask for your ID, your income, your date of birth or anything about your household beyond the appliance. If a technician ever asks for something not on this list, you are entitled to refuse and tell us.

Why We Are Allowed to Use It: Your Consent

Our legal basis is your consent. Nothing is collected quietly in the background of a booking: right above the button that sends your request, the form says what you are agreeing to, and nothing is sent until you tap that button.

On the booking form the line reads: "By continuing, you agree to be contacted about this booking and to our Privacy Policy." On the city call-back form it reads: "By tapping Call me back, you agree to be contacted about this repair and to our Privacy Policy." On the contact form a box reads: "I agree to Applicare processing my details to respond to this enquiry, in line with the Privacy Policy." That is the whole of what you are agreeing to: running your service request, replying to you, and measuring which ads bring bookings, including the scrambled (hashed) Google and Meta match described under Cookies & Tracking.

You can withdraw that consent at any time, and it is meant to be as easy as giving it was: one message or one call to the contacts at the bottom of this page. No form to fill in, no reason required, and we will not argue with you about it.

Two honest limits, so there is no surprise later:

• Withdrawing consent stops future use of your information. It cannot undo a visit that has already happened or a message already sent.
• If you withdraw consent while a booking is still open, we will not be able to complete that booking, and we will tell you so rather than turning up anyway. Records we are required to keep by tax and accounting law stay for their required period. See How Long We Keep It below.

How We Use Your Information

• Schedule and carry out the service you asked for, and get the right technician to your address.
• Confirm your booking, tell you who is coming, and reach you if the timing changes.
• Raise your bill, record what was done and which parts were fitted, and honour the warranty on that job.
• Follow up afterwards to check the appliance is still working, and act on your feedback.
• Keep the records tax and accounting law requires us to keep.
• Understand which ads and pages bring real bookings, so we spend less on advertising that does not work.

We do not use your service history to profile you, score you, or set your price by who you appear to be. The inspection charge depends on the appliance and its variant, not on you.

Calls, WhatsApp and SMS

There are two different kinds of messages, and they follow different rules.

Service messages are part of the booking itself. These are the OTP that confirms your number, the booking confirmation, reschedule updates, the amount for your job, and a follow-up after the job. While a booking is live you cannot opt out of these. Our team may also call you about the same booking, and your technician calls you before the visit to fix the exact time.

Promotional messages are optional. Offers, seasonal service reminders and campaign messages are separate. Reply STOP to any of them, or tell us on a call, and we take you off that list. It does not affect your bookings or your warranty.

To deliver a WhatsApp message we have to share your phone number with Meta, which operates WhatsApp. That is how the message reaches you; there is no way to send a WhatsApp without it. Meta handles that number under its own terms. If you would rather not be contacted on WhatsApp, tell us and we will call you instead.

Cookies & Tracking

We use Google Tag Manager (GTM-PDHNCVXF), Google Ads tags and the Meta Pixel to see how people use this website and to measure our ads. These use cookies stored on your own device. The Google ad click ID described above sits in a first-party cookie for 90 days. Our own check for fake ad clicks, described under Information We Collect, sends its record to our own systems; it sets no cookie of its own.

You can block or clear cookies in your browser settings at any time, and the booking flow will still work. Blocking them only removes our ability to measure.

When you ask for the code, and again when you book, we send some of your details to Google and Meta in a scrambled (hashed) form. Google gets your phone number and, if you gave one, your email. Meta gets those and, where we hold them, your name, city and pincode. They use this to tell us which ads led to real bookings, and to build or exclude ad audiences, for example so people who already booked are not shown the same ad again. The booking's value goes with it. Your street address, your calls and your payment details never do.

Choosing what ads you see. You can control ads based on this in Meta ad preferences, Google My Ad Center (also adssettings.google.com) and aboutads.info. To have your details removed from our records, including our ad measurement, use the contacts at the bottom of this page; see Your Rights below.

Who Else Sees Your Information

We never sell your personal information, and we do not hand it to competitors, data brokers or unrelated businesses. We share it only with:

• The technician assigned to your job, and the office staff coordinating it: your name, phone, address and the fault. Not your payment details.
• Payment processors, to take a card or online payment securely.
• Communication services, to deliver calls, SMS and WhatsApp messages.
• Advertising providers (Google, Meta), to measure which ads bring bookings. This includes your phone number, and for Meta your name, city and pincode, in scrambled (hashed) form, as described under Cookies & Tracking.
• Google Maps, to place the pin you drop or the address you type, so we can check that a technician covers it.
• Cloud storage and hosting providers, which hold our systems.
• Legal authorities, only where the law or a court order requires it.

These partners are bound by confidentiality terms and may use your information only to do the job we engaged them for, not for their own purposes.

If the business changes hands. If Sony Enterprises is ever merged, sold or its assets transferred, customer records may transfer with the business so that ongoing services and warranties are honoured. The new owner would be bound by this policy until you are told otherwise, and you would keep every right listed below.

Where Your Data Is Processed

Some of the tools we depend on process data outside India. Google (Tag Manager, Ads, Maps) and Meta (Pixel, lead forms, and WhatsApp for messaging) run on infrastructure abroad, so your website activity, and for WhatsApp your phone number, is processed outside India by those companies under their own terms. Our own customer and service records sit with our hosting and cloud providers.

The main services we use that process data outside India are Google (Tag Manager and Ads: how the site is used, and which adverts bring people here; Maps, to place your pin or address; and Firebase, for the technician app's notifications and crash reports) and Meta, including WhatsApp (to deliver your booking messages, its advertising pixel, and its ad lead forms). We do not sell your data to anyone. When we add a service that processes your data abroad, we update this page.

How Long We Keep It

We keep personal information for as long as the reason we collected it still holds, or as long as a law requires, whichever runs longer. For a repair business that reason lasts a long time, and we would rather say so plainly than publish a tidy number we do not actually keep to.

• Service and repair history (what was repaired, which parts were fitted, warranty dates), kept for as long as you are our customer. When a technician opens your washing machine, knowing which part was replaced in it two years ago is what tells him where to look, and it is what lets us honour a warranty claim without asking you to prove it. Delete that on a timer and every visit starts from nothing.
• Payment and invoice records: kept for as long as Indian tax law requires us to keep them. That period is set by law, not by us, and it is longer than we would otherwise need them for.
• Call, SMS and WhatsApp logs about a booking, kept as part of that job's record, for as long as the service history they belong to. They are how we can check what was actually said and agreed if a job is ever disputed.
• Your contact details: kept while you are our customer, and deleted when you ask us to.

We do not keep any of it for purposes we never told you about, and we do not pass old records to anyone new. The same limits in this policy apply to a record from five years ago as to one from this morning.

You can ask us to delete your data at any time. Contact our grievance officer (details below), or call 97816-29990, and say so. You do not need a reason, and it does not have to wait until you stop being a customer. We will check you are who you say you are first, then delete. The steps, and what we keep, are on Delete your Applicare account.

Two honest limits on that, so there is no surprise:

• Records a law obliges us to keep (invoices and tax records, mainly) stay for their required period. We will tell you exactly which ones those are and when they go, rather than using it as a reason to keep everything else.
• We may keep anonymised or aggregate records after that: how many jobs we did in a city, how often a part fails, average repair times. Those carry no name, no number and no address, and cannot be traced back to you.

If a law ever forces a different answer than the one above, the law wins and we will say so here.

How We Protect It

What we actually do:

• Customer records are held in access-controlled systems, and only the staff who need a record to do their job can open it.
• Technicians see the job in front of them, not the whole customer database.
• Staff are briefed on handling customer information before they are given access to it.
• We do not store card or bank details at all, so there is nothing there to lose.
• We review these practices as the business and the systems change.

What we will not pretend: no system connected to the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a breach ever affected your personal data, we would tell you and the Data Protection Board of India as the law requires, rather than quietly hoping you did not notice.

The Applicare Tech App (for Our Technicians)

Applicare Tech is a work app used only by Applicare's own service technicians. It is not open to the public: the office creates every account, and a new phone must be approved by an administrator before it can be used. This section covers what the app collects from the technicians who use it. Customers never use this app.

Location. The app records a technician's location so we can send the nearest technician to a job, show the live field map to our dispatch team, and confirm that attendance and the start and finish of each job were recorded at the right address. It records location when marking attendance and when starting or finishing a job. During a working shift it also keeps recording in the background, while the app is minimised or the screen is off, so the travel record between jobs stays accurate. On Android an ongoing notification shows while this is running; on iPhone the system location indicator shows. The app explains this before asking, Android and iPhone both ask separately for background access, and permission can be turned off at any time in the phone's settings. The app may also ask to be left out of battery saving so the phone does not silently stop the recording. Saying no is allowed and does not block the app.

Camera, photos and files. Technicians can take or choose photos and videos to attach to a job, an expense claim, proof of a cash deposit, or a chat message. The app opens the camera and photo library only when the technician chooses to attach something.

Microphone. The app records audio only when a technician chooses to speak a question to the in-app repair assistant, or to send a voice note in chat. It does not listen at any other time.

Messages. The app has an internal chat between technicians and office staff. Messages and attachments are stored on our systems so conversations stay available across phones. Messages can be reported to Applicare and conversations can be muted.

Account and device information. Name, phone number and the technician ID we issue; crash reports and basic performance data, so we can fix faults; which parts of the app are used, so we can improve it; and a device token, so job assignments and messages can be delivered. The app uses no advertising identifier, shows no advertising, and does not track technicians across other companies' apps or websites.

Who else sees it. App data is used to run the business: assigning and completing jobs, paying technicians and supporting customers. It is never sold. Notifications and crash reports go through Google Firebase, which processes that data outside India under Google's terms.

How long it is kept. Job records, attendance, payments and expenses are kept for as long as the business needs them for operations, accounting and the law. The detailed background location record is kept for 90 days. After that it is reduced to a daily summary (distance travelled, time active and a simplified route) and the detailed points are deleted. The location recorded when a job is started or finished stays with that job record.

Closing an account. Technicians can ask to see, correct or delete their personal data, and can ask for their account to be closed. Because the office creates these accounts, the office handles these requests: contact us using the details at the end of this page, see "Delete my account" in the app's Settings, or follow the steps on Delete your Applicare account. Records the business must keep by law, such as finished job records and payment history, stay for that purpose only.

Your Rights

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 you have the following rights over your personal data. Ask us and we act. You do not need a reason.

• Access a summary: a plain summary of the personal data we hold about you, what we are doing with it, and who we have shared it with.
• Correction and completion: get anything wrong, incomplete or out of date fixed. A wrong address or an old phone number costs you a visit, so this one is worth using.
• Erasure: have your personal data deleted once it is no longer needed for the service, unless a law requires us to keep it.
• Withdraw consent: at any time, as easily as you gave it, as described above.
• Nominate someone: name another person to exercise these rights on your behalf if you die or become unable to act for yourself. Tell us who, and we will record it against your account.
• Grievance redressal: complain to our Grievance Officer about anything in this policy, and get an answer. Details are in the next section.
• Data portability: ask for a copy of your service history in a readable, portable format.
• Opt out of promotional messages: without affecting your bookings or your warranty.

To use any of these, contact our grievance officer (details below) or call 97816-29990. We will check you are who you say you are (usually by confirming the phone number on the booking) before we release or delete anything, because the same protection has to work against someone impersonating you.

Grievance Officer

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, this is the person whose job it is to answer you. This is separate from general help.

If you are not satisfied with how we handle your complaint, you may raise it with the Data Protection Board of India.

If You Are Not Satisfied

If our Grievance Officer has not resolved your complaint, you may take it to the Data Protection Board of India. Going to us first does not take away that right.

Children's Privacy

Our services are meant for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18, and bookings are expected to be made by an adult. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Advertising Disclaimer

We advertise through Google Ads and Meta. These platforms use cookies and similar technologies to record how you interact with our website and others, and to show you ads. We can see the reports they give us; we do not control what they collect or how they use it. Their own privacy policies govern that part.

Photos and Copyright

Some images on this site are licensed or sourced from third-party providers. We credit creators where we can, but we cannot guarantee every image is correctly attributed. If you believe any content here infringes your copyright, contact us and we will remove it or credit it properly. We do not claim ownership of third-party images unless stated.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as the business or the law changes. Changes are posted on this page with a new date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use your personal data, we will tell you rather than relying on you to re-read the page.

Contact

Sony Enterprises (Applicare)
48, Oakwood Lane, Palm Grove, Airport Road, Amritsar, Punjab 143101
Phone: 97816-29990
Hours: Monday to Sunday, 9 AM to 9:30 PM

For a question about your personal data, contact our grievance officer above.