Texting privacy

This page is at https://blutusk.com/sms-privacy/. The rules for how texting works, including STOP and HELP, are in the texting terms.

Who you are texting

Buffalo Computer Technology LLC d/b/a Blutusk is a local electronics sales and service shop at 3768 Seneca St, West Seneca, NY 14224. The shop sells and services phones, tablets, computers, game consoles, accessories, and custom PCs.

People often text the shop instead of calling. A typical message asks something ordinary, such as “do you have this phone in?” or “can you repair the HDMI port on a PlayStation?” Blutusk replies about that request. The reply may say whether the item is available, whether the shop can do the repair, ask a question needed to do the work, or say that a repair is ready.

Those are conversations with people who contacted the shop about a particular request. Blutusk does not use texting to send mass marketing.

How a text conversation starts

A text conversation starts only in one of these ways:

You text (716) 608-6874 or (716) 352-5674.
You ask in person or by phone to be texted, and you give your mobile number for that conversation.

That is the opt-in. It is the record that you asked to text Blutusk, or asked Blutusk to text you.

Sending the website inquiry form is not an opt-in. It does not sign you up for texts. If you type a phone number on that form, Blutusk uses it to respond to the inquiry. The form is described under “Website inquiry form” below. If you later ask in person or by phone to be texted, that later request is separate from the form.

What Blutusk collects

When you text Blutusk, or when you ask the shop to text you, Blutusk collects:

your mobile number
the content of the messages
the time of the messages
the fact that you texted the shop, or that you asked the shop to text you

If you mention a device, a repair, or a product, that detail is in the conversation because you sent it. Blutusk does not buy mobile numbers, and it does not collect them from other companies in order to text people.

What texts are used for

Blutusk uses your number, the messages, and the opt-in record to:

answer your question
follow up on that repair or product request
keep a record of the conversation and of the opt-in
stop texts when you reply STOP
meet legal duties

A follow-up is about the request you made. An example is a reply that the phone you asked about is in stock, or that the repair you asked about is ready.

Blutusk does not sell lists of mobile numbers. Blutusk does not use your number for promotions that are unrelated to the request you made.

How often, and how to stop

Message frequency varies. It depends on your question and on the work, if there is any. Message and data rates may apply. Those rates come from your wireless carrier, the network that delivers the text, not from Blutusk.

Reply STOP to opt out. You will get one text confirming that, and then texts from both (716) 608-6874 and (716) 352-5674 stop unless you start again. Reply HELP for help. Those controls are explained in the texting terms.

You do not have to text Blutusk in order to shop or to ask for a repair. You can call or visit instead.

Who else can see a text

Shop staff handle the conversation. People who work at Blutusk are not an outside company. A staff member reading your text in order to answer you is not third-party marketing.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.

Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties, except the messaging providers who deliver the texts.

In plain English, your mobile number, your messages, and the record of your consent are not advertising material for anyone else. Blutusk does not give them to other companies or affiliates so those companies can promote their own products or services. Blutusk does not sell them and does not rent them.

The second sentence has one delivery exception. The messaging provider that transmits the text has to carry the message between your phone and the shop. The message travels on the wireless networks that deliver texts. That provider’s job is delivery. Receiving the message so it can be delivered is not permission for the provider, or for anyone else, to use your number or your consent for its own marketing.

There is also one narrow legal limit. If a law, a court, or a government authority requires Blutusk to produce a specific record, Blutusk produces that record only as far as the law requires. That is not a list for sale or rent, and it does not let another company market to you.

The handling described above is staff at the shop answering you, the shop keeping a record of that conversation, the messaging provider transmitting the text, and a specific record produced only when the law requires it. Your opt-in and your consent are not a category of information that gets passed along for any other purpose.

All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

That sentence is printed word for word so it cannot be missed. It means your text opt-in and your consent stay out of every other category on this page, and they are not shared with third parties. The only ordinary exception is the messaging provider that delivers the text. The only other limit is a legal duty to produce a specific record when the law requires it.

How long text records are kept

Blutusk keeps the conversation and the opt-in record while the shop is working on your request, and for a reasonable time afterward as an ordinary business record of a customer conversation.

When that record is no longer needed for the conversation, a dispute, fraud prevention, or the law, Blutusk deletes it or de-identifies it. De-identified means the record no longer identifies you.

You can ask pros@blutusk.com to delete your number. Blutusk will stop texting that number. If a record has to be kept because of a dispute, fraud prevention, or the law, Blutusk keeps that record and still stops the texts.

Security

Blutusk uses reasonable care to protect text conversations and opt-in records. No way of sending or storing a text is perfectly secure, and Blutusk cannot guarantee that it is.

Children

These text numbers are not directed at children under 13. When a child needs a device repaired, a parent or guardian should be the one in touch with the shop. If Blutusk learns it has texted a child under 13, it will stop and delete that number.

Your choices

You can do any of the following:

Reply STOP to stop texts, or reply HELP for help. The texting terms explain those replies.
Email pros@blutusk.com and ask Blutusk to correct something in the conversation.
Email pros@blutusk.com and ask Blutusk to delete your number. Texting stops. A record that has to be kept is described in “How long text records are kept.”
Call (716) 608-6874 or visit the shop instead of texting.

Website inquiry form

This section is the website inquiry notice. It covers the Blutusk website when you browse or send an inquiry. It applies to this website, not to manufacturer, map, email, or other external sites linked from it. It is not a request for texts, and it does not change the texting rules above.

Inquiry forms may collect your name, phone number, email address, the area you are interested in, the message you write, and basic context such as the page from which the inquiry was sent. Please do not submit passwords, payment-card information, account credentials, or highly sensitive personal information through a general website inquiry.

Blutusk uses inquiry information to respond, understand the product, repair, or service you are asking about, arrange next steps, prevent abuse, keep reasonable business records, and comply with applicable obligations. The website does not currently provide online checkout and does not ask for payment information.

A phone number on the form is used to respond to that inquiry. Submitting the form does not opt you into texts. Texts happen when you text (716) 608-6874 or (716) 352-5674, or when you ask in person or by phone to be texted and give your mobile number for that conversation.

The inquiry form uses EmailJS to deliver the message and Google reCAPTCHA to reduce automated abuse. Those services may process request metadata and technical information under their own policies. Their code is loaded when you submit the form rather than on every page view. Delivery of the form is how the inquiry reaches Blutusk, and reCAPTCHA is how automated abuse is reduced. Information from the form is not text-message opt-in data or consent. It is not permission for EmailJS, Google, or any other company to market to you.

Buttons for directions, phone calls, text messages, email, manufacturer information, or other external resources may open services operated by other companies. Their privacy practices apply after you follow those links. Choosing a text link opens a message on your phone. It does not, by itself, start a text conversation. A conversation starts when you send the text, or when you ask in person or by phone to be texted and give your mobile number.

Blutusk keeps inquiry and related business records for as long as reasonably needed to respond, provide service, maintain records, prevent fraud, and meet legal or operational requirements. Reasonable safeguards are used, but no website or email delivery method can guarantee absolute security.

You may contact Blutusk to ask about, correct, or request deletion of information you previously submitted, subject to identity verification and any record-retention obligations. You can also choose to call or visit instead of using the website form.

This general business website is not directed to children under 13. A parent or guardian should contact Blutusk when a minor needs help with a device or service.

Updates

Blutusk posts any change to this policy on this page and updates the effective date at the top. The date shown there is the date that applies.

Contact

Buffalo Computer Technology LLC d/b/a Blutusk
3768 Seneca St
West Seneca, NY 14224

Call or text: (716) 608-6874
Text: (716) 608-6874 or (716) 352-5674
Email: pros@blutusk.com
Website: https://blutusk.com

Shop hours are Monday–Friday, 10 AM–7 PM, and Saturday, 10 AM–3 PM. The shop is closed Sunday. A text sent while the shop is closed is answered when the shop is open.