Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Hydrovac Hotline, a service operated by Hydrovac News LLC ("we," "us," or "our"), operates the website hydrovachotline.org and related services. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website, use our services, or interact with us.

We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring transparency about our data practices. By using our services, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at support@hydrovachotline.org or call us at (737) 232-4547.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information in several ways depending on how you interact with our services:

Customer Quote Requests

When you request a quote for hydrovac services, we collect:

• Full name
• Email address
• Phone number
• Project location and details
• Timeline and project requirements
• Any photos or files you attach

A request may also reach us from a partner site that forwards it to us on your behalf.

Provider Registration

When hydrovac providers join our network, either through self-registration or when our team creates a listing on your behalf at your request, we collect:

• Company name and business information
• Contact person names and titles
• Business email addresses and phone numbers
• Regions and service areas
• Fleet information and equipment details
• Company photos and logos

When our administrative team creates a provider listing on your behalf, we use the information you provide to us (by email, phone, or other channels) and may fill in details from your company's public website. You may review, update, or request deletion of this information at any time through your Provider Dashboard or by contacting us.

Automatically Collected Information

When you visit our website, we automatically collect:

• IP addresses, used for security and abuse prevention (rate limiting), and to derive an approximate location (country, region, city and approximate coordinates, never a street address) so we can show you hydrovac providers near you
• When a sponsored placement is shown or clicked, we add it to a daily count for that sponsor and page. We don't keep a record of your individual view or click.

Only if you choose “Analytics” or “Accept all” in our cookie banner, and your browser does not send a Global Privacy Control signal, we also collect:

• A random visitor identifier and session identifier stored in your browser, used to tell new visits from returning ones
• Your IP address and approximate location, stored with our site-analytics session records
• The page that referred you and any campaign (UTM) tags in the link
• Device type and screen size
• Pages visited, searches, clicks, and page-load speed on our site

Phone Conversations

When you call our hotline, our team answers whenever we're available. If no one answers, depending on the number you called, either you can leave a voicemail, or you are connected to an automated AI voice agent that asks for your name and a callback number so a team member can return your call. Before the voice agent answers, a recorded notice tells you the call may be recorded.

• Voice-agent calls are recorded. The recording is transcribed by an AI speech-to-text service, and an AI service may read the transcript to pick out your name and callback number.
• Voicemails are recorded and transcribed by our telephony provider.
• Calls our team places to you may be recorded; you hear a notice that the call may be recorded when you answer.

We collect:

• Your name and callback number, if you provide them
• The phone number you called from (caller ID)
• Call metadata (date, time, and duration)
• Call recordings, voicemails, and their transcripts, as described above
• Any information you choose to share when a team member calls you back

Recordings are held by our telephony provider; transcripts and call details are stored in our database.

Text Messages (SMS)

If you opt in to text messages (as a registered provider, or as a customer who ticks the optional SMS box on our quote request form or agrees by phone), we collect:

• The mobile number you opted in
• For an opt-in on our quote request form or provider sign-up page, a record of your consent: when you gave it, the page or screen you gave it on, and the exact wording you agreed to
• For a verbal opt-in by phone, which team member recorded it, when, the number, the wording read to you, and your YES reply confirming it
• The text messages you send us, and our staff's replies
• Delivery status for the messages we send to that number
• Opt-out (STOP) and re-subscribe (START or YES) records for that number

3. How We Use Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• Routing requests to providers: Reviewing your request and forwarding it to hydrovac service providers serving your area
• Service delivery: Processing quote requests and facilitating communication between customers and providers
• Communications: Sending you relevant updates about your requests, confirmations, and service-related notifications by email, and by text message if you opted in (see SMS/Text Messaging Terms)
• Network management: Maintaining and displaying provider listings in our network
• Sponsorship payments: Arranging and recording sponsorship payments from advertisers (settled manually via ACH or invoice)
• AI-assisted processing: We send some information to AI service providers, including Anthropic. When you submit a request, the project description and related details are sent to Anthropic to classify the job (for example, residential or commercial). Our team also uses AI tools, including Anthropic's, to pull details such as callback numbers out of call transcripts, turn call notes into request details, fill in provider listings from a company's public website, search and review our records and activity logs, and research hydrovac companies near a job. People on our team review requests and choose the providers who receive them. The AI classification can narrow the list our team chooses from, but it does not make the choice
• Service improvement: Analyzing usage patterns to improve our website, services, and user experience
• Customer support: Responding to your inquiries and providing assistance
• Legal compliance: Meeting our legal obligations and protecting our rights
• Industry communications: When you create a provider listing, you will receive emails from Hydrovac News and its partners, including industry updates and tips, delivered via our newsletter provider. You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in any email or by contacting us at support@hydrovachotline.org

4. Information Sharing

We share your information in the following circumstances:

With the Hydrovac Providers We Send Your Request To

After our team reviews your request, we share your project details and contact information with the hydrovac providers we select in your area, so they can send you a quote. This is how the service works — a provider needs your details in order to send you a quote, and may contact you directly using them. Your request also reaches:

• People a provider forwards it to: a provider that receives your request can send it to a colleague or anyone else it chooses, using a link that shows your request and contact details. Each link expires after 30 days.
• Companies we invite to join: when we invite a hydrovac company that is not yet in our network to respond to your request, the invitation includes the general area and type of work, and may include the property type, timing, and a short note from our team about the job, but not your name or contact details. If that company joins, it receives your request, including your contact details.
• Our partner service: if your project is better suited to our private utility marking partner service, Utility Hotline, our team may send it your request, including your contact details.

This is separate from our SMS program. Submitting a quote request does not by itself enroll you in text messages from Hydrovac Hotline. If you tick the optional SMS box, our staff may text you only to ask clarifying questions about that request and to reply to you, and we never pass your SMS consent to a provider; only the service providers that deliver and store our messages handle it; see SMS/Text Messaging Terms.

Third-Party Service Providers

We share personal information with service providers that run parts of our platform for us. Depending on the service, they receive the information needed to perform it:

• Hosting and file storage: runs our website and stores uploaded photos and files
• Database: stores account, request, and call records, including residual data on our previous database platform
• Email delivery and newsletter: sends our emails and the industry newsletter
• SMS: delivers our text messages to providers, staff, and customers who have opted in
• Voice and telephony: carries, records, and transcribes calls and voicemails
• AI: Anthropic processes request details, call transcripts, and records as described in Section 3; a separate AI provider runs our automated voice agent and transcribes call audio
• Maps: displays maps and turns addresses and searches into locations
• Analytics and performance: measures site traffic and page speed
• Caching and abuse prevention: stores short-lived data such as rate-limit counters keyed to IP addresses
• Push notifications: delivers app notifications to provider and staff devices

Third-Party Advertising & Retargeting

When you accept analytics/advertising cookies via our cookie banner (the “Accept all” option), we may load tracking pixels from the following advertising platforms so we can measure ad performance and show you relevant ads on those platforms after you visit our site (commonly known as “retargeting” or “cross-context behavioral advertising”):

• Meta (Facebook) Pixel: only loaded when NEXT_PUBLIC_META_PIXEL_ID is configured AND you have chosen “Accept all”. Used to measure campaign conversions and build retargeting audiences on Facebook and Instagram.
• LinkedIn Insight Tag: only loaded when NEXT_PUBLIC_LINKEDIN_PARTNER_ID is configured AND you have chosen “Accept all”. Used for B2B retargeting on LinkedIn.
• Google Tag Manager: only loaded when NEXT_PUBLIC_GTM_ID is configured AND you have chosen “Accept all”. Used as a container for additional ad-platform tags.

If you choose “Reject optional” or “Analytics”, none of these pixels are injected and no behavioral-advertising data leaves your browser through our site. You can change your decision at any time by clearing your browser's site data and reloading the page; the cookie banner will reappear.

We honor Global Privacy Control. If your browser signals GPC, we treat that as an opt-out of ad-platform sharing and of our analytics: we load none of the pixels above and none of the analytics described in Section 6 — even if “Accept all” was chosen in the cookie banner. No action is needed on your part. You can still contact support@hydrovachotline.org with any question about your preferences.

Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or government regulation, or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others.

5. SMS/Text Messaging Terms

Who Receives Messages

• Registered providers: hydrovac providers with a Hydrovac Hotline account who have opted in, at the numbers they have authorized.
• Customers who opt in: people who submit a quote request and tick the optional SMS box under the phone field, at the number they entered on that request, or who agree by phone and confirm by replying YES, at the number they gave us on that call.

Submitting a quote request without ticking the SMS box does not enroll you. We will not text you about it unless you later agree on a call with our team, in which case we send one text asking you to confirm by replying YES. Separately, members of our own team receive internal operational alerts, and sign-in codes for their admin accounts, at numbers they confirm with a one-time code; those alerts concern our own operations and are never sent to providers or customers.

A provider we send your request to may contact you directly using the details you gave us. Any such call or message comes from that company, not from Hydrovac Hotline, and is not part of this program.

Opt-In / Consent

Texts, including sign-in codes, are off unless you opt in. There are three ways to do that:

• On a form, under the phone field. Our quote request form (on our website and in our mobile app) and our provider sign-up page each have an optional checkbox under the phone number. It starts unchecked, and you can submit the form without ticking it. Ticking it means you agree to receive texts from Hydrovac Hotline at that number, as the sentence beside the box describes. For a quote request, we record when you ticked it, the number, the page, and the exact wording you saw. For a provider, ticking it turns on text messages for the location you signed up with, and you can change that from your dashboard at any time.
• In the provider dashboard. A signed-in provider can turn texts on for any location by entering a mobile number in that location's notification settings and ticking the consent checkbox that authorizes texts to that number, confirming that the person who owns the number has agreed to receive them. The setting cannot be saved without a valid number, and it can be switched off from the same screen. The same consent control appears on the secure, single-use review link we email to a provider when our team has prepared a listing for them.
• By phone, confirmed by text. When you speak with our team, a staff member can read you our text-message consent wording and, if you agree, record a verbal opt-in for your quote request or your provider account. We record who recorded it, when, the number, and the exact wording read. We then send one text asking you to reply YES. We text you only after you reply YES; if you do not reply YES within 7 days, we send no further texts.

Message Types

Providers receive operational account messages only, such as:

• Notice that a new quote request has been sent to your company
• A reminder that a quote request you received is still awaiting your response
• One-time codes for signing in or for verifying a mobile number
• Messages from our staff about your account, and replies to yours

Customers who opt in receive messages from Hydrovac Hotline staff about their own quote request only:

• Clarifying questions about your quote request
• Replies to messages you send us about your quote request
• One text asking you to confirm a phone opt-in by replying YES, and a reply confirming it

We do not send automatic status texts to customers. We do not send promotional or marketing messages through this program. A customer's SMS consent is used only for these texts about that customer's own quote request, and we never pass that consent to a provider. (The phone number itself is shared with the providers we send the request to, as described in section 4, so they can contact the customer.)

Message Frequency

Message frequency varies. For providers it depends on account activity, such as how many quote requests your company receives. For customers it depends on whether our staff have questions about your request and on the messages you send us. Providers can turn texts off at any time from their dashboard, and anyone can reply STOP to any message.

Message & Data Rates

Message and data rates may apply. Please contact your wireless carrier for details about your text messaging plan.

Opt-Out

You may opt out at any time by replying STOP to any message. We add that number to our suppression list immediately and send a single confirmation; no further messages are sent to it unless you reply START (or YES) to re-subscribe. Providers can also turn texts off, or remove a number entirely, from their dashboard at any time.

Help

Reply HELP to any message for program information and contact details. You can also reach us at support@hydrovachotline.org or call (737) 232-4547.

No Sharing of SMS Data

Mobile numbers and SMS opt-in consent will not be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing purposes.

To deliver the messages described above, we disclose the number to our SMS service provider, which transmits them on our behalf, and to the receiving wireless carrier. Like the rest of our records, numbers and consent records are also stored by our hosting and database providers.

Two things worth stating plainly. A provider may add a colleague's number (for example a dispatcher or an alternate contact) to their own account; when they do, they are confirming that person agreed to receive these messages, and that person can reply STOP at any time to be removed. Separately, a location contact number that a provider chooses to publish on their public listing is visible to anyone who views that listing; enrolling it in text messages neither causes that nor changes it.

Not a Condition of Service

Opting in to text messages is optional. It is not a condition of submitting a quote request, of listing your company on Hydrovac Hotline, of receiving quote requests, or of using any other part of our service. Providers who do not opt in receive the same notifications by email at the address on their account.

Carrier Disclaimer

Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. Message delivery is subject to effective transmission by your wireless carrier.

6. Cookies & Tracking

We use cookies and similar browser storage for the purposes below. Our Cookie Policy lists each one with its lifetime.

• Sign-in: a session cookie called hotline_session keeps providers and staff signed in. It holds a JSON Web Token (JWT), expires after 30 days, and is set with the HttpOnly and Secure flags.
• Analytics: a random visitor identifier and session identifier in your browser's storage for our own measurement of visits, searches, and clicks, plus page-view analytics and page-speed measurement from our hosting provider. These run only if you choose “Analytics” or “Accept all” and your browser does not send a Global Privacy Control signal; otherwise we remove any identifiers stored on an earlier visit.
• Sponsor billing: when a sponsored placement is shown, a first-party cookie that lasts 6 months lets us verify and count views of it so we can bill the sponsor, and limit how often one browser can request ads. It is used for nothing else.
• Maps and video: our maps provider's software and the video player on some provider listings may store their own data in your browser (see our Cookie Policy).
• Form drafts: browser local storage saves quote request and provider sign-up drafts for up to 7 days, so you can pick up where you left off. This data stays on your device until you submit the form.
• Advertising: retargeting pixels load only if you choose “Accept all” (see Section 4).

7. Data Retention

How long we keep information depends on the type:

• Quote requests: A request we mark as irrelevant (for example spam or a test) is deleted 180 days after we mark it, unless we archive it first. Other requests, including ones we reject, are kept without a fixed deletion schedule.
• Provider accounts: Kept while the account is open. When an account is deleted, the account and its listing details are removed from our database 14 days later. Uploaded logos and photos, the history of changes to the profile, and the requests the provider received are kept separately.
• Call recordings and transcripts: Kept without a fixed deletion schedule.
• SMS records: Text message delivery logs are deleted after 365 days, and so are the text messages you send us and our staff's replies. A customer's SMS opt-in record is kept with the quote request it belongs to; other opt-in records (sign-up, verbal, and when you confirmed a verbal opt-in by replying YES) are kept as our record of your consent, including after you opt out or the opt-in expires. An opt-out (STOP) record is kept so that the number is never messaged again, and is removed only if you re-subscribe by replying START (or YES) or ask us to remove it.
• Email and notification records: Our records of the emails and app notifications we send (who they went to, when, whether they were delivered, and a copy or short preview of the message) are kept for 365 days, then deleted. If an email to you bounces or is marked as spam, your address is kept on our do-not-email list so we do not send to it again; you can ask us to remove it.
• Sign-in sessions: The website session cookie expires after 30 days. Mobile app sign-ins stay active until you sign out or we end the session.
• Site analytics: Analytics session records, including IP address and approximate location, are deleted after 90 days. Page-level activity (pages viewed, referrer, campaign tags, device type, the browser visitor identifier and, for some interactions such as provider-listing and sponsored-placement views, city and region) is kept without a fixed deletion schedule.
• Sign-in audit logs: We log sign-in attempts, including IP address, browser, and approximate location (country, region, city and approximate coordinates), for security auditing and account troubleshooting. Retained for 365 days.

Our administrators may permanently delete provider accounts, quote requests, and other records from our systems as part of routine data management. Deleted data cannot be recovered. Administrative deletion actions are recorded in our audit log, which is kept for 365 days.

We may retain certain information longer if required for legal compliance, dispute resolution, or fraud prevention.

8. Your Rights

You have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Correction: Request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete information
• Deletion: Request that we delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions
• Opt-out: Unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time
• Portability: Request your data in a portable format

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at support@hydrovachotline.org. We will respond to your request within 30 days.

9. California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):

• Right to Know: You can request information about the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected, the sources of that information, and how we use and share it
• Right to Delete: You can request that we delete your personal information, with certain exceptions
• Right to Correct: You can request that we correct inaccurate personal information that we maintain about you
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale: You can opt out of the "sale" of your personal information. However, we do not sell personal information to third parties
• Right to Opt-Out of Sharing: You can opt out of the "sharing" of your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes. When you choose “Accept all” in our cookie banner, our retargeting pixels (Meta, LinkedIn, Google Tag Manager, see the “Third-Party Advertising” section above) may share pseudonymous identifiers with those platforms for ad measurement and retargeting. You can opt out by choosing “Reject optional” or “Analytics” in our cookie banner, by clearing site data to re-trigger the banner, by sending a Global Privacy Control signal, or by emailing support@hydrovachotline.org.
• Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information: You can request that we limit the use and disclosure of your sensitive personal information to only what is necessary to perform the services you have requested
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights

To submit a CCPA/CPRA request, contact us at support@hydrovachotline.org or call (737) 232-4547.

10. Security Measures

We implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal information:

• Encryption: All data transmitted between your browser and our servers is encrypted using HTTPS/TLS
• Passwordless Authentication: We use secure, passwordless authentication methods to protect provider accounts
• Access Controls: We limit access to personal information to authorized personnel only
• Secure Cookies: Session cookies are set with HttpOnly and Secure flags to prevent unauthorized access

While we strive to protect your information, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security but are committed to maintaining industry-standard protections.

11. Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed to individuals under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from a child under 13, please contact us immediately at support@hydrovachotline.org and we will promptly delete the information.

12. Policy Changes

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, legal requirements, or other factors.

When we make changes:

• We will update the "Last revised" date at the top of this page
• For significant changes, we will provide notice through our website or by email to registered providers
• Continued use of our services after changes indicates acceptance of the updated policy

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

13. Contact Information

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

We will respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 30 days.