Privacy Policy

Version 1.9 · Effective November 12, 2026 · Last updated November 12, 2026

The short version

We collect only what we need to match your event with a vendor: your first name, WhatsApp number and event details.
Your name and number go to one vendor per service, and only once that vendor agrees to take your request. After the call, you and the vendor rate each other; ratings are never published. We never sell personal information.
We message you only about your request. We send no marketing unless you separately agree, and you can reply STOP at any time.
Our website tells Meta (Facebook and Instagram) which ads bring visitors and requests. Your name and number go to Meta, scrambled, only if you tick a separate, optional box.
Some of the companies that run our systems are in the United States, so your information may be stored and accessed there.
You can ask to see, correct or delete your information by emailing support@planningbell.com. We answer within 30 days.

The full text below is what applies. The summary is only a guide.

1Who we are#

Planning Bell is based at 7915 152A Ave NW, Edmonton, Alberta T5C 3A1, Canada. The company that operates it is named in our Terms of Service. We are responsible for the personal information we collect and for what our service providers do with it on our behalf.

Our Privacy Officer is accountable for this policy and answers questions about it, including about our service providers outside Canada. Contact them at support@planningbell.com.

This policy covers our website, our request form, our WhatsApp, SMS and email messages, and vendor accounts. We follow Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Our Terms of Service explain how Planning Bell works.

2What we collect#

From customers: First name, WhatsApp number, event type, date, number of guests, city or area, the services you want and a budget range for each. Your replies to us, call times, whether each call happened, and the date and time you gave consent.
From vendors: Business name, contact name, phone number, email, service, the events you do, area, smallest job, weekly cap and links to your work. Your offer responses, call answers, flags, statements and payments. Card details are held by Stripe; we see only the card brand, last four digits and expiry.
From your device: Pages visited and form steps completed, browser and device type, IP address and the approximate location it implies, and which ad or link brought you here (the source, campaign and ad).

We do not ask for your full address, a customer’s payment details, or sensitive information such as health or financial information. Please do not send it to us or to a vendor over WhatsApp.

3Why we use it#

to confirm your request is real and check it fits a vendor’s service, area and smallest job
to match you with one vendor per service and help book a call
to send the messages the service needs, such as confirmations, one reminder, call times and questions about the call
to decide whether a call is billable, handle flags and disputes, and bill vendors
to review vendor applications, log vendors in and keep accounts secure
to prevent fraud, duplicate requests and misuse
to measure which ads lead to confirmed requests and calls, to show our ads to people likely to be planning events or running event businesses, and to improve Planning Bell (see Advertising partners)
to meet our legal, tax and accounting duties

Matching is automatic: it uses your area, date, service and budget, and each vendor’s area, smallest job and remaining weekly capacity. A person at Planning Bell reviews requests the checks cannot settle. We do not use your information for any other purpose without asking you first, unless the law requires or allows it.

5What vendors see#

For each service you ask for, we offer your request to one vendor at a time, never to several at once. Before they take it, they see the event type, date, number of guests, area, budget range and the checks it passed. Not your name or number.

Only once a vendor accepts your request or proposes a call time do they see your first name and WhatsApp number. Vendors agree to use them only for your request, never for marketing without your own consent, and to delete them when asked. Each vendor is a separate business and is responsible under privacy law for the information once they have it.

When you are matched, we show you the vendor’s business name and the links they gave us, so you know who is calling.

For vendors: we use your service, area and the events you do to decide where to run our ads, and we may add your hashed phone number, name and email to the audience lists described in Advertising partners, to find similar businesses and to measure ads. You can opt out at any time by emailing support@planningbell.com, without affecting your account. We do not name your business in our ads without asking you first.

6Ratings and vendor checks#

Your rating of a vendor: About two days after your call we ask on WhatsApp whether you spoke with the vendor, whether you booked them, a rating from 1 to 5 and an optional comment. We use your answers to decide whether the vendor is charged, to keep good vendors and to pause poor ones. We do not publish ratings, and we do not show a vendor your comment with your name.
A vendor’s rating of you: After a call, the vendor rates it from 1 to 5 and can tell us if you did not answer, if the budget was not real, if you had already booked someone, if the request was not a real event, or if you were rude or unsafe. If two vendors rate you low, or one reports the request was not real or you were unsafe, we may check your next request by hand before matching it. This expires after 12 months, and you can ask us what we hold and to correct it.
Vendor checks: For vendors, we keep the Google Business listing you link: its ID for as long as you are a vendor, and the name, rating, review count, Maps link, phone number and website Google shows for at most 30 days at a time, as Google’s terms require. We compare that phone number and website with yours to check the listing is your business, and one listing can belong to only one vendor and the proof you upload, such as photos, videos, permits and insurance with their expiry dates. Proof is kept in private storage that only our staff can open. We also work out a quality score from your ratings, how often you accept leads and whether booked calls happen, and use it to pause or review accounts.
How long we keep them: Ratings, comments and flags: 24 months after the call. Vendor proof and Google listing details: while you are a vendor and 12 months after you leave, or sooner if you ask us to delete them and no dispute is open.

7Messages and marketing#

Service messages are about your request or vendor account. We send them on WhatsApp, with SMS or email as backups. They do not contain advertising.
We do not send marketing, such as news or offers, unless you separately agree to it. If we ever ask, it will be a separate choice, never pre-ticked, and saying no will not affect your request.
Every marketing message will name Planning Bell, give our contact details and let you unsubscribe. We act on an unsubscribe within 10 business days, usually at once.
Reply STOP to any WhatsApp or SMS message to stop our messages. For a customer this also closes the request, since we can no longer book your calls. We keep a record of your number and the date you opted out so that we do not message you again.
We never give your number to anyone so they can message you. Sharing with advertising partners is separate and covered in Advertising partners.

8Cookies, analytics and ads#

Needed: Cookies that keep vendors and staff logged in, keep the site secure, remember your cookie choice, and remember whether you last used the vendor side of the site (so planningbell.com opens that side for you; the switch at the top changes it). The site does not work without them, so they are always on.
Analytics: We use PostHog to count visits and see how people move through the site, such as which pages they open, what they click and which form step they leave at. PostHog also records some visits as a replay of the screen so we can find and fix problems. Anything typed into a form is hidden in these replays, and so is the text on vendor and staff pages and on your request page. Our servers also tell PostHog when a request, application, login code or lead answer is sent, with only the step and the result, never a name, number or event details. When you send a request, we also send PostHog the first name you typed, and when you apply as a vendor, your name, business name and service, so we can understand who signs up and where people stop. This happens only while analytics are allowed in Cookie preferences. We never send PostHog your phone number, WhatsApp number or email. When a vendor or staff member logs in, we link their visits, and the names they gave when applying, to their account number. We use PostHog to improve the site, not to make decisions about you.
Google Analytics: We also use Google Analytics (Google LLC) to count visits and see which pages and ads bring people to the site. We remove query strings and identifiers from page addresses before they are sent, and Google signals and ad personalisation are off, so it is not used to target ads. It runs only when analytics are allowed in Cookie preferences.
Ad measurement: The Meta Pixel tells Meta when someone views a page, sends a request or applies as a vendor, with the ad click identifier, so Meta can link the visit to the ad that brought it. We also send the request, application and confirmation events to Meta from our servers, so they are counted even when a browser blocks the Pixel. None of these events carry a name, number or event details. What else we send Meta, and when, is in Advertising partners.
Area suggestions: When you type your city or area, Google Maps suggests places. Google receives what you type and your IP address.
Your choices: Analytics and ad measurement are on until you turn them off. The first time you visit, a banner lets you accept them or open Cookie preferences, and you can change your choice at any time with the Cookie preferences link at the bottom of every page. If you turn them off, or your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we stop PostHog, Google Analytics and the Meta Pixel in your browser, and our servers stop sending PostHog and Meta the events described here for your visits. You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings, use a tracker blocker, and limit ads based on your activity in your Meta account’s ad preferences. None of this stops you sending a request or applying as a vendor.

9Advertising partners#

We find customers and vendors through online ads, so we share some information with the advertising platforms we use. Today that is Meta Platforms, Inc. (Facebook and Instagram). If we start using another platform, such as Google, we will add it here and update this policy before it receives anything.

Website and server events: Page views, a sent request (a “Lead” event), a sent vendor application, and a request you confirmed on WhatsApp. Page views come only from the Meta Pixel in your browser. The other events are also sent from our servers (Meta’s Conversions API), so they are counted even when a tracker blocker stops the Pixel, but not when you turn off ad measurement in Cookie preferences or your browser sends a privacy signal. They carry the ad click identifier and Meta’s browser cookie, campaign details (UTM tags), your IP address and browser, and, for a confirmed request, a scrambled reference number for the request. No name, number or event details unless you ticked the optional box below.
Hashed contact details: Your phone number, first name and email (if we have one), scrambled with a one-way code (SHA-256 hashing) before they leave our systems, sent with the event that your request was confirmed or a call happened, and the type of event and services. Only for customers who ticked the optional box.
Audiences: Lists of hashed contact details that Meta matches to its users, so we can show ads to people similar to our customers (a “lookalike” audience) or avoid showing ads to people who already used Planning Bell (a “custom” audience). Only customers who ticked the optional box, and vendors who have not opted out.

We do this to find more people planning events and more event businesses, and to learn which ads lead to confirmed requests and calls, so we spend less on ads that do not work. We do not share the event date, number of guests, budget or anything you tell us in messages, and we do not let advertisers outside Planning Bell use our lists.

Hashing hides your details in transit, but it is not anonymous: Meta can match a hashed number to an account it already holds, which is the point. Meta’s terms for these tools say it uses hashed contact details only for matching and deletes them afterwards. Meta keeps event data and runs its own ad systems under its own terms and privacy policy, and processes it in the United States and other countries. See also Meta’s Business Tools Terms.

To withdraw your consent, email support@planningbell.com or message us on WhatsApp. We stop sending your details at once and remove you from audience lists we hold or upload within 30 days. It does not affect your request or your vendor account. Ad targeting is not a message to you, so it is separate from the marketing opt-in in Messages and marketing; you can also limit ads based on your activity in your Facebook or Instagram ad preferences.

11Storage outside Canada#

Many of the providers above store or process information outside Canada, mainly in the United States, to provide the services listed beside them. While it is there, it is subject to the laws of that country and may be accessed by its courts, law enforcement and national security authorities.

To get written information about our policies and practices for service providers outside Canada, or to ask questions about how they collect, use, disclose or store personal information for us, contact our Privacy Officer at support@planningbell.com.

12How long we keep it#

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purposes above or the law requires, then delete it or remove what identifies you.

Unconfirmed requests: Closed 48 hours after we ask you to confirm, and deleted 30 days after that.
Requests not shared with a vendor: Deleted 90 days after they close. We keep them that long to spot duplicate requests.
Requests shared with a vendor: Deleted 12 months after the event date, so we can handle questions about calls and charges.
Message records: Deleted after 12 months.
Opt-outs: Your number and the date you replied STOP, kept for as long as we need them to keep from messaging you.
Vendor applications: Declined applications are deleted 12 months after the decision. Waitlisted ones are kept until you ask us to remove them, or for 24 months.
Vendor accounts: Kept while the account is open and for 24 months after it closes.
Billing records: Statements, invoices and payments are kept for six years after the end of the tax year they relate to, as Canadian tax law requires. Lines about a deleted request hold no customer name or number.
Analytics: Kept for up to 24 months.
Advertising: Your advertising choice is kept with your request. Audience lists we upload are refreshed at least every 90 days and drop anyone who withdrew or whose request was deleted. Meta’s own retention is set by its terms.
Backups: Deleted information can stay in encrypted backups for up to 30 days before it is overwritten.

13Deleting your request#

You can ask us to delete your request at any time by emailing support@planningbell.com or messaging us on WhatsApp. We will check the request comes from your number, then, within 30 days:

delete your request, its leads, your details and our message records with you, and stop sending your details to advertising partners
ask any vendor who received your details to delete them, unless you have hired them
keep only the billing lines vendors were charged or credited, with your name and number removed, and a record that you asked us to stop messaging you

Vendors can close their account and ask us to delete their information the same way. We keep billing records for the period tax law requires.

14Seeing and correcting your information#

You can ask what personal information we hold about you, how we have used it and who we have shared it with, and ask us to correct it. Email support@planningbell.com. We may ask you to confirm the request comes from your number or account. There is no charge.

We will answer within 30 days. If we need longer, as the law allows in some cases, we will tell you within those 30 days why and when to expect an answer. If we refuse any part of a request, we will tell you why.

If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

15Keeping it safe#

Information is encrypted in transit and stored with access rules, so a vendor can only see leads offered to them, and a customer’s name and number only once they take the lead. Only the few people at Planning Bell who need it can see all records, and every manual change we make to a lead is logged. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot promise that information will never be lost or accessed without permission.

16If something goes wrong#

If personal information is lost or accessed without permission and there is a real risk of significant harm to anyone, we will report it to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta and the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and tell the people affected directly, as soon as we can. We will tell you what happened, what information was involved, what we are doing about it and what you can do. We keep a record of every breach, however small, for at least 24 months.

17Age#

Planning Bell is for adults. You must be 18 or older to send a request or apply as a vendor. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18, and we delete it if we learn we have.

18Changes to this policy#

We will post any change here with a new version number and date, and tell vendors about significant changes by WhatsApp or email. If we want to use your information for a new purpose, we will ask you first.

19Contact#

Privacy Officer, Planning Bell, 7915 152A Ave NW, Edmonton, Alberta T5C 3A1, Canada. Email support@planningbell.com.