Overview
This Privacy Policy explains how PenBuddy collects, uses, shares, and protects information when businesses use PenBuddy to manage handwritten employee recognition programs.
PenBuddy is built for employers, HR teams, People Ops teams, and business administrators. When a customer uploads employee or recipient information, the customer is responsible for having the right to provide that information to PenBuddy and for giving any notices required by law or internal policy.
Information we collect
Account and organization information
We collect account details such as name, email address, magic-link authentication records, organization name, billing contact email, sender name, sender title, sender email, subscription status, and related workspace settings.
Employee and recipient information
Customers may upload CSV files or enter information needed to create and mail recognition cards. This can include employee names, first and last names, mailing addresses, work anniversary dates, departments, manager names, custom merge fields, and other customer-provided columns used to personalize a send.
Customers should not upload Social Security numbers, government ID numbers, health information, financial account numbers, disciplinary records, or other sensitive HR information unless PenBuddy has expressly agreed to process that information in writing.
Card, message, and fulfillment information
We collect selected card templates, shared messages, merge fields, send counts, fulfillment statuses, scheduled send information, and operational notes needed to prepare, write, address, stuff, mail, and support handwritten recognition cards.
Billing and payment information
PenBuddy uses Stripe to process subscriptions, checkout sessions, customer portal sessions, and related billing events. We store billing identifiers, customer identifiers, subscription status, price identifiers, and renewal metadata, but we do not store full payment card numbers.
Technical and usage information
We may collect logs, device and browser information, IP address, request metadata, error reports, upload metadata, webhook records, authentication events, and workflow execution data needed to secure, operate, debug, and improve the service.
How we use information
- Create, authenticate, administer, and secure customer accounts.
- Process employee CSV imports, validate required fields, normalize recipient records, and show clear import status.
- Generate, preview, submit, review, fulfill, and track handwritten recognition sends.
- Operate subscriptions, billing, checkout, invoices, and customer portal access.
- Send transactional emails, magic links, operational notices, support messages, and service updates.
- Maintain logs and diagnostics so failures are explicit and recoverable instead of silently ignored.
- Improve product reliability, onboarding, import mapping, message drafting, and fulfillment workflows.
- Comply with legal obligations, enforce our Terms, prevent abuse, and protect PenBuddy, customers, employees, and partners.
AI assistance
PenBuddy may offer optional AI features that help suggest CSV field mappings or draft card messages. When a customer uses these features, PenBuddy may send limited task context to an AI provider, such as CSV headers, sample preview rows, available merge fields, selected template information, the current draft, and the customer's brief.
AI features are intended to assist the customer. Customers remain responsible for reviewing imported field mappings, generated messages, merge fields, and final sends before submission.
Retention
We retain account, organization, subscription, import, recipient, send, and fulfillment records for as long as needed to provide the service, support customers, maintain operational records, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements.
Customers may request deletion of account or recipient data by contacting PenBuddy. Some records may be retained where required for billing, tax, fraud prevention, security, legal, backup, or fulfillment history purposes.
Security
PenBuddy uses administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, and alteration. These measures include authenticated access, role-based product boundaries, operational logging, third-party processors with security commitments, and separation of customer workspaces.
No system is perfectly secure. Customers should use accurate account emails, limit access to authorized personnel, upload only the data needed for recognition and fulfillment, and promptly notify PenBuddy about suspected unauthorized access.
Customer controls and choices
- Customers can edit organization profile details and sender information in account settings.
- Customers can choose whether to upload a new employee CSV or reuse saved imports for sends.
- Customers can review column mappings, invalid row counts, message previews, recipient counts, and estimated send totals before submission.
- Customers can choose whether to use optional AI assistance or continue manually.
- Customers can contact PenBuddy to request access, correction, export, deletion, or restriction of information where applicable.
Regional privacy rights
Depending on location, individuals may have rights to access, correct, delete, port, or restrict the use of personal information. Because PenBuddy primarily processes employee and recipient information on behalf of customer organizations, employees should first contact their employer for requests involving workplace data.
If PenBuddy receives a request about data controlled by a customer, we may direct the requester to that customer or work with the customer to respond. We will not discriminate against individuals for exercising privacy rights available under applicable law.
Children
PenBuddy is a business service and is not directed to children. Customers may not use PenBuddy to knowingly collect information from children under 13 or the age of digital consent in their jurisdiction.
Changes to this Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the date above and provide additional notice where required by law or where the changes materially affect how the service handles customer or recipient information.
Contact
For privacy questions, requests, or concerns, contact PenBuddy at info@pftleads.com.