Privacy policy
12161451 Canada Inc., operating as Fern Reception · Mississauga, Ontario · Version 2.0, effective 15 October 2026
In short: Fern answers calls for flower shops. We use what callers tell us to pass their request to the shop. We don't sell personal information, we don't market to callers, and we don't let call recordings be used to train other companies' AI.
1. What this policy covers
How 12161451 Canada Inc., operating as Fern Reception, handles personal information about:
- people who call a flower shop that uses Fern, or who try our demo line ("callers");
- owners and staff who use a Fern account;
- businesses we contact about Fern; and
- visitors to our website.
2. Our role
When you call a flower shop, we handle your information on behalf of that shop, to pass your request to it. The shop decides what happens to your order. We're responsible directly for information about our own customers, the businesses we contact, our website, and for the security, billing and legal-compliance purposes described below.
3. What we collect
- Callers: the call recording and transcript; your phone number; the time and length of the call; and what you tell us for your request (names, delivery address and date, card message and similar). We never take payment card numbers by phone. If you say one, it isn't used, and we'll remove it from the transcript where we can.
- Account users: names, mobile numbers and email addresses; sign-in and security logs; and records of decisions on requests.
- Billing: invoices and Stripe reference numbers. Your card is collected and held by Stripe, not us.
- Businesses we contact: published business name, address, phone and email, and a record of where and when we found them.
- Website visitors: basic technical logs kept by our hosting provider for security.
4. Why we use it
To provide the service:
- to answer calls and pass requests to the shop;
- to send callers the texts they agreed to about their own request;
- to text and email shops about requests, their account and bills.
To keep it working properly:
- to check accuracy, investigate mistakes and disputes, and improve how Fern answers;
- to keep accounts secure.
Business and legal:
- to bill correctly and keep tax records;
- to send a business at most one introduction and one follow-up about Fern.
5. Consent and your choices on a call
At the start of every call, Fern says that it's an automated assistant answering for the shop and that the call is recorded so your request is taken correctly. If you'd rather not be recorded, say so: Fern will tell you how else to reach the shop and won't take your request on that call. If you continue, you agree to us collecting and using the information needed to handle your request as described here. We ask before sending you any texts about your request. Businesses are emailed only at an address they've published for business enquiries, where there's no notice declining such messages. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe.
6. What we never do
We don't sell personal information. We don't use callers' information for marketing. We don't send marketing texts. We don't let call recordings, transcripts or order details be used to train public or third-party AI models.
7. Who we share it with
We share information only with:
- the flower shop you called;
- service providers that help us run Fern, for that purpose only;
- authorities, where the law requires it.
| Provider | What they do | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud | Hosting, database, backups | Canada (Toronto) |
| ElevenLabs, and the AI model provider it uses | Voice assistant: speech recognition, responses, recordings | United States and other locations |
| Twilio | Phone numbers and text messages | United States |
| Stripe | Card payments for shops | United States and Canada |
| Google Workspace | United States and other locations | |
| Cloudflare | Website hosting | Global network |
We update this list when our providers change.
8. Outside Canada
Some providers process information outside Canada, mainly in the United States. While it's there, courts and authorities in those countries may be able to access it under their laws.
9. How long we keep it
| Information | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Call recordings | 180 days (useful for seasonal disputes), then deleted |
| Transcripts and order records | 2 years, so shops can look up past orders |
| Billing and tax records | 7 years. The Canada Revenue Agency generally requires 6 years from the end of the tax year; we keep one extra year as our policy. |
| Audit, sign-in and security logs | 1 year, unless needed longer for an investigation or legal reasons |
| Unsubscribe and "do not contact" records | As long as needed to keep honouring them |
| Backups | Overwritten within 30 days |
After that, we delete or anonymize information (including copies held by our providers) unless we must keep it for a legal claim or investigation. When a shop closes its account, its callers' recordings, transcripts and order records are deleted 90 days later, even if the periods above haven't ended. Only billing records and "do not contact" records are kept, with restricted access, for their stated periods.
10. Security
We protect information with:
- access limited to people who need it;
- one-time sign-in codes, and an authenticator app for administrators;
- links to order details that expire;
- encryption in transit and at rest;
- access logs and daily backups.
If a breach creates a real risk of significant harm, we'll notify the people affected and the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and we'll keep a record of every breach, as the law requires.
11. How Fern uses AI
Fern uses AI to understand what callers say, choose its replies, transcribe calls, and write up and flag requests (for example, marking a funeral order as urgent). A person at the shop reviews and decides every order. Fern doesn't make decisions about you on its own.
12. Your rights
You can:
- stop texts by replying STOP;
- stop emails with the unsubscribe link;
- ask to see or correct your information, or withdraw your consent where we don't need to keep the information.
Callers can ask us or the shop they called. We'll check your identity first and reply within 30 days. If we can't give you something, for a reason the law allows, we'll explain why.
13. Children
Fern isn't intended for children. If we learn a child has given us information that isn't needed for a request, we'll delete it.
14. Our website and cookies
Our public website doesn't use advertising or tracking cookies. Signed-in Fern pages use a cookie only to keep you signed in.
15. Contact and complaints
Our privacy officer is Kevin Julian. You can contact him through the message form (choose "Privacy"), or write to Fern Reception, PO Box 21014, RPO Meadowvale, Mississauga ON L5N 6A2. If you're not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
16. Changes
When this policy changes, we'll post the new version here with its date, and email account holders about significant changes.