Privacy Policy

  • Privacy Policy Statement

    Guitar Creative collects personally identifying information only during (i) Lesson Member Registration, (ii) Newsletter Subscription Registration, and (iii) online shopping. In addition, Registration is required and information is collected in certain portions of the site in which guests provide content submissions and suggestions or participate in interactive online activities (i.e., community postings, voting, chat, games, or bulletin boards). Guitar Creative may use such information to fulfill prizes, track compliance with our House Rules, or for editorial and feedback purposes (to the extent that is explained when guests provide the information). In the event that Guitar Creative plans to post any such information on a site, guests are provided prior notification of such posting and given the option of preventing such posting.

  • Policies for Individuals Under 13

    Guitar Creative encourages parents and guardians to spend time online with their children and to participate in the interactive activities offered on the site. No information should be submitted to or posted at Guitar Creative's Web pages by guests under 13 years of age without the consent of their parent or guardian. Unless otherwise disclosed during collection, Guitar Creative does not provide any personally identifying information, regardless of its source, to any third party for any purpose whatsoever. No information collected from guests under 13 years of age is used for any marketing or promotional purposes whatsoever, either inside or outside Guitar Creative Guests' e-mail addresses are never posted on Guitar Creative's Web site, except where a guest uses our message board. The Guest has an option to have his or her email address appear.

  • Policies for Individuals 13 Years of Age or Older

    With the permission of a guest who is 13 years of age or over, information submitted at the time of Registration or submission may be used for marketing and promotional purposes by Guitar Creative and may be shared with our affiliates or companies that have been prescreened by Guitar Creative. If a guest objects to such use for any reason, he/she may stop that use by e-mail request. Once you have registered with Guitar Creative, every effort will be made to maintain your information in a secure environment by Guitar Creative and our affiliates.

    If you wish to modify your Registration information or stop receiving e-mail updates from Guitar Creative, just send an email request to info@HotFrets.com stating your wishes.

  • About IP Addresses

    Guitar Creative collects IP addresses for the purposes of system administration and to report aggregate information to our advertisers. An IP address is a number that's automatically assigned to your computer whenever you're surfing the Web. Web servers -- the big computers that "serve" up Web pages -- automatically identify your computer by its IP address. When guests request pages from Guitar Creative sites, our servers log the guests' IP addresses. We do not link IP addresses to anything personally identifiable. This means that a user's session will be logged, but the user remains anonymous to us.

  • Use of Cookies -- The Guitar Creative Cookies Policy

    What are cookies? Cookies are pieces of information that a Web site transfers to an individual's hard drive for record-keeping purposes. Cookies make Web-surfing easier for you by saving your passwords, purchases, and preferences while you're at our site. The use of cookies is an Industry standard -- you'll find them at most major Web sites.

    By showing how and when guests use the site, cookies help us see which areas are popular and which are not. Many improvements and updates to the site are based on such data as total number of visitors and pages viewed. This information is most easily tracked with cookies. If you accept the first tracking cookie from any Guitar Creative web site, you won't be offered as many afterwards.

  • Examples of How Guitar Creative, Use Cookies

    A cookie lets the computers remember that you've registered, which allows us to speed up your future activities at our sites. Letting it do the record keeping saves you the trouble of entering information over and over again during a single visit.

  • How Guitar Creative, Does Not Use Cookies

    Guitar Creative, never use cookies to retrieve information from your computer that was not originally sent in a cookie. Except as described below, Guitar Creative, does not use information transferred through cookies for any promotional or marketing purposes, nor is that information shared with any third parties whatsoever.

    Guitar Creative, does not use cookies to identify specific individuals, except in such cases as online shopping (see above).

    You may occasionally get cookies from our advertisers. Guitar Creative does not control these cookies, and these cookies are not subject to the Guitar Creative cookie policy. The use of advertising cookies sent by third-party servers is standard in the Internet industry.

    Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you'd prefer, you can set yours to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent. However, it is possible that some parts of the site, such as the shopping, contest, and game areas, will not function properly if you do so.

  • Payment Processing Security

    For your security and peace of mind, Guitar Creative entrusts all payment processing to Stripe, Inc. (“Stripe”), a leader in online payment solutions. Here are the key security advantages of this approach:

    • Data Encryption: Stripe uses state-of-the-art encryption and security protocols to protect your financial information. Your payment details are securely transmitted directly to Stripe without passing through our servers.

    • PCI Compliance: Stripe is PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliant. This means they adhere to the highest standards of server and network security practices, significantly reducing the risk of data breaches.

    • No Storage of Payment Information: Guitar Creative does not store your credit card or payment details on our servers. All sensitive financial information is handled and stored by Stripe, which specializes in securely processing online payments.

    • Regular Security Audits: Stripe undergoes regular security audits and assessments to ensure the highest level of data protection and security compliance.

    • Fraud Detection and Prevention: Stripe employs advanced fraud detection and prevention mechanisms to safeguard against unauthorized transactions and protect your financial data.

    By leveraging Stripe's robust security measures, we ensure that your payment information is handled in the safest manner possible, giving you the confidence to use our services without concern for the security of your financial data.

  • Stripe Account Creation for Payment Processing

    To streamline our billing and subscription services, we partner with Stripe, Inc. (“Stripe”), a global payment processing service. When you sign up for either our free or premium services, we create a Stripe account on your behalf. This involves sharing only your name and email address with Stripe.

    This account creation facilitates future upgrades or changes to your subscription and payment processing for premium services. Please be aware that Stripe manages your payment information and processes payments in accordance with its own privacy policy. Any additional information (such as phone number or address) that you may provide directly to Stripe during payment processing or account management is retained by Stripe and is not shared with us.

    By signing up for our services, you consent to this transfer of your data to Stripe for the aforementioned purposes. We do not store your payment information on our servers; it is managed exclusively by Stripe.

  • Links to Other Sites

    Users should be aware that when you are on the Guitar Creative site you could be directed to other sites that are beyond our control. There are links to other sites from Guitar Creative, that take you outside our service. For example, if you click on a banner advertisement, the click takes you off the Guitar Creative site. This includes links from advertisers, sponsors, and partners that may use Guitar Creative’s logo as part of a cobranding agreement. These other sites may send their own cookies to users, collect data, or solicit personal information. Always be aware of where you end up.

    Please keep in mind that whenever you give out personal information online -– for example, via message boards or chat -– that information can be collected and used by people you don’t know. While Guitar Creative strives to protect its users' personal information and privacy, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you disclose online, and you do so at your own risk.

  • Your Acceptance of These Terms

    By using this site, you signify your assent to the Guitar Creative Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our site. Your continued use of the Guitar Creative site following the posting of changes to these terms will mean you accept those changes. You can send e-mail to us with any further questions.