Privacy Policy

Overview

General information

We, Viessmann Climate Solutions SE (hereinafter referred to as "Viessmann" or "we"), as part of Carrier Global Corporation, take the protection of your personal data very seriously and strictly adhere to the data protection regulations currently applicable. These primarily include the General Data Protection Regulation (hereafter: "GDPR"), Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

Personal data is only recorded on our websites and when using our apps and services to the extent necessary and processed for a specific purpose. Personal data is data by which you can be personally identified or other related data.

Responsible body/data controller as defined by the German Federal Data Protection Act/GDPR:

Viessmann Middle East FZE  
DSO Authority Building
E-Wing, Office 605
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Telephone: +971 (4) 372 42 40
Email:  info-me@viessmann.com

Processing within the Viessmann Group

The following companies carry out work for us, Viessmann Climate Solutions SE:

  • Viessmann Deutschland GmbH for sales purposes and marketing
  • Viessmann Climate Solutions Berlin GmbH for operating our websites and apps as well as marketing
  • Viessmann IT Service GmbH for the operation of the backend systems
  • Viessmann PV + E GmbH, Viessmann Solutions & Services GmbH and Energy Market Solutions GmbH for sales purposes and marketing

The data collected can be processed by other companies belonging to Viessmann Climate Solutions SE or passed on to them if:

  • you have been informed of this and have expressly consented to it elsewhere (e.g.  enquiry form),
  • it is necessary for specific purposes and the division of labour within the Viessmann Climate Solutions; corresponding contractual agreements have been concluded within the Viessmann Climate Solutions for this,
  • the data has been provided having already been pseudonymised by the responsible body/data controller, who guarantees that the Group company tasked with processing cannot reverse this process, or
  • the data has been saved in anonymous form by the responsible body/data controller and the data saved in this manner is no longer subject to the data protection regulations.

Transfer to third countries

The companies of the Viessmann Climate Solutions process/transfer the data provided by you in/to locations in Germany, the European Union and third countries (including the USA) that have an appropriate level of data protection as per Art.  45 GDPR or that provide suitable guarantees per Art.  46 GDPR.

Application area of the Privacy Policy

This Policy provides an overview of how we assure data protection, what type of data is collected for what purpose, and the legal basis behind its collection and processing. It applies to all websites and apps for which Viessmann is responsible and when you contact us through other communication channels. If Viessmann websites and apps deviate from these data processing principles or supplement them with their own, this will be indicated accordingly on the websites or in the apps.

This Privacy Policy comprises five parts:

Our websites may include links to the websites of other suppliers, but this Privacy Policy does not apply to such sites.

I. Provisions for private users

This part of the Privacy Policy applies to private users of Viessmann Services. The legal basis for processing your data is the consent given by you in this Privacy Policy or, when processing your data in order to provide you with the requested information or products, point (b), Art.  6(1) GDPR.

Use and verification of personal data

The personal data you provide includes, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Your name
  • Your address (postcode, town, street and house number, additional address details where applicable)
  • Your email address
  • Your date of birth
  • Your gender
  • Your telephone number and/or mobile phone number
  • Your country
  • Your payment information
  • Your previous heating contractor
  • Product name of your Viessmann product
  • Serial number of your Viessmann product

If you provide us with personal data, we use this to answer your queries, to process and implement your consultation request, for technical administration, for logging in and in the services provided on the respective web pages or apps. The legal basis for this is point (b), Art.  6(1) GDPR or your consent. You may revoke your consent to the use of the data you provided at any time. To do this, please contact us, if possible specifying the service(s) used, by sending an email to datenschutz@viessmann.com.

Telephone contact by Viessmann

If you have agreed to our Privacy Policy and provided us with your telephone number when making a consultation request, we will contact you by telephone before forwarding your consultation request to our partner company so that we can check your details, discuss your project and refer you to the appropriate contractor. Afterwards, if you provide us with your mobile phone number, we will ask you for feedback on the current situation by SMS, for example. You will not incur any costs for this.

Written communication from Viessmann

If you have agreed to our Privacy Policy and consented to our email tracking, as well as provided us with your email address and/or mobile phone number when requesting a consultation, we will record your openings and clicks in email, push notifications and SMS messages. This is necessary to allow us to initiate the individual process steps of your expert consultation. This data will be deleted after the consultation.

Information about the disclosure of your data and evaluation

If you have agreed to our Privacy Policy and provided us with your email address when requesting a consultation, we will inform you by email about the current status of your consultation request relating to our service. Among other things, we will send you a message with the contact details of the trade partner you have been referred to and, following your consultation, an opportunity to rate this contractor. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide you with a specialist consultation service, if you do not provide your email address in your consultation request.

Disclosure of personal data

In order to provide a specialist consultation service or a contractor referral service for advice and/or the purchase, maintenance or repair of a heating system or other product from the Viessmann range, we will, with your consent, forward the personal data you have provided to external contractors that work with us as partners and are active in your region.

This trade partner will be required to contact you within a specified time frame to provide the specialist advice and/or quotation you have requested. For this purpose, the contractor will contact you by email and/or telephone.

Further processing and deletion of your data

Furthermore, your data will not be passed on or sold to third parties, i.e. persons or companies not belonging to the Viessmann Climate Solutions SE. Stored personal data is erased if you withdraw your consent to its storage, if the data is no longer required in order to fulfil the purpose intended by its storage, or if its storage is not permissible for other legal reasons.  We will continue to offer you further information and services by email for up to 3  months following conclusion of your specialist consultation.

Advertising and advertising consent

We, i.e. Viessmann Climate Solutions SE, Viessmann Deutschland GmbH, Viessmann Climate Solutions Berlin GmbH and Viessmann PV + E GmbH, will only inform you by email, post or telephone about Viessmann products and services and, where applicable, ask you about these products and services if you have given us your express consent to use your personal data for advertising purposes (opt-in).

This is done by actively placing a tick below our forms, next to the statement "Yes, Viessmann Climate Solutions SE, Viessmann Deutschland GmbH, Viessmann Climate Solutions Berlin GmbH, Viessmann PV + E GmbH and Energy Market Solutions GmbH may use my email address and/or telephone number to inform me about the latest products and services. I hereby also wish to avail myself of the opportunity to pass on constructive criticism and praise via market research and opinion surveys. I can revoke this consent at any time with future effect."

Please note that text displayed to you on the website/app in question may list different companies if these are relevant to your request.

If you granted consent for us to use your data in this way but no longer wish to receive advertising or surveys from Viessmann, you may revoke your consent at any time with future effect. Your data will then be deleted or, if the data is still required for billing and accounting purposes, will continue to be stored for these purposes. To do so, send an email to  widerruf@viessmann.com.

Newsletter

Use of personal data when subscribing to the email newsletter

If you register for one of our newsletters on the Viessmann websites or in the Viessmann apps, your email address will be used for information and advertising purposes until you unsubscribe from this newsletter. When you register for the newsletter, we save your email address, your IP address and the date of registration. This storage serves solely to provide evidence in the event of a third party misusing an email address and registering to receive the newsletter without the knowledge of the authorised person.

You can revoke your consent to receive the newsletter at any time with future effect. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the newsletter or by sending an email to  widerruf@viessmann.com.

Optimisation of email and newsletter content

We, i.e. Viessmann Climate Solutions SE, Viessmann Deutschland GmbH, Viessmann Climate Solutions Berlin GmbH and Viessmann PV + E GmbH, will inform you by email about Viessmann products and services if you have made a corresponding enquiry about services to Viessmann, if you have given us your express consent to use your personal data for advertising purposes (opt-in) or if you have subscribed to one of our newsletters. In order to be able to offer you content optimised specifically to your needs, we use email tracking technologies from salesforce.com Germany GmbH.

This is done by actively ticking a box below our forms, next to the statement "Yes, I consent to email and newsletter tracking so that content can be optimised for me. I can revoke this consent at any time with future effect."

Email and newsletter tracking enables usage data to be analysed statistically. We record both email openings and internal clicks for this purpose. This information is used to make the content of the emails and newsletters more exciting and relevant, as well as to measure the success of the marketing campaigns.

If you granted consent for us to use your data in this way but no longer wish to receive advertising or surveys from Viessmann, you may revoke your consent at any time with future effect. To do so, send an email to widerruf@viessmann.com.

Use of personal data when using the contact form

If you send us enquiries via one of our contact forms, your details from the enquiry form, including the contact details you have provided there, will be stored with us for the purpose of processing your enquiry and in the event of follow-up questions on the same subject. This data will not be passed on to third parties.

You can revoke your consent for the use of the data provided via the contact form at any time. To do so, please send an email to:  widerruf@viessmann.com.

Use of personal data when using the Viessmann Community

If you register with the Viessmann Community by agreeing to this Privacy Policy and opening a user account, the data you provide will be made available to the Viessmann Community and used to process your questions and comments. This also includes consent for Viessmann to contact you by email and/or telephone strictly for purposes relating to the content of your enquiry.

You can revoke your consent at any time by deleting your user account with future effect. Your data will then be deleted or, if it is still required for other legally justified purposes, will continue to be stored for these purposes. After deletion of your user account, the contents of your community contributions will be anonymised within the Viessmann Community and will remain there. However, it is no longer possible to attribute these contributions to you.

Use of personal data for event or information visit registrations

On some pages of our website, you have the option of entering personal data in order to register for information visits, training courses or events organised by Viessmann. We will only use this data to process your request. If you enter your email address and phone number as a participant in one of our events, you will receive a confirmation email and, depending on the event, an SMS 30  minutes before your time slot / before the start of your event. After the event has ended, the data is stored for the purpose of evaluating the event, for example. This data will be deleted after 6 months at the latest, unless there are non-statutory retention periods to the contrary, e.g. professional evidence, hospitality, costs, etc.

You can revoke your consent for the use of the data provided during registration up until the start of the event. To do so, please send an email to:  widerruf@viessmann.com.

II. Provisions for commercial users

This part of the data protection provisions applies only to commercial users such as contractors, industrial businesses, local authorities, commercial enterprises, planners, architects, etc. and only to the extent that these users provide personal data of contact persons on our websites and in our apps for the conclusion and implementation of contracts in accordance with point (b), Art. 6(1) GDPR.

Personal data is collected and processed by Viessmann for the following purposes:

  • Handling customer enquiries
  • Forwarding information to customers making requests
  • Displaying information in Viessmann trade directories (e.g. local trade partner search at www.viessmann.de, installer search at heizung.de)

If you have provided us with personal data, we only use this to answer your queries, to process contracts concluded with you, for technical administration, for logging in and in the services provided on the respective web pages or apps.

Saved personal data is deleted if you withdraw your consent to its storage, if the information is no longer required in order to fulfil the purpose intended by its storage, or if its storage is not permissible for other legal reasons. To do so, please send an email to widerruf@viessmann.com. Your data will then be deleted or, if the data is still required for verification, billing and/or accounting purposes, will continue to be stored for these purposes.

For other personal data processed within the context of delivery and service in accordance with point (b), Art. 6(1), the data protection provisions in the respective General Terms and Conditions of Sale apply.

Disclosure of personal and company data

For the provision of services by third parties or services offered by partners (these are listed within the respective consent text), we forward, with your consent, the personal and company data entered by you to them, primarily for the purpose of establishing contact.

III. Provisions for applicants

This part of the data protection provisions applies to applicants responding to job advertisements at the Viessmann Group or third party companies to which Viessmann provides a platform or partner programme for job advertisements/placement. This applies only insofar as these applicants transmit personal data to Viessmann as part of the application process, e.g. an application in paper format, by email, contact forms with attachments or portals operated by Viessmann (e.g. the Apprentice Portal) or the use of electronic job boards operated by third parties in accordance with the requisite content, also in accordance with additional local/provincial specifications. Application documents submitted on paper are scanned and stored in our systems, after which the paper is disposed of by certified service providers in compliance with data protection law.

We will use your personal data solely to process your application and/or as part of talent relationship management and on the basis of your consent to this Privacy Policy.  The processing of your application also includes, if required, the use of your data for the purpose of contacting you by email and/or post and/or telephone and, if applicable (e.g. Apprentice Portal), also the forwarding of the application documents to third party companies. Those responsible for recruitment and HR at Viessmann Climate Solutions Berlin GmbH, Viessmann Climate Solutions SE, the respective Group company as well as supervisors or others responsible for recruitment in the division in which the position is advertised have access to your documents. Further processing is carried out anonymously for the purpose of gauging the success of job placements and the technical application channels used, as well as the skills imparted by applicants – also anonymously.

With the exception of the Apprentice Portal, the data is processed using systems from Greenhouse Software, Inc. a company based in the USA. To this end, Viessmann Climate Solutions Berlin GmbH has concluded a contract with Greenhouse Software, Inc. based on the EU standard data protection clauses in accordance with Art. 46 GDPR.

The applicant's personal data is deleted automatically after 4 months at the earliest, but no later than after 6 months, starting at the point in time at which the applicant is informed that the position will not be occupied by him/her and provided that there are no further statutory requirements against deletion. The time limit is based on the requirements of the German Anti-Discrimination Act (AGG).

On acceptance into the Talent Relationship Management Program, your data will be stored in our system for up to 365 days so that you can have advance consideration for future job vacancies. In this regard, we will use the data you have provided to contact you by email and/or post and/or telephone. Only if you have granted your express consent in response to our enquiry will your data continue to be stored in our system after the end of this period in order that you can be considered for other future job vacancies.

If you register for the Viessmann Job Alert on the Viessmann career pages or other job portals operated by Viessmann, your email address will be used to send you job offers until you unsubscribe from this Job Alert. When you register for the Job Alert, we store your email address, your IP address and the date of registration. This storage serves solely to provide evidence in the event of a third party misusing an email address and registering to receive the Job Alert without the knowledge of the authorised person. You can revoke your consent to receive the Job Alert at any time with future effect. If you no longer wish to receive the Job Alert, you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the Job Alert or by sending an email to recruiting@viessmann.com.

If sending application documents in paper format without reference to job advertisements in our electronic formats, e.g. as a speculative application, you will receive a summary of this Privacy Policy along with an acknowledgement of receipt of your communication or, at the latest, in the event of a rejection by us.

IV. General information and provisions for Viessmann websites and apps

These provisions apply in addition to the provisions for private users and the provisions for commercial users for Viessmann websites and apps. Some of our apps have their own additional privacy policies. The Privacy Policy for the Viessmann ViCare and Vitotrol Plus apps can be found at the following link:  https://legal-policies.viessmann.com/b2c/vicare/de/de/privacy-policy.ext.html.

Data processing by consulting our websites and using our apps

Viessmann automatically collects information which your browser or the app transmits to us, and saves it in our server log files. Viessmann is unable to assign this data to individual persons. This data is not combined with other data sources. This information consists of:

  • Browser type/version
  • Operating system used
  • Referrer URL (the site previously visited)
  • Host name of the computer accessing our site (v4 and v6 IP address)
  • Time of the server request

The IP address is a globally valid identifier of your computer, uniquely assigned by your internet provider, and in its most common form (IPv4) consists of four blocks of numbers separated by dots, or extended to include additional digits (IPv6). As a private user, you will generally not use a consistent IP address because you only have one temporarily assigned to you by your provider ("dynamic IP address"). In the case of permanently assigned IP addresses ("static IP addresses"), it is technically possible to uniquely allocate user data using this feature.

We process the specified data for the following purposes:

  • To ensure a smooth connection to the website
  • To ensure convenient use of the aforementioned website
  • To evaluate system security and system stability
  • For additional administrative and statistical purposes

Personal data in the server log files is processed on the basis of point (f), Art.  6(1) GDPR. This permission allows the processing of personal data within the scope of the "legitimate interest" of the data controller, unless overridden by your fundamental rights, freedoms or interests. Our legitimate interest is to facilitate administration and be able to detect and track hacking. You can object to this data processing at any time if there are reasons which exist in your particular situation and which make data processing inadvisable. All you need to do is send an email to the data protection officer. Our legitimate interest follows from the purposes listed above for the collection of data. Under no circumstances do we use the data collected for the purpose of drawing conclusions about you as an individual.

The server log files with the aforementioned data are automatically erased after 30  days or, in the case of usage for statistical purposes, are anonymised. We reserve the right to store the server log files for longer if facts are known which imply unauthorised access has been attempted (such as a hacking attempt or a DDoS attack).

Data processing for entry and access to our websites and apps – "Viessmann Account

Viessmann uses a central identity and access management system ("IAM") in addition to conventional login functions (e.g. user ID and password) for issuing, changing and deleting entry and access authorisations for non-public or non-free-to-use websites and apps. For this purpose, the following personal data from you will be processed:

  • Email address
  • ID
  • Website / app used with last timestamp
  • User role(s)
  • Timestamp of last successful login
  • First name and surname and other data (depending on the website / app used)
  • Mobile/telephone number (for 2-factor authentication)

We process the specified data for the following purposes:

  • Creation of the "Viessmann Account"
  • Creation and management of access rights to apps and websites
  • Creation and management of role-based access rights within apps and websites
  • Checking and display of authorisations by/for the respective responsible functions for the individual websites and apps at Viessmann
  • Communication of information on the website and app used (e.g. changes, error messages, new features, etc.)
  • Creation and evaluation of aggregated ("anonymised") key indicators relating to the use of websites and apps

Depending on the website or app used, the following serve as legal bases for permission to process your personal data:

  • The fulfilment of a contract with you pursuant to point (b), Art.  6(1) GDPR, the subject of which also includes the use of Viessmann websites or apps
  • Your consent pursuant to point (a), Art.  6(1) GDPR, if you are explicitly asked for this or
  • For the purposes of our legitimate interest pursuant to point (f), Art.  6(1) GDPR.

This last legal basis allows the processing of personal data within the scope of the "legitimate interest" of the data controller, unless overridden by your fundamental rights, freedoms or interests. Our legitimate interest is the efficient administration of entry and access rights and the protection of the websites and apps as well as the data processed there against unauthorised use (e.g. disclosure, modification, deletion). You can object to this data processing at any time if there are reasons which exist in your particular situation and which make data processing inadvisable. All you need to do is send an email to the data protection officer. Before lodging an objection, please check whether you yourself are able to delete the user account. Some user roles, especially those based on consent, also allow you to delete your personal data yourself via a self-service function. Under no circumstances do we use the data collected for the purpose of drawing further conclusions about you as an individual or for creating profiles.

The above-mentioned data will be automatically deleted if your user account is inactive for more than 360 days (based on the last time stamp of a successful login or use of website or app) or will be anonymised if it is to be used for statistics. We will inform you before this deadline expires. We reserve the right to store personal data for longer if there are legal or contractual grounds for this, or if facts are known which imply unauthorised access has been attempted.

Links to external websites

This Privacy Policy applies exclusively to Viessmann websites and apps. These can contain links to the web offerings of third parties. This Privacy Policy does not extend to these web offerings. In the event that you leave Viessmann websites and apps in order to visit the web offering of a third party provider, we recommend that you carefully read the privacy policy of that provider as well.

Information on cookies and use of analysis tools

Our processing of personal data using cookies and analysis tools (list all analysis tools) is based on point (f), Art.  6(1) GDPR. This permission allows the processing of personal data within the scope of the "legitimate interest" of the data controller, unless overridden by your fundamental rights, freedoms or interests. Our legitimate interest is to analyse the use of our website.

The processing of personal data by Google AdWords (list all retargeting technologies) is based on point (f), Art.  6(1) GDPR. This permission allows the processing of personal data within the scope of the "legitimate interest" of the data controller, unless overridden by your fundamental rights, freedoms or interests. Our legitimate interest is the personalised display of targeted advertising and the statistical analysis of the effectiveness of that advertising (e.g. determining how many clicks on an advertising banner led to a purchase on our website).

Viessmann uses cookies at several locations on its websites and in its apps. These are designed to make our website more user friendly, effective and secure. Cookies are small text files which are filed on your computer and saved by your browser. Most of the cookies we use are "session cookies". These are deleted automatically after your visit. Cookies do not cause any damage to your computer and do not contain any viruses.

Viessmann also uses analytical tools for this purpose, e.g. Webtrends or Google Tag Manager (Firebase). The data provided and used is collected and stored completely anonymously. This data may under certain circumstances also be saved outside Germany or the European Union.

In our implementation and use of analysis tools and tracking technologies, we anonymise personal data as quickly as possible either on the provider side, governed by corresponding contracts, or as part of our initial use, so that your right to information cannot be exercised for all of the technologies listed below.

You can prevent such data being transmitted via corresponding settings in your browser or app or in the operating system environment (iOS, Android), but this may lead to problems with retrieval or operation, or with the functionality of the offered content or service in some cases.

Third party cookies

Viessmann uses a number of advertising partners who help to make the internet offering and the websites more interesting. Consequently, cookies from partner companies are also stored on your hard drive when you visit these websites. These are temporary/permanent cookies that are deleted automatically after the specified time. These temporary or permanent cookies (with a life of 14 days to 10 years) are saved to your hard drive and are deleted automatically after the specified time. The cookies from our partner companies contain only pseudonymous, usually anonymous data. This may include data about the products you have viewed, whether you purchased something, which products you searched for, etc.
  
As part of this, some of our advertising partners collect information about the websites you previously visited or which products you may have been interested in, to be able to show you advertising that best matches your interests. This pseudonymous data will at no time be merged with your personal data. Its purpose is solely to allow our advertising partners to show you advertising material that may be of interest to you.

Retargeting technologies

Our websites make use of "retargeting technologies". These technologies are used to make the internet offering more interesting to you. These technologies allow us to display advertisements to internet users on our partners' websites, if they have already shown interest in our shop and our products. We are confident that displaying personalised, interest-related advertising is generally preferable for internet users than advertising without personal reference. The display of advertising material on our partners' websites is based on cookie technology and an analysis of previous user behaviour. This form of advertising is completely pseudonymous. No usage profiles are merged with your personal data.
  
By using our website, you consent to the use of cookies and, in so doing, to the collection, storage and use of your usage data. In addition, your data is stored in cookies after the browser session has ended, in part so that it can be retrieved again on your next visit(s) to the websites. You can revoke this consent at any time with future effect by rejecting cookies in your browser settings.

Acxiom

Use of personal data for customer analysis and other advertising purposes

To select specific target audiences based on pre-defined criteria and to form and address new ideal target audiences (potential new customers) for the purpose of carrying out advertising activities, Viessmann uses a service provider to analyse the pseudonymised or anonymised data (which can no longer be assigned to a specific person) of relevant interested parties and existing customers.  

Using this analysis, we can use advertising accounts on digital platforms to reach the specific target audiences through advertising by comparing the heavily encrypted master data of potential new customers with comparable heavily encrypted master data from pseudonymised Facebook or Google users, in order to display Viessmann advertising campaigns to those users. Viessmann commissions purpose-specific companies to process this data, such as Acxiom Deutschland GmbH, Martin-Behaim Str. 12, 63263 Neu-Isenburg, Germany, for Facebook activities. Acxiom pseudonymises all data of data subjects and, if applicable, acts as a "trusted third party" in the display of advertisements, e.g. on Facebook. On Facebook for example, this processing appears in the advertising preferences under "Companies that have uploaded and shared a list that contains your information".

Personal data for the purpose of customer analysis is processed on the basis of point (f), Art.  6(1) GDPR. This permission allows the processing of personal data within the scope of the "legitimate interest" of the data controller, unless overridden by your fundamental rights, freedoms or interests. Our legitimate interest is in analysis to identify potential new customers and for the aforementioned purposes. Under no circumstances do we use the data collected for the purpose of drawing conclusions about you as an individual. You can object to this data processing at any time if there are reasons which exist in your particular situation and which make data processing inadvisable. All you need to do is send an email to the data protection officer specified below.