Call Recording Policy

1Recording is off by default

Separately from audio recording, Bea always produces a transcript and written summary of the call, because that is how she understands the caller and passes the message on. That happens on every call, recorded or not.

2How callers are told

Where recording is switched on, Bea announces it at the start of the call, before any substantive conversation, in wording along the lines of:

“Just so you know, this call is recorded for quality and record-keeping.”

• The announcement cannot be disabled while recording is on. Customers can adjust the wording, not remove the disclosure.
• A caller who does not want to be recorded can say so, and should be offered another way to contact the business — or end the call.
• If a caller objects and continues anyway, the business is responsible for deciding whether it is appropriate to keep recording.

3The law on recording calls

Call recording law differs between New Zealand and Australia, and between Australian states and territories. This is a summary, not legal advice.

New Zealand

Recording a call you are a party to is generally lawful — the Crimes Act 1961 prohibits intercepting private communications with a device, but that prohibition does not apply to a party to the conversation. The Privacy Act 2020 still applies in full: you must tell people you are collecting their information, be fair about how you collect it, and only collect what you actually need. That is why we announce recording rather than relying on the Crimes Act exception.

Australia

The federal Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 applies, and each state and territory has its own surveillance devices or listening devices legislation. They are not consistent. In some jurisdictions a party to a conversation may record it; in others the consent of every party is required, with limited exceptions.

4Who is responsible for what

In privacy terms, the business being called is the entity responsible for the caller’s information. We store and process recordings on their behalf and under their instructions.

5Why a business might record

Legitimate reasons we see, and the only ones we support:

• Confirming what was agreed — quotes, addresses, appointment times
• Resolving a dispute about what was said on a call
• Training and quality assurance for the business’s own team
• Meeting a record-keeping obligation in a regulated industry

What recordings must not be used for

• Monitoring or profiling individual callers beyond the purpose they were told about
• Marketing to a caller who has not agreed to it
• Sharing or publishing a call without the caller’s agreement
• Capturing payment card details, passwords or PINs — never read these to an AI receptionist, and customers must not configure Bea to ask for them

6Who can hear a recording

• The business whose calls were recorded, through their Bea account. They control who on their team has access.
• Our staff, only where a customer has reported a problem we need to investigate, where we are looking into a security or abuse issue, or where the law requires. Access is restricted and logged.
• Our infrastructure providers, to the extent recordings sit on their storage — under contract, and without any right to listen to or use them.
• Law enforcement or a court, where there is a lawful request we are required to comply with.

We do not sell recordings, share them with advertisers, or use them to train public AI models.

7How long recordings are kept

• Audio recordings are kept for 90 days by default, then deleted automatically.
• Customers on higher plans can set a shorter or longer retention period to match their own obligations. Longer retention needs a reason that stands up — “just in case” is not one.
• Transcripts and summaries are kept for 12 months, because they are the record of the enquiry itself.
• A recording under active dispute or legal hold is kept until that is resolved.
• When a customer’s account closes, recordings are deleted 30 days after closure.

8How recordings are protected

• Recordings are encrypted in transit and at rest.
• Access requires authentication and is limited to people who need it.
• Access by our staff is logged.
• Recordings may be stored on infrastructure located overseas — see Storage and disclosure overseas in the Privacy Policy.

9If you are a caller

You have rights over a recording of your own voice, because it is your personal information.

• Ask not to be recorded. Say so at the start of the call and ask for another way to deal with the business.
• Ask for a copy. Under the Privacy Act 2020 (or the Australian Privacy Principles) you can request the personal information held about you, including a recording.
• Ask for it to be corrected if the record of what you said is wrong.
• Ask for it to be deleted. There is no absolute right to deletion, but businesses must not keep information longer than they need it, and we will help action a reasonable request.

Ask the business you called first — it is their record. If you cannot reach them, or you are not getting anywhere, email sales@bedigital.co.nz with the number you called from and roughly when, and we will pass it on and help them deal with it.

If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (New Zealand, 0800 803 909) or the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (Australia, 1300 363 992).

10Before you switch recording on

If you are a Bea customer thinking about enabling recording, work through this:

1. Can you state a real reason you need the audio, beyond the transcript you already get?
2. Do you know the recording law in every state or country you take calls from?
3. Is your announcement wording accurate and at the very start of the call?
4. Do you have somewhere to point a caller who does not want to be recorded?
5. Does your own privacy policy tell people you record calls?
6. Do you know who on your team can play recordings back, and is that the right list?
7. Have you set a retention period you can justify?

If you cannot answer all seven, leave recording off. The transcript and summary cover most of what businesses actually need.

11Changes to this policy

We will update this policy if the service or the law changes. The date at the top shows when it last changed, and we will tell customers by email before any change that materially affects them.