Privacy policy.

Tinseltown Rentals is based in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California. This policy explains what we collect when you visit this site or rent from us, why, and the choices you have.

• When you book: your name, email, phone number, podcast or project name, any notes, the gear and times you book, and that you accepted the rental agreement.
• When you pay: payments are handled by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number. Stripe shares with us a customer ID, the card brand, its last four digits, whether it’s a prepaid card, and the payment and deposit-hold status.
• At pickup: we check your photo ID against the name on your card, and we may photograph the gear at pickup and return to record its condition.
• When you chat: what you type, and the technical details the chat needs, go to Tawk.to — only after you click “Chat with us”.
• When you browse: our servers keep standard logs (IP address, browser, pages requested, time) for security and troubleshooting, and use your IP address briefly to limit abuse of the booking form.
• When you email us: your email address and what you write.

• To take and manage your booking, prepare your kit and hand it over.
• To charge the rental, place and release the deposit hold, and handle any charges the rental agreement allows.
• To send your confirmation, reminders and receipts, and to answer your questions.
• To prevent fraud and abuse, and to meet our accounting, tax and legal obligations.

We don’t sell your personal information, and we don’t use it for anything unrelated to renting you gear.

Only with the services that help us run the rental, and only what each one needs:

• Stripe processes payments and deposit holds (Stripe’s privacy policy (opens in a new tab)).
• Our email provider delivers booking emails to you and to us.
• Google Calendar: the owner’s calendar holds pickup and return events with your name, phone, email and booking details, so we can prepare your kit and meet you on time.
• Tawk.to runs our chat, only if you start one (Tawk.to’s privacy policy (opens in a new tab)). Chats are handled by Tawk.to.
• YouTube: video thumbnails load from YouTube’s image servers. On the video pages (/work/…) the player loads from youtube-nocookie.com (YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode) when the page opens; elsewhere it loads only when you press play.
• Our hosting provider stores the site, its database and backups.
• Authorities, when the law requires it or to protect our rights and gear — for example, reporting stolen equipment.

• The site itself sets no advertising or tracking cookies for visitors.
• Stripe’s checkout page sets its own cookies to keep payments secure.
• Tawk.to sets cookies once you open the chat.
• While you book, your choices (cameras, lenses, times) appear in the page address so you can share or return to them, and the site checks prices and availability with our server as you change them. Your name and contact details aren’t sent until you continue to payment.
• Your browser keeps a few things on your device only: the details you type into the booking form (until you close the tab, so a refresh doesn’t lose them), a note that a booking’s confirmation was already counted, and the boxes you tick on our equipment checklist. You can clear them with your browser’s site data settings.

We don’t run analytics or advertising trackers on this site right now. If we add them, we’ll update this policy first.

• Booking and payment records: as long as we need them for accounting, tax and legal purposes, then deleted.
• Database backups: rotated nightly and kept for 14 days.
• Server logs: kept for a short time for security, then deleted.
• Chat transcripts: kept by Tawk.to under its own policy; ask us and we’ll delete yours.

If you live in California, you have the right to:

• Know what personal information we hold about you and how we use and share it, and get a copy.
• Delete it, unless we have to keep it (for example, tax records for a paid rental).
• Correct it if it’s wrong.
• Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. We don’t sell it or share it for advertising.
• Not be treated differently for using these rights.

Anyone can ask — not just Californians. To make a request, reply to any booking email from us, or use “Chat with us”. We’ll confirm it’s you by checking the email address on your booking, and answer within 45 days.

The site runs over HTTPS. Card details go straight to Stripe and never touch our servers, and only the owner can sign in to the booking admin. No system is perfectly secure, so if you think something’s wrong, tell us right away.

You must be 18 or older to rent. The site isn’t meant for children, and we don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under 13.

If we change how we handle your information, we’ll update this page and the effective date below before the change applies.

Questions about your privacy: reply to any booking email from us, or use “Chat with us”. Tinseltown Rentals · Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA.