Policy Effective Date: January 2020

Last Updated: December 31 2025

Michaels' Privacy Statement

Your Privacy Rights

At Michaels, we care about your privacy concerns, and we strive to be transparent about our practices. This Privacy Statement (“Privacy Statement”) describes the information that Michaels Stores, Inc., its affiliated companies, subsidiaries, and service partners (collectively, “Michaels”) collects about you; how we use and protect this information; and the choices you can make about how we use this information.

Information Covered by This Statement

This Privacy Statement applies to information, including personal information, collected about you by Michaels online and offline, such as in our stores. Personal information is information that could reasonably be linked to you or your household.

How We Collect Information

We may collect information about you from a variety of sources, including:

• Information we collect from you directly, including information that we obtain through your purchases.
• Information we collect automatically from your device and browser, including through cookies, pixels, and other tracking technologies as discussed below, about you when you visit or register with our sites, call Customer Care, use our services, make purchases, participate in programs like Michaels MakerPlace, participate in promotions, or view our online advertisements.
• Information we collect about you from other sources, including social media and commercially available sources such as data aggregators and public databases.

Michaels retains your information only for as long as necessary to provide requested products or services or as required by applicable law.

Information We Collect

Michaels may collect personal information about you as a Michaels' customer, a job candidate, an employee, or as a visitor to Michaels' websites, applications, or social media pages (collectively, “Websites”). Michaels may collect or may have collected, and in certain cases, shared, as described below, in the last 12 months the following categories of personal data about you:

• Identifiers: real name, alias, postal address, email address, telephone number*, date of birth or age, online identifier, social media profile information, or username and password, Internet Protocol address, signature, special status designations (i.e. teacher, student, military), or other similar identifiers. (*You agree to notify Michaels at the Contact Us information below if you change or disconnect your mobile phone number.)
• Commercial and financial information: products or services purchased, obtained, returned/exchanged, or considered, financial information including credit and debit card details provided by you when you make purchases, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.
• Internet, mobile device, or other similar network activity: when you use the Websites, some data is automatically transferred from your browser to our server, including through use of social media, cookies, web beacons, tracking pixels, clear gifs, and/or other similar technologies, including browsing history, search history, viewed webpages, Michaels emails you open and forward, Michaels offers and links you collect to via email, links that are clicked, keystrokes typed, movement of the mouse or pointer, device model, operating system version, unique device identifiers, mobile network information, sites or apps visited before coming to our Websites, videos viewed, the amount of time you spend viewing or using the Websites and the pages visited, the number of times you return, or other click-stream or site usage data, and other information on a consumer's interaction with the Websites or advertisement.
• Geolocation data to provide your location for curbside pickup or to determine the nearest store and with your specific consent.
• Audio and electronic information, including customer service recordings and chats, meeting recordings, event photos, and security footage.
• Inferences drawn from other personal information: profile reflecting a person's preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes.
• Information you provide about a third party: name, surname, address and contact details of recipient for delivery of goods or services (such as sending a gift or virtual gift card), if different from yours.
• Preference information: your account settings including preferred store, your wishlist, contact channel and types of services/offers that interest you.
• Other voluntary information: any voluntary information you may provide us in the course of your interactions with us: such as by sending an e-mail through our Websites and/or to the addresses indicated in our Websites; by calling, e-mailing, or texting with our Customer Care team and/or store staff; by responding to surveys or competitions; or by providing your information to any feature or site with which we partner to facilitate your shopping experience.
• For job candidates and employees, we may also collect the following categories of personal information for you or when authorized by you:
  • Job-related information and qualifications, including but not limited to position applied for, work experience, references, education, professional memberships, results of background checks and screening, work authorization, absence and disciplinary records, and information we obtain from monitoring.
  • Compensation and benefits information, including but not limited to your compensation details, date of birth, marital status, information about your benefits and beneficiaries.
  • Financial information, such as bank account details needed to process direct deposit.
  • Sensitive personal information, including Social Security number, driver’s license number, state identification card number, passport number, demographic information including race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression.

How We Use This Information

We use the information we collect to provide the products and services you request, to tell you about other products and services offered by Michaels, and to manage our sites and services, as follows:

• Provide offers, products, and services including customer service, send information to you, and otherwise manage our relationship with you.
• Develop new products and services.
• Enable your participation in loyalty programs and contests or provide you with offers you request.
• Create and manage your account, including verification and cross-device linking.
• Process payment for purchases or other services.
• Detect and protect against or identify possible fraudulent transactions.
• Analyze your use of our products, services, and sites and what may be of interest to you and provide you with customized marketing communications and advertising, information about Michaels' products and services, and offer you promotions including digital rewards.
• Administer surveys and focus groups.
• Understand how you arrived at our site.
• Determine the effectiveness of our advertising.
• Enforce our Terms and Conditions and otherwise manage or protect our business.
• Facilitate audits, investigations, dispute resolution or litigation, insurance claims, or other legal or regulatory compliance.
• In the event Michaels is acquired or sold, we may transfer your information as part of the transaction.
• For job candidates, we will use this information to open and maintain candidate records, communicate with you, assess your suitability for the position, determine your eligibility to work, or other uses permitted by applicable laws.
• For employees, we will use this information to open and maintain employee records, determine your eligibility to work, communicate with you, assess your suitability for promotions and your eligibility for benefits, process payments to you, monitor absences, monitor compliance with our internal policies and procedures and investigate breaches of same, assessing and taking action in relation to disciplinary, capability, grievance and conduct issues, or other uses permitted by applicable laws.

Tracking Tools: Cookies, Web Beacons, and other Technologies

We may use cookies, web beacons, tracking pixels, clear gifs, and other tracking tools to improve your experience on our sites and apps, remember your preferences, serve you with interest-based advertising and to better understand your behaviors and browsing activities. We permit third-party partners to gather information through our Websites, including for behavioral advertising purposes to serve you advertising for Michaels’ products and services. You can opt out of online behavioral advertising here.

Cookies. A cookie is a small file placed on your computer when you visit a site that can be understood by the site that issued the cookie. We use cookies to monitor how our sites are used and to help personalize your online experience. For example, when you register on our Websites, we may store a unique code in a cookie on your computer. The next time you come back to the site from that computer, our servers use the cookie to recognize you. We can then use the information you provided when you registered combined with your activities on our sites to provide you advertising and offers of interest. Most browsers automatically accept cookies. Your browser gives you the ability to delete or reject browser cookies. If you block cookies, certain features on our website may not work. If you block or delete cookies, not all the tracking that we have described in this Privacy Statement will stop.

Third-Party Advertising. We allow third parties, including business partners and ad networks, to display advertising on our sites. Some of these companies place a cookie on your computer to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement. This enables them to understand where you, or others who are using your computer, saw their advertisement and deliver ads that they believe are of interest to you. We do not control these companies' use of cookies.

Web Beacons, tracking pixels, and clear gifs. Web beacons, tracking pixels, and clear gifs are small bits of code embedded in web pages or in emails. We use web beacons, tracking pixels, and/or clear gifs to deliver or communicate with cookies, to count users who have visited a web page, and to understand usage patterns. We also include web beacons, tracking pixels, and/or clear gifs in e-mails to learn if messages have been opened, acted on, or forwarded.

Other Technologies. Examples of other technologies we may use to provide better service to you include:

• Web Session Variables. Information that is passed from one web URL to another as you browse.
• Browser plug-ins/add-ons. Additional web components that may need to be installed to enable certain web features on our sites. You have the option not to install these components.

You can control and manage your preferences related to these tracking technologies, including those related to online targeted advertisements related to Michaels' products, by adjusting your browser settings or by following the instructions in the Cookie Preference Center on the Websites. Your request to managing these technologies may be linked to your browser identifier, and as such you may have to opt-out on additional browsers or devices you use to access our Websites and services. Please note that opting out of tracking technologies may not prevent all promotions and advertisements from being displayed to you, including those that do not rely on these techniques.

You can also use settings like Global Privacy Control (“GPC”) on certain web browsers to opt out of the processing of personal information for purposes of targeted advertising or the sale of your personal information. We respond to opt-out preference signals communicated via the GPC and will process such signals with respect to the browser or device communicating the signals, or with respect to you specifically if you have signed onto your Michaels account while communicating GPC opt-out preference signals. To use GPC opt-out preference signals, please follow the instructions here: https://globalprivacycontrol.org.

Information Sharing with Business Partners and Service Providers

We partner with various organizations so that we may enhance and improve offerings to you from us and others. We may provide your personal information to such organizations for these and other purposes. Michaels does not sell your personal information solely for its own monetary gain; we only disclose your information for purposes described in this policy. Some laws define “selling” very broadly, and we may disclose personal information to third parties in ways that may be deemed a sale in under the laws in effect in some jurisdictions. We may disclose your personal information, as described in this Privacy Statement, to business partners to provide you with more interesting and customized information, including but not limited to promotions and advertising, which may be considered “selling” under certain privacy laws. If you do not want Michaels to disclose your personal information in ways that may be considered a sale under applicable law, please contact us via one of the methods listed in the “Contact Us” section below.

Third-party service providers. We rely on third-party service providers to perform a variety of services on our behalf. In so doing, we may need to share your personal information with them. Please note that we provide our service providers with only the personal information they need to perform their services, and we require that they protect this information and not use it for any other purpose.

For example, we may rely on a service provider to:

• Fulfill your product and service requests and answer your questions.
• Host our sites and deliver our email and mobile messages.
• Contact contest winners, manage payments, or take other actions on our behalf.
• Analyze data, sometimes combined with other sources, to send more targeted communications to you.
• Conduct research and analyze data to improve our products, services, and sites.
• Create a “session replay” of your visit to our Websites.
• Combine your personal information collected by Michaels with information from our business partners to jointly send tailored promotional communications through a service provider to you. In such instances, only the service provider will have access to the combined information. If you prefer not to receive these joint communications, you can always opt out by following the instructions provided in any such communication or by logging in to your account on Michaels.com and changing your communication settings.
• Perform other services that we request.

Other situations. We may share your personal information:

• To social media platforms and networks, such as Facebook, when you choose to use certain features or tools available on our Websites that enable you to connect to a social medial account or to share inspiration, finds, purchases, or other content on social media.
• If Michaels or a Michaels entity or business is sold or assets, rights, or duties are transferred, to another company.
• To protect and defend the rights and property of our customers, the public, or Michaels (including enforcing our Terms and Conditions).
• When we believe disclosure is necessary to comply with law, regulatory requirements, or requests from public authorities or as otherwise permitted by law, including to government, or regulatory bodies.
• At your direction or request, or when you otherwise consent.

Aggregated, de-identified, and non-personal information. We may share aggregated information that cannot identify you for general business analysis. For example, we may disclose the number of visitors to Michaels Websites or services.

As described in the “Tracking Tools” section above, we use certain analytics services, including Google Analytics, to better understand how customers use our Websites to improve those technologies and optimize your experience and interactions. Through the use of such services, we may share your personal information; such information is not intended to be used for cross-contextual advertising. If you wish to opt-out of allowing Google to collect analytics information, please visit Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser at: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Your Privacy Rights

Depending on applicable data protection and privacy laws, you may be entitled to a variety of legal rights regarding the collection and processing of your information. These rights vary depending on the particular laws of the jurisdiction applicable to you, but may include:

• Right to Know: you may have the right to request information about the information we have collected about you, the purpose of our collection, and the source of the data. You may also have the right to know with whom we have shared your information, including for direct marketing purposes, for what purpose, and what information has been shared.
• Right to Access: you may have the right to request information about how we process your information and to obtain a copy of that information.
• Right to Opt-Out: you may have the right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of your information. Subject to certain exemptions, you may have the right to restrict our use and disclosure of sensitive personal information.
• Right to Portability: you may have the right to receive your information, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to have that information transmitted to another organization in certain circumstances.
• Right to Correction: you may have the right to request the modification or correction of any errors in the information that we have collected from you. Please note that we may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe that doing so would violate any law, legal requirement or rights of another person, or cause the information to be incorrect.
• Right to Deletion: you may have the right to request the deletion of your information that we have collected from you. Please understand that we may not be able to delete your information except by also deleting your account, which may require cancellation of products or services that we provide to you. Additionally, we may be required to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes, to complete any transactions that you began prior to your request, or for other purposes as required or permitted by applicable law.
• Right to Be Free from Discrimination: we will not discriminate or retaliate against you for exercising your consumer privacy rights.
• Right to Object: you may have the right to object to decisions based on profiling or automated decision-making that produce legal or similarly significant effects on you.
• Right to Lodge a Complaint: you may have the right to lodge a complaint with a regulator, including relevant supervisory authorities.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: when processing of information is based on consent, you may have the right to withdraw your consent to such processing.

In addition to many of the rights above, (i) residents of California may request information concerning the categories of personal information (if any) we disclose to third parties or affiliates for their direct marketing purposes; (ii) residents of California have a right to limit our collection and use of your sensitive personal information if used for beyond certain purposes specified by law, but Michaels does not use or disclose your sensitive personal information beyond such legally specified purposes; (iii) residents of Oregon may also request a list of third parties to which we have disclosed personal data; and (iv) residents of Delaware may also have the right to request from us a list of the categories of third parties to whom we have disclosed your personal data.

This Privacy Statement describes how we may share your information for marketing purposes, as explained above. If you are a California resident, the Shine the Light law permits you to request and obtain from us once per calendar year information about any of your personal information shared with third parties for their own direct marketing purposes, including the categories of information and the names and addresses of those businesses with which we have shared such information. To request this information and for any other questions about our privacy practices and compliance with California law, please contact us using the information in the “Contact Us” section below.

You may exercise any applicable rights as follows:

• Some of these rights, including the right to correct your information and certain opt-outs may be available through our self-service portals or by following the instructions on communications received (e.g., using the "Unsubscribe" button on certain communications; see Communications section below for further information).
• Instructions for opting out of targeted advertising can be found in the Tracking Tools section above. Otherwise, you may submit your request via this webform or contact us directly via the methods listed below.
• For California-based employees, former employees, or job candidates – Submit your request to: employee webform.

Once we receive your request, you will receive a confirmation email which may request additional information, including personal information for verification purposes and to locate the personal information subject to the request. We may not be able to respond to your request if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request. If we need to request further information from you to verify your identity, we will only use that personal information for the purposes of identifying you or that you have authorized the request. You will have seven (7) days to respond. Once received, we will comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable and as required by applicable law.

In some states, you can designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf.

In certain states, if we refuse to act on a request, you may appeal our decision within a reasonable period by contacting us as outlined below and specifying you wish to appeal. Within sixty (60) days of our receipt of your appeal, we will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions. Where permitted, you may submit a complaint to the appropriate regulatory authority.

Communication Preferences; Unsubscribe or Opt-Out vs. Deletion

Our Websites provide you options with how we communicate with you, including the opportunity to opt-in and to opt-out of receiving communications from Michaels. Below is an overview of the communications, your options, and how this may impact the communications you receive from Michaels.

We only send you promotional mobile or email messages if you provide us with your contact information and opt in to receive the mobile messages or if we obtain your email address in another legitimate way that originated with you,; such consent is not required to purchase goods or services. We may send unsolicited, promotional postal mail with offers or product information that we believe is of interest to you; such postal mail may contain opt out instructions, when required by law. You can view, correct, or update the personal contact information and preferences within your online account or by contacting us through a method listed below.

• Unsubscribe or Opt-Out: this allows you to opt-out of certain communications, such as promotional emails. This is typically done by clicking on the "UNSUBSCRIBE" button or otherwise following the instructions on the communication. Please note that you may still receive communications from Michaels about transactions or rewards you have earned through the loyalty program after you unsubscribe or opt-out. If you do not want to receive any further communications, please follow the instructions below to delete your account.

• Delete: by exercising your deletion rights discussed above, you are requesting that Michaels delete your account and all information we hold about you. Deletion requests can be done through the webform or by contacting us directly via the methods listed below. Please note that deletion of your account or certain information may result in deletion of accumulated rewards through our loyalty program, and you may no longer have access to benefits. If you re-join later, any deleted incentives will not be reinstated.

Loyalty Programs (Financial Incentive Programs)

Michaels may administer voluntary loyalty and incentive programs, including Michaels Rewards. By joining these programs, you may receive rewards vouchers and access to personalized specials and offers. See https://www.michaels.com/rewards for additional details and terms and conditions. To enroll and utilize Michaels' loyalty programs, you can opt-in on our website or in-store with a Michaels team member.

Under certain data protection laws, these loyalty programs are considered Financial Incentive Programs. For example, they may be interpreted as a "financial incentive" program under California law or a "bona fide loyalty program" under Colorado law. To provide you with incentives, we may collect and use your personal information, which may include your name, phone number, address, characteristics of protected classes (i.e. age/birthdate, gender), purchase history, geolocation data, preferences, characteristics, network data including browser or search history, and other personal information as listed above to identify you and provide access to the program. Michaels incurs expenses related to these programs and receives value from the data you provide to us, which varies depending on your spend and the offers you choose to use, and we make this investment to offer you an enhanced experience. These incentives are reasonably related to the value of the data you provide. Loyalty program participants may have opportunities to redeem offers for products or services with Michaels partners. Even when the offer is made available to you through a Michaels program, Michaels is not responsible for the terms or fulfillment of the offer or the partner’s products or services.

User Generated Content

Michaels Websites (Websites (such as Michaels.com, MichaelsCustomFraming.com, MakerPlace.com and MichaelsDigitalDownloads.com) enable users to submit their own content for contests, blogs, videos, the Michaels Maker Community, and other functions. Please remember that any such information you disclose becomes public information and is not covered by this Privacy Statement. You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal, financial, or other information in a submission. User generated content remains the sole responsibility of the person who submitted it; Michaels is not responsible for user generated content. Michaels cannot prevent such information from being used in a manner that may violate this Privacy Statement, the law, or your personal privacy and safety.

Information Security

We use technical, administrative, and procedural measures to help safeguard your personal information from unauthorized access or use. No such measure is ever 100% effective, and we do not guarantee that your personal and other information will be secure from theft, loss, or unauthorized access or use, and we make no representation as to the reasonableness, efficacy, or appropriateness of the measures we use to safeguard such information. Users are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of their own passwords. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure (for example, if you feel that the security of any account you might have with us has been compromised), please immediately notify us by contacting us at 1-800-MICHAELS (1-800-642-4235). Please note that email may not be encrypted and cannot be considered a secure means of transmitting credit card numbers. Michaels will never ask you to submit your credit card information via email.

Children’s Online Privacy

We believe it is important to provide added protection for children online. We encourage parents and guardians to spend time online with their children to participate in and monitor their online activity. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16 online, and we do not knowingly share or sell the personal information of children under 16.

Third-Party Websites

Some Michaels sites may contain links to non-Michaels sites. This Privacy Statement does not apply to the practices of these third-party websites, and we are not responsible for their privacy practices; they are subject to their own privacy policies and terms. We recommend you review and understand the privacy policies and security practices of each third-party site you visit before you share information with them.

Contact Us

If you have questions or concerns regarding your privacy, please contact Michaels directly.

• Contact Us by Mail:
  
  Michaels Stores, Inc.
  
  Attn: Customer Service
  
  3939 W. John Carpenter Freeway
  
  Irving, TX 75063
• Contact Us by Phone:
  
  1-800-MICHAELS
  
  (1-800-642-4235)
  
  Monday – Friday: 8 AM to 7 PM CST
  
  Saturday: 9 AM to 6 PM CST

Changes to This Privacy Statement

We may make changes to this Privacy Statement from time to time, as will be reflected in the "Last Updated" date at the top of this Privacy Statement. We will provide notice of significant updates, but we encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.

Consumers with Disabilities

We are committed to world-class service for all our guests. In compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act as Amended and other state, local and provincial laws, we provide effective communication with our hearing-impaired customers and assistance for customers with any special need. Please let us know how we can accommodate you!

MICHAELS TEXT MESSAGING TERMS AND CONDITIONS

If you opt in, you agree to receive recurring automated promotional and personalized marketing text (e.g., SMS and MMS) messages (e.g. cart reminders) from Michaels, including text messages that may be sent using an automatic telephone dialing system, to the mobile telephone number you provided when signing up or any other number that you designate. If you change or disconnect your mobile phone number, you agree to notify Michaels at the Contact Us information above or using the Customer Care link below. Consent to receive automated marketing text messages is not a condition of any purchase. Message and data rates may apply.

Message frequency will vary. Michaels reserves the right to alter the frequency of messages sent at any time, to increase or decrease the total number of sent messages. Michaels also reserves the right to change the short code or phone number from which messages are sent, and we will notify you when we do so.

Not all mobile devices or handsets may be supported, and our messages may not be deliverable in all areas. Michaels, its service providers and the mobile carriers supported by the program are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

You also agree to our Michaels Terms of Use.

Cancellation

Respond to any text received by Michaels by texting the keyword STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE or QUIT to cancel. After texting STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE or QUIT, you will receive one additional message confirming that your request has been processed. If you unsubscribe from one of our text message programs, you may continue to receive text messages from Michaels through any other programs you have joined until you separately unsubscribe from those programs.

Customer Care

If you are experiencing any problems, please visit https://support.attentivemobile.com/help and submit the form with details about your problem or your request for support, or email support@attentivemobile.com. You can also text the keyword HELP to receive customer care contact information.

Contact

This message program is a service of Michaels, located at 3939 W. John Carpenter Freeway, Irving, Texas 75063.

Dispute Resolution

1. General. Any dispute arising out of or related to these terms and conditions (“Messaging Terms”) will be resolved by binding arbitration. Arbitration is less formal than a lawsuit in court and is generally more expedient and cost effective. Arbitration uses a neutral arbitrator instead of a judge or jury, may allow for more limited discovery than in court, and can be subject to very limited review by courts. Arbitrators can award the same damages and relief that a court can award. This agreement to arbitrate disputes includes all claims arising out of or in any way related to these Messaging Terms, or your receipt of text messages from Michaels or its service providers whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation, or any other legal theory, and regardless of when a claim arises. YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT, BY AGREEING TO THESE MESSAGING TERMS, YOU AND MICHAELS ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY OR TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION AND THAT THESE MESSAGING TERMS SHALL BE SUBJECT TO AND GOVERNED BY THE FEDERAL ARBITRATION ACT.
2. Exceptions. Notwithstanding subsection (a) above, nothing in these Messaging Terms will be deemed to waive, preclude, or otherwise limit the right of you or Michaels to: (i) bring an individual action in small claims court; (ii) pursue an enforcement action through the applicable federal, state, or local agency if that action is available; (iii) seek injunctive relief in aid of arbitration from a court of competent jurisdiction; or (iv) file suit in a court of law to address an intellectual property infringement claim.
3. Arbitrator. Any arbitration between you and Michaels will be governed by the Federal Arbitration Act and the Commercial Dispute Resolution Procedures and Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes (collectively, "AAA Rules") of the American Arbitration Association ("AAA"), as modified by these Messaging Terms, and will be administered by the AAA. The AAA Rules and filing forms are available online at www.adr.org, by calling the AAA at 1-800-778-7879 , or by contacting Michaels. The arbitrator has exclusive authority to resolve any dispute relating to the interpretation, applicability, or enforceability of this binding arbitration agreement.
4. Notice; Process. If you or Michaels intends to seek arbitration, then the party seeking arbitration must first send a written notice of the dispute to the other party by U.S. Mail ("Notice"). Michaels address for Notice is: 8000 Bent Branch Dr, Irving, Texas 75063, Attn: Chief Executive Officer. The Notice must: (i) describe the nature and basis of the claim or dispute; and (ii) set forth the specific relief sought ("Demand"). You and Michaels will make good faith efforts to resolve the claim directly, but if you and Michaels do not reach an agreement to do so within 30 days after the Notice is received, you or Michaels may commence an arbitration proceeding. During the arbitration, the amount of any settlement offer made by you or Michaels must not be disclosed to the arbitrator until after the arbitrator makes a final decision and award, if any. (e) Fees. If you commence arbitration in accordance with these Messaging Terms, Michaels will reimburse you for your payment of the filing fee, unless your claim is for more than $15,000 or as set forth below, in which case the payment of any fees will be decided by the AAA Rules. If the claim is for $15,000 or less, you may choose whether the arbitration will be conducted: (i) solely based on documents submitted to the arbitrator; (ii) through a non-appearance-based telephone hearing; or (iii) by an in-person hearing as established by the AAA Rules. If the arbitrator finds that either the substance of your claim or the relief sought in the Demand is frivolous or brought for an improper purpose (as measured by the standards set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b)), then the payment of all fees will be governed by the AAA Rules. In that case, you agree to reimburse Michaels for all monies previously disbursed by it that are otherwise your obligation to pay under the AAA Rules. Regardless of the manner in which the arbitration is conducted, the arbitrator must issue a reasoned written decision sufficient to explain the essential findings and conclusions on which the decision and award, if any, are based. You and Michaels agree that such written decision, and information exchanged during arbitration, will be kept confidential except to the extent necessary to enforce or permit limited judicial review of the award. The arbitrator may make rulings and resolve disputes as to the payment and reimbursement of fees or expenses at any time during the proceeding and upon request from you or Michaels made within 14 days of the arbitrator's ruling on the merits.
5. No Class Actions. YOU AND MICHAELS AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. Further, unless both you and Michaels agree otherwise in a signed writing, the arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims and may not otherwise preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding.
6. Modifications to this Arbitration Provision. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in these Messaging Terms, if Michaels makes any future change to this arbitration provision, other than a change to Michaels address for Notice, you may reject the change by sending us written notice within 30 days of the change to Michaels address for Notice, in which case this arbitration provision, as in effect immediately prior to the changes you rejected, will continue to govern any disputes between you and Michaels.
7. Enforceability. If an arbitrator decides that applicable law precludes enforcement of any of the limitations of subsection (f) above (addressing class, representative and consolidated proceedings) as to a particular claim for relief, then that claim (and only that claim) must be severed from the arbitration and brought in court. If any other provision of these Messaging Terms is found to be unenforceable, the applicable provision shall be deemed stricken and the remainder of these Messaging Terms shall remain in full force and effect.