Privacy Policy - Carpet Cleaners Earlscourt

This Privacy Policy explains how Carpet Cleaners Earlscourt collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing carpet cleaning and related services. It applies to all Carpet Cleaners Earlscourt customers in the area, including prospective customers, existing customers, and anyone who communicates with us about our services. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Personal Data We Collect

We may collect personal data directly from you, from your interactions with us, and from third parties where appropriate and lawful. The type of information collected depends on the services requested and the way you interact with us.

Information you provide

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details such as address, telephone number, and email address.
Service details including property access instructions, preferred appointment times, and cleaning requirements.
Billing information and payment-related information where necessary for invoicing and transaction management.
Communication records such as messages, complaints, feedback, and service enquiries.

Information we collect automatically

Technical data including device type, browser type, and general usage information if you interact with our digital systems.
Operational records such as appointment logs, service notes, and job completion details.

Information from third parties

In some cases, we may receive information from payment providers, booking systems, subcontractors, or property managers acting on your behalf. We only use such data where permitted by law and where it is relevant to delivering our services.

2. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data only for specific and legitimate purposes related to our business. These include:

Providing carpet cleaning and related services.
Managing bookings, appointments, and service delivery.
Preparing estimates, invoices, and payment records.
Communicating about your service requests, updates, or follow-up matters.
Responding to complaints, disputes, or customer support enquiries.
Maintaining internal business records and service quality.
Meeting legal, regulatory, tax, and accounting obligations.
Protecting our business, staff, customers, and property from fraud or misuse.

We will not use your personal data for purposes that are incompatible with the original purpose for which it was collected, unless we have a lawful basis to do so.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a valid lawful basis to process personal data. Carpet Cleaners Earlscourt relies on one or more of the following bases depending on the activity involved:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes managing bookings, delivering cleaning services, sending service confirmations, and issuing invoices.

Legitimate interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include maintaining customer records, improving services, preventing fraud, and handling complaints. We always consider whether the processing is proportionate and respectful of your privacy.

Legal obligation

We may process and retain personal data when required by law, including tax, accounting, insurance, and regulatory requirements.

Consent

In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example where you choose to receive certain types of optional communications. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

4. Sharing Personal Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary to operate our services, manage our business, or comply with legal obligations. Any third party that processes personal data on our behalf acts as a data processor and must only use the data according to our instructions and applicable data protection law.

Examples of processors and recipients may include:

Payment service providers who handle secure payment processing.
Accounting or bookkeeping providers who support invoicing and financial records.
Scheduling or administrative systems used to manage bookings and customer records.
IT and data storage providers who support secure data hosting, backups, and system maintenance.
Subcontractors or service partners where needed to complete a service at your property.
Professional advisers such as insurers, auditors, or legal advisers where necessary.

We do not sell your personal data. If data is transferred outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that adequate safeguards are in place.

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including legal, accounting, and reporting requirements. The retention period depends on the type of information and the reason for processing.

Retention principles

Customer and service records are retained for as long as needed to manage the customer relationship and resolve service queries.
Financial records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting laws.
Communication records may be kept for a reasonable period to evidence instructions, agreements, and complaints handling.
Technical and security logs are retained only as long as needed for operational and security purposes.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

6. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and regular review of our processes. While we strive to protect your information, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

7. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be subject to certain conditions and exemptions.

Your rights include:

Right of access - you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification - you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure - you may request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing - you may ask us to limit how we use your data in some situations.
Right to object - you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability - you may request certain data in a structured, commonly used format.
Right to withdraw consent - where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, you should make a request using the means normally available for customer communication. We may need to verify your identity before responding. We aim to respond within the time limits set by law.

8. Complaints and Supervisory Authority

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, we encourage you to raise the matter so it can be reviewed. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

9. Children's Data

Our services are generally intended for adults, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is necessary in connection with a property booking or household contact arrangement and where this is lawful. If we become aware that we have collected data inappropriately, we will take appropriate steps to delete or correct it.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, technology, or our business practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage you to review it periodically so that you remain informed about how we protect your data.

11. Our Commitment to Privacy

Carpet Cleaners Earlscourt is committed to processing personal data responsibly and in line with the principles of lawfulness, fairness, transparency, purpose limitation, data minimisation, accuracy, storage limitation, integrity, and confidentiality. We only collect the information needed to deliver our services and operate our business efficiently.

This policy applies to all Carpet Cleaners Earlscourt customers in area. By using our services or communicating with us, you acknowledge that your personal data may be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws.