Privacy Policy - South Wimbledon Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how South Wimbledon Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all South Wimbledon Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including anyone who enquires about, books, receives, or pays for our carpet cleaning and related cleaning services. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of data protection law, South Wimbledon Carpet Cleaners is the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. This means we decide how and why your personal data is used when providing our services.

We respect your privacy and aim to collect only the information we need. We also take steps to keep your data secure and to ensure that any third parties who process information on our behalf do so appropriately.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following types of personal data:

• Identity information such as your name.
• Contact details such as your address, email address, and telephone number.
• Service information such as the type of cleaning requested, appointment details, access notes, and any preferences relevant to the service.
• Payment-related information such as payment status, billing records, and transaction references. We do not normally store full card details where payment is processed through a secure third-party provider.
• Communication records such as messages, complaints, feedback, and notes relating to customer support.
• Technical data such as IP address or device information if you contact us through digital channels that record this information automatically.

We generally do not collect special category data unless it is necessary and you choose to provide it, for example if it is relevant to access requirements or health and safety considerations. Where such information is provided, we handle it with additional care and only where a lawful basis applies.

3. How We Collect Your Data

We may collect personal data directly from you when you:

• request a quotation or make an enquiry;
• book or reschedule a service;
• communicate with us by phone, email, text, or online form;
• pay for a service;
• provide feedback or make a complaint.

We may also receive data from third parties where necessary to deliver our services, such as from building managers, letting agents, landlords, or payment providers acting on your behalf or in connection with the service.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

We only process personal data where we have a valid lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the purpose, we rely on one or more of the following:

Performance of a Contract

We process your personal data when it is necessary to provide the service you have requested, manage bookings, deliver cleaning work, and handle payments or related administration.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain records where we are required to do so by law, including tax, accounting, and record-keeping obligations.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights do not override those interests. This may include managing customer relationships, improving services, preventing fraud, maintaining secure operations, and dealing with enquiries or disputes.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where you opt in to a particular form of communication or where we need permission to process certain optional information. You can withdraw consent at any time where consent is the lawful basis.

5. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

• to provide carpet cleaning and related services;
• to manage quotes, appointments, and service delivery;
• to communicate with you before, during, and after a booking;
• to handle payments, invoices, and records;
• to respond to feedback, queries, and complaints;
• to maintain service quality and improve our operations;
• to comply with legal and regulatory obligations;
• to protect our business, staff, and customers from misuse, fraud, or unlawful activity.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which it was collected unless we reasonably determine that we need to use it for another compatible purpose. If we need to use it for an unrelated purpose, we will explain the legal basis before doing so where required.

6. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary to run our business and provide services. These third parties act as processors or, in some cases, independent controllers.

Examples of processors may include:

• payment processors for secure transaction handling;
• IT and cloud service providers for secure data storage and email or system support;
• accountants or bookkeeping services for financial administration;
• customer management or scheduling software providers used to manage bookings and records;
• subcontractors or service partners where they are required to deliver part of a service on our behalf.

We require processors to act only on our instructions, to keep your data secure, and to comply with applicable data protection law. We do not sell your personal data.

We may also share data where required by law, for example with tax authorities, regulators, law enforcement agencies, or courts.

7. International Transfers

In some cases, your data may be stored or processed outside the UK if we use service providers with systems located abroad. Where this happens, we take appropriate steps to protect your data, such as using approved contractual safeguards or ensuring the destination provides an adequate level of protection.

8. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to meet the purposes described in this policy, including legal, accounting, and reporting requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and why it is held.

As a general principle:

• booking and service records are kept for a period necessary to manage customer relationships and resolve queries;
• financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law;
• communications and complaint records are kept long enough to address the issue and support our business records;
• data that is no longer needed is securely deleted or anonymised.

Retention is reviewed regularly to ensure we do not keep information longer than necessary.

9. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from accidental loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, restricted permissions, and staff awareness of confidentiality duties. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we take reasonable steps to protect the information we hold.

10. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may not apply in every situation, but we will assess each request carefully. Your rights include:

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

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within the time limits required by law, usually within one month.

11. Complaints and Further Information

If you are concerned about how your personal data is handled, you may raise the issue with us first so we can review it. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed.

This policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The latest version will apply to all customers in the South Wimbledon area who use our services.

12. Policy Scope

This Privacy Policy applies to all South Wimbledon Carpet Cleaners customers in area and to anyone whose personal data we process in connection with our services. By using our services, making an enquiry, or providing personal data to us, you acknowledge that your information will be handled in accordance with this policy and applicable data protection laws.