Earls Court Carpet Cleaning Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Earls Court Carpet Cleaning collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data relating to our customers in the Earls Court area. It is intended to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. This Privacy Policy applies to all customers who enquire about, book, or use our carpet cleaning and related services in the Earls Court area.

Who We Are and Scope of This Policy

Earls Court Carpet Cleaning is a local carpet and upholstery cleaning service provider operating in the Earls Court area. In the context of applicable data protection law, Earls Court Carpet Cleaning is the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This Policy applies whenever you contact us, request a quote, make a booking, enter into a contract for services, or otherwise interact with us as a customer or prospective customer in the Earls Court area.

Types of Personal Data We Collect

We collect and process different categories of personal data, depending on how you interact with us. This may include:

Identification and contact details such as your name, address of the property where the services will be provided, billing address if different, and any other contact details you choose to provide.

Booking and service information such as dates and times of appointments, details of the areas or items to be cleaned, special instructions or notes you give us, and any follow-up service requirements.

Communication records such as information you provide when you contact us to request a quote, ask a question, give feedback, or make a complaint. This may include notes of our conversations and copies of any correspondence you send to us.

Payment and transaction information such as records of payments made for services and related financial transactions. We do not retain full payment card details, but we may process partial identifiers for accounting and reconciliation purposes.

Technical and usage data where relevant, such as basic device or browser information and general usage data if you visit our website or interact with our online content. This may include date and time of access, pages visited, and basic diagnostic information.

How We Collect Personal Data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us to request a quote, make a booking, or ask for information about our services. This may occur by telephone or through any online contact forms or messaging tools you choose to use.

We may also collect information during the provision of services at your property, for example notes on the condition of carpets and upholstery and any access instructions that you provide.

In some cases we may receive data from third parties who help us provide our services, for example online advertising or directory services that pass on your enquiry to us after you have indicated that you wish to be contacted by a local carpet cleaner.

Lawful Bases for Processing

We only process personal data when we have a lawful basis to do so under data protection law. The principal lawful bases we rely on are:

Contractual necessity where processing is required to provide you with a quote, to enter into a contract for carpet cleaning or related services, or to perform our obligations under an existing contract, such as arriving at the correct address at the agreed time and completing the work requested.

Legitimate interests where processing is required for our legitimate business purposes, and where these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include managing our schedule, improving our services, keeping basic administrative records, responding to your enquiries, and maintaining appropriate business records.

Legal obligation where we are required to process certain information to comply with accounting, tax, or other legal and regulatory obligations, such as maintaining accurate financial records.

Consent where you have specifically agreed to a particular use of your information. If we ever rely on consent, we will make this clear at the point of collection, and you may withdraw your consent at any time.

How We Use Personal Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide quotations for carpet cleaning and related services.

To manage bookings, schedule appointments, and carry out services at your property.

To communicate with you before, during, and after the provision of services, including confirming bookings, notifying you of changes, and responding to queries or complaints.

To manage payments, invoices, and receipts, and to keep our internal accounts up to date.

To manage risk, prevent misuse of our services, and protect our rights, property, and the safety of our staff and customers.

To comply with legal and regulatory requirements, including tax and accounting obligations.

Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, or for as long as we are required to keep it by law. The exact retention period will depend on the type of data and the context in which it was collected.

Customer records relating to bookings, services provided, and associated invoices are typically retained for the period required by applicable tax and accounting laws. After this period, data will either be securely deleted or anonymised so that you can no longer be identified.

Where data is processed on the basis of your consent and no other lawful basis applies, we will retain the data until you withdraw your consent or until it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected, whichever is earlier.

Sharing Personal Data and Use of Processors

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. However, we may share personal data with carefully selected third parties who act as data processors on our behalf. These may include:

IT and hosting providers that support our websites, booking tools, or data storage systems.

Payment processing providers or financial service providers who help us process payments and manage financial transactions.

Professional advisers such as accountants who require access to certain records for tax and accounting purposes.

Any such processors are required to process your data only in accordance with our instructions, to keep it secure, and to comply with all relevant data protection laws. Where we are legally required to do so, we may also share information with regulatory bodies, law enforcement agencies, or courts.

International Transfers

Where data is processed or stored using service providers that are located or host data outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. These may include relying on adequacy regulations or using appropriate contractual clauses to protect your data in line with applicable data protection law.

Data Security

We take reasonable and appropriate measures to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure, or access. These measures include organisational procedures, access controls, and technical safeguards proportionate to the nature of the data and the risks involved.

While no system can be completely secure, we aim to ensure that personal data is handled carefully and is only accessed by those who need it to perform their role.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection law, individuals have a number of rights in relation to their personal data. Subject to certain conditions and exemptions, these rights include:

The right of access You have the right to request confirmation of whether we hold personal data about you and, if so, to receive a copy and certain additional information about how it is processed.

The right to rectification You have the right to request that inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you is corrected or updated.

The right to erasure You may, in some circumstances, request that we delete your personal data. This right is not absolute and may be limited where we have a legal obligation or other lawful basis to retain the information.

The right to restrict processing You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, for example while we are considering a request to rectify or erase your data.

The right to data portability In some cases, you may have the right to receive the personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to transmit that data to another controller.

The right to object You have the right to object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests, on grounds relating to your particular situation. We will then assess whether our interests override your rights and freedoms or whether we must stop the processing.

The right to withdraw consent Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

You also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority if you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data. In the United Kingdom, this is the Information Commissioner’s Office. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve your concerns.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, our data processing practices, or applicable law. Any changes will be effective when the revised Policy is made available. We encourage customers in the Earls Court area to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect personal data.