Privacy Policy - South Tottenham Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how South Tottenham Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data. It applies to all South Tottenham Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including prospective customers, current customers, and anyone who communicates with us about our services. We are committed to handling personal information lawfully, fairly, and transparently in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of data protection law, South Tottenham Carpet Cleaners acts as the data controller for the personal information we collect and use in connection with our carpet cleaning and related services. This means we decide why and how personal data is processed. We take our obligations seriously and aim to process only the information necessary to provide our services responsibly and effectively.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process different types of personal data depending on how you interact with us and the services you request. The information we collect may include:

Identity details such as your name.
Contact details such as your email address, telephone number, and service address.
Service information such as details about the cleaning work requested, property access notes, and scheduling preferences.
Payment information where necessary to process transactions, issue receipts, or manage billing.
Communications including messages, complaints, feedback, and records of correspondence.
Technical and usage data if you interact with us through digital systems, such as device information, IP address, or browser details, where applicable.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is required and you have provided it voluntarily, or unless there is another valid legal basis for doing so. Special category data may include information about health, religion, or similar sensitive details. If such information is ever shared with us, we will handle it with additional care and only where necessary.

3. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To provide carpet cleaning and associated services.
To arrange appointments and manage bookings.
To confirm service details and respond to enquiries.
To process payments and maintain financial records.
To handle complaints, disputes, and customer support matters.
To improve our services and customer experience.
To meet legal, regulatory, and tax obligations.
To protect against fraud, misuse, or security incidents.

We only use personal data for the purposes for which it was collected unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another compatible purpose. If we need to process your information for a new purpose, we will ensure we have a lawful basis before doing so.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

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

Contract

We process your personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes booking services, delivering cleaning work, and managing related customer service arrangements.

Legal Obligation

We may need to process and retain certain information to comply with legal obligations, such as accounting rules, tax requirements, or record-keeping duties.

Legitimate Interests

We may rely on legitimate interests where it is necessary for the operation and improvement of our business, provided that our interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include service administration, internal record management, quality assurance, and fraud prevention.

Consent

In limited cases, we may process personal data based on your consent. Where consent is used, you have the right to withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

5. Sharing Personal Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties that help us deliver our services. These third parties act as processors or, in some cases, independent controllers. We require all processors to handle data securely and only in accordance with our instructions and applicable data protection law.

Processors may include:

Payment service providers who process payments on our behalf.
IT and cloud service providers who store or support our business systems.
Booking, scheduling, or administrative service providers who assist with appointment management.
Professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers where necessary.
Waste disposal or specialist subcontractors if needed to complete a requested service.

We may also disclose information if required by law, by a court order, or to public authorities where we are legally obliged to do so. Any sharing is limited to what is necessary and appropriate for the relevant purpose.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for legal, accounting, and reporting requirements. Retention periods vary depending on the type of data and the reason for holding it.

As a general rule:

Customer service and booking records are kept for as long as needed to manage services and resolve queries.
Financial and invoicing records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Complaint and communication records may be retained for a reasonable period to evidence how matters were handled.
Technical records are kept only as long as necessary for security, troubleshooting, or operational purposes.

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

7. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, restricted permissions, and staff awareness procedures. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain a level of protection appropriate to the nature of the information we hold.

8. Your Rights

As a data subject under UK GDPR, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These 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 information.
Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing – to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a commonly used format, where applicable.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to raise a concern with the relevant supervisory authority if you believe your personal data has been handled unlawfully. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to address your concern promptly.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and household customers. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in connection with a customer request and is provided by an adult who has authority to do so. If we become aware that we have collected data improperly, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, business practices, or the way we process personal data. Any updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their information is used.

11. Summary of Our Commitment

South Tottenham Carpet Cleaners is committed to processing personal data lawfully, securely, and only when necessary. We limit collection to what is needed, use data for clear purposes, share it carefully with trusted processors, and retain it only for as long as required. We also respect your rights and aim to respond to requests fairly and within applicable legal timeframes.

In short: we collect only relevant customer information, process it under a valid lawful basis, protect it with appropriate safeguards, and ensure it is retained and shared responsibly. This policy applies to all South Tottenham Carpet Cleaners customers in the area.