Carpet Cleaning Hackney Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Carpet Cleaning Hackney collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data relating to its customers and prospective customers within the Hackney area. It is intended to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and related data protection laws. By using our services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.
Scope of this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies to all Carpet Cleaning Hackney customers, prospective customers, and website visitors located in the Hackney area who engage with us, whether by phone, in writing, online, or in person. It covers all personal data we process in connection with the provision of carpet cleaning and related services.
Who We Are and Data Controller Responsibility
Carpet Cleaning Hackney is the provider of carpet cleaning and related services in the Hackney area. For the purposes of data protection law, Carpet Cleaning Hackney is the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed and are responsible for ensuring that such processing is carried out in compliance with applicable law.
Types of Personal Data We Collect
We only collect personal data that is relevant and necessary for delivering our services and running our business. The types of data we may collect include:
Identification and contact details: name, address, service property address, and general contact information such as communication preferences.
Service and booking information: details of the services you request, booking dates and times, access instructions, information about the condition and type of carpets or upholstery, and records of completed work.
Billing and payment information: records of invoices, payments, refunds, and basic transaction details. Payment card details are handled by our chosen payment processor and are not stored by us, except for limited reference information such as last four digits where required for reconciliation.
Communication records: emails, messages, service queries, complaints, feedback, and other correspondence with you in relation to our services.
Technical and usage information: limited technical information such as IP address, device type, and browsing behaviour on our website, collected through standard server logs and similar technologies, where legally permitted.
Lawful Bases for Processing Your Data
We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on the following lawful bases:
Contract: to take steps at your request before entering into a contract and to perform a contract with you. This includes managing bookings, providing carpet cleaning services, issuing invoices, and handling customer service queries.
Legal obligation: to comply with our legal obligations, such as record-keeping for tax, accounting, and regulatory purposes.
Legitimate interests: to pursue our legitimate business interests, provided that your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This may include improving our services, managing and developing our business, preventing fraud, and maintaining the security of our systems and premises.
Consent: where required by law, for example for certain types of marketing communications or particular categories of optional data. When we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time, which will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We use your personal data for the following purposes:
To provide and manage services: handling enquiries, giving quotes, administering bookings, carrying out carpet cleaning and related services, and dealing with changes or cancellations.
To manage payments and accounts: issuing invoices, recording payments, processing refunds where necessary, and maintaining financial records.
To communicate with you: sending service confirmations, appointment reminders, follow-up messages, and responses to your questions or complaints.
To improve our services: analysing patterns such as types of services requested or feedback received so that we can improve our offerings and customer experience.
To ensure safety and security: maintaining appropriate records and data back-ups, safeguarding our staff and customers, and preventing misuse of our services.
To comply with legal and regulatory requirements: responding to lawful requests from authorities and maintaining records required by law.
Data Sharing and Use of Processors
We do not sell your personal data. We only share it when necessary and in accordance with data protection law. We may share your personal data with:
Service providers and processors: third parties that provide services for us, such as IT and hosting providers, payment processors, customer relationship tools, and accounting or administrative support. These parties act as our data processors, must follow our instructions, and are bound by contractual obligations to protect your data and keep it confidential.
Professional advisers: such as accountants, auditors, or legal advisors, where this is necessary for legitimate business purposes and subject to professional duties of confidentiality.
Authorities and law enforcement: where we are required to do so by law or where it is necessary to protect our rights, property, or safety, or the rights, property, or safety of others.
Potential buyers or business partners: in the event of a business restructuring, merger, or transfer of all or part of our operations, where necessary and subject to appropriate confidentiality protections.
Where we use processors or share data with third parties, we take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal data is handled securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
International Data Transfers
Where personal data is transferred outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area by us or on our behalf, we will ensure that an adequate level of protection is in place. This may include using standard contractual clauses or other appropriate safeguards recognised under data protection law.
Data Retention
We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. The length of time we keep your data depends on the type of information and the purposes of processing, but we consider the following criteria:
How long we need the information to provide services to you or to operate our business.
Whether we are subject to legal or regulatory obligations to keep the data, such as tax and accounting rules.
Whether there are potential disputes, complaints, or claims that make it necessary to retain the data.
When data is no longer needed, we will securely delete it or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.
How We Protect Your Data
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, or damage. These measures include access controls, secure storage, regular data back-ups, and staff training on data protection responsibilities. While we take reasonable steps to safeguard your data, no system can be completely secure, and you should also take care to protect your own information when communicating with us.
Your Data Protection Rights
Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to certain conditions and exemptions, these rights may include:
Right of access: the right to obtain confirmation as to whether we process your personal data and, if so, to receive a copy of that data and information about how we use it.
Right to rectification: the right to have inaccurate or incomplete personal data corrected or completed.
Right to erasure: the right to request that we delete your personal data in certain circumstances, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, or where you withdraw consent and there is no other legal basis for processing.
Right to restriction of processing: the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in specific situations, such as where you contest its accuracy or object to our use of it.
Right to data portability: the right to receive personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and, where technically feasible, to have that data transmitted to another controller.
Right to object: the right to object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests, and the right to object at any time to the use of your personal data for direct marketing.
Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on your consent to process data, you can withdraw that consent at any time.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you believe your rights have been infringed.
Children
Our services are intended for adult customers. We do not knowingly collect personal data relating to children. If we discover that we hold personal data about a child without appropriate consent or authority, we will take steps to delete it as soon as reasonably possible.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or other factors. The updated version will apply from the date it is made available. You should review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we handle your personal data.