Privacy Policy - Camberwell Carpet Cleaners

Camberwell Carpet Cleaners is committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of all customers in the Camberwell area. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal information when you use our carpet cleaning services. It also explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

This policy applies to all Camberwell Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including residential and commercial clients, and to anyone who contacts us, requests a quotation, books a service, or otherwise interacts with us in connection with our cleaning services.

1. Information We Collect

We collect only the information that is necessary to provide our services, manage our business, and meet our legal obligations. The types of personal data we may collect include:

Identity information such as your name.
Contact details such as your address, telephone number, and email address.
Service information such as the nature of the cleaning requested, property access notes, appointment preferences, and service history.
Payment information such as billing details and transaction records. We do not store full card details where a secure third-party payment provider is used.
Communication records such as emails, messages, notes from calls, and feedback you provide.
Technical data such as limited device and usage information if you interact with our digital systems, where applicable.

We generally do not collect special category data unless it is strictly necessary and you choose to provide it, or where it is required for a specific lawful reason. We ask that you do not send us sensitive personal data unless it is relevant to the service or we have asked for it.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To provide carpet cleaning and related services.
To prepare quotes, confirm bookings, and manage appointments.
To communicate with you about your service, changes, or follow-up matters.
To process payments, invoices, refunds, and account records.
To handle complaints, disputes, and customer support requests.
To maintain business records and improve our services.
To comply with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations.
To protect our business from fraud, misuse, or security risks.

We only use your personal data in ways that are fair, lawful, and relevant to the services we provide.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a valid lawful basis to process your personal information. Depending on the activity, we rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process your data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes managing bookings, delivering cleaning services, handling service changes, and processing payments.

Legal Obligation

We process certain information when required to comply with legal obligations, including accounting, tax record keeping, and responding to lawful requests from public authorities.

Legitimate Interests

We may process 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 service records, improving operations, preventing fraud, and managing customer enquiries.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where it is needed for a specific optional purpose. If we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

4. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell your personal data. We may share it only when necessary and only with trusted third parties who help us operate our business. These may include:

Payment service providers for secure transaction processing.
IT and software providers that support our booking, record-keeping, and communication systems.
Professional advisers such as accountants, insurers, or legal advisers where needed.
Public authorities or regulators where disclosure is required by law.
Subcontractors or service partners who assist in delivering cleaning services, where applicable.

Where we use third-party processors, we ensure they are bound by appropriate data protection obligations and only process your data under our instructions. They are not permitted to use your information for their own purposes.

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and to meet legal or operational requirements. Retention periods depend on the type of information and the reason we hold it.

In general:

Customer service and booking records are retained for a period reasonably required to manage the relationship and any follow-up issues.
Financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law.
Communication records may be retained for evidence of requests, agreements, or complaints.
Security and system records may be retained for a limited period to protect our operations.

When data is no longer needed, it is securely deleted or anonymised where appropriate.

6. International Transfers

Where any service provider stores or processes data outside the UK, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or other lawful transfer mechanisms recognised under UK data protection law.

7. How We Protect Your Data

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality expectations, and the use of reputable service providers.

While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we take data protection seriously and regularly review our practices to keep information safe.

8. Your Data Protection Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be limited in some circumstances, but we will always review requests carefully and respond in line with legal requirements.

Your rights include:

Right of access – you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to erasure – you may ask us to delete your data where there is a legal basis to do so.
Right to restriction – you can request limited use of your data in certain situations.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests.
Right to data portability – you may request your data in a portable format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent, 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. This helps protect your information from unauthorised access.

9. Marketing Communications

We only send marketing communications where permitted by law. If you choose to receive updates or promotional information, you can opt out at any time. We will not use your personal data for marketing in a way that is unfair or intrusive.

Where required, we will obtain consent before sending marketing messages.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and business customers. We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from children. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received such data, we will take appropriate steps to delete it unless we are required to keep it for legal reasons.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or business practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how their data is handled.

12. Summary of Key Principles

We collect only the personal data needed to provide our carpet cleaning services and manage our business.
We process data using lawful bases such as contract, legal obligation, legitimate interests, and consent where applicable.
We retain information only for as long as necessary and then delete or anonymise it.
We may use trusted processors, but they must follow our instructions and data protection rules.
You have important rights over your personal data, including access, correction, deletion, objection, and portability.

Camberwell Carpet Cleaners values privacy and is dedicated to handling personal information responsibly, transparently, and in compliance with applicable data protection laws for all customers in the area.