Privacy Policy - Raynes Park Carpet Cleaners

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

1. Who We Are

Raynes Park Carpet Cleaners 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 in connection with our services. We take privacy seriously and aim to collect only the information needed to provide a high-quality and reliable service.

2. Personal Data We Collect

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

• Identity details such as your name or the name of your household or business contact.
• Contact details such as address, email address, and telephone number.
• Service details including booking information, service preferences, cleaning requirements, and property access notes.
• Payment-related information such as records of payments made, billing details, and transaction references. We do not keep unnecessary payment details beyond what is required for accounting and legal purposes.
• Communication records including enquiries, complaints, feedback, and correspondence.
• Technical data if you contact us electronically, which may include basic device, browser, or usage information necessary for security and service administration.
• Special instructions that you choose to provide, for example access arrangements or information about delicate furnishings that may affect the service.

We do not intentionally collect more data than is needed. If you provide information that is not necessary for the service, we will only process it where there is a valid reason to do so.

3. How We Collect Your Data

We may collect personal data directly from you when you:

• make an enquiry or request a quotation;
• book a cleaning appointment;
• communicate with us before, during, or after a service;
• make a payment or request an invoice;
• provide feedback, raise a concern, or submit a complaint.

We may also receive personal data from third parties where necessary to deliver our services, such as building managers, tenants, landlords, or payment providers acting on your behalf.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

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

Contract

We process your personal data when it is necessary to prepare for and perform a contract with you, including taking bookings, arranging access, delivering cleaning services, issuing invoices, and handling service-related communications.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain information where required to comply with legal obligations, including tax, accounting, record-keeping, insurance, and fraud-prevention requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may use personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where those interests are not overridden by your rights. This may include managing our services, responding to enquiries, improving service quality, maintaining security, and keeping business records. We always consider the impact on your privacy before relying on this basis.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where you agree to receive certain optional communications. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

5. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

• to provide carpet cleaning and associated services;
• to manage bookings and service delivery;
• to communicate about appointments, estimates, and service changes;
• to process payments and maintain financial records;
• to deal with enquiries, complaints, and follow-up requests;
• to improve our services and customer experience;
• to meet legal, regulatory, and accounting obligations;
• to prevent misuse, protect against fraud, and maintain the security of our business operations.

We will not use your personal data for purposes that are incompatible with those set out in this Policy unless required or permitted by law.

6. Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as data processors or, in some cases, independent controllers. These parties are only used where necessary and are required to process personal data in line with data protection law.

Examples of processors may include:

• IT and cloud service providers that host or support business systems;
• accounting and bookkeeping providers that assist with financial administration;
• payment service providers that handle transactions securely;
• customer communication tools used to manage emails, messages, or appointment records;
• professional advisers such as insurers, auditors, or legal advisers where needed.

We require processors to implement appropriate security measures and to process personal data only on our instructions, unless they are legally required to do otherwise. We do not sell your personal data.

7. International Transfers

Where a processor or service provider stores or accesses data outside the UK, we will take appropriate steps to ensure your personal data is protected. This may include using approved safeguards recognised under UK data protection law.

8. Data Retention

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

In general:

• booking and service records are kept for a reasonable period to manage customer history and resolve disputes;
• financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law;
• communications and complaint records are retained as long as needed to deal with the matter and demonstrate proper handling;
• information no longer needed is securely deleted or anonymised.

We review retention regularly to ensure we do not keep personal data longer than necessary.

9. Security of Personal Data

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff awareness, and careful supplier selection. While no system can be guaranteed as completely secure, we work to protect personal data to a standard appropriate to the risk.

10. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may not always apply in every situation, but they 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 – in some cases, you can ask us to delete your personal data.
• Right to restriction – you can ask us to limit the way we use your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability – you can ask for certain information to be provided in a structured, commonly used format.
• Right to object – you can 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 complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully. We encourage you to raise concerns with us first so we can try to resolve them promptly and fairly.

11. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults arranging carpet cleaning services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is incidentally provided in the course of delivering services to a household and only where necessary.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, our services, or how we handle personal data. Any updated version will apply from the date it is issued. We encourage customers to review this Policy periodically so they remain informed about how their information is used.

13. Summary of Our Commitments

At Raynes Park Carpet Cleaners, we aim to process personal data with care, transparency, and respect. We only collect data that is needed, use it for clear purposes, keep it only as long as required, and share it only with trusted processors where necessary. We also respect your rights and will respond to privacy requests in accordance with applicable law.

This Privacy Policy applies to all Raynes Park Carpet Cleaners customers in the area.