Privacy Policy - Ealing Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Ealing Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Ealing Carpet Cleaners customers in the Ealing area, including individuals who request quotations, book services, receive cleaning services, or otherwise interact with us. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

Ealing Carpet Cleaners provides carpet, upholstery, and related cleaning services. In the course of operating our business, we may process personal data about customers, prospective customers, property occupants, and business contacts. For the purposes of data protection law, we act as the data controller in relation to the personal data we collect and use for our own business purposes.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect data that is necessary for the provision and administration of our services. The types of personal data we may collect include:

Identity details: name, title, and, where relevant, business name.
Contact details: address, email address, and telephone number.
Service details: information about the property, rooms, surfaces, stain or cleaning requirements, and access instructions.
Booking and transaction data: service history, appointment times, payment status, invoices, and records of services provided.
Communication data: messages, notes from calls, complaint records, and feedback.
Technical data: limited information such as website usage data if you interact with our online systems, where applicable.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and you have provided it yourself, for example if you disclose accessibility requirements or health-related information relevant to a service visit. Where such data is processed, we do so only when permitted by law and with appropriate safeguards.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data to deliver services efficiently, safely, and professionally. Typical uses include:

Providing quotations and responding to enquiries.
Managing bookings, appointments, and service delivery.
Processing payments, issuing invoices, and maintaining accounts.
Communicating about service changes, follow-up matters, or complaints.
Maintaining internal records and service quality.
Meeting legal, tax, accounting, and insurance obligations.
Preventing fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

We will only use your data in ways that are necessary and proportionate to the purpose for which it was collected.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for each processing activity. Depending on the circumstances, we rely on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes taking bookings, providing cleaning services, and managing payments.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights do not override those interests. This may include maintaining service records, improving operations, handling routine communications, and protecting our business against fraud or misuse. We assess such processing carefully to ensure it is fair and appropriate.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain records to comply with legal obligations, including tax, accounting, consumer law, and insurance requirements.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example for optional marketing communications if such activity is offered. Where consent is used, it will be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous, and you may withdraw it at any time.

5. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data only where necessary and only with trusted third parties acting on our behalf or where required by law. These third parties may act as processors or independent controllers depending on the service they provide.

Payment processors: to handle card or electronic payments securely.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers: to support invoicing, tax, and financial administration.
Scheduling or customer management systems: to organise appointments and maintain service records.
IT and data storage providers: to host secure systems, emails, and backups.
Professional advisers: such as insurers, legal advisers, or accountants where necessary.

We require processors to protect personal data, use it only for the agreed purpose, and comply with data protection law. We do not sell personal data. We do not share customer information with third parties for their own marketing purposes unless you have clearly consented or we are otherwise legally permitted to do so.

6. International Transfers

Where any processor or service provider stores or accesses data outside the UK, we take appropriate steps to ensure your data remains protected. These safeguards may include the use of approved contractual protections and assessments of the destination country’s data protection standards.

7. 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, and reporting requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the nature of the data and the reason for processing.

Customer and service records: retained for a reasonable period after the last service interaction to manage follow-up queries, disputes, and service history.
Financial records: retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Complaint or claims records: retained for the period needed to resolve issues and defend legal claims.
Consent and preference records: retained while consent remains relevant and until withdrawn, where applicable.

When data is no longer needed, it is securely deleted or anonymised. We do not keep personal data longer than necessary.

8. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, password protection, staff confidentiality obligations, and limited access to personal information. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain a level of protection appropriate to the risk.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have several rights regarding your personal data. These rights may be subject to conditions or exemptions in some cases:

Right of access: you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification: you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure: you may request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction: you may ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to object: you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability: you may request transfer of certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, your request will be handled in line with applicable law. We may need to verify your identity before responding, to protect your information.

10. Automated Decision-Making

We do not use personal data for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects on individuals. If this changes, we will update this policy and provide relevant information about the processing involved.

11. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is incidentally provided in connection with a customer’s service request, such as household information. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child inappropriately, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

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 process personal data. Any updates will take effect when published. We encourage customers in the Ealing area to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their personal data is handled.

13. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we handle your data, you should raise them with us first so we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to make a complaint to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us in the first instance so that we can address your concerns promptly and fairly.

Summary of our commitment: we process personal data lawfully, keep it secure, retain it only as long as needed, use trusted processors, and respect your rights under data protection law.