Carpet Cleaning Merton Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Carpet Cleaning Merton collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data relating to customers in the Merton area. It also describes your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. This Privacy Policy applies to all Carpet Cleaning Merton customers and prospective customers within the Merton area who interact with us, whether by phone, online, or in person.
Who We Are and Scope of This Policy
Carpet Cleaning Merton is a carpet and upholstery cleaning service operating in the Merton area. For data protection purposes, Carpet Cleaning Merton is the data controller in relation to the personal data that we collect about you as our customer or potential customer.
This Privacy Policy covers personal data processed in connection with our services, including making enquiries, booking services, carrying out work at your property, taking payment, and any follow-up communication such as feedback or complaints.
Types of Personal Data We Collect
We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you:
Identification and contact details: Name, title, billing address, service address, and general contact details such as contact channels you provide when you communicate with us.
Service and booking information: Details of the services you request, appointment dates and times, instructions you provide about your property or specific cleaning requirements, and records of communications relating to a booking.
Payment and transaction information: Payment method details that you choose to share with us at the time of payment, payment status, and records of invoices and receipts.
Technical and usage data: Information that may be collected when you interact with our website or online booking tools, such as IP address, approximate location based on IP, browser type, and basic usage data. This may be gathered through necessary cookies or similar technologies where applicable.
Feedback and communications: Information that you provide when you give feedback, submit a complaint, leave a review with us directly, or contact us with questions about our services.
How We Collect Your Personal Data
We collect personal data in several ways, including:
Directly from you: When you contact us to request a quote, make a booking, pay for services, or engage in correspondence with us by phone, online forms, or in person.
Automatically: Limited technical information may be collected automatically when you use our website or online tools. This can include IP address and device information to ensure the website functions properly and to help protect against fraud or abuse.
From third parties: In some cases we may receive your details from third parties, for example from an individual who books a service on your behalf, or from a partner platform through which you request our services. In these cases, we will process the data as described in this Privacy Policy.
Lawful Basis for Processing Your Data
We only process your personal data when we have a lawful basis under the UK GDPR. Depending on the context, we rely on the following bases:
Contract: We process your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract with you, or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract. This includes processing data to provide quotes, confirm bookings, deliver cleaning services, and manage payments.
Legal obligation: We process certain personal data to comply with legal obligations, such as record-keeping, tax, and accounting requirements.
Legitimate interests: We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. Examples include managing and improving our services, responding to customer enquiries, handling complaints, protecting against fraud, and maintaining business records.
Consent: In some limited circumstances we may rely on your consent to process personal data, for example for certain types of direct marketing or optional cookies. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We use your personal data for the following purposes:
To provide services: Managing enquiries, preparing quotes, scheduling and delivering carpet and upholstery cleaning services, and communicating with you about your booking.
Customer service and communication: Responding to questions, handling complaints or refund requests, seeking feedback about our services, and keeping you informed about changes to our terms or privacy practices.
Payments and billing: Processing payments, issuing invoices and receipts, and maintaining financial records for accounting and legal compliance.
Business operations: Managing our internal records, improving our services, training staff, and ensuring the security and integrity of our systems and processes.
Marketing: Where allowed by law and where you have not objected, we may use your contact details to send you information about our services, special offers, or relevant updates. You can opt out of marketing communications at any time.
Data Sharing and Processors
We do not sell your personal data. However, we may share your data with third parties when necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
Service providers and processors: We may share personal data with trusted third-party providers who perform services on our behalf, such as payment processing companies, IT and hosting providers, customer management platforms, and accountants. These third parties act as data processors and are only permitted to process your data in accordance with our instructions and for the specified purposes. We require them to implement appropriate security measures and to protect the confidentiality of your personal data.
Professional advisers and authorities: We may share data with professional advisers such as accountants, auditors, or legal advisers, and with regulatory authorities, law enforcement, or courts where required to comply with legal obligations or to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
Business transfers: In the event of a sale, merger, or restructuring of our business, relevant personal data may be transferred as part of that transaction, in compliance with applicable data protection laws.
International Data Transfers
Where we use processors or service providers located outside the United Kingdom, your personal data may be transferred internationally. In such cases we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as standard contractual clauses or equivalent measures, to provide a level of data protection essentially equivalent to that in the UK.
Data Retention
We keep your personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes for which we collected it, including to provide services to you, to meet legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, and to resolve disputes.
In general, we retain customer records for a period that aligns with legal and tax obligations and with our legitimate business needs, after which data will be securely deleted or anonymised. The exact retention period may vary depending on the type of data and the context of our relationship with you. We regularly review the personal data we hold and securely dispose of data that is no longer required.
Security of Your Personal Data
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure, or access. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, restricted permissions, and staff training on data protection responsibilities.
While we work to protect your personal data, no transmission of information over the internet or electronic storage system is completely secure. You are responsible for keeping any account details or communication channels secure and for notifying us if you suspect any unauthorised use of your personal data in relation to our services.
Your Data Protection Rights
As a data subject under the UK GDPR, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights apply to all Carpet Cleaning Merton customers in the Merton area, subject to certain legal limitations and conditions.
Right of access: You have the right to request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and to receive a copy of that data, along with information about how we use it.
Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct or update inaccurate or incomplete personal data that we hold about you.
Right to erasure: In certain circumstances, you may have the right to request that we delete your personal data, for example where the data 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: You may request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as when you contest the accuracy of the data or object to our processing.
Right to data portability: Where processing is based on your consent or on a contract and carried out by automated means, you may have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to transmit it to another controller.
Right to object: You can object at any time to the processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests, including for direct marketing purposes. If you object to direct marketing, we will stop processing your data for that purpose.
Rights related to consent: Where we rely on your consent to process personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before consent was withdrawn.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe that your data protection rights have been infringed.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, services, or legal obligations. Any updates will be effective from the date of publication. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we process your personal data.