Privacy Policy - Kew Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Kew Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data in connection with the services we provide. It applies to all Kew Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including current, former, and prospective customers who contact us, request a quotation, book a service, or receive our cleaning services. 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. Information We Collect

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

Identity details such as your name and, where relevant, business or property name.
Contact details such as your address, email address, and telephone number.
Service information such as the type of cleaning requested, property details, preferred appointment times, and service notes.
Payment information such as billing details and transaction records. We do not store card security codes.
Communication records including enquiries, complaints, feedback, and correspondence.
Technical information where applicable, such as basic usage data from our systems used to maintain security and performance.

In some cases, we may also collect information relating to access arrangements, special instructions, or other details needed to complete a cleaning service safely and effectively. Where this information is sensitive or relates to a particular household circumstance, we will only process it when necessary and with appropriate safeguards.

2. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data to operate our business and deliver our services professionally. Typical uses include:

Providing quotations, arranging bookings, and carrying out cleaning services.
Managing customer accounts, invoices, receipts, and payment processing.
Responding to enquiries, requests, and complaints.
Improving service quality, scheduling, and operational planning.
Maintaining internal records and ensuring business continuity.
Meeting legal, tax, accounting, and insurance obligations.
Protecting against fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which it was collected, unless we reasonably determine that we need to use it for another compatible purpose and that purpose is permitted by law.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. Depending on the context, we rely on the following lawful bases:

Performance of a Contract

We process your data when it is necessary to provide a quotation, confirm a booking, carry out a cleaning service, send invoices, or manage the service you have requested. Without this information, we may not be able to complete the service.

Legal Obligation

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

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 managing operations, improving our services, maintaining security, preventing fraud, and handling customer correspondence.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where we process optional information or send certain marketing communications. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

Vital Interests

In exceptional situations, we may process personal data to protect someone’s vital interests, such as in an emergency affecting health or safety.

4. Retention of Personal Data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the reason it was collected.

Customer and service records are generally retained for the duration of the customer relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards.
Financial and accounting records are retained for the period required by law.
Correspondence and complaint records may be retained for as long as needed to resolve issues and support our legitimate business interests.
Consent-based records are kept only while consent remains valid or until the purpose has been fulfilled.

When personal data is no longer required, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so it can no longer identify you. We regularly review the data we hold to make sure it is not kept longer than necessary.

5. Sharing Personal Data and Processors

We do not sell personal data. However, we may share it with trusted third parties where necessary for the provision of our services, for business administration, or to meet legal requirements. These third parties act either as independent controllers or as processors who process data on our behalf.

Examples of Processors

Administrative and scheduling service providers.
Payment processing providers.
IT, hosting, backup, and security service providers.
Accounting or bookkeeping service providers.
Customer communication and document storage providers.

Where we use processors, we ensure they are bound by written contracts that require them to protect personal data, act only on our instructions, and use appropriate technical and organisational security measures. If data is transferred outside the UK or EEA, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with data protection law.

6. Data Security

We take appropriate steps to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include restricted access, secure storage, password protection, staff awareness, and data minimisation. Although no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain a level of protection appropriate to the nature of the data we process.

7. Your Rights

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

Right of access: You may request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of that data.
Right to rectification: You may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to erasure: You may request deletion of your personal data in certain situations.
Right to restrict processing: You may ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
Right to data portability: You may request that certain data be provided to you or another organisation in a structured, commonly used format.
Right to object: You may object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to withdraw consent: If we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we may need to verify your identity before responding. We aim to deal with requests promptly and within the timeframes required by law.

8. Complaints and Supervisory Authority

If you are concerned about how we handle your personal data, we encourage you to raise the matter with us first so that we can try to resolve it. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) or another relevant supervisory authority if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed.

9. Changes to This 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 updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

10. Summary of Our Commitment

At Kew Carpet Cleaners, we respect your privacy and take our responsibilities seriously. We collect only the data we need, use it for clear and lawful purposes, retain it for no longer than necessary, and share it only with trusted processors or where required by law. Our approach is designed to protect your information while allowing us to deliver reliable services to customers throughout the area.

This policy is intended to provide a clear and practical explanation of how we handle personal data for our customers in the area. It should be read alongside any additional privacy information provided at the time of booking or service delivery.