Privacy Policy - St Mary Cray Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how St Mary Cray Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all St Mary Cray Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including prospective customers, current customers, and individuals who make enquiries about 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.

Privacy is important to us, and we aim to collect only the information needed to provide our services, manage our business, and meet our legal obligations.

1. Who We Are

St Mary Cray Carpet Cleaners provides carpet cleaning and related cleaning services to residential and commercial customers in the local area. For the purposes of data protection law, we act as the data controller for the personal information we collect and decide how and why personal data is used.

This policy covers personal data received directly from you, generated during our dealings with you, or obtained from third parties where permitted by law.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is relevant to delivering our services, handling enquiries, maintaining records, and running our business responsibly. The categories of information we may collect include:

Identity details such as your name and, where relevant, the name of your business or organisation.
Contact details such as address, telephone number, and email address.
Service information including property access details, booking preferences, instructions, and information needed to complete a cleaning service.
Payment information such as billing details and transaction records. We do not keep more financial information than is necessary for processing payments and accounting.
Communication records including messages, notes from calls, complaints, feedback, and service history.
Technical data in limited circumstances, such as basic device or usage information if provided through electronic communication systems.
Legal and compliance information where needed for insurance, tax, accounting, fraud prevention, or dispute resolution.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and you choose to provide it, or it is relevant to health and safety or access requirements. If such information is shared with us, we will treat it with additional care and only use it where a lawful basis applies.

3. How We Use Personal Data

We may use personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotations.
To manage bookings and deliver cleaning services.
To communicate about appointments, service changes, or follow-up matters.
To process payments, issue invoices, and maintain accounting records.
To manage customer relationships and handle complaints or disputes.
To improve our services and business operations.
To comply with legal and regulatory obligations.
To protect our business against fraud, misuse, or security risks.

We do not sell personal data. We only use personal data in ways that are compatible with the reasons it was collected, unless a new lawful basis applies.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process personal data only where the law allows us to do so. Depending on the situation, our lawful bases for processing may include:

Contract

We use your personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing a quote, scheduling a service, carrying out cleaning work, and handling payment.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain data to meet legal obligations, such as tax records, accounting requirements, insurance matters, or responding to lawful requests.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is reasonably necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This may include managing our customer relationships, maintaining service records, preventing fraud, and improving our operations.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where we need to use information for a purpose not covered by another lawful basis. If we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

5. Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who help us operate our business. These parties act as processors when they process data on our instructions. Examples may include:

Payment service providers who process card or electronic payments.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers who assist with financial records and tax compliance.
IT and cloud service providers who support secure storage, email, scheduling, and system maintenance.
Business administration providers who help manage bookings, correspondence, or record keeping.
Insurance, legal, or dispute-handling professionals where required for claims, advice, or compliance.

All processors are required to protect personal data and may only use it according to our instructions and applicable law. We take reasonable steps to ensure that any third party handling personal data has appropriate security and confidentiality measures in place.

We may also disclose data if required by law, by a court order, or to protect our rights, property, customers, or staff.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the reason it is held.

Customer service and booking records are normally kept for a period needed to manage the service relationship and handle any follow-up issues.
Financial and tax records are kept for the period required by accounting and tax law.
Complaint, dispute, and legal records may be retained for longer where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
Information held with your consent will be kept until the consent is withdrawn or the information is no longer needed.

When data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

7. Security of Personal Data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, limiting access to authorised persons, and using trusted service providers.

However, no system can be completely secure. While we work to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may apply depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis for processing. They include:

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 information.
Right to erasure – in some cases, you may ask us to delete your personal data.
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 in certain cases.
Right to data portability – you may request certain information in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond in line with applicable data protection law. We may need to verify your identity before acting on your request.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in connection with a service request and provided by an adult with authority to do so. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child without a proper basis, we will take steps to delete it where required.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or data handling practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how personal data is used.

11. Summary of Our Approach

In summary, St Mary Cray Carpet Cleaners collects only the data needed to provide services, manage communications, meet legal obligations, and support legitimate business operations. We use lawful bases such as contract, legal obligation, legitimate interests, and, where appropriate, consent. We retain data only for as long as necessary, share it only with trusted processors or where required by law, and respect your rights under data protection law.

By using our services or contacting us, you acknowledge that this Privacy Policy applies to you as a customer in the St Mary Cray area.