Privacy Policy - Richmond Upon Thames Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Richmond Upon Thames Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Richmond Upon Thames Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including residential and commercial clients who request carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, rug cleaning, stain treatment, or related services. We are committed to handling personal information in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and other applicable privacy laws.

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of data protection law, Richmond Upon Thames Carpet Cleaners is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. This means we decide why and how your personal information is used when you engage our services, make enquiries, receive quotes, or otherwise interact with us in connection with cleaning services within the Richmond Upon Thames area.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process different types of personal data depending on how you interact with us. This may include:

Identity information such as your name and title.
Contact information such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service information such as details of rooms, items, fabrics, stains, access requirements, and cleaning preferences.
Booking and payment information such as appointment times, invoices, payment status, and transaction references.
Communications such as emails, messages, notes from calls, and feedback or complaints.
Technical information where applicable, such as basic website usage data or device identifiers used for security and service improvement.

We generally do not seek to collect special category data. However, if you voluntarily provide information that could reveal sensitive details, we will handle it carefully and only where a lawful basis exists.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data only where it is necessary and lawful to do so. The main purposes include:

Responding to enquiries and providing quotations.
Managing bookings, appointments, and service delivery.
Processing payments and maintaining business records.
Communicating about service updates, access arrangements, or changes to scheduled work.
Handling complaints, warranties, or follow-up service issues.
Maintaining internal records, accounting, and tax compliance.
Improving our services, customer experience, and operational efficiency.
Meeting legal, regulatory, and insurance obligations.

We do not sell your personal data. We only use information in ways that are relevant to providing professional cleaning services and running our business responsibly.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a valid lawful basis before processing personal data. Depending on the context, we may rely on one or more of the following:

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. For example, this includes arranging a booking, carrying out the cleaning service, issuing invoices, and managing service-related communication.

Legal Obligation

We may process personal information to comply with legal duties, including tax, accounting, record-keeping, and other statutory obligations.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include managing customer relationships, preventing fraud, maintaining service quality, protecting our business, and improving operations. We always consider whether the processing is proportionate and whether your privacy can be reasonably protected.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where it is required for certain optional communications or specific uses of data. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or for as long as required by law. Retention periods depend on the type of data and the reason we hold it. In general:

Customer service and booking records are retained for a period appropriate to the business relationship and any follow-up needs.
Financial and accounting records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting laws.
Complaint, dispute, or claims-related records may be kept for longer where needed to defend or establish legal rights.
Information no longer needed is securely deleted, anonymised, or destroyed.

We review retention regularly to ensure data is not kept longer than necessary.

6. Processors and Sharing of Data

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as processors or, in some cases, independent controllers. These organisations only receive the information necessary to perform their role and are expected to protect your data in line with applicable law. Examples may include:

Payment providers for processing transactions securely.
Booking, scheduling, or invoicing systems used to manage appointments and records.
IT and cloud service providers that support data storage, email, and system administration.
Professional advisers such as accountants, insurers, or legal advisers where necessary.
Subcontractors or cleaning technicians assisting with service delivery where appropriate.

Where we use processors, we require them to handle data securely and only in accordance with our instructions. If personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will use appropriate safeguards as required by law.

7. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff awareness, and limiting access to data to people who need it for legitimate business purposes. While no system is completely secure, we work to keep your information protected.

8. Your Rights

As a data subject, you have several rights under data protection law. These rights may be subject to conditions and exemptions. They include:

Right of access – to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing – to ask us to limit how we use your data in some situations.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a usable format where technically feasible.
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, we will consider your request in line with applicable law and respond within the required timeframe.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults or business customers arranging cleaning services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children for marketing or service delivery purposes. If any such data is inadvertently collected, we will take reasonable steps to delete it where appropriate.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, business practices, or the way we process personal data. Any revised version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how their information is handled.

11. General Statement

This Privacy Policy is designed to provide a clear and lawful explanation of how Richmond Upon Thames Carpet Cleaners handles personal data. Our goal is to be transparent, fair, and accountable in all processing activities. We only collect what we need, use it for legitimate purposes, keep it secure, and retain it for no longer than necessary. Privacy and trust are central to how we operate, and we aim to respect the rights of every customer in the Richmond Upon Thames area.

By using Richmond Upon Thames Carpet Cleaners services, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection law.