Privacy Policy - West Hendon Carpet Cleaners

West Hendon Carpet Cleaners is committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of all customers in the West Hendon area. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal information in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. It applies to all customers, prospective customers, and individuals who interact with West Hendon Carpet Cleaners in the area.

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of data protection law, West Hendon Carpet Cleaners acts as the data controller when deciding how and why your personal data is used. This means we are responsible for ensuring your data is handled lawfully, fairly, and transparently.

This Privacy Policy applies to all West Hendon Carpet Cleaners customers in area, including individuals who request quotes, book services, receive cleaning services, or otherwise communicate with us.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for providing our services, managing our relationship with you, and meeting our legal obligations. The types of information we may collect include:

• Identity information: your name and, where relevant, business or property name.
• Contact information: address, email address, telephone number, and preferred method of contact.
• Service details: information about the property, rooms, carpets, upholstery, stains, fibres, access requirements, and service preferences.
• Booking and transaction information: appointment dates, service history, payments, invoices, and records of communication about bookings or complaints.
• Technical and usage information: if you contact us electronically, we may collect limited technical information such as message timestamps or device-related details needed to respond.
• Special instructions: any information you voluntarily provide about allergies, access arrangements, or cleaning concerns that may affect the service.

We do not intentionally collect special category personal data unless you choose to provide it to us in connection with a service request, and we only process it where lawful and necessary.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

• to provide quotes and respond to enquiries;
• to manage bookings and deliver carpet cleaning and related services;
• to communicate with you about appointments, pricing, service changes, or follow-up matters;
• to process payments and maintain financial records;
• to handle complaints, disputes, and customer service issues;
• to comply with legal and regulatory obligations;
• to maintain accurate business records and improve service quality;
• to protect our business against fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

We will only use your personal data in ways that are compatible with the purposes for which it was collected, unless we have a lawful reason to process it differently.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process your personal data. Depending on the situation, West Hendon Carpet Cleaners relies on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process your data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotes at your request, arranging cleaning services, carrying out the work, and managing related payments and follow-up communication.

Legal Obligation

We may process personal data to comply with legal requirements, such as accounting, tax, insurance, and record-keeping duties.

Legitimate Interests

We may process certain data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests do not override your rights and freedoms. This may include responding to service enquiries, improving our services, maintaining customer records, and preventing fraud or misuse.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where you voluntarily provide optional information that is not required for the service. Where consent is used as the lawful basis, you may withdraw it at any time.

5. Sharing Your Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as processors on our behalf. These processors are only allowed to use your data according to our instructions and must keep it secure and confidential.

Examples of processors may include:

• payment service providers who process card or online payments;
• accounting or bookkeeping services used for financial administration;
• booking, scheduling, or customer management software providers;
• IT and cloud storage providers that support secure data handling;
• communication tools used to send service-related messages.

We may also disclose data where required by law, court order, or lawful request from public authorities. Where possible and appropriate, we require any third party receiving personal data to protect it in line with data protection law.

We do not sell your personal data.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying legal, accounting, or reporting obligations.

Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the reason for processing. In general:

• booking and service records are kept for a reasonable period after completion of the service;
• financial and invoicing records are kept for the period required by tax and accounting law;
• complaint or dispute records are kept for as long as needed to resolve the issue and manage any legal claim;
• unnecessary or outdated data is securely deleted or anonymised.

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

7. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and limiting access to personal data to those who need it for business purposes.

Although we work to protect your information, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We encourage customers to avoid sharing unnecessary personal information.

8. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These may include:

• Right of access: you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification: you may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure: in certain circumstances, you may ask us to delete your personal data.
• Right to restriction: you may ask us to limit the way we use your data in certain situations.
• Right to data portability: in some cases, you may request that your data be provided in a structured, commonly used format.
• Right to object: you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing where applicable.
• Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you exercise any of these rights, we may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within the time limits required by law, unless an extension is permitted.

9. Automated Decision-Making

West Hendon Carpet Cleaners does not use automated decision-making or profiling in a way that produces legal or similarly significant effects on customers. Any service decisions are made by people, not by automated systems alone.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or data processing practices. Any updates will take effect when published in the revised version. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how their data is handled.

11. Summary of Your Privacy Choices

In summary, West Hendon Carpet Cleaners only collects personal data that is necessary to provide services, manage bookings, process payments, and meet legal obligations. We process data on lawful bases including contract, legal obligation, legitimate interests, and where appropriate, consent. We share data only with trusted processors and other parties where legally required, keep it only as long as needed, and respect your data protection rights.

We are committed to treating your personal data with care, transparency, and respect.