Dulwich Carpet Cleaners Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Dulwich Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores and protects your personal data when you use our carpet, upholstery and related cleaning services. It applies to all Dulwich Carpet Cleaners customers and prospective customers in our service area, including individuals and businesses who contact us, request a quote or use our services.
We are committed to complying with applicable data protection laws, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, and to handling your information lawfully, fairly and transparently.
1. Data controller
Dulwich Carpet Cleaners is the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This means that we decide how and why your personal information is processed when you interact with us, request a quote or receive our cleaning services.
2. Personal data we collect
We only collect personal data that is relevant and necessary for providing our services and running our business. Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of information.
Identification and contact details such as your name, address, service address if different, and general location details.
Contact preferences and communication history such as your preferred contact method and records of communications related to enquiries, bookings, quotes, feedback and complaints.
Booking and service information such as details of the services you request, property type and access notes, dates and times of appointments, and information necessary to complete the work safely and effectively.
Billing and payment information such as records of invoices issued, amounts paid, payment method used and related transaction details. We do not store full card details when payments are processed via third party providers.
Technical and usage information such as basic technical information automatically provided by your browser when you visit our website, including IP address and device information, where this is necessary for security and basic analytics.
Any other information you choose to provide to us such as additional instructions for access, notes about special requirements or information you share when providing feedback or reviews.
3. How we collect your data
We collect personal data from you directly when you contact us by phone, through our website contact forms, in person, or via any other communication channel you use to reach us.
We also generate personal data during the provision of our services such as appointment records, service notes and transaction details.
In some cases, we may receive limited personal data indirectly, for example when someone books our services on your behalf and provides your contact details and service address so that we can complete a job at your property.
4. Lawful bases for processing
We only process your personal data when we have a lawful basis to do so. Depending on the context, we rely on the following lawful bases.
Contract. We process your data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, for example to provide cleaning services, manage bookings, send quotes, and handle payments and invoices.
Legal obligation. We may process your data when it is necessary for us to comply with legal obligations, such as record-keeping, tax and accounting requirements or responding to lawful requests from authorities.
Legitimate interests. We process certain data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include managing our business operations, improving our services, preventing fraud, maintaining security and handling customer queries.
Consent. In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example when you ask us to contact you about non-essential updates or optional services. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.
5. How we use your personal data
We use your personal data for the following purposes, to the extent permitted by law.
To respond to enquiries and provide quotes, including understanding your cleaning needs, preparing estimates and communicating with you about potential work.
To provide our services, including organising and managing appointments, gaining access to your property, carrying out cleaning services and handling any follow-up work.
To manage billing and payments, including issuing invoices, processing payments via our payment providers and maintaining records for accounting and tax purposes.
To communicate with you about your bookings and our services, including appointment reminders, changes or updates to scheduled work, and important information about your service.
To improve and manage our business, including analysing the use of our services, handling feedback, training staff and maintaining records of work carried out.
To handle complaints and disputes, including investigating issues, keeping relevant records, and taking steps to resolve any concerns raised.
To comply with legal and regulatory requirements, including retaining records as required and responding to lawful requests from authorities.
6. Data retention
We keep your personal data only for as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and to meet legal, accounting and reporting requirements.
Booking, service and invoice records are generally retained for a period aligned with applicable tax and accounting rules. Communication records are retained for a period necessary to manage our relationship with you, deal with queries or complaints and maintain accurate service history.
Where we rely on your consent for specific communications, we retain the relevant data until you withdraw your consent or we no longer need it for the stated purpose, whichever occurs first.
When data is no longer required, we will securely delete or anonymise it so that it can no longer be associated with you.
7. Data processors and third parties
We may use trusted third party service providers to help us deliver our services and manage our business. These providers act as data processors and process personal data on our behalf and under our instructions.
Examples of such processors include payment processing providers that handle card or electronic payments, accounting or invoicing service providers that assist with financial records, IT and hosting providers that support our website, email and data storage, and communication providers that assist with sending service-related messages.
We only share the minimum personal data necessary with these processors and take steps to ensure they provide appropriate security and confidentiality. They are not permitted to use your personal data for their own purposes.
We may also need to share personal data with other third parties in limited circumstances, such as professional advisers for legal or accounting purposes, or authorities where we are legally required to do so. In such cases, we will limit the disclosure to what is necessary.
8. International transfers
Where our service providers or their systems are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, your personal data may be transferred internationally. In these cases, we will ensure that an appropriate level of protection is in place, for example by relying on adequacy regulations or using standard contractual clauses or equivalent safeguards required by data protection law.
9. Data security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. These measures include restricting access to personal data to personnel and service providers who need it for legitimate business purposes and requiring them to respect confidentiality obligations.
While we strive to protect your personal data, no system can be completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security but we do regularly review and update our practices to reduce risks.
10. Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights apply subject to certain conditions and exemptions.
Right of access. You can request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of that data, together with certain information about how it is used.
Right to rectification. You can ask us to correct or update inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.
Right to erasure. In some circumstances, you can request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected and we are not required to keep it for legal reasons.
Right to restriction of processing. You can ask us to restrict the processing of your data in certain situations, for example while we are verifying its accuracy or assessing an objection you have raised.
Right to object. You can object to processing based on our legitimate interests when you believe your interests or rights override ours. We will stop such processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue or we need the data for legal claims.
Right to data portability. Where processing is based on consent or 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 request that we transmit it to another controller where technically feasible.
Right to withdraw consent. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you are concerned about how we handle your personal data. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to address your concerns directly.
11. 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 protection practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We recommend that you review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.
This Privacy Policy applies to all Dulwich Carpet Cleaners customers and prospective customers in our service area and is intended to give you clear and transparent information about our handling of your personal data.