Privacy Policy - Chelsfield Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Chelsfield Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Chelsfield Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including current, former, and prospective customers, as well as anyone who enquires about our services or interacts with us in connection with carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, stain treatment, rug cleaning, and related domestic or commercial 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. This policy should be read together with any other privacy notices or service terms that may apply to specific situations. By engaging our services, making an enquiry, or otherwise providing us with your information, you acknowledge that your data may be processed as described in this policy.

1. Data We Collect

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

Identity data: name, title, and, where applicable, business name.
Contact data: address, email address, telephone number, and service location details.
Service data: details about the cleaning services requested, property access instructions, preferred appointment times, and job notes.
Payment data: invoice information, payment status, and limited billing records. We do not store full card details unless a secure third-party payment provider requires it.
Communication data: records of emails, messages, calls, complaints, feedback, and service requests.
Technical data: basic information collected when you interact with our digital systems, such as IP address or device information, where relevant for security or operational purposes.

We generally do not intentionally collect special category data. However, if such information is inadvertently disclosed to us, for example through access instructions, property notes, or customer communications, we will only process it where there is a valid legal basis and where doing so is necessary and proportionate.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for specific and legitimate purposes, including the following:

to provide quotations and respond to enquiries;
to schedule, deliver, and manage cleaning services;
to communicate about appointments, updates, or service changes;
to issue invoices and process payments;
to handle complaints, disputes, and customer care matters;
to maintain business and financial records;
to improve our services, operations, and customer experience;
to meet legal, tax, accounting, insurance, and regulatory obligations;
to prevent fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity;
to defend or establish legal claims where necessary.

We will never use your personal data in ways that are incompatible with the purposes for which it was collected.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process your personal data. Depending on the context, we rely on one or more of the following:

Performance of a Contract

We process data when it is necessary to provide a quote, arrange a booking, carry out cleaning services, manage billing, or fulfil our obligations to you under a service agreement.

Legal Obligation

We may process personal data where required to comply with laws relating to tax, accounting, record-keeping, insurance, health and safety, or other regulatory requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights and interests do not override those interests. This can include managing customer relationships, improving services, maintaining security, preventing fraud, and handling operational administration.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain types of optional communication. Where consent is used, you have the right to withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Vital Interests

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

4. Sharing Your Data and Processors

We do not sell your personal data. We may share it only when necessary and proportionate, and only with trusted third parties who help us run our business or comply with legal requirements. These third parties may act as processors or independent controllers depending on the service they provide.

Examples of processors and service providers may include:

accounting and bookkeeping providers;
payment processing services;
customer management and scheduling systems;
email, communication, and document storage providers;
IT support and cybersecurity providers;
professional advisers such as insurers, auditors, or legal advisers where necessary.

Where we use processors, they are required to handle personal data only on our instructions, keep it secure, and comply with data protection law. We take reasonable steps to ensure that all third parties with access to your data maintain appropriate technical and organisational safeguards.

We may also disclose personal data where required by law, to respond to lawful requests from public authorities, to protect our rights or property, or to address actual or suspected misuse, fraud, or security threats.

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected, including for legal, accounting, tax, and dispute-resolution purposes. Retention periods vary depending on the nature of the data and the reason for processing.

In general:

quotation and enquiry records may be retained for a limited period to manage follow-up and service administration;
customer and service records may be retained for the duration of the customer relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards;
financial and invoicing records may be kept for the period required by law;
complaint, dispute, and legal records may be retained as long as necessary to resolve the matter and protect our legal position.

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

6. Security of Your Information

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and regular review of our data handling practices.

Although we work to protect your information, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If we become aware of a data breach that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will act in accordance with applicable law, which may include notifying you and the relevant supervisory authority where required.

7. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be subject to conditions or exemptions depending on the circumstances.

Right of access: you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure: you may request deletion of your data in certain situations.
Right to restriction: you can ask us to limit how your data is used in certain cases.
Right to object: you can object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability: you may request a copy of data you provided to us 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 within the time limits required by law and may need to verify your identity before taking action.

8. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and businesses. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children in connection with our services unless it is necessary and supplied by an adult for a legitimate service-related purpose. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child without appropriate authority, we will take steps to delete it where required.

9. International Transfers

Where any of our service providers process personal data outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect that data in line with UK data protection requirements. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or other lawful transfer mechanisms.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or operational practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we handle personal data.

11. Summary of Our Commitments

Chelsfield Carpet Cleaners is committed to processing personal data lawfully, transparently, and securely. We collect only the information needed to provide and improve our services, retain it only for as long as necessary, share it only with appropriate processors or when legally required, and respect your data protection rights.

This policy applies to all Chelsfield Carpet Cleaners customers in area. If you choose to use our services or make an enquiry, we will handle your personal data in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable law.