Privacy Policy - Earlscourt Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Earlscourt Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Earlscourt Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including prospective customers, current customers, and anyone who makes an enquiry, books a service, or otherwise interacts with us in connection with our carpet cleaning and related services.

We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We want you to understand what information we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, who may process it on our behalf, and what rights you have over your information.

1. Information We Collect

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

Identity information such as your name.
Contact information such as your address, email address, and telephone number.
Service details including the type of cleaning requested, property access notes, preferred appointment times, and service history.
Payment information where needed to process invoices and payments. We do not store full card details if a secure third-party payment provider is used.
Communication records including emails, messages, call notes, and any feedback or complaints you provide.
Technical information if you contact us through digital channels, such as basic device or usage data that may be collected by our systems.
Special instructions relating to stains, surfaces, furnishings, or access requirements that are relevant to carrying out the service safely and effectively.

We generally collect personal data directly from you when you make an enquiry, request a quote, confirm a booking, pay for services, or communicate with us. In some cases, we may also receive data from third parties acting on your behalf, such as landlords, letting agents, property managers, or family members arranging services for you.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for specific, limited purposes that are necessary to run our business and deliver services properly. These purposes include:

providing quotes and scheduling appointments;
carrying out carpet cleaning and associated services;
managing customer accounts, invoices, receipts, and payment records;
communicating about bookings, changes, cancellations, or follow-up matters;
responding to questions, complaints, or service issues;
maintaining internal records and service history;
meeting legal, tax, accounting, and insurance obligations;
protecting our business, staff, customers, and property from fraud, misuse, or security risks;
improving the quality and efficiency of our services.

We do not use your personal data for unrelated purposes unless we have a lawful basis to do so and, where required, we have informed you.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process your personal data. Depending on the activity, our lawful bases may include:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotes, booking and delivering cleaning services, issuing invoices, and managing service-related communications.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain data where required to comply with legal obligations, such as tax records, accounting requirements, insurance obligations, or lawful requests from public authorities.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include maintaining business records, preventing fraud, improving operations, handling complaints, and safeguarding our services.

Consent

In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example where you have explicitly agreed to a type of communication or optional processing. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

4. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who support our operations. These third parties act as processors when they process data on our behalf under our instructions, and as independent controllers where they determine their own purposes.

Examples of processors and third-party service providers may include:

IT and cloud storage providers that support secure data storage, email, or record management;
payment service providers that process card or electronic payments securely;
accounting and bookkeeping providers that help manage financial records;
customer communication systems used for appointment reminders or service updates;
professional advisers such as insurers, legal advisers, or auditors where necessary;
waste disposal or specialist treatment providers if a service requires lawful and safe handling of materials.

We only share personal data when necessary and ensure, where appropriate, that contracts or safeguards are in place to protect your information. We do not sell your personal data.

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

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to satisfy legal, accounting, reporting, or insurance requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the reason for processing.

As a general approach:

customer service and booking records are retained for a reasonable period after the service is completed;
financial records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting law;
complaints and correspondence may be retained for as long as needed to resolve issues and support business records;
data held only on the basis of consent is kept until consent is withdrawn or the data is no longer needed.

When personal data is no longer required, we will take appropriate steps to delete, anonymise, or securely archive it.

6. Data Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff awareness, and limiting access to data to only those who need it for legitimate business purposes.

While we work hard to protect your data, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If a data incident occurs, we will respond in line with our legal obligations and take appropriate steps to reduce risk and protect affected individuals.

7. 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 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 – in certain cases, you can ask us to delete your data.
Right to restriction – you can request limits on how we use your data in some circumstances.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability – you may request certain data in a commonly used format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – if we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

These rights are not absolute and may depend on the legal basis and context of the processing. We will respond to valid requests within the time limits required by law and may need to verify your identity before acting on your request.

8. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and household or business customers. We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from children. If we become aware that we have collected data about a child without proper authority or lawful basis, we will take appropriate steps to remove or secure that information.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or data handling practices. Any revised version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage you to review this policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we process personal data.

10. Your Responsibility and Further Information

When you provide us with personal data, please ensure that it is accurate and kept up to date. If you provide information about another person, you should make sure you are entitled to do so and that they understand how their data may be used.

If you have questions about how your information is handled, or if you wish to exercise any of your rights, you may make a request through the channels we provide for customer services and administration. We will handle all requests in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

By using our services, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy and understand how your personal data may be processed.