Privacy Policy - Worcester Park Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Worcester Park Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Worcester Park Carpet Cleaners customers in the Worcester Park area, including prospective customers, current customers, and anyone who interacts with our services. We are committed to handling personal information in a lawful, fair, and transparent way in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

Worcester Park Carpet Cleaners provides carpet cleaning and related cleaning services to households and businesses in the Worcester Park area. In this policy, “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Worcester Park Carpet Cleaners, acting as the data controller for personal information collected in connection with our services.

2. Information We Collect

We collect only the information that is necessary to provide and manage our services, operate our business, and meet legal obligations. The types of personal data we may collect include:

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details such as your telephone number, email address, and service address.
Booking information including appointment dates, service preferences, property details relevant to the job, and notes provided by you.
Payment information such as payment confirmation, billing details, and transaction records. We do not store full card details where a secure third-party payment processor is used.
Communication records including emails, messages, quotations, complaints, and feedback.
Technical data where relevant, such as basic website or device information if you submit an enquiry through digital channels.
Service-related photographs taken before, during, or after cleaning only where needed to document the work, assess stains or damage, or demonstrate results.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless you choose to provide it and it is necessary for a specific service requirement, such as access needs or health-related considerations affecting the performance of the service. Where such data is processed, we apply additional safeguards.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotations.
To schedule, confirm, and manage appointments.
To deliver carpet cleaning and related services.
To process payments and maintain accurate financial records.
To communicate important updates about your booking or service.
To handle complaints, disputes, refunds, or service issues.
To maintain internal records and improve our service quality.
To comply with legal and regulatory obligations.

We only use your information in ways that are compatible with the reasons it was collected. We do not sell personal data.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

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

Contract

We process your data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes preparing quotations, confirming bookings, carrying out cleaning services, taking payment, and handling post-service matters.

Legal Obligation

We process certain information where needed to comply with legal duties, including tax, accounting, record-keeping, and other regulatory requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is reasonably necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This may include managing our customer relationships, improving our services, preventing fraud, and protecting our business from misuse. We ensure that any such processing is proportionate and respects your privacy.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where you choose to receive certain optional communications or where we process information that you have voluntarily supplied and consent is the most appropriate legal basis. You may withdraw consent at any time if processing is based on consent.

Vital Interests

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

5. How We Share Personal Data

We may share personal data with trusted third parties only when necessary for business operations, legal compliance, or service delivery. These third parties act as processors or independent controllers depending on the service they provide.

Examples include:

Payment processors for secure handling of transactions.
IT and cloud service providers used for email, document storage, scheduling, and administration.
Accountants and professional advisers where needed for legal, financial, or tax purposes.
Subcontractors or staff assisting with service delivery under our instructions.
Law enforcement, regulators, or courts where disclosure is required by law.

We only share the minimum amount of data necessary and require processors to protect your information through appropriate contractual and technical safeguards.

6. Data Processors

Where we use third-party processors, they process data on our behalf and only in line with our instructions. We take reasonable steps to ensure that processors are reliable and provide sufficient security measures.

Processors may assist with:

Secure payment handling.
Booking and appointment management.
Secure data storage and backup.
Email or customer communication tools.
Business administration and record keeping.

All processors are required to handle personal data confidentially and lawfully. Where data is transferred outside the UK, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections.

7. Data Retention

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

Retention periods depend on the type of data and the reason for processing. In general:

Customer records are retained for the duration of our relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards.
Financial and tax records are kept for the period required by law, typically several years.
Communication records are kept as long as needed to resolve queries, improve service, or defend legal claims.
Service photographs are kept only for as long as necessary for quality control, dispute handling, or proof of work.

When data is no longer required, it is securely deleted, anonymised, or archived in a way that prevents unnecessary identification. We review retained data periodically to ensure it is not kept longer than needed.

8. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure passwords, limited staff access, data minimisation, and secure storage practices.

While we take data protection seriously, no system can be guaranteed completely secure. If a data breach occurs that poses a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will act promptly in accordance with applicable law.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have several rights regarding your personal data. These rights may apply depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis used for processing.

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 – you may request deletion of your data in certain situations.
Right to restrict processing – you may ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases.
Right to object – you may object to processing based on legitimate interests.
Right to data portability – you may request a copy of certain data in a reusable format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed. We encourage you to raise any concerns with us first so we can address them directly.

10. Marketing Communications

We may send service-related communications necessary to manage your booking or account. We will only send marketing communications where permitted by law. If you no longer wish to receive optional marketing messages, you may opt out at any time.

Service updates and operational messages are not marketing and may still be sent when necessary to provide the service you requested.

11. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is supplied by an adult customer in connection with the service, and only where relevant and necessary. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected data from a child without proper basis, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or data processing practices. Any revised version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage customers in the Worcester Park area to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is protected.

13. Summary of Our Commitment

Worcester Park Carpet Cleaners is committed to handling personal data responsibly, lawfully, and transparently. We collect only what we need, use it for clear purposes, retain it for appropriate periods, and share it only with trusted processors or where required by law. We respect your rights and take privacy seriously in every stage of our service.

This Privacy Policy applies to all Worcester Park Carpet Cleaners customers in the Worcester Park area.