Privacy Policy - Thornton Heath Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Thornton Heath Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Thornton Heath Carpet Cleaners customers in area, including people who request a quotation, make a booking, receive a service, or otherwise interact with us in connection with carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, end-of-tenancy cleaning, stain treatment, and related domestic or commercial cleaning services.

We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, transparent, and secure manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy is intended to help you 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 in relation to your personal data.

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of data protection law, Thornton Heath Carpet Cleaners acts as the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. This means we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data in relation to our services, administration, records, and communication with you.

We only process personal data that is relevant and necessary for running our business, delivering our services, meeting legal obligations, and improving our operations. We do not knowingly collect more information than is needed for these purposes.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

Identity data such as your name, title, and any information needed to identify you.
Contact data such as address, email address, telephone number, and service location.
Booking and service data such as service type, preferred dates, property details, access notes, and cleaning requirements.
Payment and transaction data such as payment status, invoice details, and records of services purchased.
Communication data such as messages, enquiries, complaints, feedback, and any correspondence with us.
Technical data such as device or browser information if you communicate with us electronically, where relevant to security and performance.
Usage and operational data such as appointment history, service notes, and customer preferences.

We generally do not seek to collect special category data unless it is necessary and you have provided it, or another lawful condition applies. Special category data includes information about health, religious beliefs, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, or similar sensitive information. Please avoid sharing such data unless it is required for a specific reason.

3. How We Collect Personal Data

We may collect data directly from you when you:

request a quote or make an enquiry;
book a service or amend a booking;
communicate with us by phone, message, email, or other channels;
provide feedback or make a complaint;
make payments or request documentation;
enter into a contract for cleaning services.

We may also receive data from third parties where necessary, such as property managers, landlords, tenants, estate agents, or payment service providers acting in connection with our services. In such cases, we only use the information for the specific service requested or for related administrative purposes.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis to do so. Depending on the purpose, our lawful bases may include:

Contract – processing is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract or to perform our contract with you, such as arranging and delivering a cleaning service.
Legitimate interests – processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include managing bookings, maintaining records, improving services, responding to enquiries, and preventing fraud or misuse.
Legal obligation – processing is necessary to comply with legal or regulatory requirements, including accounting, tax, and record-keeping duties.
Consent – in limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where you choose to provide optional information or agree to certain communications. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

Where we process special category data, we will only do so if an appropriate condition under UK GDPR applies and, where required, with your explicit consent or another legal basis permitted by law.

5. How We Use Your Data

We may use your personal data for the following purposes:

to provide quotes and arrange services;
to manage customer bookings and service delivery;
to contact you about appointments, access, or service updates;
to process payments and maintain accounting records;
to respond to enquiries, complaints, and aftercare requests;
to keep internal service records and quality logs;
to comply with legal, tax, and regulatory requirements;
to protect our business, staff, and customers from misuse, fraud, or unlawful activity.

We will only use your data for the purposes for which it was collected unless we reasonably need to use it for a compatible purpose permitted by law.

6. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as processors on our behalf. Processors only handle data under our instructions and are required to keep it secure and confidential. They may include:

payment processing providers;
accounting or bookkeeping services;
customer communication or scheduling tools;
IT support, data storage, or system maintenance providers;
professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers, where necessary;
business partners assisting with service fulfilment where appropriate.

We may also disclose personal data where required by law, court order, regulatory authority, or law enforcement. If we transfer personal data outside the UK, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect that information in accordance with data protection law.

Important: we do not sell your personal data.

7. Data Retention

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

In general, we may retain:

customer and booking records for the period needed to manage the service relationship and follow up on requests;
invoice and payment records for the period required by tax and accounting law;
communication records for a reasonable period to manage enquiries, disputes, or service issues;
technical and security logs for short operational periods unless longer retention is required for security or legal purposes.

When data is no longer needed, it will be securely deleted, anonymised, or otherwise disposed of safely.

8. Security of Your Data

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

Although no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we take data protection seriously and work to keep information safe and only accessible to those who need it for legitimate business purposes.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you may have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

Right of access – to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing – to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests, including direct marketing where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

To exercise these rights, you may make a request using the relevant communication method available to you. We may need to verify your identity before responding. Some rights may be limited where the law allows us to keep or use the data for legitimate purposes.

10. Automated Decision-Making

We do not generally use automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects. If this changes in the future, we will update this policy and provide the information required by law.

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 processing practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage you to review it periodically so you remain informed about how your personal data is handled.

Summary of Key Points

Thornton Heath Carpet Cleaners is the data controller for customer personal data.
We collect only the information needed for quotes, bookings, service delivery, payments, and administration.
We rely on lawful bases including contract, legitimate interests, legal obligation, and consent where appropriate.
We share data only with trusted processors or where required by law.
We retain data only as long as necessary and protect it with appropriate security measures.
You have rights over your personal data, including access, correction, deletion, objection, and restriction.

This Privacy Policy applies to all Thornton Heath Carpet Cleaners customers in area. By using our services, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed as described in this policy and in accordance with applicable data protection laws.