Privacy Policy - Carpet Cleaners Swisscottage

This Privacy Policy explains how Carpet Cleaners Swisscottage collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data in connection with our carpet cleaning and related services. It applies to all Carpet Cleaners Swisscottage customers in the area, including individuals who request a quote, make a booking, receive a service, or communicate with us in any way. 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.

1. Information We Collect

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

Identity details such as your name and, where relevant, business name.
Contact details such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service details such as property access instructions, room information, carpet or upholstery cleaning requirements, and preferred appointment times.
Transaction details such as payment status, invoices, booking records, and service history.
Communication records including messages, complaints, feedback, and service-related correspondence.
Technical information where relevant, such as basic website or device information if you interact with our digital systems.

We do not deliberately collect special category data unless it is essential and you have provided it voluntarily, or unless another lawful condition applies. If you share sensitive information with us, we will only process it when necessary and appropriate safeguards are in place.

2. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotes.
To schedule and deliver carpet cleaning and related services.
To manage customer accounts, bookings, and service delivery.
To process payments and maintain accounting records.
To communicate about appointments, changes, complaints, or follow-up matters.
To improve our services, quality standards, and customer experience.
To maintain security, prevent fraud, and protect our operations.
To meet legal and regulatory obligations.

We only use personal data for specified and legitimate purposes. We will not use it in ways that are incompatible with those purposes unless permitted by law or with your consent.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for each processing activity. Carpet Cleaners Swisscottage relies on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes taking bookings, providing cleaning services, managing appointments, and handling payment-related matters.

Legal Obligation

We may process data when required to comply with legal obligations, such as tax, accounting, record-keeping, consumer, or regulatory requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include improving our services, managing our business, maintaining security, handling enquiries, and preventing misuse.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where it is specifically required for certain optional communications or uses. Where consent is used, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Vital Interests and Public Task

These bases are unlikely to apply in normal circumstances, but we will consider them if necessary in exceptional situations.

4. Sharing Personal Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as processors or independent controllers depending on the nature of the service. These third parties are used only where necessary and are required to handle data securely and lawfully.

Typical categories of processors may include:

Payment processors that handle card or electronic payments.
Booking and scheduling tools used to manage appointments and service planning.
IT and cloud service providers that support data storage, email, and system maintenance.
Accounting and administrative providers that assist with invoicing, bookkeeping, or record management.
Professional advisers such as accountants, legal advisers, or insurers where necessary.

We require processors to act only on our instructions, to protect data appropriately, and to comply with applicable data protection law. If data is shared with an independent controller, that party is responsible for its own privacy practices.

We do not sell personal data. We will only disclose personal data where necessary for the purposes described in this policy, where required by law, or where you have asked us to do so.

5. Data Retention

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

In general:

Customer booking and service records are retained for a reasonable period to manage service history, complaints, and follow-up matters.
Financial and invoicing data is retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Communication records are kept only as long as needed to respond to enquiries, resolve disputes, or maintain business records.
Consent-based data is retained until consent is withdrawn or the purpose ends.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you. We review retention regularly to ensure data is not kept longer than necessary.

6. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff awareness, and limited data access on a need-to-know basis.

Although no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we take data protection seriously and work to reduce risks to personal information.

7. International Transfers

Where any processor or service provider stores or processes data outside the UK, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data in accordance with applicable law. Such safeguards may include adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections.

8. Your Rights

As a data subject, you have a number of rights under UK GDPR. Subject to legal limitations, you may have the right to:

Access your personal data and obtain a copy of it.
Rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data.
Erasure of personal data in certain circumstances.
Restriction of processing in certain situations.
Object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Data portability for data processed on the basis of consent or contract and carried out by automated means, where applicable.
Withdraw consent at any time where consent is the legal basis.

You also have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, where that has legal or similarly significant effects, although we do not ordinarily use such automated decision-making.

To exercise your rights, you may make a request using the normal communication methods available to you. We may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within the time limits required by law.

9. Complaints

If you are concerned about how we handle your personal data, you have the right to raise a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve the issue promptly and fairly.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and business customers. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is provided by a parent, guardian, or authorised representative in connection with a service arrangement. Where such data is processed, it will be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable law.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal obligations, or service arrangements. Any revised version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise made available. We encourage customers to review it periodically so they remain informed about how their personal data is handled.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

Carpet Cleaners Swisscottage is committed to respecting your privacy and protecting your personal data. We collect only what we need, use it for clear and lawful purposes, retain it only as long as necessary, and share it only with carefully selected processors or where required by law. We aim to ensure that every customer in the area can trust us to treat their information with care, transparency, and accountability.

This policy applies to all Carpet Cleaners Swisscottage customers in area.