Privacy Policy - Notting Hill Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Notting Hill Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Notting Hill Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including prospective customers, existing customers, and anyone who interacts with our services, whether by phone, email, online enquiry, or in person.

1. Who We Are

Notting Hill Carpet Cleaners is a carpet and upholstery cleaning service provider operating in the Notting Hill area. For the purposes of data protection law, we act as the data controller for the personal data we collect and use in connection with our services. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is relevant and necessary for delivering our services, managing our business, and meeting legal obligations. The categories of data we may collect include:

Identity details such as your name.
Contact details such as your address, email address, and telephone number.
Service details including property access instructions, preferred appointment times, and information about the cleaning service requested.
Payment information such as transaction records and billing details, though we do not retain full card details where payments are processed securely by third parties.
Communication records including emails, messages, call notes, and complaint correspondence.
Technical data if you interact with us online, such as IP address, browser type, and device information, where applicable.
Special category data only where strictly necessary and only if you choose to provide it, for example where access arrangements or health-related concerns are relevant to carrying out the service safely.

We do not seek to collect more data than is needed. Where possible, we use data minimisation principles to keep the information we hold limited and relevant.

3. How We Use Your Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To provide carpet, upholstery, and related cleaning services.
To arrange bookings, confirm appointments, and manage access to properties.
To take payments, issue invoices, and maintain financial records.
To communicate with customers about their bookings, requests, or complaints.
To deliver customer support and respond to queries.
To improve our services, operations, and customer experience.
To comply with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations.
To protect our business against fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

We use your data only for legitimate business purposes and in a way that is consistent with data protection law.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

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

Performance of a Contract

We process your personal data when it is necessary to provide services you have requested, such as arranging cleaning appointments, carrying out the service, taking payment, and handling related customer administration.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain information to meet legal and regulatory requirements, including tax records, invoicing obligations, and accounting standards.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This includes managing our business, improving services, keeping records, preventing fraud, and resolving disputes.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example if we need to use optional information not required for the service. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If we ever need to process special category data, we will do so only where an appropriate lawful condition applies and where it is necessary for the specific purpose.

5. Sharing Your Data and Processors

We may share your personal data with trusted third parties who help us operate our business. These third parties act as processors when they handle data on our behalf and under our instructions. We require them to safeguard personal data and process it only for the agreed purpose.

Examples of processors and service providers may include:

Payment processors that handle secure card or electronic payments.
Booking and scheduling providers that help manage appointments.
IT and cloud storage providers that support our records and business systems.
Accountants or bookkeeping services that assist with financial record-keeping.
Customer communication tools used to send confirmations or respond to enquiries.

We may also share data where required by law, such as with tax authorities, regulators, law enforcement, or legal advisers. We do not sell your personal data.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. Retention periods depend on the type of information and the purpose for which it is used.

In general, we may retain:

Service and booking records for as long as needed to manage the customer relationship and resolve disputes.
Financial and tax records for the period required under applicable accounting and tax laws.
Communication records for a reasonable period to support customer service and business administration.
Security or incident records for as long as needed to investigate and prevent future issues.

When data is no longer required, we securely delete or anonymise it.

7. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and careful selection of third-party providers. However, no system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Your Rights

You have rights under data protection law in relation to your personal data. Subject to certain conditions and exemptions, these may include:

Right of access – to obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – to ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent.

To exercise your rights, you may contact us using the details provided in our service communications. We may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within the time limits required by law, usually within one month.

9. Complaints and Supervisory Authority

If you are concerned about how we handle your personal data, we encourage you to raise the issue with us first so we can try to resolve it. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) or the relevant data protection authority in your area if you believe your rights have been infringed.

10. International Transfers

Where any service provider processes personal data outside the UK, we take appropriate steps to ensure that your information is protected in line with applicable data protection requirements. This may include the use of standard contractual safeguards or equivalent lawful transfer mechanisms.

11. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and business or household customers arranging cleaning services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children for marketing or service purposes unless it is incidental to a service request and handled lawfully.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect legal, operational, or service changes. Any revised version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We recommend reviewing it periodically so you remain informed about how your data is handled.

13. Summary of Our Commitment

We respect your privacy and process personal data fairly, lawfully, and transparently. Our approach is based on necessity, security, and accountability. We use only the information needed to provide services, manage our business, and comply with the law. We also work with processors who are expected to protect your data and use it only as instructed.

By using the services of Notting Hill Carpet Cleaners, you acknowledge that this Privacy Policy applies to you as a customer in the area.