Privacy Policy - Carpetcleaning Elephantandcastle

This Privacy Policy explains how Carpetcleaning Elephantandcastle collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Carpetcleaning Elephantandcastle customers in area, including anyone who requests a service, receives a quotation, makes a booking, or otherwise interacts with our business. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

We respect your privacy and aim to collect only the information needed to provide our services, manage our operations, and meet legal obligations. This policy is designed to help you understand what data we process, why we process 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 personal data directly from you, from your use of our services, or from third parties where appropriate. The information we collect depends on the type of service requested and the way you interact with us.

Categories of personal data

Identity data: name, title, and related identification details.
Contact data: address, email address, telephone number, and service location details.
Service data: information about the cleaning service requested, property type, special instructions, appointment details, and service preferences.
Payment data: payment method information, transaction records, and billing information. We do not keep unnecessary card details where a secure payment provider is used.
Communication data: messages, complaints, feedback, and any records of correspondence.
Technical data: limited information such as device type, browser type, and general usage data if you communicate with us electronically.
Legal and verification data: records required for fraud prevention, compliance, dispute resolution, and accounting purposes.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless you choose to provide it and it is necessary for a specific service or legal purpose. If such information is shared with us, we will handle it with additional care and only where a valid legal basis applies.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for clear and limited purposes. These include arranging and delivering cleaning services, managing bookings, handling payments, answering enquiries, keeping records, and meeting legal or regulatory requirements. We may also use your data to improve our services, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, and maintain the security of our operations.

Examples of use include:

confirming appointments and service details;
preparing quotations and invoices;
responding to customer queries and complaints;
recording service history for quality control;
maintaining financial and tax records;
protecting our business, staff, and customers from misuse or unlawful activity.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which it was collected unless we reasonably believe another compatible purpose applies or we are legally permitted or required to do otherwise.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

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

Contract

We process your data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotations, confirming bookings, delivering cleaning services, and handling payments.

Legal obligation

We may process and retain certain information to comply with laws relating to taxation, accounting, consumer protection, and other legal requirements.

Legitimate interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include service improvement, administrative record-keeping, fraud prevention, and internal business management.

Consent

Where required, we will rely on your consent, for example for certain optional communications. You may withdraw consent at any time, and this will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Vital interests and public task

These bases are unlikely to apply in normal circumstances, but they may be used if needed in exceptional cases involving health, safety, or legal responsibilities.

4. Data Retention

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

Customer service and booking records are generally retained for the period needed to manage the service relationship and handle follow-up matters.
Financial and tax records are kept for the period required by law.
Correspondence and complaint records may be retained for a reasonable period to resolve disputes and improve service quality.
Technical and security records are retained only as long as necessary for operational and security purposes.

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

5. Data Processors and Sharing

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as data processors on our behalf. These processors are only allowed to use the data under our instructions and must keep it secure and confidential.

Types of processors may include:

payment service providers for processing transactions;
booking, scheduling, or administrative software providers;
accounting or bookkeeping service providers;
IT support, cloud storage, and data security providers;
professional advisers such as auditors, insurers, or legal advisers;
delivery or subcontracted service providers where necessary to complete a booking.

We may also disclose personal data where required by law, court order, regulatory authority, or to protect our legal rights. If a processor is located outside the UK, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data, such as adequacy regulations or standard contractual protections where applicable.

6. Data Security

We take 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 data minimisation practices.

Although we work hard to protect your information, no system can be guaranteed completely secure. If a personal data breach occurs and presents a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will act in line with our legal obligations, which may include notifying the relevant supervisory authority and affected individuals where required.

7. Your Rights

You have a number of rights under data protection law. These rights may be subject to conditions or exemptions depending on the circumstances.

Right of access: you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification: you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure: you may request deletion of your data where legally permitted.
Right to restriction: you may ask us to limit the way we process your data in certain cases.
Right to data portability: you may request that data you provided to us be supplied in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to object: you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

We will respond to valid requests within the timeframe required by law. To protect privacy, we may need to verify your identity before acting on your request.

8. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and business customers arranging cleaning services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If we become aware that such data has been provided without appropriate authority, we will take steps to delete it where required.

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, our services, or how we process personal data. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review the policy periodically to remain informed about how personal data is handled.

10. Summary of Our Commitment

Carpetcleaning Elephantandcastle is committed to processing personal data responsibly, securely, and only where we have a lawful basis to do so. We collect only the information necessary to deliver services, manage records, and meet our legal duties. We retain data only for as long as needed, use processors carefully, and respect your rights under data protection law. This policy applies to all Carpetcleaning Elephantandcastle customers in area and is intended to ensure transparency and trust in every stage of our service relationship.

By using our services, you acknowledge that your personal data will be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws.