Privacy Policy - Carpet Cleaners Lambeth

This Privacy Policy explains how Carpet Cleaners Lambeth collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Carpet Cleaners Lambeth customers in the area, including individuals, households, landlords, tenants, and business clients who use our carpet and upholstery cleaning services. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who this policy applies to

This policy applies whenever you enquire about, book, receive, or pay for services from Carpet Cleaners Lambeth. It also applies if you communicate with us about a service, request a quote, leave feedback, or otherwise interact with us in connection with our services. By using our services, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed as described in this policy.

2. Data we collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for the delivery, administration, and improvement of our services. The type of information collected may depend on how you interact with us and what services you request.

Information you provide directly

Identity details such as your name.
Contact details such as your address, email address, and phone number.
Service details including property access notes, preferred appointment times, cleaning instructions, and details relevant to the job.
Payment-related details if needed to process invoices, receipts, or refunds.
Communication records such as messages, complaints, feedback, and service enquiries.

Information we collect automatically

When you interact with us through digital or phone-based communication channels, we may collect limited technical and usage information, such as the date and time of communication, service history, and internal reference records. We do not seek to collect unnecessary personal data and we do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is required and you have provided it willingly for a specific purpose.

Information from third parties

We may receive personal data from third parties where this is necessary to fulfil a service, for example from property managers, landlords, tenants, or payment providers acting on your behalf. We may also receive information from subcontracted service partners where they are involved in completing a booking.

3. How we use your personal data

We use personal data only where there is a valid legal basis and only for legitimate business purposes related to our services. Typical uses include:

To provide quotes and manage bookings.
To deliver carpet cleaning and related services.
To communicate about appointments, service updates, and service outcomes.
To issue invoices, manage payments, and handle refunds or adjustments.
To respond to questions, complaints, or requests.
To maintain internal records and service quality.
To comply with legal, tax, accounting, or regulatory obligations.
To protect our business, staff, customers, and property from fraud, misuse, or security incidents.

4. Lawful basis for processing

Under UK GDPR, we must identify a lawful basis before processing personal data. Carpet Cleaners Lambeth relies on the following bases, depending on the context:

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes managing bookings, providing services, and handling billing or aftercare where relevant.

Legal obligation

We may process personal data to comply with legal obligations, such as accounting, tax, record-keeping, insurance, or responding to lawful requests from public authorities.

Legitimate interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include service administration, quality control, fraud prevention, customer support, and internal business improvements.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where we ask permission for certain optional communications or where special category data is provided for a specific purpose. You may withdraw consent at any time where consent is the lawful basis.

5. How we store and protect data

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to safeguard personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff training, and restricted sharing of data on a need-to-know basis.

Although no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to protect personal data proportionately to the type and sensitivity of information involved. Access to data is limited to personnel and partners who require it to carry out their responsibilities.

6. Data retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Retention periods depend on the nature of the data and the reason for processing.

Customer and service records are generally kept for as long as needed to manage the business relationship and deal with follow-up matters.
Invoice, payment, and accounting records are retained for the period required under tax and financial laws.
Communication records may be stored for a reasonable period to support customer service, dispute resolution, and service quality.
Complaint or claim-related data may be kept longer if needed to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

When data is no longer required, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

7. Processors and data sharing

We may share personal data with trusted processors and service providers who help us operate our business. These parties act on our instructions and are required to protect your data appropriately.

Examples of processors may include:

Payment processing providers.
Accounting and bookkeeping services.
Booking, scheduling, and customer management systems.
IT support, data storage, and cloud hosting providers.
Communication tools used for email, SMS, or internal messaging.
Subcontracted cleaning personnel where required to complete a service.

We do not sell your personal data. We will only share data with other third parties where necessary for service delivery, legal compliance, fraud prevention, or where you have asked us to do so. If data is transferred outside the UK, we will take appropriate safeguards to protect it.

8. Your rights

Under data protection law, you have rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be subject to certain conditions and exemptions, but we will always assess requests carefully and respond appropriately.

Your rights include:

Right of access – you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – you can request deletion of your data where appropriate.
Right to restriction – you can ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests.
Right to data portability – you can request a copy of certain data in a reusable format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you believe your rights have not been respected, you may also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority. We encourage customers to raise concerns so that we can address them promptly and fairly.

9. Children’s data

Our services are aimed at adults and property-related customers. We do not intentionally collect personal data from children unless it is incidentally provided in the course of a service arrangement and is necessary for operational reasons. Where this occurs, we will handle it with appropriate care and only to the extent required.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, service practices, or operational requirements. Any revised version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise made available. We recommend reviewing this policy periodically to stay informed about how your data is handled.

11. Summary of our privacy commitments

Carpet Cleaners Lambeth is committed to processing personal data lawfully, transparently, and securely. We collect only what we need, use it for clear service-related purposes, keep it only as long as necessary, and share it only with trusted processors or where required by law. All Carpet Cleaners Lambeth customers in area are covered by this policy, and we aim to respect your privacy at every stage of our service relationship.