Privacy Policy - Earlscourt Carpetcleaning

This Privacy Policy explains how Earlscourt Carpetcleaning collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Earlscourt Carpetcleaning customers in area, including anyone who requests a quote, books a service, receives a service, communicates with us, or otherwise interacts with our business. We are committed to handling personal information lawfully, fairly, and transparently in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

Earlscourt Carpetcleaning provides carpet cleaning and related cleaning services to residential and commercial customers. For the purposes of data protection law, Earlscourt Carpetcleaning is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. This means we decide why and how your data is processed.

2. Personal Data We Collect

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

• Identity information such as your name and title.
• Contact details such as address, email address, and telephone number.
• Service information such as booking details, property access instructions, cleaning preferences, and service history.
• Payment information such as payment confirmation, transaction records, and billing details. We do not store full card details unless a secure payment provider is used.
• Communication records including emails, messages, quotes, complaints, feedback, and notes from phone conversations.
• Technical information where applicable, such as basic device or browser data collected through our systems for security and performance purposes.
• Special category data only where strictly necessary and usually only if you voluntarily provide it, for example if access arrangements require sensitive information. We do not seek to collect such data unless there is a clear reason and lawful basis.

We do not collect more information than we need. If we no longer require certain details, we will either delete them or anonymise them where possible.

3. How We Use Your Data

We process personal data for the following purposes:

• To respond to enquiries and provide quotations.
• To schedule, manage, and deliver carpet cleaning services.
• To confirm appointments, reschedule bookings, and manage service updates.
• To issue invoices, process payments, and maintain financial records.
• To handle complaints, customer support requests, and service feedback.
• To maintain business records and improve our services.
• To comply with legal, accounting, and regulatory requirements.
• To protect our business, staff, customers, and systems from fraud, misuse, or security incidents.

We will never sell your personal data. Any processing we carry out is limited to the purposes described in this policy or otherwise explained to you at the time of collection.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for each use of personal data. Earlscourt Carpetcleaning relies on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process your data when it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, or to perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotes, arranging bookings, and completing carpet cleaning services.

Legitimate Interests

We may process your data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This may include managing customer relationships, preventing fraud, improving services, and maintaining internal records. When we rely on legitimate interests, we assess whether the processing is proportionate and necessary.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain data where this is required to comply with legal obligations, such as tax, accounting, and record-keeping rules.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where we seek permission for optional marketing communications. If we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

5. How We Share Personal Data

We share personal data only when necessary and only with parties that support our operations or where required by law. These may include:

• Service processors who help us manage bookings, communications, administration, invoicing, or payment processing.
• IT and cloud service providers that store or secure business records and systems.
• Professional advisers such as accountants, legal advisers, or insurers.
• Authorities or regulators where disclosure is required to comply with law or lawful requests.

Where third parties process personal data on our behalf, they act as processors and are only permitted to use the data according to our instructions. We require appropriate safeguards, including confidentiality, security measures, and data processing terms where required.

We do not allow processors to use your data for their own independent purposes.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including to meet legal, accounting, and reporting requirements. The retention period depends on the type of data and the reason it was collected.

• Customer and booking records are typically retained for as long as needed to manage the service relationship and any follow-up matters.
• Financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law.
• Communication records may be retained for a reasonable period to handle queries, disputes, or service issues.
• Marketing preferences are kept until you withdraw consent or object, where applicable.

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

7. Data Security

We use 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 review of our service providers’ security practices.

However, no system is completely secure. While we take reasonable steps to safeguard your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. International Transfers

If any of our processors store or access data outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place before the transfer occurs. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or equivalent legal protections.

9. Your Rights

As a data subject, you have a number of rights under data protection law. These rights may be subject to legal limitations, but we will always assess and respond to requests 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 – in certain circumstances, you can ask us to delete your data.
• Right to restriction – you can request that we limit how we use your data in certain situations.
• Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
• Right to data portability – where applicable, you can ask for your data in a machine-readable format.
• Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you exercise any of these rights, we may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within the timeframe required by law.

10. Automated Decision-Making

Earlscourt Carpetcleaning does not use automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects about you. If this changes, we will update this policy and explain the logic, significance, and consequences of such processing.

11. 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 authority. We would appreciate the chance to address your concerns first, so please contact us through our usual business channels if you believe something is wrong. We will review your complaint carefully and respond as soon as reasonably possible.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal obligations, or service arrangements. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect personal data.

13. Summary of Our Commitments

In summary, Earlscourt Carpetcleaning is committed to processing personal data lawfully, securely, and transparently. We collect only what we need, use it for clear business and legal purposes, share it only with trusted processors or where required by law, keep it only as long as necessary, and respect your rights under data protection law. This policy applies to all Earlscourt Carpetcleaning customers in area and is intended to ensure that your personal information is handled with care and respect.