Privacy Policy - Westkensington Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Westkensington Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing carpet cleaning and related services. It applies to all Westkensington Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including current, former, and prospective customers, as well as individuals who contact us about our services.

We are committed to handling personal data in a fair, lawful, transparent, and secure 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 and manage our services effectively. Depending on your interaction with us, we may collect the following categories of personal data:

Identity details: name, title, and, where relevant, business name.
Contact details: address, email address, telephone number, and service location.
Service details: information about the carpets, upholstery, rugs, stains, materials, and cleaning requirements.
Booking and transaction information: appointment dates, payment status, invoices, and service history.
Communication records: emails, messages, notes from calls, and feedback or complaints.
Technical information: limited website or device data, if you interact with our online systems, such as IP address or browser type.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless you choose to provide it, for example if you disclose information about allergies, medical conditions, or accessibility requirements that affect service delivery. Where such information is provided, we handle it with additional care and only when necessary.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data to manage customer relationships and deliver a reliable cleaning service. Typical uses include:

responding to enquiries and providing quotations;
arranging and managing bookings;
delivering carpet cleaning and related services;
processing payments and keeping financial records;
handling complaints, warranty matters, and service follow-up;
maintaining internal records, quality control, and staff training;
meeting legal, accounting, and insurance obligations;
preventing fraud, misuse, and unlawful activity.

We only use your personal data for the purposes for which it was collected, unless we reasonably determine that we need to use it for a compatible purpose or another lawful reason under data protection law.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process personal data only where we have a lawful basis to do so. Depending on the circumstances, the lawful basis may include:

Contract

We process your data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes taking bookings, carrying out cleaning services, issuing invoices, and managing service-related communication.

Legal Obligation

We may process your data where required to comply with legal obligations, such as tax, accounting, health and safety, or record-keeping requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may rely on legitimate interests where processing is necessary for our business operations and where your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This may include service improvement, record maintenance, fraud prevention, and responding to enquiries. We always consider whether the processing is proportionate and necessary.

Consent

In limited situations, we may ask for your consent, for example for certain optional marketing communications or to handle information you voluntarily provide that requires explicit permission. Where consent is relied upon, you can withdraw it at any time.

4. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell your personal data. We may share it only where necessary and appropriate for the purposes described in this policy. This may include sharing data with:

Payment service providers that process card or electronic payments;
IT and system providers that support scheduling, record keeping, or secure data storage;
Professional advisers such as accountants, insurers, or legal advisers;
Subcontractors or workers who assist in delivering services at your property;
Regulators, law enforcement, or public authorities where disclosure is required by law.

Where we use third parties to process personal data on our behalf, they are required to act under our instructions and to protect your information appropriately.

5. Processors and Third Parties

Some service providers act as data processors, meaning they process personal data on our behalf and not for their own purposes. Examples may include booking software providers, secure cloud storage providers, communication tools, and payment processors.

We take reasonable steps to ensure that processors:

only process personal data according to our instructions;
implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures;
keep personal data confidential;
assist us in meeting our data protection obligations where needed.

If personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections.

6. Data Retention

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

Customer and booking records: retained for a period necessary to manage services, disputes, and service history.
Financial and tax records: retained for the period required by law.
Communication records: retained as long as needed for customer service and business administration.
Marketing preferences: retained until you opt out or withdraw consent, where applicable.

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

7. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, loss, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and regular review of our data handling practices.

However, no system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. We encourage customers to share only the information necessary for service delivery.

8. Your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection law, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Right of access: to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
Right to rectification: to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data;
Right to erasure: to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances;
Right to restriction: to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations;
Right to data portability: to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format;
Right to object: to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing;
Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to legal exceptions. We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request.

9. Marketing Preferences

We may send limited service-related communications where necessary for appointments, invoices, or follow-up. If we ever send optional marketing communications, you may opt out at any time. We will respect your preferences and stop sending such communications where required.

10. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we handle personal data, we encourage you to raise them so we can address the issue promptly. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or operational needs. The latest version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated.

This policy is designed to be clear and practical while reflecting GDPR principles. We process personal data only where necessary, keep it secure, and aim to ensure all customers in the Westkensington area understand how their information is used.

By using our services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.