Swiss Cottage Carpet Cleaners Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Swiss Cottage Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data relating to its customers and prospective customers in its service area. It also describes your rights under applicable data protection laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation and the United Kingdom data protection regime. This Privacy Policy applies to all Swiss Cottage Carpet Cleaners customers, as well as individuals who contact us, request a quote, use our services, or otherwise interact with us in our operating area.
1. Data Controller
Swiss Cottage Carpet Cleaners is the data controller in respect of the personal data processed in connection with our carpet cleaning and related services. As data controller, we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data and are responsible for ensuring that such processing complies with applicable data protection laws.
2. Personal Data We Collect
We collect and process different categories of personal data depending on how you interact with us. The main types of data we collect include:
Identification and contact details, such as your name, address, service address, and general location information required to reach your premises.
Communication details, including any information you provide when you contact us for enquiries, quotes, service bookings, feedback, or complaints.
Service and transaction data, such as details of the services you request or receive, dates and times of appointments, payment status, and related service notes.
Billing and payment information, for example, records of invoices issued, payment method used, and payment confirmations. We do not store full payment card details. Where card payments are processed, this is done through secure payment processors.
Technical and usage data, where applicable, including limited information about your interactions with our website or online forms, such as IP address, device information, and basic analytics data, in order to maintain and improve our services.
Any other information you voluntarily provide, for example, access instructions for your premises or information about specific cleaning requirements or sensitivities.
3. How We Collect Personal Data
We may collect personal data directly from you when you contact us by phone, through online forms, or in person, when you request a quote, make a booking, or use our services. We may also collect data when you interact with our website or digital tools, or when you respond to our marketing communications where these are permitted.
In certain circumstances, we may receive personal data from third parties, for example, from referral partners or platforms that you use to find local service providers. In such cases, we only process the data necessary to provide our services and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
4. Lawful Bases for Processing
We only process your personal data where we have a lawful basis to do so. The main lawful bases we rely on are:
Contractual necessity. We process personal data to enter into and perform contracts with you, including providing quotes, managing bookings, delivering carpet cleaning services, issuing invoices, and handling related customer service and support.
Legitimate interests. We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that these interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. This includes managing and improving our services, ensuring security and safety, preventing fraud, and maintaining accurate business records.
Legal obligations. We process certain personal data to comply with legal and regulatory obligations, such as tax, accounting, and record-keeping requirements.
Consent. In some cases, we may rely on your consent, for example, for certain types of marketing communications or for the use of optional cookies or similar technologies. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
5. Purposes of Processing
We use your personal data for the following purposes:
To provide quotes, respond to your enquiries, and manage bookings.
To deliver carpet cleaning and related services at the agreed location and time.
To manage billing, take payment, and maintain financial records.
To communicate with you about your booking, including confirmations, reminders, and any changes or updates.
To handle feedback, complaints, or disputes and to provide customer support.
To operate, maintain, and improve our services and internal processes.
To comply with legal and regulatory obligations and to cooperate with law enforcement or regulatory authorities where required.
To send you information about services that may be of interest to you, where permitted by law and, where required, with your consent. You can opt out of such communications at any time.
6. Data Sharing and Processors
We may share your personal data with carefully selected third parties where necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and where permitted by law. These third parties act as data processors or, in some cases, as separate controllers.
Data processors that may process your data on our behalf include:
Payment processing providers that handle secure payment transactions.
IT and hosting providers that support our website, email systems, and secure data storage.
Customer management, scheduling, or accounting software providers that help us manage bookings, invoicing, and records.
Professional advisers, such as accountants or legal advisers, where necessary for business operations and compliance.
All processors are required to process personal data only on our instructions, to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data, and to comply with applicable data protection laws.
We may also share data with public authorities or law enforcement agencies where required by law, or where necessary to protect our rights, property, or safety, or the rights, property, or safety of others.
7. International Data Transfers
If we transfer personal data outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data, such as using standard contractual clauses or transferring to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of data protection. Where relevant, you may request further details about such safeguards.
8. Data Retention
We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
In general, we keep basic customer and transaction data for a period required by tax and accounting laws, after which it is securely deleted or anonymised. Communication records and service notes may be retained for a reasonable period to handle any follow-up queries, complaints, or claims.
Where we rely on consent for specific processing, such as certain marketing activities, we will retain the relevant data only for as long as your consent remains valid or until you withdraw it.
We regularly review our retention periods and ensure that personal data that is no longer required is securely destroyed or irreversibly anonymised.
9. Data Security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect the personal data we hold against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, or damage. These measures include restricted access to personal data, secure storage systems, and safeguards aligned with the level of risk associated with the data and the processing activities.
While we strive to protect your personal data, no system can be completely secure. You are responsible for taking reasonable precautions to protect your own information when communicating with us or using our services.
10. Your Data Protection Rights
Under data protection laws, you have several rights in relation to your personal data, subject to certain conditions and exceptions. These rights include:
Right of access. You have the right to obtain confirmation as to whether we process your personal data and to request a copy of that data.
Right to rectification. You have the right to request correction of inaccurate personal data and completion of incomplete data.
Right to erasure. In certain circumstances, you may request that we delete your personal data, for example, where it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or where you withdraw consent and there is no other legal basis for processing.
Right to restriction of processing. You may request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, for example, while we verify the accuracy of the data or consider an objection you have raised.
Right to data portability. Where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you may request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, or that it be transmitted to another controller where technically feasible.
Right to object. You have the right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including profiling, and we will stop processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights, and freedoms, or where processing is required for legal claims. You also have an absolute right to object to direct marketing.
Right to withdraw consent. Where we rely on your consent to process personal data, you may withdraw your consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond in accordance with applicable data protection laws. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.
11. Complaints
If you have concerns about how we process your personal data, we encourage you to contact us in the first instance so we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority, for example the authority responsible for data protection in your country of residence or in the place where the alleged infringement took place.
12. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. Any changes will be posted in the latest version of this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we process your personal data.
This Privacy Policy applies to all Swiss Cottage Carpet Cleaners customers and users of our services within our operating area and is intended to provide transparent and accessible information about our data protection practices.