Acton Carpet Cleaners Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Acton Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, and protects the personal data of its customers in the Acton area and surrounding locations. It is intended to be clear and transparent and to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and other applicable data protection laws.

This policy applies to all customers and potential customers of Acton Carpet Cleaners located in our service area, including individuals and businesses who contact us, request a quote, make a booking, or otherwise use our services.

Data Controller

For the purposes of data protection law, Acton Carpet Cleaners is the data controller. This means we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data in connection with our carpet cleaning and related services.

Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process different types of personal data about you depending on how you interact with us. This may include:

Identity and contact information: Name, address, service address, billing address, and any other contact details you choose to provide when communicating with us.

Booking and service information: Dates and times of appointments, details of the areas and items to be cleaned, specific instructions or notes you provide about the property or service, and records of services performed.

Communication records: Information contained in your messages, enquiries, feedback, or complaints, including any information you volunteer when speaking with us.

Payment-related information: Limited payment details necessary to process your transactions, such as payment method and transaction history. We do not store full card details where payments are processed through third-party payment providers.

Technical and usage data: When you visit our website, certain technical information such as your IP address, browser type, and pages visited may be collected through standard server logs or similar technologies to help us operate and improve our website.

How We Collect Personal Data

We collect personal data from you directly when you:

Book a carpet cleaning or related service with us.

Communicate with us before, during, or after the service.

Provide feedback or make a complaint.

In limited cases, we may also receive personal data about you from third parties, such as online booking platforms or referral partners, where you have given them permission to share your details with service providers like us.

Purposes and Lawful Basis for Processing

We only process your personal data when we have a lawful basis to do so. The main purposes and lawful bases are:

To provide our services: We use your identity, contact, and service information to give quotes, schedule appointments, provide carpet cleaning and related services, and manage your bookings. The lawful basis is the performance of a contract with you or taking steps at your request before entering into a contract.

To manage our relationship with you: We use your information to respond to enquiries, handle complaints, request feedback, and send essential service communications relating to your booking. The lawful basis is performance of a contract and our legitimate interests in providing good customer service.

To process payments and accounting: We use payment and transaction details to process payments, prevent fraud, and maintain accurate financial records. The lawful basis is performance of a contract, compliance with legal obligations, and our legitimate interests in running our business in a responsible way.

To improve our services and website: We may use technical and usage data to analyse how our website and services are used, so we can improve user experience and service quality. The lawful basis is our legitimate interests in developing and improving our business.

To comply with legal obligations: We may process and retain certain personal data to comply with tax, accounting, and other regulatory requirements. The lawful basis is compliance with a legal obligation.

In certain situations, we may ask for your consent for specific uses of your personal data. Where consent is used as the lawful basis, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

Data Retention

We keep your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and to meet any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

In general, we apply the following retention guidelines:

Customer records and booking information: Retained for as long as you remain a customer and for a period after your last interaction, typically up to six years, to handle any queries, provide repeat services, and comply with legal record-keeping obligations.

Financial and transaction records: Retained for the period required by tax and accounting laws.

Communication records: Retained for a reasonable period to manage our relationship with you, deal with complaints, and improve our services.

At the end of the relevant retention period, personal data will be securely deleted, anonymised, or otherwise removed from our systems.

Sharing Your Personal Data and Processors

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your data with selected third parties where necessary for the operation of our business and the delivery of our services, including:

Service and technology providers: For example, companies providing booking systems, customer management tools, payment processing, cloud storage, and IT support. These companies act as our data processors and only process your data following our instructions and with appropriate security measures in place.

Professional advisers: Such as accountants, auditors, or legal advisers, where necessary for legal, financial, or business reasons.

Public authorities: When we are legally obliged to share information, for example with law enforcement or tax authorities.

Where we use data processors, we ensure that written agreements are in place requiring them to protect your personal data and process it only for the purposes we specify.

International Transfers

If any of our service providers or data processors are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, we take steps to ensure that your personal data receives an adequate level of protection. This may include using standard contractual clauses or relying on an adequacy decision for the destination country, in accordance with data protection law.

Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, or damage. These measures may include restricted access controls, secure storage, and the use of secure communication channels with our processors where appropriate.

While we strive to protect your personal data, no method of transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure. You are also responsible for keeping any information you share with us accurate and up to date.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These may include:

Right of access: You can request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of the information we hold about you.

Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct or complete personal data that is inaccurate or incomplete.

Right to erasure: In certain circumstances, you can request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.

Right to restriction of processing: You can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as when you contest its accuracy.

Right to data portability: Where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you can request that we provide your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format or transfer it to another controller where technically feasible.

Right to object: You can object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests, including for direct marketing purposes.

Rights related to consent: Where we process your data on the basis of consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing that took place before the withdrawal.

We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request. We aim to respond within the timeframes required by law.

Complaints

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, you should 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 supervisory authority in the United Kingdom or in the country where you live or work.

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 effective from the date of publication of the updated policy. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.