Whitton Carpet Cleaners Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Whitton Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, and shares personal data when providing carpet and upholstery cleaning and related services. It also explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
This Privacy Policy applies to all Whitton Carpet Cleaners customers and prospective customers within our service area, whether you contact us online, by post, or in person, and whether you are a private individual, landlord, tenant, or business representative.
Who We Are and Scope of This Policy
Whitton Carpet Cleaners is a carpet and upholstery cleaning service operating within the local Whitton and surrounding area. For the purposes of data protection law, Whitton Carpet Cleaners is the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This means that we determine how and why your personal data is processed when you deal with us as a customer, potential customer, or supplier.
Types of Personal Data We Collect
We collect and process different categories of personal data depending on how you interact with us. This may include the following types of information.
Identification and contact details: name, address of the property where services are to be carried out, billing address, and any other contact information you choose to provide, such as a postal address or other preferred contact details.
Service and booking information: details of the services you request, property access information necessary to perform the work, dates and times of appointments, notes on particular cleaning requirements, and details of estimates and invoices.
Payment and transaction data: records of services purchased, prices, payment status, and payment method type. We do not store full payment card details. Where payments are processed electronically, these are handled securely by external payment service providers acting as data processors or independent controllers.
Communications: information you provide when you contact us, such as enquiries, feedback, complaints, emails, written correspondence, or information given over the phone and recorded in our booking notes.
Technical and usage information: if you visit our online pages, we may collect technical information such as your browser type, device type, and general usage information. This may be collected through basic analytics or similar technologies to help us understand how people find and use our services. We do not use this information to identify you directly without additional data.
How We Collect Your Personal Data
We collect personal data in several ways. You may provide it directly when you contact us to request a quote, make a booking, or ask a question. We may collect it when we carry out services at your property, for example, noting any special instructions or access arrangements. We may also receive personal data from third parties, such as landlords or letting agents who book services on your behalf and provide your contact details so we can arrange access or send an invoice.
Lawful Basis for Processing Your Data
We only process your personal data where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the situation, we rely on one or more of the following grounds.
Performance of a contract: we process your personal data when it is necessary to enter into or fulfil a contract with you, such as arranging and carrying out carpet cleaning at your property and taking payment for those services.
Legitimate interests: we may process your data when it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. Examples include maintaining records of past work to respond to queries, defending legal claims, improving our services, and operating our business efficiently.
Legal obligation: we may process and retain certain data when we are required to comply with legal or regulatory obligations, for example, for tax and accounting purposes.
Consent: in limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example, if you ask us to keep your details for future offers or updates. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time by contacting us using the details set out in this Privacy Policy.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes.
To provide services: scheduling appointments, confirming bookings, accessing your property for cleaning, tailoring our services to your specific requirements, and managing payments and invoices.
Customer support and communication: responding to enquiries, sending confirmations and reminders, dealing with complaints, and providing aftercare or follow-up information related to work we have carried out.
Business administration: maintaining internal records, accounts, and invoices, managing our relationship with repeat customers, and documenting the work completed at particular properties.
Safety and security: ensuring safe access to properties, verifying booking details, preventing fraud, and protecting our staff and equipment.
Legal and regulatory compliance: retaining necessary records for tax, accounting, and other statutory purposes, and responding to lawful requests from authorities where required.
Data Sharing and Use of Processors
We do not sell your personal data. We may share your data with trusted third parties where this is necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
Service providers and processors: we may use external companies to provide services such as payment processing, accounting support, data storage or backup, and basic customer management tools. These organisations only process your personal data on our instructions and are required to keep it secure and confidential.
Professional advisers: we may share data with accountants, legal advisers, or similar professionals where this is necessary for accounting, legal, or compliance purposes.
Authorities and law enforcement: we may disclose personal data where required by law or where we believe it is necessary to protect our rights, property, or safety, or the rights, property, or safety of others.
If we ever need to use new types of processors or significantly change how we share data, we will update this Privacy Policy to reflect those changes where appropriate.
Data Retention and Storage
We keep your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
In most cases, basic customer and transaction records are kept for up to six years after the end of the financial year in which the transaction took place, in line with tax and accounting rules. Service notes and booking information may be retained for a similar period to respond to any queries or potential disputes regarding the work carried out.
Where data is held only on the basis of your consent to receive updates or marketing, we will retain it until you withdraw your consent or until it is no longer needed for that purpose, whichever comes first. Once data is no longer required, it will be securely deleted or anonymised.
International Transfers
Where we use third party service providers that store or process data outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area, we will take steps to ensure that your personal data is given appropriate protection. This may include using providers in countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data, or by using standard contractual clauses or equivalent safeguards as required by data protection law.
How We Protect Your Data
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure, or access. These measures may include secure storage systems, access controls, staff awareness, and routine reviews of our data handling practices. While no system can be completely secure, we are committed to safeguarding the information you provide to us.
Your Data Protection Rights
Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data held by Whitton Carpet Cleaners. These rights may be subject to certain conditions and exemptions.
Right of access: you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, together with information about how it is processed.
Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data about you.
Right to erasure: in certain circumstances, you can ask us to delete your personal data, for example, where it is no longer needed for the purpose it was collected.
Right to restriction: you can ask us to restrict how we use your data in certain situations, for example, while we investigate a concern you have raised about its accuracy.
Right to data portability: you may have the right to receive personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine readable format, and to transmit 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. We will stop processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds which override your interests, rights, and freedoms, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.
Right to withdraw consent: where we process your data based on your consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.
Contact and Complaints
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, about how we handle your personal data, or if you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, you can contact Whitton Carpet Cleaners using the usual contact methods provided on our customer communications or business materials.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK data protection authority if you believe your rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve any concerns directly.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, how we handle personal data, or legal requirements. Any significant changes will be applied to future interactions and services. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we use and protect your personal data.
