Privacy Policy - Fulham Carpetcleaning

Effective date: This Privacy Policy applies to all Fulham Carpetcleaning customers in the Fulham area and explains how personal data is collected, used, stored, shared, and protected in connection with our carpet cleaning services.

1. Introduction

Fulham Carpetcleaning is committed to protecting the privacy and security of personal data. We process personal information in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and other applicable privacy laws. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, the lawful bases we rely on, how long we retain it, who may process it on our behalf, and the rights available to individuals.

This policy applies to all Fulham Carpetcleaning customers in area, including current customers, prospective customers, and anyone who contacts us about our services.

2. Information We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for providing and managing our services, communicating with customers, and meeting our legal obligations. The types of information we may collect include:

Identity details such as your name.
Contact details such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service details such as property access instructions, cleaning requirements, appointment preferences, and notes relating to the services requested.
Payment-related information such as billing records and payment confirmation details, where applicable.
Communication records such as messages, enquiries, complaints, feedback, and service history.
Technical information if you interact with us online, such as basic device or browser information, where this is needed to maintain service performance and security.

We do not intentionally collect more data than is required to deliver our services. We also do not seek to collect sensitive personal data unless it is strictly necessary and you choose to provide it, for example where a health condition affects access arrangements or cleaning instructions.

3. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To provide quotations, schedule appointments, and deliver carpet cleaning services.
To communicate with customers about bookings, service updates, and follow-up matters.
To process payments, issue invoices, and maintain financial records.
To respond to enquiries, complaints, and requests for support.
To improve our services, manage quality, and maintain internal records.
To comply with legal and regulatory obligations.
To protect our business, customers, and staff from fraud, misuse, or security incidents.

We only use personal data in ways that are compatible with the reason it was originally collected, unless a lawful basis allows us to use it for another purpose.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. Depending on the context, we rely on one or more of the following:

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing a quote, arranging a booking, delivering cleaning services, managing customer accounts, and processing payments.

Legal Obligation

We may process data to meet legal obligations, such as tax, accounting, insurance, consumer law, and record-keeping requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. Examples include maintaining service records, handling customer feedback, improving operations, and protecting against fraud or misuse. Where required, we carry out a balancing test to ensure this use is fair and proportionate.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain optional communications or specific uses of information. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before it was withdrawn.

5. Sharing and Processors

We do not sell personal data. We may share it only where necessary for the operation of our business, legal compliance, or service delivery. In some cases, we use third-party service providers, known as processors, who act on our instructions and are contractually required to protect your data.

Examples of processors may include:

Payment processors that handle secure payment transactions.
Accounting or bookkeeping providers that support financial administration.
IT and hosting providers that store or maintain business systems and data.
Communication service providers that help us send service-related messages.
Business administration support that assists with scheduling, record management, or customer service.

We may also disclose personal data if required by law, court order, or a regulatory authority, or where disclosure is necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims. Any third party receiving personal data is expected to process it securely and only for the agreed purpose.

6. Data Retention

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

In general:

Customer service and booking records are kept for a period necessary to manage the relationship and service history.
Financial and invoicing records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Complaints and correspondence may be kept for as long as needed to resolve issues and support business records.
Consent-based records are retained until consent is withdrawn or the relevant purpose ends.

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

7. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from accidental loss, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and careful management of data sharing with processors.

Although no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we take data protection seriously and regularly review our practices to reduce risk.

8. Your Rights

Under data protection law, individuals have several rights in relation to their personal data. Depending on the circumstances, these may include:

Right of access – to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data in certain situations.
Right to restrict processing – to ask us to limit the use of your data in certain cases.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to data portability – to request transfer of certain data in a commonly used format, where the legal conditions are met.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent.

You may also have the right to complain to the relevant data protection authority if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully. We encourage individuals to raise concerns with us first so we can try to resolve them promptly.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adult customers and property-related service arrangements. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children for marketing or service purposes. If we become aware that we have collected such information without appropriate authorisation, we will take steps to delete it where required.

10. International Transfers

Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that it remains protected in accordance with applicable data protection law. This may include using approved contractual safeguards or relying on countries deemed to provide an adequate level of protection.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, our services, or our data handling practices. Any changes will take effect when published in the updated policy. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their information is used.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

Fulham Carpetcleaning will process personal data fairly, lawfully, and transparently. We will only collect what we need, use it for clear and legitimate purposes, keep it no longer than necessary, and ensure that any processors acting on our behalf handle information securely. We respect the privacy rights of our customers and aim to maintain a responsible, transparent, and compliant approach to data protection at all times.

By using our services, customers in the Fulham area acknowledge that their personal data may be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection law. This policy is designed to support lawful, fair, and secure processing for all Fulham Carpetcleaning customers in area.