Privacy Policy - Oakleigh Park Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Oakleigh Park Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, shares, stores, and protects personal data. It applies to all Oakleigh Park Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including anyone who requests a quotation, books a service, receives a service, or otherwise interacts with us in connection with carpet cleaning and related cleaning services.

We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way, in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. What personal data we collect

We may collect and process the following types of personal data:

Identity information such as your name and, where relevant, the name of your business or household contact.
Contact details such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service information such as property access details, cleaning preferences, stain or fabric notes, and service history.
Transaction information such as records of quotes, invoices, payments, and service dates.
Communication records such as messages, notes from calls, complaints, feedback, and booking instructions.
Technical information where relevant, such as limited device or browser data if you interact with us electronically.
Special category data only where you voluntarily provide it and only if it is necessary to deliver our services safely, for example information about allergies, mobility requirements, or access needs.

We do not seek to collect unnecessary personal data. We only collect what is relevant and proportionate for providing our cleaning services, managing customer relationships, and meeting legal obligations.

2. How we collect data

We may collect personal data directly from you when you:

request a quotation;
make a booking or reschedule a service;
provide access instructions or service preferences;
communicate with us by phone, email, message, or in writing;
make a payment or request an invoice;
submit feedback or raise a complaint.

We may also receive data from third parties where appropriate, such as:

property managers, landlords, tenants, or letting agents acting on your behalf;
payment service providers confirming a completed transaction;
subcontracted service providers or processors who help us deliver our services;
publicly available sources where needed for business administration or fraud prevention.

Where we receive data from someone other than you, we expect that person to have the right to share it with us.

3. Why we use your data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to provide carpet cleaning and related services;
to prepare quotations, confirm bookings, and manage appointments;
to communicate about service details, access, timing, and aftercare;
to process payments and maintain accurate financial records;
to respond to enquiries, complaints, and service issues;
to improve our service quality, customer experience, and internal operations;
to comply with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations;
to protect our business, staff, customers, and property from fraud, misuse, or other unlawful activity.

We will only use your data for the purposes for which it was collected, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for a compatible purpose. If we need to use it for a new purpose, we will ensure that this is lawful.

4. Lawful basis for processing

We process personal data only when we have a valid lawful basis under UK GDPR. Depending on the circumstances, we rely on one or more of the following:

Contract

Processing is necessary to perform our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract. This includes creating quotes, confirming bookings, providing cleaning services, and managing billing.

Legal obligation

We may process data where it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, such as record keeping for tax, accounting, insurance, or regulatory requirements.

Legitimate interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include service administration, quality control, customer support, fraud prevention, and business record management.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, particularly where you provide optional information that is not required for the service. Where we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Vital interests and legal claims

In rare cases, we may process data to protect someone’s vital interests or to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

5. Data sharing and processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties only where necessary and appropriate. These may include:

Payment processors that handle card or electronic payments;
IT and hosting providers that support our administrative systems, storage, or communications;
Accounting and bookkeeping providers that help us manage financial records and tax compliance;
Scheduling or customer management providers that assist with bookings and service administration;
Professional advisers such as legal or insurance advisers, where needed;
Public authorities where required by law or lawful request.

Where these third parties process data on our behalf, they act as processors and are only permitted to use personal data under our instructions. We require them to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information, and we do not allow them to use it for their own unrelated purposes.

We do not sell personal data.

6. Retention of personal data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including for legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the reason it is held. In general:

Customer and booking records are retained for a reasonable period after the completion of services to support administration, queries, and repeat bookings.
Financial and invoicing records are typically retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Communication records are kept for as long as needed to resolve service issues, maintain proper records, and protect our legal interests.
Consent-based records are retained until consent is withdrawn or they are no longer needed.

When personal data is no longer needed, it is securely deleted, anonymised, or destroyed.

7. Data security

We use appropriate measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include restricted access, secure storage, password protection, and staff awareness procedures. While no method of transmission or storage is completely risk-free, we take reasonable steps to safeguard the information we hold.

8. Your rights

Under data protection law, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data, subject to certain legal limits:

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 ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing – 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 where applicable.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time.

We will respond to valid requests within the time limits required by law. We may ask for information to verify your identity before acting on your request.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are concerned about how your personal data is handled. We encourage you to raise concerns with us first so that we can try to resolve the issue.

9. International transfers

Where personal data is transferred outside the United Kingdom, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place and that the transfer complies with data protection law. This may include the use of approved contractual protections or transfers to countries with adequate data protection standards.

10. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, service arrangements, or data handling practices. The updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage customers to review it periodically to stay informed about how we protect personal data.

11. Summary of our privacy approach

We aim to handle all personal data with care, transparency, and respect. We collect only what we need, use it for clear and lawful purposes, keep it only for as long as necessary, and protect it with appropriate safeguards. This policy applies to all customers of Oakleigh Park Carpet Cleaners in the area and is intended to ensure that your information is processed responsibly at every stage of our service.