Privacy Policy - Carpetcleaning Chelsea

This Privacy Policy explains how Carpetcleaning Chelsea collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing services to customers in the area. It applies to all Carpetcleaning Chelsea customers in the area, including prospective customers, current customers, and anyone who communicates with us in connection with our carpet 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. Data We Collect

We collect only the personal data that is necessary to provide and manage our services, respond to enquiries, maintain records, and meet legal obligations. Depending on how you interact with Carpetcleaning Chelsea, we may collect the following categories of data:

Identity data: name, title, and any information you provide when requesting a service.
Contact data: address, telephone number, and email address.
Service data: details about the cleaning services requested, property access notes, booking preferences, and relevant instructions.
Payment data: billing details, payment status, and transaction records. We do not normally store full card details where payment processing is handled by a secure third party.
Communication data: messages, call notes, complaints, feedback, and other correspondence.
Technical data: limited device and browsing information if you interact with digital systems used for administration or booking, where applicable.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless you choose to provide it and it is relevant to a service request. Where such information is provided, we will treat it with extra care and only process it where permitted by law.

2. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to manage enquiries and bookings;
to provide carpet cleaning and related services;
to prepare quotes and invoices;
to process payments and handle refunds where needed;
to communicate about appointments, service updates, and customer support;
to keep internal records of work carried out;
to resolve complaints, disputes, and service issues;
to comply with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory requirements;
to improve our services, operations, and customer experience;
to prevent fraud, misuse, or unauthorised access.

We only use data for purposes that are compatible with the reason it was originally collected. If we need to use your data for a new purpose, we will explain the legal basis before doing so where required.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal data. Carpetcleaning Chelsea relies on the following lawful bases, depending on the type of data and the purpose of processing:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes handling bookings, providing cleaning services, issuing invoices, and managing service-related communications.

Legal Obligation

We process personal data where required to meet our legal obligations, such as tax records, accounting duties, and compliance with applicable laws.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided that these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Legitimate interests may include managing our business efficiently, improving services, maintaining secure records, and protecting against fraud or misuse.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example if you agree to receive certain optional communications or if you voluntarily provide information that requires explicit permission to process. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

4. Retention of Personal Data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Retention periods depend on the type of information and the reason it is held.

In general:

Customer and booking records: kept for as long as needed to provide services and manage customer history.
Financial and invoice records: retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Communication records: kept for a reasonable period to manage queries, complaints, and service follow-up.
Claims or dispute records: retained until the matter is fully resolved and any limitation period has expired.

When personal data is no longer needed, it is securely deleted, anonymised, or destroyed. We review retention requirements regularly to ensure data is not kept longer than necessary.

5. Processors and Third Parties

We may share personal data with trusted third-party service providers who act as data processors on our behalf. These processors are only allowed to use personal data according to our instructions and must protect it appropriately. Examples may include:

payment processors that securely handle transactions;
accounting and bookkeeping providers that support financial administration;
IT and cloud service providers that store or support business systems;
booking and communication tools used to manage appointments and messages;
professional advisers such as legal or tax advisers where necessary;
delivery or subcontracted service partners where they are involved in fulfilling a request.

We may also disclose data where required by law, by a court, or by a regulatory authority. We do not sell personal data.

6. International Transfers

If any processor stores or accesses personal data outside the UK, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or equivalent lawful transfer mechanisms. These safeguards are designed to protect your information to an acceptable legal standard.

7. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, password protection, and restricting data access to authorised personnel only. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain a level of protection appropriate to the risk.

8. Your Rights

As a data subject, you have a number of rights under data protection law. These rights apply subject to certain conditions and exceptions.

Right of access: you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification: you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure: you may request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing: you may ask us to limit how your data is used in certain situations.
Right to data portability: you may request certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to object: you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond within the time limits set by law. We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request. Please note that some rights may not apply in every situation, especially where we must retain data for legal reasons.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and household or business customers arranging cleaning services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is incidental to a service request and provided by an adult. If we become aware that we have collected children’s data without a lawful basis, we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, our practices, or our services. When we make significant changes, we will review the policy to ensure it remains accurate, clear, and compliant. We encourage customers to review it periodically so they remain informed about how their data is handled.

11. Summary of Our Commitment

Carpetcleaning Chelsea is committed to protecting personal data and using it only where there is a lawful basis to do so. We collect the minimum information needed to provide services, store it securely, share it only with appropriate processors or where required by law, and retain it for no longer than necessary. We respect your privacy rights and aim to handle all data in a transparent and responsible manner.

By using our services, you acknowledge that this Privacy Policy applies to all Carpetcleaning Chelsea customers in area.