Privacy Policy - Merton Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Merton Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all customers of Merton Carpet Cleaners in the area, including individuals who request quotations, make bookings, receive services, or otherwise interact with us in connection with carpet cleaning and related cleaning services.

We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We respect your privacy and only process personal data where we have a valid legal basis to do so.

1. Personal Data We Collect

We collect only the personal data that is necessary for providing our services, managing our customer relationship, complying with legal obligations, and improving our operations. The types of information we may collect include:

Identity details such as your name.
Contact details such as your telephone number, email address, and service address.
Booking and service information such as dates, times, property access notes, service preferences, and cleaning instructions.
Payment and billing information where applicable, including payment status and transaction records.
Communication records including messages, complaints, feedback, and notes about your enquiry.
Technical information if you interact with our digital systems, such as device type, browser type, and basic usage data.
Special category data only if you voluntarily provide it and only where it is necessary, for example, accessibility-related information that may affect service delivery.

We do not intentionally collect more data than is needed. If you provide information about another person, you must ensure that you are authorised to do so and that they understand how their data will be used.

2. How We Use Your Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotations.
To schedule, confirm, and deliver cleaning services.
To manage customer accounts, bookings, and service records.
To process payments, issue invoices, and maintain financial records.
To communicate about appointments, changes, service issues, and customer support matters.
To handle complaints, claims, and service follow-up.
To comply with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations.
To protect our business, staff, and customers from fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.
To improve our services, systems, and customer experience.

We only use your information for legitimate and specified purposes. Where we need to use data for a new purpose that is not compatible with the original one, we will assess whether it is lawful and, where required, notify you.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. Depending on the situation, we rely on the following bases:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotations at your request, managing bookings, delivering cleaning services, and handling payment and service administration.

Legal Obligation

We process certain data where required by law, such as accounting, tax, business record-keeping, and compliance obligations.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include managing customer communications, maintaining service quality, preventing fraud, and improving operations. We carefully balance our interests against your privacy rights.

Consent

In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, especially for optional communications or where special category data is involved and no other lawful basis applies. Where we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time.

Vital Interests

In rare cases, we may process data to protect someone’s vital interests, such as in an emergency involving health or safety.

4. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties, but only where necessary and only under appropriate safeguards. These third parties act as processors or independent controllers depending on their role.

Examples of processors may include:

IT and hosting providers that store or support our business systems.
Payment service providers that process card or electronic payments.
Booking, scheduling, and customer management platforms used to administer services.
Accountants and bookkeeping providers who help with financial compliance.
Communication and email service providers who support routine customer correspondence.

We may also disclose data where required by law, court order, or regulatory authority, or where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Where processors handle personal data on our behalf, they are contractually required to:

process data only on our instructions;
keep it secure and confidential;
use it only for the agreed purpose;
assist us in meeting data protection obligations where necessary; and
delete or return data when it is no longer required.

We do not sell your personal data.

5. Data Retention

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. The retention period depends on the type of information and the reason it is held.

Enquiry records may be kept for a reasonable period to manage follow-up and service history.
Booking and service records are retained for as long as needed to administer the relationship and resolve issues.
Financial records are generally kept for the period required by tax and accounting laws.
Complaint and dispute records may be kept until the matter is resolved and any related limitation period has expired.

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

6. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and regular review of our data handling practices.

Although no system can be guaranteed 100% secure, we take reasonable and proportionate steps to protect your information and to reduce the risk of a data incident.

7. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights regarding your personal data. These rights may apply depending on the lawful basis we rely on and the circumstances of the request.

Right of access – you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to erasure – you can ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – you can ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to data portability – you can ask for certain data to be provided in a structured, commonly used format.
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 may need to verify your identity before responding. We aim to respond within the time limits set by law.

8. International Transfers

Where any processor or service provider stores or accesses personal data outside the UK, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. These safeguards may include adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses, or other lawful transfer mechanisms recognised under data protection law.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and business customers arranging cleaning services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in a family or household context and provided by an adult customer. If we become aware that we have collected data unlawfully from a child, 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 our services, legal obligations, or data processing practices. The latest version will apply to all customers of Merton Carpet Cleaners in the area from the date it takes effect. We encourage you to review this policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we use your personal data.

11. How We Handle Complaints

If you have concerns about how we process your personal data, we encourage you to raise them so that we can review and address the issue. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection matters.

Summary of our approach: we collect only necessary customer data, use it on a lawful basis, share it only with trusted processors, retain it for no longer than needed, and respect your data rights at all times.