Privacy Policy - Kentish Town Carpet Cleaners

Kentish Town Carpet Cleaners is committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal information when we provide carpet cleaning and related services. It applies to all Kentish Town Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including residential and commercial clients, and to anyone who contacts us, requests a quote, books a service, or otherwise interacts with us.

We aim to process personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Please read this policy carefully so you understand how your information is handled.

1. Personal Data We Collect

We collect only the information necessary to provide our cleaning services, manage customer relationships, and meet legal obligations. The categories of data we may collect include:

• Identity details such as your name or business name.
• Contact details such as your telephone number, email address, and service address.
• Booking and service details including appointment times, service preferences, access notes, and cleaning instructions.
• Payment information such as billing details and transaction records. We do not normally store full card details if a payment processor handles them securely.
• Communication records including messages, complaint details, feedback, and service history.
• Property and job-related information such as carpet type, stain descriptions, and any relevant site conditions.
• Technical data if you interact with our digital systems, such as IP address, device type, and basic usage logs, where applicable.

We do not intentionally collect special category personal data unless it is strictly necessary and you choose to provide it, for example if information you share is relevant to access needs or service safety. If such data is provided, we will handle it with extra care and only process it where a lawful condition applies.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

• To respond to enquiries and provide quotations.
• To schedule and deliver carpet cleaning services.
• To manage payments, invoices, and refunds where relevant.
• To communicate about appointments, changes, and service updates.
• To maintain accurate internal records and customer histories.
• To handle complaints, disputes, and service issues.
• To comply with legal, tax, accounting, and insurance obligations.
• To improve our services, training, and operational efficiency.

We only use your personal data for the purposes set out above or for compatible purposes that you would reasonably expect. We do not sell your personal data.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process personal data only when we have a lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the activity, our lawful bases may include:

Contract

We process data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. For example, this includes taking your booking, arranging access to the property, and completing the agreed cleaning service.

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 managing customer communications, improving our services, preventing fraud, and maintaining service records. We ensure that any such processing is proportionate and limited to what is needed.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain data to comply with legal duties, including accounting, tax, insurance, health and safety, and record-keeping requirements.

Consent

Where required, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain optional communications or specific uses not covered by another lawful basis. If we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Vital Interests

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

4. Sharing Your Information with Processors

We may share your personal data with trusted third parties who act as processors on our behalf. These providers only process data according to our instructions and must protect it appropriately. Examples may include:

• Payment processors for secure payment handling.
• Scheduling or booking systems used to organise appointments.
• IT and cloud storage providers that support our records and communications.
• Accounting and bookkeeping service providers for financial administration.
• Customer communication tools used to send service-related messages.

We may also share data where necessary with professional advisers, insurers, or public authorities if required by law. Where a third party acts as an independent controller rather than a processor, they are responsible for their own compliance and privacy obligations.

We require all processors to implement suitable technical and organisational measures to keep your information secure and to use it only for the agreed purpose.

5. Data Retention

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

• Customer and booking records are generally kept for a reasonable period after service completion to support follow-up, warranty queries, and dispute resolution.
• Invoices and financial records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting laws.
• Communication records may be retained for customer service, complaint handling, and business evidence purposes.
• Technical logs are retained only as long as needed for security, troubleshooting, and system management.

When data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you. In some cases, we may retain data for longer if required to defend legal claims or comply with ongoing obligations.

6. Data Security

We take the security of your personal data seriously and use appropriate safeguards to protect it against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff awareness, and limited data sharing. While no system is completely risk-free, we aim to use reasonable and appropriate protection measures based on the nature of the data we handle.

7. Your Rights Under GDPR

As a data subject, you have a number of rights under the UK GDPR. These rights may apply depending on the circumstances and the legal basis for processing. They include:

• Right of access – to obtain confirmation of whether we process your personal data and receive a copy of it.
• Right to rectification – to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Right to erasure – to ask us to delete your data in certain situations.
• Right to restrict processing – to limit how we use your data in specific circumstances.
• 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.
• Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent.
• Right not to be subject to solely automated decisions – where applicable, although we do not usually make such decisions.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond in accordance with applicable law. We may need to verify your identity before acting on your request. Some rights may be limited where the law allows us to retain or process data for legal, contractual, or security reasons.

8. International Transfers

Where any of our service providers store or process data outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as an adequacy decision or approved contractual protections, so that your information remains protected to the required standard.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and businesses. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in a service-related context and provided by an adult with authority to do so. If we become aware that we have collected data improperly, we will take steps to delete it where appropriate.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in legal requirements, our services, or how we process data. Any changes will take effect when published in the revised version. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically to stay informed.

11. Summary of Key Principles

Kentish Town Carpet Cleaners processes personal data only when necessary, lawfully, and securely. We collect limited information, use it for clear business and service purposes, share it only with trusted processors or where required by law, and retain it only for as long as needed. We respect your rights and aim to handle your information in a transparent and responsible manner.

This policy applies to all Kentish Town Carpet Cleaners customers in the area.

Last updated: This Privacy Policy is maintained in line with current UK data protection requirements.