Privacy Policy - Forest Hill Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Forest Hill Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data in connection with the services we provide. It applies to all Forest Hill Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including prospective customers, current customers, and anyone who interacts with us to request quotes, bookings, or support. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

This policy only covers our privacy practices and is intended to help you understand your rights and how we process your information. By engaging our services or communicating with us, you acknowledge the practices described below.

1. Information We Collect

We collect only the personal data that is necessary for us to provide cleaning services, manage customer relationships, and operate our business effectively. The types of data we may collect include:

Identity details such as your name, title, or business name.
Contact details such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service details including property access instructions, preferred appointment times, cleaning requirements, and service history.
Payment-related information such as billing details and transaction records. We do not intentionally store full card details where payment processing is handled by secure third-party payment providers.
Communication records including emails, messages, call notes, complaint details, and feedback.
Technical data where you interact with our digital systems, such as IP address, browser type, and device identifiers, if applicable.

We generally collect data directly from you when you request a quote, make a booking, ask a question, or provide feedback. In some cases, we may also receive information from third parties acting on your behalf, such as property managers, tenants, letting agents, or payment processors.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for specific and limited purposes, including:

providing carpet cleaning and related services;
responding to enquiries and preparing quotations;
managing bookings, schedules, and customer accounts;
processing payments and issuing invoices or receipts;
communicating service updates, appointments, or aftercare information;
handling complaints, disputes, and customer support requests;
meeting legal, tax, accounting, and insurance obligations;
maintaining records for business administration and service quality;
protecting our business, staff, and customers from fraud, misuse, or security risks.

We will only use your personal data where we have a valid legal reason to do so. We do not use your information for unrelated purposes that are incompatible with those described in this policy.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process your personal data. Depending on the situation, we may rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes handling your booking, completing the cleaning service, and managing payment and service records.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain information where required by law, such as tax, accounting, insurance, or regulatory requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This may include managing appointments, improving services, preventing fraud, maintaining internal records, and responding to customer queries. We carefully consider and balance our interests against your privacy rights before relying on this basis.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where it is needed for specific optional communications or uses of information. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawing consent will not affect processing that has already taken place lawfully.

4. Sharing Your Information and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary to deliver our services or operate our business. These third parties act as processors or independent controllers depending on the circumstances.

Examples of processors may include:

payment service providers that handle card or electronic transactions;
booking and scheduling software providers;
IT service providers, data storage providers, and cloud systems;
accounting, invoicing, and bookkeeping providers;
customer communication tools such as email or messaging systems;
professional advisers who support our legal, financial, or operational activities.

We require processors to only act on our instructions, to protect personal data appropriately, and to comply with data protection obligations. We do not sell your personal data. We may disclose information if required by law, by a court, by law enforcement, or where disclosure is needed to protect our rights, property, staff, customers, or the public.

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including any legal, accounting, or reporting obligations. Retention periods vary depending on the type of data and the reason for holding it.

In general:

Customer and service records are retained for the period needed to manage the relationship and resolve any issues.
Invoice and payment records may be retained for several years to meet accounting and tax requirements.
Communication records may be retained for a reasonable period to support service continuity and evidence of instructions or complaints.
Technical and security data is kept only as long as needed for security monitoring or system administration.

When data is no longer required, we will securely delete, anonymise, or otherwise dispose of it in accordance with our retention practices.

6. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and the careful selection of service providers. While we work hard to safeguard your information, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

7. Your Rights Under GDPR

As a data subject, you have rights regarding your personal data. Subject to certain conditions and exemptions, these rights include:

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 information.
Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format, where the legal conditions are met.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to raise concerns with the relevant supervisory authority if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve any issue promptly and fairly.

8. Children’s Data

Our services are aimed at adults and business customers. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is incidental to a booking or service arrangement made by an adult. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child without an appropriate legal basis, we will take steps to delete it where required.

9. International Transfers

Where a processor or service provider stores or accesses data outside the UK, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place and that your information receives a level of protection consistent with UK data protection law.

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 handling practices. Any revised version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is used.

Forest Hill Carpet Cleaners is committed to respecting your privacy, processing only the data we need, and keeping your information safe. If you continue to use our services, you do so on the understanding that your data will be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy.