Privacy Policy - Charing Cross Carpet Cleaners

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

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of data protection law, Charing Cross Carpet Cleaners acts as the data controller for the personal data described in this Policy. This means we decide why and how your personal data is used when you enquire about, book, or receive our carpet cleaning services.

We take privacy seriously and aim to collect only the information needed to deliver our services, manage customer relationships, operate our business efficiently, and comply with legal obligations.

2. Personal Data We Collect

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

Identity details: name and, where relevant, business name.
Contact details: address, email address, telephone number, and service location information.
Booking and service details: requested services, preferred dates, access instructions, property type, carpet or upholstery condition, and notes relevant to the job.
Payment information: payment status, billing records, transaction references, and limited financial information necessary to process payments.
Communication records: emails, messages, call notes, complaint records, and customer feedback.
Technical information: basic information collected through digital systems used for administration, such as device identifiers or usage logs, if applicable.
Special category data: in normal circumstances we do not seek special category data. However, if you voluntarily provide information relating to health, disability, or access needs to facilitate service delivery, we will only use it where necessary and with appropriate safeguards.

We do not intentionally collect more information than we need. If you provide additional details that are not necessary for service delivery, we will only process them where there is a lawful basis to do so.

3. How We Collect Your Data

We may collect personal data directly from you when you:

request a quote or make an enquiry;
book, amend, or cancel a service;
communicate with us by phone, message, email, or in person;
make a payment;
submit a complaint, compliment, or review; or
provide information to help us carry out the service safely and effectively.

We may also receive information from third parties where necessary for service delivery, such as payment processors, referral partners, or property managers acting on your behalf. If this occurs, we will only process the data for legitimate business purposes and in line with this Policy.

4. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to provide quotations and respond to enquiries;
to arrange and deliver cleaning services;
to manage bookings, cancellations, and rescheduling;
to invoice, receive, and record payments;
to keep service records and maintain quality standards;
to communicate with customers about services and follow-up matters;
to handle complaints, disputes, and customer support matters;
to improve our services and internal processes;
to comply with legal and regulatory obligations; and
to protect our business against fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

We will only process your personal data for the specific purposes for which it was collected, unless we reasonably need to use it for a compatible purpose or where the law allows otherwise.

5. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process personal data only where we have a valid lawful basis under UK GDPR. Depending on the situation, our lawful bases may include:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, or to perform a contract with you. This includes handling quotations, bookings, service delivery, billing, and customer support related to the service.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal 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 relationships, improving our services, maintaining records, preventing fraud, and defending legal claims.

Legal Obligation

We may process personal data where needed to comply with legal obligations, including tax, accounting, and record-keeping requirements, or to respond to lawful requests from authorities.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where you voluntarily provide special category information that we need to handle appropriately. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time, although this will not affect any processing already carried out before withdrawal.

6. Sharing Your Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary to run our business and deliver services. These third parties act as processors or, in some cases, independent controllers. We require processors to handle data securely and only on our instructions.

Examples of processors may include:

IT and cloud service providers used for secure storage, email, scheduling, or business administration;
payment processors that handle card or electronic payments;
accounting or bookkeeping providers that support invoicing, tax, and financial record keeping;
customer communications tools used to send booking updates or service notifications;
service partners or subcontractors who assist in delivering specific cleaning services under our direction, where required.

We may also disclose data if required by law, to protect our rights or property, or to comply with legal proceedings. Where data is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for legal, accounting, tax, or reporting obligations. The exact retention period depends on the type of data and the reason for processing it.

As a general approach:

booking and service records are retained for a period reasonably necessary to manage customer history and disputes;
financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law;
correspondence and complaints are kept for as long as needed to resolve the matter and to evidence our handling of it;
marketing or consent-based records, where applicable, are kept until you withdraw consent or opt out.

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

8. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal limits, these may include:

the right of access to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
the right to rectification to have inaccurate or incomplete information corrected;
the right to erasure to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances;
the right to restriction to ask us to limit how we use your data;
the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests;
the right to data portability in certain cases where processing is based on contract or consent;
the right to withdraw consent where consent is the lawful basis;
the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your rights have been infringed.

We will respond to valid requests within the time limits required by law. To protect your privacy, we may need to verify your identity before acting on your request.

9. Security of Personal Data

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, loss, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff awareness, and data minimisation practices.

While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we take reasonable steps to reduce risks and to respond promptly if a data protection issue arises.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are directed to adult customers and property occupants. We do not knowingly collect children’s personal data except where it is unavoidably included in household records or service notes. If we become aware that we have collected data inappropriately, we will take appropriate steps to delete or restrict it.

11. 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 made available. We encourage customers to review this Policy periodically so they remain informed about how personal data is used.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

Charing Cross Carpet Cleaners is committed to using personal data responsibly, transparently, and securely. We collect only what we need, use it for clear and lawful purposes, share it only when necessary, and keep it only for as long as required. This Privacy Policy applies to all Charing Cross Carpet Cleaners customers in area and is designed to support trust, accountability, and compliance with UK data protection law.

By using our services, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed as described in this Policy, subject always to your rights under applicable law.