St Giles Carpet Cleaners Customer Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how St Giles Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores and shares personal data about its customers. It applies to all St Giles Carpet Cleaners customers in our service area, regardless of how you contact us or use our services, including by telephone, in person or through any online enquiry forms we may provide.
Who we are and scope of this policy
St Giles Carpet Cleaners is a carpet and upholstery cleaning business that provides cleaning services to domestic and commercial customers. For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the EU General Data Protection Regulation, we are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. This policy covers all personal data we process in connection with providing our services to customers in our operating area.
Types of personal data we collect
We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you as a customer or prospective customer:
Identification and contact details, such as your name, postal address, billing address, and any contact details you choose to provide when you make an enquiry or booking.
Service and property information, such as the type of property, areas to be cleaned, access instructions, parking information, and any notes relevant to safely and effectively carrying out the work.
Booking and transaction details, such as dates and times of appointments, services requested or provided, prices, invoices, payment status, and basic payment method information. We do not store full payment card numbers or security codes where payments are processed through a secure payment provider.
Communication records, such as notes of telephone conversations, messages sent to us, and any feedback, reviews or complaints you provide.
Technical data, where relevant to how you contact us, such as your IP address, device details, and basic usage data when you visit any website or online form operated by or for St Giles Carpet Cleaners.
How we collect your personal data
We collect personal data directly from you when you make an enquiry, request a quote, book a service, or communicate with us in any way. This may be by telephone, in person, or through any online contact or booking tools we use.
We may also receive limited personal data from third parties who help us provide our services, for example payment processors confirming that a payment has been authorised, or advertising platforms that pass us your contact details when you submit an enquiry form.
Lawful bases for using your personal data
We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis under the GDPR. Depending on the context, we rely on the following lawful bases:
Contract. We process your personal data to take steps at your request before entering into a contract and to perform our contract with you. This includes responding to enquiries, providing quotes, managing bookings, attending appointments, and issuing invoices.
Legitimate interests. We process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, and where your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. Our legitimate interests include managing and developing our business, improving our services, handling customer queries, keeping records of work done, preventing fraud, and defending our legal rights.
Legal obligation. We process certain personal data to comply with legal and regulatory obligations, such as keeping financial and tax records for required periods, and responding to lawful requests from public authorities.
Consent. In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain types of optional marketing communications where consent is required. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.
How we use your personal data
We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:
To provide our services. This includes handling enquiries, preparing quotes, confirming bookings, attending your property, performing cleaning services, and taking payment.
Customer service and communication. We use your details to respond to questions, re-arrange or confirm appointments, handle complaints, request feedback, and keep you updated about matters directly related to work we are doing for you.
Administration and business management. We maintain records of jobs, invoices, and communications to manage our business, plan resources, train staff, and improve our services.
Marketing and promotions. Where permitted by law and, where required, with your consent, we may use your contact details to send you information about our services, special offers, or updates that may be of interest. You can opt out of marketing communications at any time.
Legal, regulatory and security purposes. We may use your personal data to comply with our legal obligations, to establish or defend legal claims, to prevent fraud or misuse of our services, and to ensure the safety of our staff when attending appointments.
Data processors and other recipients
We may share your personal data with trusted third parties who act as data processors on our behalf. These include:
IT and hosting providers who host our email, website, booking tools or other systems.
Payment processors who handle card and other electronic payments securely.
Business support providers such as accountants, administrative support and document storage services.
Marketing and advertising service providers who help us manage communications, where permitted by law.
These processors are only allowed to use your personal data in accordance with our instructions and for the purposes we specify. We require them to keep your data secure and to comply with data protection law.
We may also share personal data where required by law, for example with tax authorities, regulators, law enforcement agencies, or to comply with a court order.
International data transfers
Where any of our service providers are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, or where data is stored on servers in other countries, we take steps to ensure that your personal data remains protected. This may include using standard contractual clauses approved by the relevant data protection authorities or relying on other appropriate safeguards permitted by law.
Data retention and storage
We keep your personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and to meet any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.
In general, we keep customer and job records for a period that allows us to manage repeat bookings, respond to queries about previous work, and meet tax and bookkeeping requirements. After this period, data is securely deleted or anonymised so that it no longer identifies you.
The specific retention period can vary depending on the type of data, the nature of our relationship with you, and any legal obligations to retain records. We regularly review the data we hold and remove or anonymise personal data that is no longer needed.
Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data, subject to certain conditions and exemptions. These include the right to:
Access your personal data and receive a copy of the information we hold about you.
Request correction of any inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
Request erasure of your personal data where there is no good reason for us to continue processing it, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected.
Object to processing based on our legitimate interests, where you believe your particular situation means your interests or rights override our interests.
Request restriction of processing in certain circumstances, for example while we consider an objection you have raised.
Request the transfer of certain personal data to you or another service provider, where the processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means.
Withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent to process your personal data. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve any concerns.
Security of your personal data
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include restricting access to personal data to those staff and processors who need it for the purposes described in this policy, and taking reasonable steps to ensure they are aware of and comply with their confidentiality and data protection obligations.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, how we process personal data, or changes in applicable law. Any updated version will apply to all St Giles Carpet Cleaners customers in our service area from the date it is made available. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your privacy.