Merton Carpet Cleaners Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Merton Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores and shares personal data for all customers and prospective customers in our service area. We are committed to protecting your privacy and processing your personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and all relevant data protection laws.
Scope of this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies to all personal data processed by Merton Carpet Cleaners in relation to individuals who use or enquire about our carpet cleaning and related services in the areas we serve. It covers information collected through telephone enquiries, online enquiries, written correspondence, in person, and during the provision of our services at your home or business premises.
Personal Data We Collect
We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you:
Identification and contact details such as name, address, property access details, and general location information relevant to service delivery.
Contact preferences and communication history, including when and how you contact us and records of our communications with you.
Booking and service details such as dates and times of appointments, type of service requested, room or area descriptions, and details of any special requirements.
Billing and payment information such as invoices, payment records and relevant transaction information. We do not store full payment card details; card details you provide are processed securely by payment processors.
Technical and usage data where applicable, including information about how you interact with our website, such as pages viewed and basic device or browser information, collected via necessary or optional cookies or similar technologies.
Feedback and review information such as comments, ratings, complaints or compliments you choose to provide about our services.
How We Collect Your Data
We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us to request a quote or make a booking, when you communicate with us by telephone, online enquiry forms or other written communication, and when we visit your premises to carry out services.
We may also receive limited data from third parties where you have agreed that they may share information with service providers, for example when a third party books services on your behalf or refers you to us. In such cases we process the data only as necessary to provide the requested services.
Lawful Bases for Processing
Merton Carpet Cleaners relies on one or more of the following lawful bases under the UK GDPR to process your personal data:
Contract: We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, such as arranging appointments, providing cleaning services and managing payments.
Legitimate interests: We process personal data for our legitimate business interests, provided that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This includes managing our relationship with you, responding to your enquiries, improving our services, and protecting our business against fraud or misuse.
Legal obligations: We may process personal data where it is necessary to comply with legal or regulatory requirements, such as tax, accounting or insurance obligations.
Consent: In some limited situations we may rely on your consent, for example for certain types of marketing communications that are not based on existing customer relationships. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We use your personal data for the following purposes:
To provide quotations, respond to enquiries and manage bookings and appointments.
To deliver carpet cleaning and related services at your home or business premises.
To manage invoicing, payments, receipts and other financial records.
To communicate with you about your booking, changes to appointments, service updates and relevant customer information.
To handle feedback, complaints and disputes and to improve the quality of our services.
To maintain internal records, including customer histories and service notes, for operational and safety purposes.
To comply with legal, regulatory and insurance requirements and to establish or defend legal claims.
To send existing customers limited service related marketing or information about similar services, where permitted by law, and always with the option to opt out.
Data Retention
We keep 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.
Customer contact and service information is generally retained for a period aligned with the limitation periods for legal claims and relevant tax or accounting rules. After this period, data is securely deleted or anonymised so that it can no longer identify you.
Where we rely on consent for specific processing, such as certain marketing activities, we will stop that processing if you withdraw your consent. We may still retain a record of your request and the fact that you opted out so that we can respect your preferences in future.
Data Sharing and Processors
We do not sell your personal data. We may share your personal data with selected third parties where necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and in accordance with data protection law.
We may use external service providers acting as data processors who provide services such as secure data hosting, electronic storage, payment processing, customer management tools, or administrative support. These processors are only permitted to process your personal data in accordance with our documented instructions and must implement appropriate security measures.
We may share personal data with professional advisers such as accountants, auditors or legal professionals where necessary to obtain advice or protect our legal interests, and with public authorities or law enforcement where required by law or where disclosure is necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others.
In the event of a business reorganisation, merger or transfer, customer data may form part of the transferred assets, but it would remain subject to this Privacy Policy or an equivalent policy that continues to protect your data.
International Transfers
Where any of our service providers or data processors are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws. This may involve the use of standard contractual clauses or other lawful transfer mechanisms.
Data Security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. These measures include restricting access to personal data to staff and processors who need it for their duties, using secure storage methods, and maintaining internal policies and training relating to data protection and confidentiality.
Your Data Protection Rights
Under data protection laws, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data, subject to certain conditions and exemptions:
Right of access: You have the right to request confirmation that we process your personal data and to receive a copy of that data.
Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct or complete inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.
Right to erasure: In certain circumstances you may request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected and we have no legal obligation to retain it.
Right to restriction: You may ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in specific situations, such as while we are verifying its accuracy or considering an objection you have raised.
Right to object: You can object to certain types of processing, including processing based on legitimate interests and direct marketing. We will stop such processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds or are required to continue it for legal reasons.
Right to data portability: Where processing is based on consent or on a contract and is carried out by automated means, you may request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format or request that it is transmitted directly to another controller, where technically feasible.
Right to withdraw consent: Where we rely on your consent to process personal data, you can withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing before consent was withdrawn.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can address your concerns wherever possible.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations or how we process personal data. Any updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We recommend that you review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we handle your personal data.
