Hammersmith Carpet Cleaning Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Hammersmith Carpet Cleaning collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to our customers and prospective customers in our service area. It also explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

This Privacy Policy applies to all Hammersmith Carpet Cleaning customers and anyone who contacts us to request information, a quote, or a service within our operating area. By using our services or providing your personal data to us, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

Who We Are and Scope of This Policy

Hammersmith Carpet Cleaning is a carpet and upholstery cleaning service provider operating in the local Hammersmith area and surrounding neighbourhoods. For the purposes of data protection law, we act as the data controller for the personal data we collect about our customers and prospective customers.

This Privacy Policy covers the personal data we collect when you contact us, book a service, visit our website, interact with us on social media, or otherwise engage with our services within our area of operation.

What Personal Data We Collect

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

Identification and contact details: name, address, service address, billing address, and other contact details you choose to provide such as communication preferences.

Service and booking information: details about the services you request, property access information that you choose to provide, preferred dates and times, notes relevant to carrying out the work safely and effectively, and any correspondence relating to bookings or enquiries.

Payment and transaction information: details of payments made for our services, amounts, dates and payment method. We do not store full card details if payments are processed through a third-party payment provider; in those cases the provider is responsible for card data security.

Usage and communication data: records of your communications with us, including email or message content you send to us, and basic technical information when you visit our website such as IP address and basic device or browser information, to the extent necessary to operate and secure our website.

Marketing preferences: your preferences for receiving marketing communications from us, and your responses to any communications where relevant.

How We Collect Your Data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us by phone, online form, message, or in person to request information, a quotation or to book a service. We may also collect data when you visit our website or interact with our social media pages.

In limited cases we may receive your contact details from another person who has referred you to us or booked a service on your behalf, for example a landlord, tenant, family member or property manager. In such situations we will only use your data for the purpose of providing the requested service and will ensure you are informed about this Privacy Policy where practicable.

Lawful Basis for Processing Your Data

We rely on the following lawful bases under data protection law to process your personal data:

Contract: we process your personal data when it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, or to perform a contract with you. This includes arranging and providing carpet cleaning and related services, managing your bookings, communicating with you about your service, and processing payments.

Legal obligation: we may process certain personal data to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, such as accounting, tax, and record-keeping obligations.

Legitimate interests: we may process your personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This includes managing our relationship with you, responding to your enquiries, improving our services, ensuring the security of our systems and premises, and sending limited direct marketing about similar services to existing customers, where permitted by law.

Consent: where required by law, we will obtain your explicit consent before sending certain types of marketing communications or before using cookies or similar technologies that are not strictly necessary. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us using the details provided in this Privacy Policy or by following any unsubscribe instructions included in our communications.

How We Use Your Personal Data

We may use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide our services: managing enquiries, providing quotations, scheduling and delivering carpet and upholstery cleaning or related services at your property, and handling customer service queries.

To manage payments and accounts: issuing invoices, processing payments, maintaining financial records, and addressing billing queries or disputes.

To communicate with you: contacting you about appointments, changes to bookings, feedback on completed work, or important information regarding our services or this Privacy Policy.

To improve our services and operations: analysing feedback, service history and general trends to enhance our offerings, improve customer experience and maintain service quality and safety.

For marketing and promotions: where permitted by law, sending information about services, offers or updates that we believe may be of interest to you, and managing your marketing preferences.

For legal, regulatory and security purposes: complying with legal obligations, resolving disputes, enforcing our terms and conditions, preventing fraud and misuse of our services, and protecting our rights and the rights of others.

Data Sharing and Use of Processors

We may share your personal data with trusted third parties who act as data processors on our behalf. These processors may include:

IT and hosting providers: companies that host our website, manage our email systems, or provide software and cloud services for booking management, customer relationship management and secure data storage.

Payment processors: third-party providers who process payments and manage card transactions in a secure and compliant manner.

Professional advisers: accountancy, legal or other professional services where necessary for the operation of our business and compliance with legal obligations.

We require all processors to handle your personal data securely, to use it only in accordance with our instructions, and to comply with applicable data protection law. We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

We may also share personal data where required by law, for example with law enforcement bodies or regulatory authorities, or where it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

Service and booking records are generally retained for a period that allows us to respond to queries, address any issues with completed work and comply with record-keeping obligations. Financial and transaction data is typically kept for a minimum period required by tax and accounting laws.

Marketing data, such as your contact details and preferences, may be retained until you opt out of receiving marketing communications or until we determine that it is no longer appropriate to contact you based on our relationship and applicable law.

When personal data is no longer needed for these purposes, it will be securely deleted, anonymised, or otherwise removed from our systems.

International Transfers

In some cases, our service providers or their systems may be located outside the United Kingdom or may store data in other countries. Where this occurs, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data, such as using service providers in countries that provide an adequate level of protection or implementing standard contractual clauses or similar measures recognised under data protection law.

How We Protect Your Data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure, or access. These measures include access controls, secure storage, user authentication and staff awareness of data protection responsibilities.

While we strive to protect your personal data, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security, but we continuously review and enhance our safeguards in line with industry practices and legal requirements.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These include:

Right of access: you can request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of the data we hold about you.

Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct or complete any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.

Right to erasure: in certain circumstances, you can request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or where you withdraw consent and there is no other legal basis for processing.

Right to restriction: you can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in specific situations, for example while we investigate a concern you have raised about its accuracy or our use of it.

Right to data portability: where processing is based on your consent or on a contract and is carried out by automated means, you may request to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to have it transmitted to another controller where technically feasible.

Right to object: you can object to processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests, including profiling, and we will stop processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue. You also have the absolute right to object at any time to the use of your personal data for direct marketing.

Right to withdraw consent: where we process personal data based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before your withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact details published on our website or in our customer communications. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request.

Complaints and Contact

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact us using the contact information provided on our official materials or website. We will do our best to address your concerns.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe that your data protection rights have been infringed, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority in the United Kingdom.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements or other factors. Any significant changes will be communicated by updating the version published on our website or by other appropriate means. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.

This Privacy Policy applies to all Hammersmith Carpet Cleaning customers and enquirers within our service area and is effective from the date of its most recent update.