Privacy Policy - Islington Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Islington Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all customers of Islington Carpet Cleaners in the Islington area, including prospective customers, existing customers, and anyone who makes an enquiry or books a service. 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

Islington Carpet Cleaners provides carpet cleaning and related cleaning services to households and businesses in Islington. For the purposes of data protection law, we are the data controller for the personal data we collect and use in connection with our services. This means we decide how and why personal data is processed and are responsible for ensuring that it is handled properly.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary to provide our services, manage our relationship with customers, and operate our business effectively. The types of data we may collect include:

Identity data such as name and title.
Contact data such as telephone number, email address, and service address.
Booking and service data such as appointment details, service preferences, property information relevant to cleaning, and notes about the work requested.
Payment data such as payment status, invoice details, and limited transaction information. We do not store more payment information than is necessary for accounting and record-keeping purposes.
Communication data such as messages, complaints, feedback, and any correspondence relating to our services.
Technical and usage data where relevant to our systems, such as basic device or access information generated when using our digital services.

We do not intentionally collect special category personal data unless it is provided voluntarily and only where it is necessary for a specific reason. If such data is ever processed, we will do so only with a valid legal basis and appropriate safeguards.

3. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotations.
To schedule, confirm, and deliver cleaning services.
To manage customer accounts, records, and service history.
To issue invoices, process payments, and maintain financial records.
To communicate about appointments, updates, changes, and service-related matters.
To deal with complaints, disputes, and customer support matters.
To improve our services, processes, and customer experience.
To comply with legal, regulatory, tax, and accounting obligations.
To protect our business against fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

We will only use personal data in ways that are compatible with the purpose for which it was collected unless we reasonably determine that we need to use it for another compatible purpose or we have a lawful basis to do otherwise.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. We rely on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes arranging bookings, delivering cleaning services, handling payments, and providing customer support related to the service.

Legal Obligation

We process certain personal data where necessary to comply with legal obligations, including tax, accounting, insurance, and record-keeping requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include managing customer relationships, improving our services, preventing fraud, maintaining internal records, and ensuring the security of our operations.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where it is required for particular forms of communication or optional marketing. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

5. Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary to operate our business and provide services. These third parties act either as independent controllers or as processors on our behalf. A processor is a service provider that handles data under our instructions and is contractually required to protect it.

Examples of processors and service providers may include:

Booking and scheduling providers used to manage appointments and customer records.
IT and cloud storage providers used to secure and store business data.
Accounting and invoicing providers used for financial administration.
Payment service providers used to process transactions securely.
Communication service providers used to send service updates and respond to customer messages.

We may also disclose personal data where required by law, to professional advisers, or where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims. We do not sell personal data.

6. International Transfers

Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect it. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or other legally recognised transfer mechanisms. We take reasonable steps to ensure that any international transfer respects data protection requirements.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet legal, accounting, and reporting obligations. Retention periods depend on the type of data and the reason for processing. In general:

Customer service and booking records are retained for a period appropriate to business and support needs.
Invoice and payment records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Complaint and correspondence records are retained for as long as needed to resolve issues and maintain evidence of our dealings.
Where data is no longer required, it is securely deleted or anonymised.

We regularly review the data we hold to ensure it is not kept longer than necessary. When retention is no longer justified, we take reasonable steps to erase or anonymise the information securely.

8. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff awareness, limited data access, and supplier due diligence. Although no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we work to maintain a level of protection suitable to the nature of the data we process.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have certain rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be subject to conditions and exemptions. They include the right to:

Be informed about how your data is collected and used.
Access the personal data we hold about you.
Rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data.
Erasure of data in certain circumstances.
Restriction of processing in certain situations.
Object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Data portability for data processed by automated means and based on consent or contract, where applicable.
Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

You also have the right to raise concerns about how we process your personal data. If you believe your rights have been infringed, you may complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). We encourage you to raise concerns with us first so that we can try to resolve them promptly and fairly.

10. Marketing Communications

We will only send marketing communications where permitted by law. If you have given consent or if we are otherwise allowed to communicate with you under applicable rules, we may send relevant service updates or offers. You can object to marketing at any time. Where you opt out, we will stop sending marketing communications as soon as reasonably practicable.

11. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in a specific service context and provided by an adult customer. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child without appropriate authority, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, our services, or the way we process personal data. 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 we protect personal data.

13. Summary of Our Approach

Islington Carpet Cleaners is committed to respecting privacy and only processing personal data when there is a valid reason to do so. We collect the minimum information needed to provide our services, use it fairly and securely, retain it only as long as necessary, and work with processors who are required to protect it. Customers in the Islington area can exercise their rights at any time, and we will respond in line with applicable data protection law.

This Privacy Policy applies to all Islington Carpet Cleaners customers in the Islington area.