Whetstone Carpet Cleaners Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Whetstone Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to our customers and prospective customers. It also describes your rights under applicable data protection laws, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the EU General Data Protection Regulation where applicable.
This Privacy Policy applies to all Whetstone Carpet Cleaners customers and prospective customers within our service area, whether you contact us by phone, through our website, in person or by any other means.
Who We Are
Whetstone Carpet Cleaners is a carpet and upholstery cleaning service provider. In relation to the personal data we collect and process about you, we act as the data controller. This means we are responsible for deciding how and why your personal data is used and for ensuring that it is handled in accordance with data protection law.
Types of Personal Data We Collect
We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you:
Identification and contact details such as your name, postal address, billing address, service address, and other contact details you choose to provide, such as your preferred contact method.
Service and booking information such as details of the services you request, property type and access details you share with us, booking dates and times, information about specific areas to be cleaned and any relevant instructions you provide.
Payment and transaction information such as records of payments made to us and from us, payment method used, amounts, dates and related billing information. We do not store full payment card details if card payments are processed through a third-party payment processor.
Communication data such as the content of communications you send to us, including enquiries, complaints, feedback and other correspondence, and records of our communications with you.
Technical and usage information such as basic technical data that may be collected when you visit our website, including your IP address, browser type and general usage information, where this is necessary for the functioning of the website or for security and analytical purposes.
How We Collect Your Data
We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us to request a quote, make a booking, ask a question, provide feedback or otherwise communicate with us.
We may also collect data when you use our website, fill out any online forms, or interact with us through advertising or other online services.
Where appropriate, we may receive personal data about you from third parties such as referral partners or online platforms through which you request our services. In such cases, we only receive the information necessary to provide our services and manage your booking.
Lawful Bases for Processing
We will only process your personal data when we have a lawful basis to do so under data protection law. Depending on the context, we rely on the following lawful bases:
Performance of a contract. We process your personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, for example to provide cleaning services, manage bookings, issue invoices and process payments.
Legal obligation. We may process your data where it is necessary to comply with legal obligations, for example to keep certain financial and tax records.
Legitimate interests. We may process your personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party, provided that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. Examples include managing our business operations, improving our services, responding to enquiries, maintaining security and preventing fraud.
Consent. On some occasions we may rely on your consent, for example in relation to certain types of marketing communications or the use of certain optional cookies or similar technologies. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw this at any time.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We may use your personal data for the following purposes:
To provide and manage our cleaning services, including arranging appointments, carrying out agreed work, responding to queries and handling follow-up requests.
To issue quotes, invoices and receipts, process payments, and manage our accounts and records.
To respond to your enquiries, requests, feedback and complaints, and to communicate with you about your bookings and our services.
To manage our relationship with you, including sending important notices about changes to terms, policies or services where relevant.
To improve and develop our services, including analysing how customers use our services, monitoring service quality and training staff.
To maintain the security of our systems, to prevent and detect fraud, and to protect our legal rights.
To send you marketing communications about our services where you have given your consent or where we are otherwise permitted to do so under applicable law. You can opt out of marketing communications at any time.
Data Retention
We will keep your personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and to meet any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements.
In determining appropriate retention periods, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure, the purposes for which we process the data and whether we can achieve those purposes by other means, as well as applicable legal requirements.
For example, records related to the provision of services and financial transactions are generally kept for a number of years to comply with tax and accounting rules. Communications and booking details may be retained for an appropriate period to handle queries, disputes or follow-up services, after which they will be securely deleted or anonymised.
Sharing Your Personal Data
We do not sell your personal data. We may share your personal data with third parties in the following circumstances:
Service providers and processors who assist us in operating our business and providing our services, such as payment processors, IT service providers, website hosting providers, customer management systems and administrative support services. These third parties act as data processors and may only process your personal data on our documented instructions, for specified purposes and with appropriate security measures.
Professional advisers, such as accountants or legal advisers, where necessary for the provision of their services to us and subject to confidentiality obligations.
Public authorities, regulators or law enforcement agencies where we are required to do so by law, regulation or court order, or where disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, property or the safety of our customers or others.
In the event of a business reorganisation, transfer or sale of some or all of our business or assets, your personal data may be shared with prospective or actual buyers and their advisers, subject to appropriate confidentiality protections.
International Transfers
Where we use service providers that are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, or that may process data in other countries, we take steps to ensure that your personal data is afforded an equivalent level of protection. This may include relying on adequacy regulations, entering into standard contractual clauses approved by relevant authorities, or using other appropriate safeguards as required by law.
Your Data Protection Rights
Under data protection laws, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be subject to certain conditions and exceptions. They include:
Right of access. You can request confirmation as to whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you, together with certain information about how we use it.
Right to rectification. You can ask us to correct inaccurate personal data about you and to complete any incomplete information.
Right to erasure. In certain circumstances, you can request that we delete or remove your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed 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 certain situations, for example while we verify its accuracy or our reasons for processing it.
Right to data portability. In some cases, you can request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and that we transfer it to another controller where technically feasible.
Right to object. You can object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests, including profiling based on those interests, and we will stop processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds or it is required for legal claims. You also have an absolute right to object at any time to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes.
Right to withdraw consent. Where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you can withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of any 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 believe that your data protection rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve any concerns directly.
Security of Your Data
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures are designed to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risks presented by the processing and the nature of the personal data.
Updates to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements or other factors. Any updates will be made available through our usual communication channels. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we handle your personal data.
