Privacy Policy - Tower Hill Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Tower Hill Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Tower Hill Carpet Cleaners customers in area, including anyone who requests a quotation, books a service, receives cleaning services, or communicates with us in connection with our carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, stain removal, and related services.

1. Who We Are

Tower Hill Carpet Cleaners is a service provider that processes personal data in order to deliver cleaning services, manage customer relationships, maintain records, and meet legal and operational obligations. For the purposes of data protection law, we act as a data controller when we decide why and how your personal data is processed.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for the provision and administration of our services. Depending on your interactions with us, this may include:

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details such as your address, email address, and telephone number.
Service information such as property access notes, service preferences, booking dates, and cleaning instructions.
Payment information such as billing details and transaction records.
Communication records including emails, messages, call notes, and complaint correspondence.
Technical data such as basic website or device information if you contact us through digital channels.
Special category data only where it is necessary and lawfully permitted, for example if you voluntarily provide health-related access needs or allergy information relevant to service delivery.

We do not intentionally collect more personal data than is required. Please avoid sharing unnecessary sensitive information unless it is directly relevant to the service.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To provide quotations and manage bookings.
To deliver cleaning services safely and effectively.
To communicate with you about appointments, service changes, and follow-up matters.
To process invoices, payments, refunds, and account-related records.
To handle complaints, service issues, or requests for support.
To maintain business records and improve our services.
To meet legal, tax, accounting, insurance, and regulatory obligations.
To prevent fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process personal data only where we have a lawful basis under the UK GDPR and, where applicable, the EU GDPR. Depending on the situation, our lawful bases may include:

Contract

We process your personal data when it is necessary to take steps before entering into a contract, or to perform a contract with you. This includes managing bookings, delivering services, and handling payments.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include record keeping, customer service, service improvement, and internal administration. We always consider whether the processing is necessary and proportionate.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain personal data to comply with legal obligations, such as tax, accounting, consumer law, insurance, and record-keeping requirements.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on consent, for example where you provide optional information or agree to receive certain forms of communication. When we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

Vital Interests and Public Interest

These bases are unlikely to apply in most routine cleaning services, but they may be used in exceptional circumstances where required by law or where necessary to protect someone’s vital interests.

5. Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties that act as processors on our behalf. These processors are only permitted to use your data according to our instructions and must keep it secure and confidential. Typical processor categories include:

Payment processors that handle card or electronic transactions.
Booking and scheduling providers that help manage appointments and customer records.
IT and cloud service providers that store data or support business systems.
Communication service providers that assist with sending emails, messages, or notifications.
Professional advisers such as accountants, auditors, legal advisers, and insurers.

We may also disclose personal data where required by law, court order, or a competent public authority, or where disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, property, staff, customers, or others.

We do not sell personal data. Where any processing involves data transfers outside the UK or EEA, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with data protection law.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including legal, accounting, tax, insurance, and dispute-resolution requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the reason it is held.

Booking and service records are typically retained for a period needed to manage customer relationships and resolve service issues.
Financial and accounting records are kept for the period required by law.
Correspondence and complaint records may be retained for a reasonable period after the matter is closed.
Optional information that is no longer needed will be deleted or anonymised.

When data is no longer required, we will securely delete, anonymise, or archive it in line with our retention practices.

7. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be subject to exceptions and limitations.

Right of access – you can ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – you can request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – you can ask us to delete your personal data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – you can ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases.
Right to data portability – you can request certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.
Right to lodge a complaint – you may raise concerns with the relevant data protection authority if you believe your rights have been infringed.

To protect your privacy, we may need to verify your identity before responding to a rights request.

8. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and regular review of systems and processes.

While no method of transmission or storage is completely risk-free, we work to maintain a level of security appropriate to the nature of the data and the risks involved.

9. Data Minimisation and Accuracy

We aim to keep personal data accurate, relevant, and up to date. You can help us by informing us of any changes to your details or preferences. We also review records periodically to ensure we do not retain data unnecessarily.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are directed to adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is incidental to a customer’s request or necessary for service-related reasons. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child in circumstances not permitted by law, we will take appropriate steps to remove it.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in legal requirements, operational practices, or service arrangements. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically.

12. Summary of Key Points

Tower Hill Carpet Cleaners collects only the personal data needed to provide services, manage bookings, process payments, and meet legal obligations. We process data under lawful bases such as contract, legitimate interests, legal obligation, and, where applicable, consent. We share data only with trusted processors and other parties where required by law. Personal data is retained only as long as necessary, and customers have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, port, and object to certain processing.

Privacy Policy - Tower Hill Carpet Cleaners applies to all customers in area and is designed to ensure that personal data is handled fairly, lawfully, and transparently.