Privacy Policy - Lambeth Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Lambeth Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing carpet cleaning and related services. It applies to all Lambeth Carpet Cleaners customers in area, including prospective customers, current customers, and anyone who interacts with us in connection with a booking, quotation, service visit, or follow-up communication.

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. This policy is intended to help you understand your rights and how your information is managed.

1. Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is relevant to providing our services, managing our business, and meeting legal obligations. Depending on your interaction with us, we may collect the following categories of information:

Identity details such as your name or business name.
Contact details such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service details such as property access instructions, room sizes, carpet condition, stain descriptions, cleaning preferences, and appointment notes.
Billing and payment information such as invoicing details and payment records.
Communication records including enquiries, complaints, feedback, and service-related correspondence.
Technical data limited to basic information collected through standard website or email systems, where applicable, such as logs necessary for security and performance.
Special category data only where it is incidentally disclosed by you and relevant to the service, for example if a note about health, access needs, or household circumstances is necessary to carry out the work safely.

We do not intentionally collect more information than is needed. We ask that you do not share sensitive information unless it is necessary for your service request.

2. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for specific and limited purposes, including:

responding to enquiries and providing quotations;
booking, scheduling, and delivering carpet cleaning services;
processing payments and issuing invoices or receipts;
managing customer records and service history;
handling complaints, disputes, or claims;
maintaining business records and meeting accounting, tax, and legal obligations;
improving our service quality and customer experience;
protecting our business, staff, and customers from fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

We do not sell personal data and we do not use it for unrelated marketing purposes unless it is permitted by law and you have the right to object where applicable.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for each type of processing. 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 taking bookings, providing cleaning services, handling payments, and managing any follow-up related to the service you requested.

Legal Obligation

We process certain information to comply with legal and regulatory obligations, including bookkeeping, tax records, insurance requirements, and record-keeping duties.

Legitimate Interests

We may process information where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include service administration, internal record-keeping, fraud prevention, quality control, and improving operations.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where optional communications or specific uses of information require it. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

Vital Interests

In rare situations, personal data may be processed to protect someone’s vital interests, such as when information is needed in an emergency.

Where special category data is processed, we will do so only where a condition under UK GDPR applies, and only when necessary and proportionate.

4. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as processors on our behalf. These parties are only allowed to process data according to our instructions and must take appropriate security measures.

Examples of processors may include:

Booking and scheduling providers used to manage appointments and service planning.
Payment processors used to handle card or online transactions securely.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers used to manage invoices, expenses, and tax records.
IT and data storage providers used for secure email, device management, and document storage.
Customer communication tools used to send service-related messages.

We may also disclose personal data where required to do so by law, such as to regulators, courts, law enforcement agencies, or insurers. Any disclosure will be limited to what is necessary for the relevant purpose.

We do not allow processors to use your personal data for their own purposes. Where a third party acts as an independent controller, we will ensure there is a lawful basis and appropriate transparency for that sharing.

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and no longer than required by law. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the reason it is held.

Customer service records are usually kept for the duration of the customer relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards to manage queries or disputes.
Financial and tax records are generally retained for the period required by law, typically up to six years.
Correspondence and complaint records may be retained for as long as needed to resolve issues and demonstrate compliance.
Consent-based records are kept only until consent is withdrawn or no longer needed.

When data is no longer required, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you. We review retained data periodically to ensure it is still necessary.

6. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and limiting access to only those who need it for legitimate business purposes.

Although no system can be guaranteed 100% secure, we work to reduce risks and respond appropriately if an incident occurs. Where required by law, we will notify affected individuals and the relevant authorities.

7. Your Rights

You have several rights under data protection law. These rights may be subject to legal limits, but we will always assess and respond to requests carefully.

Right of access – you can request confirmation of whether we hold your personal data and receive a copy of it.
Right to rectification – you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to erasure – you can request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing – you can ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to data portability – you can request certain information in a structured, commonly used format where the law applies.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.
Right to complain – you may raise concerns with the relevant data protection authority if you believe your rights have been infringed.

We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve any issue promptly and fairly.

8. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and business customers. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children in the ordinary course of business. If we become aware that we have collected such information without appropriate consent or lawful basis, we will take steps to delete it where required.

9. International Transfers

If any personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect it. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or other lawful transfer mechanisms recognised under UK data protection law.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, our services, or how we process data. Any revised version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We recommend reviewing this policy periodically to stay informed.

11. Summary of Key Principles

We collect only the data needed to provide and manage our services.
We process data under lawful bases including contract, legal obligation, legitimate interests, and consent where appropriate.
We retain data only as long as necessary and delete it securely when no longer needed.
We may use processors to support our operations, but they must protect your data and follow our instructions.
You have rights over your personal data, including access, correction, deletion, objection, and withdrawal of consent.

This Privacy Policy is designed to ensure that Lambeth Carpet Cleaners handles personal data responsibly and transparently for all customers in the area. By engaging our services, you acknowledge that your information will be processed in line with this policy and applicable data protection laws.