Privacy Policy - Loxford Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Loxford Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Loxford Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including individuals who enquire about our services, request quotations, make bookings, receive cleaning services, or otherwise interact with us. 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

Loxford Carpet Cleaners provides carpet cleaning and related cleaning services to customers in the area. In this Privacy Policy, the terms we, us, and our refer to Loxford Carpet Cleaners. We act as a data controller for the personal data we collect and process about our customers, prospective customers, suppliers, and website or service users where applicable.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for the purposes described in this policy. Depending on your interactions with us, we may collect the following categories of data:

Identity information: name, title, and where relevant, business or property details.
Contact information: address, email address, telephone number, and service location.
Service information: details of cleaning requests, booking notes, access instructions, service preferences, and information about the carpets or areas to be cleaned.
Payment information: payment status, transaction records, and limited payment-related details necessary to process or verify payments.
Communication records: emails, messages, call notes, feedback, and complaint details.
Technical data: basic device, browser, or usage information if you interact with any digital service we operate.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless you choose to provide it to us and it is necessary for a specific service or request. If you do provide such information, we will process it only where a lawful basis applies and where appropriate safeguards are in place.

3. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to respond to enquiries and provide quotations;
to manage bookings and deliver cleaning services;
to communicate with customers about appointments, changes, or follow-up matters;
to process payments and maintain financial records;
to handle complaints, disputes, and service issues;
to maintain our internal records and improve service quality;
to meet legal, accounting, and regulatory obligations;
to prevent fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity; and
to defend or establish legal claims where necessary.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which it was collected unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another compatible purpose. If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will explain the legal basis to you where required.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal data. We rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes preparing quotes, confirming bookings, delivering services, and managing payments.

Legal Obligation

We process personal data where necessary to comply with legal obligations, including tax, accounting, record-keeping, and other regulatory 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. These interests may include maintaining service records, improving operations, preventing fraud, and handling customer service matters. When relying on legitimate interests, we take care to balance our interests against your privacy rights.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, particularly where it is required by law or where we use optional services or communications. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

5. Sharing Personal Data and Processors

We do not sell personal data. However, we may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary for our business operations or legal compliance. These third parties may act as processors or, in some cases, as independent controllers.

Processors may include:

payment service providers that handle secure payment processing;
booking, scheduling, or customer management system providers;
IT support, hosting, and software service providers;
accountants or bookkeeping providers;
professional advisers such as legal or insurance advisers; and
subcontractors or service partners who support service delivery under our instructions.

Where a third party acts as a processor, they may only process personal data on our instructions and must take appropriate security measures. We require processors to handle data lawfully, confidentially, and only for the specified purposes.

We may also disclose personal data if required to do so by law, by a court, or by a competent public authority, or where disclosure is necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

6. International Transfers

If personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that suitable safeguards are in place to protect that data. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or other lawful transfer mechanisms. We will take reasonable steps to make sure your data remains protected to a standard consistent with UK GDPR requirements.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including any legal, accounting, or reporting obligations. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the reason for processing.

In general:

customer and service records are retained for the duration of the relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards;
financial and accounting records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting law;
complaint, dispute, or claim-related records may be retained for longer where necessary to resolve issues or defend legal claims; and
unused enquiry data may be deleted after a reasonable period unless further retention is justified.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will delete, anonymise, or securely archive it as appropriate.

8. Data Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, confidentiality obligations, and limited access on a need-to-know basis. While no system can be completely secure, we work to protect your information in line with the nature and sensitivity of the data we hold.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you may have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

Right of access: to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
Right to rectification: to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data;
Right to erasure: to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances;
Right to restriction: to request that we limit the way we use your data in certain cases;
Right to object: to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing;
Right to data portability: to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format and have it transferred where feasible;
Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, to withdraw that consent at any time; and
Right to complain: to raise concerns with the relevant data protection authority if you believe your rights have been infringed.

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to legal exceptions. We may need to verify your identity before responding to requests. We will respond within the time limits required by law.

10. Marketing Communications

We do not send marketing communications unless permitted by law or where you have given the appropriate consent. If you opt in to receive marketing, you can opt out at any time. Where we rely on legitimate interests for certain non-promotional customer communications, those messages will be limited to what is necessary for service administration.

11. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is provided by a parent, guardian, or authorised adult in connection with a service request. 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 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 updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how we protect their information.

13. Contact and Further Information

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your rights, or want more information about how we handle personal data, you may raise the matter through our usual service channels. We will review and respond in line with applicable data protection law.

Important notice: This Privacy Policy applies to all Loxford Carpet Cleaners customers in the area and is intended to provide clear information about our data processing practices in a transparent and lawful manner.