Merton Carpet Cleaners Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Merton Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data of customers and prospective customers within our service area. It also sets out your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
By using our carpet cleaning and related services, contacting us, or otherwise providing your personal data, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.
Scope of this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies to all Merton Carpet Cleaners customers and prospective customers in our service area, including individuals, households, landlords, tenants, and business clients who request or receive our services. It covers personal data collected online, by phone, in person, and through any other communication channels we use in the course of our business operations.
Data Controller
The data controller responsible for your personal data is Merton Carpet Cleaners. As data controller, we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data and ensure that such processing is carried out in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
Personal Data We Collect
We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you when you interact with us or use our services:
Identification and contact details, such as your name, postal address, property access information, and any preferred contact details you choose to provide.
Service and booking information, such as the date and time of appointments, property type and size, areas to be cleaned, special instructions, and records of services provided.
Billing and payment information, such as details necessary to issue invoices and confirm payments. Payment processing itself may be handled by an external payment provider that acts as a data processor or independent controller, depending on the method used.
Communication records, such as messages, enquiries, feedback, complaints, and any other correspondence between you and Merton Carpet Cleaners, including notes we make to manage your booking and provide customer service.
Technical and usage information, such as basic device and browser information, pages visited, and interaction data where this is collected through our website or digital tools. This may include the use of cookies or similar technologies where legally permitted and subject to your preferences.
Any other information you voluntarily provide, including information about your preferences, accessibility requirements, or details relevant to performing safe and effective cleaning services at your premises.
Lawful Basis for Processing
Merton Carpet Cleaners only processes personal data where we have a lawful basis to do so. Depending on the context, one or more of the following legal bases may apply:
Contract: Processing is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, including handling enquiries, confirming bookings, providing cleaning services, issuing invoices, and managing your account and service history.
Legal obligation: Processing is necessary to comply with legal or regulatory requirements, such as tax, accounting, and record-keeping obligations, or to respond to lawful requests from public authorities.
Legitimate interests: Processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as improving our services, communicating with you about existing bookings, preventing fraud, ensuring the safety of our staff, managing our business operations, and defending our legal rights. When we rely on legitimate interests, we balance those interests against your rights and expectations.
Consent: In certain situations, we may rely on your consent, for example, where required for specific types of marketing communications or optional cookies. Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We use your personal data for the following purposes:
To provide and manage our services, including responding to enquiries, giving quotations, confirming and rescheduling bookings, delivering cleaning services at your premises, and maintaining service records.
To communicate with you about your bookings, updates, service issues, and customer support queries.
To manage payments and billing, including issuing invoices, processing or confirming payments, and managing any related queries or disputes.
To improve and develop our business, services, and customer experience, including staff training, quality control, and internal reporting and analysis.
To send marketing communications about our services and offers where permitted by law and in line with your communication preferences. You can opt out of marketing at any time.
To protect our rights, property, and safety, and that of our customers, staff, and third parties, including the prevention and detection of fraud and the establishment or defence of legal claims.
To comply with legal and regulatory requirements, and to cooperate with regulators and law enforcement where necessary and lawful.
Data Retention
Merton Carpet Cleaners retains your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and to meet our legal, accounting, and reporting obligations.
In general, we keep customer and booking records for a period that allows us to provide ongoing services, manage any follow up work, and handle potential enquiries or disputes. Certain records, such as invoices and financial information, are retained for longer periods as required by tax and accounting laws.
When personal data is no longer required, we will securely delete, anonymise, or otherwise dispose of it in a manner that ensures it can no longer be linked to an identifiable individual.
Data Sharing and Processors
We may share your personal data with selected third parties where necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, and always in accordance with data protection law.
Service providers and data processors: We may engage carefully chosen third party providers to perform functions on our behalf, such as payment processing, accounting services, IT and system support, data hosting and storage, and communication tools. These providers act as data processors and are bound by contractual obligations to process personal data only on our instructions, to keep it secure, and to comply with data protection requirements.
Professional advisers: We may share personal data with professional advisers, such as accountants, auditors, or legal advisers, where this is necessary for the services they provide to us.
Authorities and regulators: We may disclose personal data where required to comply with applicable laws, lawful requests, or legal processes, or where necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others.
In all cases, we only share the minimum personal data necessary for the relevant purpose and seek to ensure that any third parties provide appropriate safeguards for your data.
International Data Transfers
Where we use providers or systems located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, or where data is otherwise transferred internationally, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data. These may include the use of standard contractual clauses or equivalent measures, in line with data protection law.
Data Security
We take the security of your personal data seriously and implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, or damage.
Measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and regular review of our processes and systems. While we work to protect your personal data, no system can be completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Your Data Protection Rights
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and related laws, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data, subject to certain conditions and exemptions. These rights may include:
Right of access: You can request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of that data, together with certain information about how it is processed.
Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct or complete personal data that is inaccurate or incomplete.
Right to erasure: In certain circumstances, you can request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected and we have no legal reason to keep it.
Right to restriction of processing: You can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as while we are verifying its accuracy or assessing an objection you have raised.
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, where technically feasible, transmit it to another controller.
Right to object: You can object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests, including profiling, and we will stop processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds. You always have the right to object to direct marketing.
Rights related to consent: Where we rely on your consent to process personal data, you can withdraw that consent at any time.
Exercising Your Rights and Complaints
If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, or if you have questions or concerns about how we handle your personal data, you can contact Merton Carpet Cleaners using the usual contact methods set out on our website or in our service documentation.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office or another competent supervisory authority if you believe that your data protection rights have been infringed. We would, however, welcome the opportunity to address your concerns directly before you approach a supervisory authority.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or how we process personal data. Any updates will be made available through our usual communication channels. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how Merton Carpet Cleaners protects your privacy.