Privacy Policy - Downe Carpet Cleaners

Effective date: This Privacy Policy applies to all Downe Carpet Cleaners customers in the area where our services are provided.

Downe Carpet Cleaners is committed to protecting your personal data and handling it in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, who we share it with, and the rights you have under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who we are

Downe Carpet Cleaners provides carpet, upholstery, and related cleaning services to domestic and commercial customers. For the purposes of data protection law, we act as the data controller when we decide how and why your personal data is used.

We take our responsibility seriously and aim to ensure that any personal information you provide is used only for legitimate business purposes and in ways that respect your privacy.

2. Personal data we collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

Identity data such as your name.
Contact data such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service details including property access notes, cleaning preferences, areas to be treated, and appointment information.
Payment data such as transaction details and payment confirmation, where relevant.
Communication data including messages, enquiries, complaints, and feedback.
Technical data if you interact with us through digital channels, such as device or usage information.
Special instructions that may relate to cleaning requirements, allergies, sensitivities, or access arrangements.

We may collect this information directly from you when you make an enquiry, request a quote, book a service, pay for services, or communicate with us. We may also receive information from third parties where necessary to deliver our services, for example from a property manager, landlord, tenant, or someone arranging services on your behalf.

3. How we use your personal data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide quotations and arrange appointments.
To perform cleaning services and manage job details.
To process payments and maintain financial records.
To communicate with you before, during, and after a service.
To respond to enquiries, complaints, or requests.
To keep accurate business records and manage our customer relationships.
To meet legal, regulatory, tax, and accounting obligations.
To improve our services, training, and operational quality.

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 it for an unrelated purpose, we will explain the legal basis for doing so.

4. Lawful basis for processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on one or more of the following:

Contract

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

Legitimate interests

We may process your data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. Examples include managing customer enquiries, maintaining business records, improving service quality, preventing fraud, and handling disputes.

Legal obligation

We may process personal data where needed to comply with legal obligations, such as tax, accounting, insurance, or record-keeping requirements.

Consent

Where we rely on your consent, we will ask for it clearly and separately. You may withdraw consent at any time, although this will not affect processing that occurred before withdrawal.

5. Sharing your data and processors

We do not sell your personal data. We may share it only where necessary for business, legal, or service delivery purposes.

We may use trusted third-party service providers acting as processors to help us operate efficiently. These may include:

Payment service providers who process transactions.
Accounting or bookkeeping providers who assist with financial administration.
Scheduling, administrative, or record-management providers.
IT support or cloud storage providers who help us store and protect data.

Where we use processors, they are only allowed to process your personal data on our instructions and must keep it secure and confidential. We require appropriate contractual safeguards and data protection standards from such providers.

We may also disclose personal data to professional advisers, insurers, law enforcement, regulators, or courts where required by law or necessary to protect our rights, property, staff, or customers.

6. Retention of personal data

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

In general, we apply the following principles:

Customer and job records are kept for a period that allows us to manage services, handle queries, and evidence work completed.
Financial and tax records are kept for the period required by law.
Communication records may be retained for a reasonable time to resolve disputes, maintain service history, and support customer care.
Data no longer needed is securely deleted or anonymised.

If we no longer need your personal data, we will either delete it or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

7. Your rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may apply in certain circumstances and are subject to legal limits.

Right of access

You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to receive information about how we use it.

Right to rectification

You may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.

Right to erasure

In some cases, you may ask us to delete your personal data. This is not always possible where we must keep information for legal reasons or to establish or defend legal claims.

Right to restriction

You may ask us to restrict the way we use your personal data in certain situations.

Right to object

You may object to our processing where we rely on legitimate interests. We will consider your request carefully and stop processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue.

Right to data portability

Where applicable, you may request that certain personal data be provided to you or another organisation in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.

Right to withdraw consent

If we rely on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, you can make a request to us. We may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within the time limits set by data protection law.

8. Security of your data

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 reasonable administrative safeguards.

Although we take precautions, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If a personal data breach occurs, we will assess the risk and take appropriate steps in line with legal obligations.

9. International transfers

Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect it and that the transfer is carried out in compliance with applicable data protection laws.

10. Children’s data

Our services are not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where necessary for service arrangements made by an adult customer or lawful guardian. If we become aware that we have collected such data without proper authority, we will take appropriate steps to delete 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 made available.

12. Summary of our privacy commitment

Downe Carpet Cleaners respects your privacy and uses personal data only where necessary, lawful, and proportionate. We collect only the information needed to provide our services, manage our business, and meet legal duties. We retain data for no longer than necessary, share it only with appropriate processors or where legally required, and protect your rights under UK data protection law.

This policy is intended to be clear and practical, while remaining compliant with GDPR principles of lawfulness, fairness, transparency, data minimisation, accuracy, storage limitation, integrity, confidentiality, and accountability.