Privacy Policy - Old Ford Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Old Ford Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Old Ford Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including prospective customers, current customers, and anyone who interacts with us in connection with our carpet cleaning services. 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

Old Ford Carpet Cleaners provides professional carpet cleaning and related cleaning services. In the course of delivering these services, we may need to collect and process personal data about customers, property occupants, and other relevant contacts. We act as a data controller for the personal data we determine the purposes and means of processing.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for running our services, managing customer relationships, and meeting legal obligations. The types of data we may collect include:

Identity data: name, title, and any relevant identifying details.
Contact data: address, email address, telephone number, and preferred communication method.
Service data: property access notes, cleaning requirements, booking details, service history, and customer instructions.
Payment data: payment confirmation, billing records, and transaction-related information. We do not intentionally store full card details where payment processing is handled securely by third parties.
Technical data: limited information such as device or browser data if you contact us digitally, where relevant for security or service delivery.
Correspondence data: messages, feedback, complaints, and any other communications you send to us.

We do not knowingly collect special category data unless it is necessary and lawful to do so. If such information is ever provided to us incidentally, we will handle it with enhanced care and only where permitted by law.

3. How We Collect Data

We may collect personal data directly from you when you:

request a quote or book a service;
communicate with us by phone, email, message, or in person;
provide instructions relating to access, cleaning preferences, or service concerns;
make a payment or request an invoice;
submit feedback, a complaint, or a service enquiry.

We may also receive data from third parties where necessary to fulfil a service, such as property managers, letting agents, landlords, or payment providers, provided they have a lawful basis to share it with us.

4. Why We Use Your Data

We use personal data for specific and limited purposes connected to our business operations. These include:

providing carpet cleaning and related services;
confirming bookings and managing appointments;
responding to enquiries and customer requests;
processing payments and maintaining accounting records;
delivering customer support and handling complaints;
maintaining service quality and records of work completed;
meeting legal, regulatory, and tax obligations;
protecting our business, staff, customers, and property from fraud or misuse.

We will not use your data for purposes that are incompatible with the reasons it was collected unless we obtain consent or are otherwise permitted by law.

5. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under the UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. Old Ford Carpet Cleaners relies on the following bases where appropriate:

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes booking services, managing appointments, and providing the work you requested.

Legal Obligation

We may process certain data to comply with legal requirements, including tax rules, accounting obligations, record keeping, and responding to lawful requests from authorities.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include improving services, maintaining internal records, preventing fraud, and handling customer communications efficiently.

Consent

In some situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where it is the most appropriate basis for a particular communication or optional activity. If we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time.

6. How Long We Keep Data

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the reason it was collected.

Customer service and booking records: kept for as long as needed to manage the service relationship and any follow-up concerns.
Payment and invoicing records: kept for the period required by accounting and tax laws.
Correspondence and complaints: kept for a reasonable period to respond to queries and maintain service records.
Legal or dispute-related records: retained for the duration necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

When data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

7. Processors and Third Parties

We may use trusted third-party service providers, also known as processors, to support our operations. These processors only act on our instructions and are required to protect personal data and use it only for the agreed purpose.

Examples of processors may include:

booking and scheduling tools;
payment processing providers;
accounting or bookkeeping services;
email or communications providers;
IT, hosting, backup, or security services;
customer record management systems.

We may also share data with professional advisers, insurers, or public authorities where necessary and lawful. We do not sell personal data.

8. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include restricted access, secure storage, password protection, staff awareness, and careful selection of service providers. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain an appropriate level of protection based on the nature of the information we hold.

9. Your Rights

As a data subject, you have rights under data protection law. Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

access the personal data we hold about you;
rectify inaccurate or incomplete information;
erase your data in certain situations;
restrict how we process your data in certain circumstances;
object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing;
data portability for data you provided to us, where applicable;
withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed. We encourage you to raise any concerns with us first so that we can try to resolve them promptly.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in the context of a service arrangement and lawful to do so. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child without a valid basis, we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

11. International Transfers

Where processors or systems are located outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place before any transfer of personal data takes place. This may include the use of approved contractual clauses or other lawful transfer mechanisms designed to protect your information to the required standard.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in legal requirements, operational practices, or the services we provide. Any updated version will apply from the date it is issued. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is handled.

13. Summary of Key Points

In summary, Old Ford Carpet Cleaners processes personal data only when it is necessary, lawful, and proportionate. We collect limited information to provide services, manage bookings, process payments, meet legal obligations, and improve customer experience. We retain data only for as long as needed, use trusted processors under contract, and respect your rights under data protection law.