Bromley Carpet Cleaners Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Bromley Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to customers and prospective customers in our service area. It is designed to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, together referred to here as GDPR.
This Privacy Policy applies to all Bromley Carpet Cleaners customers and potential customers in our operating area, including those who contact us for quotes, make bookings, receive services, or otherwise interact with our business offline or online.
Who We Are
Bromley Carpet Cleaners is a carpet and upholstery cleaning business providing services to residential and commercial customers in the local area. For the purposes of data protection law, Bromley Carpet Cleaners is the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. That means we decide how and why your personal data is processed.
Personal Data We Collect
We collect and process different types of personal data depending on how you interact with us. This may include:
Identification and contact details: name, address, service address, billing address, and any other contact details you provide such as general communication details.
Booking and service information: details of the services you request, dates and times of appointments, access instructions, information about the property areas to be cleaned, and related job notes.
Payment and billing information: records of payments, invoices, and related transaction details. We do not store full payment card details if you pay by card; these are processed through external payment providers.
Communication records: copies of correspondence and communications between you and us, including enquiries, quotes, complaints, feedback and any other messages you send to us.
Marketing preferences: records of whether you wish to receive marketing communications from us and how you prefer to be contacted.
Technical and usage data: if you visit our website, we may collect technical data such as IP address, browser type and version, device information, and basic usage information such as pages visited and time spent, using cookies or similar technologies where permitted by law and your browser settings.
How We Collect Your Data
We collect personal data in several ways:
Directly from you when you contact us for a quote, make a booking, request information, give feedback, or otherwise communicate with us.
During the provision of our services, when we visit your property and record information necessary to carry out the work and manage our relationship with you.
Automatically when you use our website, through basic analytics and cookies where applicable and lawful.
From third parties where necessary, for example from payment providers who confirm transaction details, or from online platforms you may use to request services from us.
Lawful Basis for Processing
We only process your personal data where we have a lawful basis under GDPR. Depending on the context, we rely on the following lawful bases:
Contract: to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, and to perform our contract with you. This includes providing quotes, confirming bookings, carrying out cleaning services, taking payment, and communicating with you about your service.
Legitimate interests: to pursue our legitimate business interests in a way that does not override your rights. This includes managing and improving our services, keeping business records, handling enquiries and complaints, sending limited service-related updates, and protecting our business from fraud or misuse.
Legal obligation: to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, such as tax, accounting and record-keeping obligations.
Consent: where required by law for certain types of marketing communications or for the use of optional cookies or similar technologies. When we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:
To provide our services: arranging and managing bookings, delivering carpet and upholstery cleaning, and handling follow-up visits or related work.
Customer service and communication: responding to enquiries, providing quotes, sending confirmations and updates, and dealing with feedback or complaints.
Billing and payment: preparing invoices, processing payments through our chosen payment providers, and keeping financial records for accounting and tax purposes.
Business management: keeping internal records, analysing service usage, planning staff and resources, and improving how we operate.
Marketing: where permitted by law and your preferences, sending information about our services, special offers or updates that we believe may be of interest to you. You can opt out of marketing at any time.
Security and fraud prevention: protecting our business, our customers and our systems from fraud, misuse and security incidents.
Data Retention
We will not keep your personal data for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. Retention periods vary depending on the type of information:
Customer and service records are generally kept for as long as you are an active customer and for a period afterwards to deal with queries, complaints, legal claims, or warranty issues, and to comply with legal and tax requirements.
Financial and transaction records, such as invoices and payment details, are kept for the length of time required by tax and accounting laws.
Marketing data is kept until you opt out or until it is reasonable to assume you are no longer interested in our services, at which point it will be deleted or securely anonymised.
In all cases, we will securely delete or anonymise your personal data when it is no longer needed.
Sharing Your Personal Data
We treat your personal data as confidential and only share it where necessary and lawful. We may share your data with:
Service providers and data processors: third parties who provide services to us, such as IT and hosting providers, payment processors, customer management systems, and companies that support our business operations. These providers are only allowed to process your personal data on our instructions and must keep it secure.
Professional advisers: such as accountants or legal advisers, where necessary for business management, legal advice, or compliance.
Authorities and regulators: where we are legally required to do so, for example for tax, law enforcement, or regulatory purposes.
We do not sell your personal data to third parties.
International Transfers
Where any of our service providers or data processors are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, and your personal data is transferred internationally, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. These may include the use of recognised data protection agreements or other approved transfer mechanisms designed to protect your rights.
Your Data Protection Rights
Under GDPR, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These include:
Right of access: you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you and information about how we process it.
Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
Right to erasure: in certain circumstances, you can request that we delete your personal data. This is not an absolute right and may be subject to legal or contractual restrictions.
Right to restriction of processing: in specific situations, you can ask us to restrict how we use your data.
Right to data portability: where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you can request that we provide your data in a structured, commonly used format or transfer it to another organisation where technically feasible.
Right to object: you can object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including profiling, and you can always object to direct marketing at any time.
Rights related to automated decision-making: you have rights in relation to decisions based solely on automated processing, if any, which significantly affect you. Bromley Carpet Cleaners does not typically make decisions of this kind about customers.
To exercise any of these rights, you can contact us using our usual contact details. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request. There is normally no fee, unless a request is clearly unfounded or excessive.
Security of Your Data
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include limiting access to personal data to those who need it for their duties, using reasonable security controls, and training staff on data protection responsibilities.
Complaints and Contact
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, or if you wish to exercise your rights, you can contact us using the contact details provided on our main customer communications and documents.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority if you are unhappy with how we have used your data. In the United Kingdom, this is the Information Commissioner's Office. We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns first, so we encourage you to contact us in the first instance.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements or the way we process personal data. Any updates will be made available through our usual customer communication channels, and the revised policy will apply from the date it is issued.
This Privacy Policy applies to all Bromley Carpet Cleaners customers and prospective customers in our service area and is intended to give you clear and transparent information about how we protect your privacy.
