Privacy Policy - Tokyngton Carpet Cleaners

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

We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy describes what information we process, why we process it, how long we keep it, who may process it on our behalf, and what rights you have in relation to your personal data.

1. Who We Are

Tokyngton Carpet Cleaners provides carpet cleaning and related domestic and commercial cleaning services. In the context of this policy, “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Tokyngton Carpet Cleaners. This policy applies to all customers in area and to individuals whose personal data we handle when providing or arranging our services.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is relevant and necessary for providing our services, managing our business, and meeting legal obligations. Depending on your interactions with us, we may collect the following categories of information:

Identity details: name, title, and any preferences you provide for service arrangements.
Contact details: address, email address, telephone number, and service location details.
Service information: booking details, service history, property access instructions, cleaning requirements, and notes about the work requested.
Payment and transaction data: records of payments made, invoices issued, payment status, and related financial administration data. We do not retain card details unless needed for a specific transaction handled through a secure payment provider.
Communications: messages, complaints, feedback, and correspondence you send to us.
Technical and usage data: if you use digital forms or online communication tools connected to our services, we may receive limited technical data such as device type, time of access, or basic interaction records.
Special category data: we do not intentionally collect sensitive personal data. If such information is accidentally disclosed to us, we will handle it with extra care and only where a lawful basis applies.

We usually collect data directly from you when you enquire about services, book a job, make a complaint, or communicate with us. In some cases, data may be provided by a landlord, managing agent, business customer, family member, or another person acting on your behalf.

3. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data only for specified and legitimate purposes. These include:

providing quotations and arranging bookings;
delivering carpet cleaning and related services;
managing customer accounts, service records, and administrative tasks;
processing payments, refunds, and invoices;
responding to questions, feedback, and complaints;
maintaining business records and auditing service activity;
meeting legal, tax, and regulatory obligations;
improving our customer service and operational processes;
protecting against fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

We do not use your personal data for unrelated purposes without informing you and ensuring that a lawful basis exists.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for every use of personal data. Tokyngton Carpet Cleaners relies on the following lawful bases:

a. Performance of a Contract

We process data when it is necessary to enter into or carry out a contract with you. This includes taking bookings, delivering services, handling payments, and managing service-related communications.

b. Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests do not override your rights and freedoms. This may include business administration, record keeping, service improvement, fraud prevention, and responding to customer enquiries.

c. Legal Obligation

We process certain data to comply with legal obligations, such as tax record keeping, accounting requirements, consumer law, and responding to lawful requests from public authorities.

d. Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where you choose to receive certain optional communications or where consent is needed for specific processing activity. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

We do not rely on consent where another lawful basis is more appropriate.

5. Sharing of Personal Data and Processors

We do not sell personal data. However, we may share data where necessary to operate our services or meet legal requirements. In some cases, we use third-party processors who process data on our behalf and only under our instructions.

Examples of processors may include:

Booking and scheduling providers used to manage appointments and service records;
Payment service providers used to process invoices and payments securely;
IT and cloud storage providers used to store business records and communications;
Accounting and bookkeeping providers used to maintain financial records;
Customer communication tools used for email, phone, or message handling;
Professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers where required.

We require processors to protect your data, use it only for the agreed purpose, and implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures. We may also disclose information to law enforcement, regulators, courts, or other authorities where required by law.

6. International Transfers

Where any processor stores or accesses data outside the UK, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. These may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or equivalent protective measures required under data protection law.

7. Data Retention

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

Customer and service records: kept for the duration of the customer relationship and for a reasonable period afterward to manage follow-up, complaints, or warranty-related matters.
Financial and tax records: retained for the period required by law, typically several years after the end of the relevant financial year.
Communication records: kept as long as needed to handle enquiries, resolve disputes, or maintain business records.
Marketing or optional consent-based data: retained until you withdraw consent or until it is no longer needed.

When data is no longer required, we will securely delete, anonymise, or archive it in line with our retention procedures.

8. Security of Personal Data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include restricted access controls, secure storage, password protection, staff confidentiality obligations, and regular review of data handling practices.

While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we work to reduce risks and respond promptly to any suspected data incident.

9. Your Rights

You have rights under data protection law in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal conditions and exemptions, these include the right to:

Access the personal data we hold about you;
Rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data;
Erasure of your data in certain circumstances;
Restriction of processing in certain situations;
Object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing;
Data portability where processing is based on contract or consent and carried out by automated means;
Withdraw consent at any time where processing relies on consent;
Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your rights have been infringed.

We may need to verify your identity before responding to certain requests. We aim to deal with valid requests within the time limits set by law.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are generally intended for adults and business customers. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in a limited service context and is provided by an adult with authority to do so. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child without proper authority, we will take steps to delete it where appropriate.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or data handling practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage customers in area to review this policy periodically.

12. Summary of Our Commitments

Tokyngton Carpet Cleaners is committed to processing personal data lawfully, transparently, and securely. We collect only what we need, use it for clear business and legal purposes, retain it only as long as necessary, and share it only with trusted processors or authorities where required. Your privacy matters to us, and we aim to respect your rights at every stage of our service relationship.

By using our services, you acknowledge that this Privacy Policy applies to you as a customer in area.