Privacy Policy - Brixton Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy applies to all Brixton Carpet Cleaners customers in the area. It explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal data when we provide carpet cleaning and related services. We are committed to handling personal information 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

Brixton Carpet Cleaners provides professional carpet cleaning services to residential and commercial customers in the Brixton area and nearby locations. For the purposes of data protection law, we act as the data controller when we decide why and how personal data is processed for our services, administration, and customer management.

2. Information We Collect

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

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details including your address, email address, and telephone number.
Service details such as booking dates, property access notes, job history, cleaning preferences, and service instructions.
Payment information needed to take payment, issue invoices, or confirm transactions.
Communication records including enquiries, complaints, feedback, and messages exchanged with us.
Technical data if you interact with our digital systems, such as device information, browser type, and usage data.
Special category data only where necessary and where permitted by law, for example if you voluntarily provide information relevant to allergies, sensitivities, or access needs.

We aim to collect only the information that is necessary for the services we provide. We do not knowingly collect excessive or irrelevant data.

3. How We Collect Your Data

We may collect personal data directly from you when you:

make a booking or request a quote;
contact us by phone, email, or message;
provide service instructions or access details;
make a payment or request an invoice;
leave a review or send feedback;
interact with our staff during service delivery.

We may also receive data from third parties where necessary, for example from property managers, letting agents, business clients, or payment providers acting on your behalf or in connection with a service arrangement.

4. Why We Use Your Information

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to provide carpet cleaning and related services;
to manage bookings, quotations, and service delivery;
to communicate with customers about appointments, changes, or follow-up matters;
to process payments and maintain financial records;
to handle complaints, enquiries, and customer support;
to improve our services, internal processes, and customer experience;
to comply with legal, accounting, insurance, and regulatory obligations;
to protect our business, staff, customers, and property against fraud or misuse.

We will only use your data for the purposes described above or for purposes that are reasonably compatible with them.

5. Lawful Basis for Processing

We rely on one or more lawful bases under UK GDPR when processing personal data:

Contract

We process your data when it is necessary to perform a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract. This includes arranging services, confirming bookings, carrying out cleaning work, and billing.

Legal Obligation

We may process personal data where required to comply with legal duties, such as tax, accounting, insurance, and record-keeping requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests and where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include managing our business, improving service quality, preventing fraud, and responding to customer issues. We always consider whether the processing is reasonable and proportionate.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where you voluntarily provide optional information or agree to receive certain types of marketing. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

6. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third-party service providers who act as processors on our behalf. These providers only process data according to our instructions and must keep it secure and confidential.

Examples of processors may include:

payment processing providers;
accounting and bookkeeping services;
IT and cloud storage providers;
customer communication tools;
appointment or scheduling systems;
professional advisers such as lawyers, insurers, or auditors where necessary.

We may also disclose data to public authorities, regulators, or law enforcement where required by law. If a third party acts as an independent data controller, their own privacy terms will apply to their use of your data.

7. International Transfers

Where personal data is transferred outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place. These may include adequacy regulations, approved contractual clauses, or other lawful transfer mechanisms designed to protect your information.

8. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Retention periods vary depending on the type of record and the nature of our relationship with you.

Customer and service records are retained for the period needed to manage the service and resolve any issues.
Financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law.
Communication records are kept for as long as needed to handle enquiries or complaints.
Consent-based records are retained until consent is withdrawn or the data is no longer needed.

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

9. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, password protection, restricted permissions, secure storage, and staff confidentiality obligations.

While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we work to maintain a high level of protection and review our practices regularly.

10. Your Rights Under GDPR

As a data subject, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

Right of access – to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to data portability – to receive certain information in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to raise concerns with the Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve any issue promptly and fairly.

11. Automated Decision-Making

We do not make decisions about customers based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects. If this position changes, we will update this policy and provide appropriate information about the process involved.

12. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults. We do not intentionally collect personal data from children except where a parent, guardian, or authorised adult provides information that is necessary for the service. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child without appropriate authority, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

13. Changes to This 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 published or otherwise made available. We recommend that customers review this policy periodically to stay informed.

14. Summary of Our Commitment

Brixton Carpet Cleaners is committed to using your personal data responsibly and in accordance with data protection law. We collect only what is necessary, use it for clear and lawful purposes, keep it only as long as needed, and share it only with trusted processors or where required by law. We respect your rights and aim to handle all personal information with care, transparency, and respect.