Privacy Policy - Brixton Carpet Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Brixton Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing carpet cleaning and related services. It applies to all Brixton Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including residential and commercial customers, prospective customers, and anyone who communicates with us about our services.

We are committed to handling personal data in a fair, transparent, and secure way, in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy is designed to help you understand what information we collect, why we collect it, the legal basis for processing, how long we keep it, and what rights you have.

1. Information We Collect

We only collect personal data that is relevant and necessary for providing our cleaning services, managing customer relationships, and meeting legal obligations. Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of information:

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details such as address, telephone number, and email address.
Service details such as property access instructions, cleaning requirements, booking preferences, and service history.
Payment information such as billing records and transaction details. Payment card details are handled securely by appropriate payment providers where applicable.
Communication records including emails, messages, call notes, and complaint records.
Technical information such as limited device or usage data if you interact with our digital systems, where relevant.
Special instructions relating to stain types, fabric concerns, allergies, accessibility needs, or other service-related requirements that you choose to share.

We do not intentionally collect more information than is needed for a particular purpose. If you choose not to provide certain information, we may be unable to complete a booking or deliver part of a service.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotations.
To confirm and manage bookings.
To deliver carpet cleaning and related services.
To process payments, refunds, and account administration.
To keep service records and manage customer support.
To handle complaints, queries, and aftercare requests.
To comply with legal, tax, and regulatory obligations.
To improve our services, operations, and customer experience.
To protect against fraud, misuse, or security risks.

We will only use your personal data for the purpose for which it was collected, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another compatible reason and that reason is permitted by law.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. We rely on the following bases:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes handling bookings, delivering services, and managing payments.

Legal Obligation

We may process data where we need to comply with a legal requirement, such as record-keeping, tax obligations, or responding to lawful requests from authorities.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data for our legitimate interests where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. These interests include managing our business efficiently, improving services, maintaining security, and responding to customer queries. We always balance our interests against your privacy rights.

Consent

In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example where you ask us to use optional information for a specific purpose. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

4. Sharing Your Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who help us operate our business. These third parties act as processors when they process data on our behalf and only under our instructions. Examples may include:

Payment service providers.
Booking or scheduling software providers.
IT support and cloud storage providers.
Accounting or invoicing providers.
Customer communication tools.
Professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers.

We require processors to maintain appropriate security and confidentiality measures. They are not allowed to use your personal data for their own purposes.

We may also disclose personal data if required by law, to enforce our rights, to protect our customers or staff, or in connection with a business restructuring, provided that any such transfer is lawful and protected.

5. Retention of Personal Data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected, and in line with legal, accounting, and operational requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the reason we hold it.

Customer and booking records are generally retained for as long as needed to manage the service relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards.
Financial and tax records are kept for the period required by law.
Communication and complaint records may be retained to help resolve disputes and improve service quality.
Marketing preferences are retained until you update your preferences or withdraw consent where applicable.

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

6. Data Security

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

While we work hard to protect your information, no method of transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We therefore encourage you to share only the information necessary for us to provide the service.

7. Your Rights Under GDPR

You have important rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal limitations, these rights include:

Right of access – you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to erasure – you can request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – you can ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases.
Right to data portability – you can ask for certain data to be provided in a structured, commonly used format.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time.
Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.

You also have the right to make a complaint to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe your data has been mishandled. We encourage you to raise any concerns with us first so we can try to resolve them promptly.

8. Cookies and Similar Technologies

If we use online systems or digital booking tools, these may use cookies or similar technologies to support basic functionality, measure usage, or improve performance. Where required, we will use appropriate notice and consent mechanisms. Any such tools will be used in a way that respects your privacy and complies with applicable law.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in connection with a customer’s service request and is provided by an adult responsible for the account or property. If we become aware that we have collected child-related data without a valid reason, we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect legal, operational, or service changes. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We recommend reviewing it periodically to stay informed about how we process personal data.

11. Summary of Our Commitment

Brixton Carpet Cleaners is committed to responsible data handling. We collect only what we need, use it fairly, keep it secure, and retain it only as long as necessary. We do not sell personal data. We use trusted processors where needed, and we respect your rights under GDPR. Your privacy matters to us, and we aim to handle your information with care and transparency at all times.