Privacy Policy - Barbican Carpet Cleaners

Barbican Carpet Cleaners is committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of all customers, prospective customers, and website or service users. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal data in connection with our carpet cleaning and related services. It applies to all Barbican Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including individuals who enquire about our services, receive quotations, book appointments, or otherwise interact with us.

We process personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy is intended to inform you about your rights and our responsibilities in relation to the personal information we handle.

1. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for the provision, administration, and improvement of our services. The types of data we may collect include:

Identity details such as your name and, where relevant, business name.
Contact details including address, email address, and telephone number.
Service information such as property access instructions, cleaning requirements, appointment preferences, and notes about the work requested.
Billing and payment information such as payment status, transaction records, and invoice details.
Communications including enquiries, complaints, feedback, and correspondence.
Technical data if you interact with our digital services, such as device type, browser information, and basic usage data where applicable.

We may also receive personal data from third parties where necessary to deliver our services, such as letting agents, landlords, property managers, or building representatives who arrange cleaning services on your behalf. In those cases, we expect those third parties to have a lawful basis for sharing the information with us.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data to carry out our services efficiently and lawfully. Typical uses include:

Providing quotations and booking appointments.
Delivering carpet cleaning and related services.
Managing customer accounts, invoices, and payments.
Communicating with you about service updates, changes, or follow-up matters.
Responding to enquiries, complaints, and feedback.
Maintaining internal records and service histories.
Meeting legal, regulatory, insurance, and accounting obligations.
Improving our services, processes, and customer experience.

We do not use your personal data for unrelated purposes unless permitted by law or with your consent where required.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. Depending on the context, we rely on one or more of the following bases:

Contract

We process your data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes processing needed to provide quotes, confirm bookings, complete services, issue invoices, and manage payments.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain information to comply with legal obligations, including tax, accounting, record-keeping, and regulatory 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 maintaining service records, handling customer communications, preventing fraud, improving operations, and defending legal claims.

Consent

Where required by law, we will rely on your consent. If we ask for consent, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before it was withdrawn.

4. How We Share Personal Data

We may share personal data with carefully selected service providers and other third parties only where necessary and appropriate. These recipients may act as data processors or, in some cases, independent controllers.

Examples of recipients include:

Payment processors that handle card or electronic payments.
IT and cloud service providers that support data storage, security, and business administration.
Accountants or professional advisers where required for tax, audit, or legal support.
Insurance providers and claims handlers if an incident or dispute needs to be addressed.
Property managers, landlords, or agents where they arranged the service and need appropriate job-related information.
Public authorities if disclosure is required by law or to protect our rights, staff, customers, or property.

We require processors to handle personal data securely and only in accordance with our instructions and data protection law. We do not sell your personal data.

5. International Transfers

If any of our service providers store or process data outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place. These may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or other lawful transfer mechanisms designed to protect your personal data to a standard equivalent to UK law.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Retention periods depend on the type of information and the reason it is held.

Service records and invoices may be retained for accounting and tax purposes for the period required by law.
Customer communications may be retained for a reasonable period to manage follow-up queries, complaints, or disputes.
Operational notes are retained only as long as needed to deliver and document services.

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

7. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff awareness, and limiting access to those who need it for legitimate business purposes.

Although we take reasonable steps to safeguard information, no system can be guaranteed completely secure. If a data breach occurs that is likely to pose a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will handle it in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

8. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These may include:

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 information.
Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – to ask us to limit processing in certain situations.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format, where the legal conditions are met.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent.

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

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and property-related customers. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in a family or household context and collected lawfully. If we become aware that we have collected data improperly, we will take appropriate steps to remove it.

10. Marketing Communications

We may send service-related communications where necessary to fulfil a booking, provide updates, or manage a customer relationship. We will only send marketing communications where permitted by law, and where consent or another lawful basis applies. You may opt out of marketing at any time where applicable.

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 processing practices. Any revised version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is handled.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

Barbican Carpet Cleaners is committed to processing personal data fairly, lawfully, and transparently. We collect only the information we need, use it for legitimate business purposes, retain it for no longer than necessary, and protect it through appropriate safeguards. This policy applies to all Barbican Carpet Cleaners customers in the area and supports our commitment to privacy, trust, and compliance.

By using our services, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed in line with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws.

Last reviewed: This policy should be reviewed regularly to ensure continued compliance with data protection requirements.