Privacy Policy - Chiswick Cleaners

Effective date: This Privacy Policy applies to all Chiswick Cleaners customers in the area and explains how we collect, use, store, and protect personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Introduction

Chiswick Cleaners is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information fairly, transparently, and securely. This Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, the legal basis on which we rely, how long we keep it, who may process it on our behalf, and what rights you have over your data.

By using our services, you acknowledge that we may process personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. We only collect and use information that is necessary to provide our cleaning services, manage our business operations, comply with legal obligations, and improve the quality of our services.

2. Personal Data We Collect

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

• Identity data such as your name and, where relevant, the name of a business or property owner.
• Contact data such as your address, email address, and telephone number.
• Service data such as service type, booking details, cleaning preferences, special instructions, and appointment history.
• Payment data such as billing information and payment status. We do not intentionally store full card details where secure payment processing is used.
• Communication data such as messages, complaints, requests, feedback, and notes relating to customer support.
• Technical data where applicable, such as basic device and usage information if you interact with digital booking or communication tools.
• Site access data where necessary for operational purposes, including access instructions, security notes, and service-related entry details.

We may also receive personal data indirectly from third parties, for example when a landlord, managing agent, family member, or representative books a service on your behalf. In such cases, we rely on the person providing the data to ensure it is accurate and that they are entitled to share it.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

• to provide and manage cleaning services;
• to confirm bookings, reschedule appointments, and deliver service updates;
• to process payments, refunds, invoices, and account records;
• to communicate with you about your service or customer support requests;
• to record preferences, access instructions, and safety-related information;
• to maintain internal administration, planning, and service quality;
• to comply with legal, tax, insurance, or regulatory obligations;
• to handle disputes, complaints, or claims;
• to improve our operations and customer experience.

We only process the information necessary for these purposes and aim to keep our data handling limited, relevant, and proportionate.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for each type of processing. Chiswick Cleaners relies on the following legal bases:

Contract

We process your data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes managing bookings, delivering cleaning services, confirming appointments, and handling payment-related administration.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This may include maintaining records, improving service quality, preventing fraud, responding to customer issues, and protecting our business and customers.

Legal Obligation

We may retain and use information where necessary to comply with legal obligations, including tax, accounting, employment, and regulatory requirements.

Consent

Where required, we will ask for your consent before processing your personal data. For example, if we use optional marketing communications or certain non-essential technologies, we will rely on your consent and you may withdraw it at any time.

5. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third-party service providers who act as data processors on our behalf. These processors only handle personal data according to our instructions and under appropriate confidentiality and security obligations.

Examples of processors may include:

• Payment service providers for secure transaction handling;
• Accounting and bookkeeping providers for financial administration;
• IT and cloud service providers for secure storage, communication, and business systems;
• Customer administration tools used for scheduling, invoicing, or record management;
• Professional advisers such as lawyers, accountants, or insurers where necessary;
• Public authorities where we are legally required to disclose information.

We do not sell your personal data. If information must be transferred outside the UK, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place so that your data remains protected in line with applicable law.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. Retention periods depend on the type of information and the reason it is held.

• Customer and booking records are generally retained for the period needed to provide services and manage any follow-up issues.
• Financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law and standard accounting practices.
• Communication records may be retained for a reasonable period to manage complaints, confirm instructions, and maintain service history.
• Legal or dispute-related records may be retained longer where necessary to defend or establish legal claims.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you. Our retention practices are based on the principles of data minimisation and storage limitation.

7. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, unlawful destruction, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. Access to personal data is limited to people and service providers who need it to perform their duties.

Although no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we regularly review our handling practices to reduce risks and maintain confidentiality. Any suspected data breach will be investigated and, where required, reported in accordance with applicable law.

8. Your Rights

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

• Right of access – you can request confirmation of whether we process your data and receive a copy of it.
• Right to rectification – you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Right to erasure – you may request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to restriction – you may ask us to limit processing in specific situations.
• Right to object – you may object to processing based on legitimate interests, and in some cases to direct marketing.
• Right to data portability – you may request that certain data be provided to you or transferred to another controller, where technically feasible.
• Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond in accordance with applicable legal timeframes. In some cases, we may need to verify your identity before taking action to protect your information.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and households. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is incidental to providing services to an adult customer, and then only when necessary and appropriate. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child without proper authority, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in legal requirements, business practices, or the way we provide our services. Any changes will take effect when published in the updated policy. We encourage you to review this page periodically so that you remain informed about how we protect your personal data.

11. Summary of Key Points

This policy explains how Chiswick Cleaners handles personal information for all customers in the area. We collect only the data needed to provide cleaning services, manage customer accounts, and comply with legal obligations. We process information on the lawful bases of contract, legitimate interests, consent, and legal obligation. We retain data only as long as necessary, use trusted processors under strict controls, and respect your rights under UK GDPR.

Our commitment is to handle your data in a way that is fair, secure, and transparent, while keeping your privacy at the centre of everything we do.