Privacy Policy - East Ham Carpet Cleaners

Last updated: 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how East Ham Carpet Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all East Ham Carpet Cleaners customers in area, including current, former, and prospective customers, as well as anyone who contacts us to request a quotation, book a service, or make an enquiry.

We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy is intended to help you understand what data we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, who processes it on our behalf, and what rights you have.

1. Who We Are

East Ham Carpet Cleaners provides carpet cleaning and related cleaning services to customers in East Ham and nearby local areas. For the purposes of data protection law, we act as the data controller for the personal information we collect and determine how and why it is used.

We only process personal data where there is a lawful basis to do so, and we limit collection to information that is necessary for our business operations, customer communication, service delivery, and legal compliance.

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 your business or property manager.
Contact data such as telephone number, email address, and service address.
Booking and service data such as appointment details, cleaning preferences, service notes, and information about the areas to be cleaned.
Payment data such as payment status, transaction references, and billing information. We do not store full card details if payment is processed securely through a payment provider.
Communication data such as enquiries, messages, feedback, complaints, and correspondence history.
Technical data such as basic device or browser information if you interact with our digital systems or forms.
Marketing preferences such as whether you wish to receive updates, offers, or follow-up messages.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and you have provided it voluntarily, for example if you share information about allergies, access needs, or health conditions relevant to the service. Where such data is provided, we process it with additional care and only when a valid legal condition applies.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To provide quotations, arrange bookings, and deliver carpet cleaning services.
To communicate with you about appointments, access arrangements, service changes, and completion details.
To process payments, maintain records, and manage accounts.
To respond to questions, complaints, or requests made by you.
To improve our services, customer care, and operational efficiency.
To comply with legal obligations, accounting requirements, and business record-keeping duties.
To prevent fraud, misuse, or other unlawful activity.
To send marketing communications where permitted and where you have not opted out.

We only use your data in ways that are compatible with the original purpose for which it was collected, unless we reasonably need to use it for another lawful and relevant purpose.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must identify a lawful basis for processing your personal data. Depending on the context, we rely on the following bases:

Performance of a contract

We process your data when it is necessary to provide a quote, arrange a booking, carry out cleaning services, take payment, or manage customer service relating to the service contract.

Legitimate interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include maintaining service records, handling enquiries, improving our services, and protecting our business from fraud or misuse. We always assess whether our interests are proportionate before relying on this basis.

Legal obligation

We may need to keep and process certain data to comply with tax laws, accounting rules, consumer law, insurance requirements, or other legal duties.

Consent

Where required, we may rely on your consent, especially for certain marketing communications or for optional processing of sensitive information. You have the right to withdraw consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Vital interests or public task

These bases are unlikely to apply in normal business circumstances, but if there were an urgent safety or legal situation, they may be relevant.

5. Data Sharing and Processors

We do not sell personal data. We may share data only where necessary and lawful. In some cases, we use trusted third-party processors who process personal data on our behalf under written contractual terms and only on our instructions.

Typical processors may include:

IT and hosting providers that store or secure business records and communications.
Payment service providers that process card or online payments securely.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers that help with invoices, tax records, and financial administration.
Customer communication tools used to manage emails, messaging, or appointment reminders.
Professional advisers such as insurers, lawyers, or accountants where necessary for legal, financial, or operational purposes.

We may also disclose data where required by law, regulation, court order, or to protect our rights, property, customers, staff, or the public. Any processor acting for us must protect your data and may not use it for their own purposes.

6. International Transfers

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

7. Data Retention

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

Enquiry data may be kept for a limited period to manage follow-up communication and business records.
Booking and service records may be retained for customer service, warranty, dispute handling, and operational purposes.
Financial and accounting records are retained for the period required by law.
Marketing preferences are kept as long as needed to respect your choices.

When data is no longer required, we delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you. We review retention regularly to ensure information is not kept longer than necessary.

8. Security of Your Data

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

Although no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain a high standard of data protection and to reduce risks wherever possible.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights regarding your personal data. These rights may be subject to legal limits and exemptions, but we will always assess your request carefully.

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

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within the time limits set by law, unless your request is complex or excessive.

10. Marketing Communications

We may send service-related communications where they are necessary for appointments, follow-up care, or administration. We will only send marketing messages where permitted by law. You can opt out of marketing at any time, and we will respect your choice promptly.

Important: opting out of marketing will not stop us from contacting you about active bookings, invoices, or essential service matters.

11. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adult customers and property-related service users. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children as part of normal business operations. If we become aware that data has been collected from a child without appropriate authorisation, we will take steps to delete it where required.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, our services, or our internal procedures. The most recent version will apply to your use of our services and to any data processing carried out by East Ham Carpet Cleaners.

We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their personal data is handled.

13. Summary of Our Commitments

In summary, East Ham Carpet Cleaners will only collect data that is relevant and necessary, use it for clear and lawful purposes, keep it secure, share it only with trusted processors or where required by law, and retain it only for as long as needed. We respect your privacy rights and are committed to lawful, transparent, and responsible data protection practices for all East Ham Carpet Cleaners customers in area.