Privacy Policy - Ham Carpet Cleaners

Ham Carpet Cleaners is committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of all customers in our service area. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal information in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. It applies to all Ham Carpet Cleaners customers in the area, including anyone who contacts us, requests a quotation, books a service, receives a service, or otherwise interacts with us.

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of data protection law, Ham Carpet Cleaners acts as the data controller in relation to the personal information we collect and process. This means we determine the purposes and means of processing personal data where we handle it for our own business operations, including service delivery, administration, customer care, billing, and legal compliance.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal information that is necessary for providing our services and managing our business. The types of data we may collect include:

Identity information such as your name.
Contact details such as your address, phone number, and email address.
Service information such as the type of carpet cleaning requested, property details relevant to the job, appointment history, and service preferences.
Payment-related information such as transaction status and billing records. We do not intentionally store full card details unless required and securely handled through payment providers.
Communication records such as enquiries, complaints, feedback, and notes from calls, messages, or emails.
Technical data such as basic website usage information if you visit our online services, including device and browser information, where applicable.

We do not collect more information than we need, and we do not knowingly collect special category data unless it is necessary and lawful to do so. If you voluntarily provide information that is sensitive, we will only use it where there is a valid legal basis and appropriate safeguards.

3. How We Use Your Personal Data

We process personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotations.
To schedule, manage, and deliver cleaning services.
To communicate about bookings, changes, or service updates.
To process payments and maintain financial records.
To handle complaints, disputes, and customer support requests.
To maintain internal records and improve our services.
To comply with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations.
To protect our business from fraud, misuse, or other unlawful activity.

We use your information only for purposes that are compatible, relevant, and necessary for the services we provide and for legitimate business administration.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for each type of processing activity. We rely on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes taking bookings, delivering cleaning services, issuing invoices, and managing service-related communications.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include managing customer relationships, improving service quality, preventing fraud, and maintaining secure business operations.

Legal Obligation

We process certain data where required to comply with legal obligations, such as tax laws, accounting rules, and recordkeeping requirements.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example if we send certain types of marketing communications where consent is required by law. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

We do not rely on consent where another lawful basis is more appropriate.

5. How We Share Personal Data

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who help us operate our business and deliver our services. These third parties act as processors or, in some cases, independent controllers depending on the context.

Examples of processors and service providers may include:

Payment processors for secure payment handling.
IT and hosting providers for storing or supporting business systems.
Communication providers for sending appointment-related messages.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers for financial administration.
Administrative and scheduling tools used to manage bookings and records.

We only share personal data when necessary, and we require processors to handle it securely, confidentially, and only on our instructions. We do not sell personal data.

We may also disclose information if required by law, to comply with legal processes, to protect our rights, or to prevent unlawful activity.

6. International Transfers

If any service provider processes data outside the UK, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal information. This may include the use of adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or other recognised transfer mechanisms permitted under UK data protection law.

7. 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 may vary depending on the nature of the information and the reason for processing.

Customer service records are typically retained for a reasonable period after the service is completed in case of follow-up, dispute resolution, or quality review.
Financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law.
Communication records may be kept for as long as needed to manage enquiries or ongoing business relationships.
Marketing preferences are kept until you withdraw consent or object, where applicable.

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

8. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and careful management of third-party systems.

While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we take data protection seriously and review our safeguards regularly.

9. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be subject to legal limitations or conditions, but we will always consider your request carefully. Your rights 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 how we use your data in certain cases.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability – to request transfer of certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to complain to the relevant data protection authority if you believe your personal data has been handled unlawfully or unfairly. We encourage you to raise concerns with us first so we can try to resolve them promptly.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and business or household customers arranging carpet cleaning services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If we become aware that we have collected a child’s data without appropriate legal basis, we will take steps to delete it promptly.

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 protection practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is used.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

At Ham Carpet Cleaners, we aim to process personal data fairly, lawfully, and transparently. We only collect the information needed to provide and improve our services, retain it for no longer than necessary, and protect it with appropriate safeguards. We also respect your rights and will respond to valid data protection requests in accordance with applicable law.

This Privacy Policy applies to all Ham Carpet Cleaners customers in the area and is designed to support clear, lawful, and responsible data handling.