Hammersmith Cleaners Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Hammersmith Cleaners collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data of its customers and prospective customers located in the Hammersmith area. It is intended to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, and it applies to all individuals who use our cleaning services or interact with us in relation to those services.

Who we are

Hammersmith Cleaners is a cleaning services provider operating in the Hammersmith area. In relation to the personal data we collect, we act as a data controller. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed and are responsible for ensuring that such processing is carried out lawfully and securely.

Scope of this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all customers and prospective customers of Hammersmith Cleaners within the Hammersmith area. It covers data collected through our service bookings, enquiries, customer service interactions, and any other contact you have with us in connection with our cleaning services.

What personal data we collect

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

Identification and contact details, including your name, home or business address in the Hammersmith area, and any other address where you request cleaning services to be provided.

Service and booking information, including details of the services you request, dates and times of bookings, property access arrangements, and any special instructions you choose to share with us.

Billing and payment details, such as information required to process payments and keep proper business and tax records. Payment card details are typically processed by secure payment processors and are not stored by us beyond what is necessary for transaction confirmation and dispute resolution.

Communication records, including the content of messages, feedback, and any complaints you submit, as well as notes from our customer service team regarding your enquiries.

Technical and usage data, which may include information about how you contact us or access our online booking facilities, such as date and time of interactions and standard technical logs. We do not intentionally collect more data than is necessary to support the provision of our services.

Lawful basis for processing your data

We process your personal data only when we have a lawful basis to do so. Depending on the context, this may include:

Contract. We process your data to enter into and perform a contract with you, for example to accept and manage your booking, provide cleaning services at the specified address, handle payments, and communicate with you about your appointments.

Legal obligation. We may process and retain certain personal data to comply with our legal obligations, such as keeping accounting and tax records or responding to requests from regulatory or law enforcement authorities where we are legally required to do so.

Legitimate interests. We may process your data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This may include activities such as managing our relationship with you, improving our services, training staff, and protecting our business from fraud or misuse.

Consent. In limited cases, we may rely on your explicit consent, for example for specific types of direct marketing communications that require consent. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time, and we will stop processing your data for that purpose.

How we use your personal data

We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:

To provide and manage cleaning services, including arranging and confirming appointments, sending reminders or updates, and ensuring that our staff can access the property safely and follow your instructions.

To manage customer relationships, including responding to your queries, handling feedback and complaints, and keeping records of our interactions so we can provide consistent and effective support.

To process payments and maintain financial records, including issuing invoices, processing refunds where applicable, and maintaining accurate accounts for reporting and audit purposes.

To improve our services, including analysing anonymised or aggregated information about service usage and customer preferences to help us understand demand and enhance our offerings and processes.

To protect our business and comply with the law, including preventing fraud, enforcing our terms and conditions, and cooperating with law enforcement or regulatory bodies when required.

Use of data processors and third parties

We sometimes use third party service providers, known as data processors, to help us deliver our services and manage our business. These may include payment processing providers, scheduling and booking platforms, customer relationship management tools, cloud storage or document management services, and professional advisers such as accountants.

Where we engage processors, we ensure that they only process your personal data on our documented instructions, in accordance with data protection law, and subject to appropriate confidentiality and security obligations. They are not permitted to use your personal data for their own purposes.

We may also share personal data with third parties acting as independent data controllers where this is necessary for legal or regulatory reasons, such as with tax authorities, law enforcement, or other public bodies, but only to the extent required by law.

International data transfers

Where possible, we aim to keep your personal data within the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area. If we use processors or tools that involve transfers of personal data to countries that do not provide the same level of data protection as the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. This may include using standard contractual clauses or equivalent legal mechanisms to protect your data.

Data retention and storage

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

In general, we keep customer and booking records for as long as you remain an active customer and for a period after your last interaction, in line with limitation periods for potential legal claims and our tax and accounting obligations. When data is no longer needed, we will either delete it securely or anonymise it so that you can no longer be identified.

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, or disclosure. While no system can be completely secure, we regularly review our practices to maintain a reasonable level of protection appropriate to the nature of the data we hold.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, and subject to certain conditions and exemptions, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

Right of access. You have the right to obtain confirmation of whether we process your personal data and to request a copy of the data we hold about you.

Right to rectification. You can ask us to correct or complete any inaccurate or incomplete personal data concerning you.

Right to erasure. In some circumstances, you may request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or where you withdraw consent and there is no other lawful basis for processing.

Right to restriction. You can request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as while we verify its accuracy or assess an objection you have raised.

Right to object. You may object to our processing of your personal data where we are relying on legitimate interests as our lawful basis, including for direct marketing. We will stop processing unless we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests or where processing is required for legal claims.

Right to data portability. Where we process your personal data based on consent or contract by automated means, you may have the right to receive that data in a structured, commonly used, and machine readable format and to request that we transmit it to another controller where technically feasible.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority if you are concerned about how your personal data is being handled. We encourage you to contact us in the first instance so we can address your concerns directly.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or data protection practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is made available, and we recommend that you review it periodically to stay informed about how we handle your personal data.