Privacy Policy - Cleaner Richmond

This Privacy Policy explains how Cleaner Richmond collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing cleaning services to customers in the Richmond area. It applies to all Cleaner Richmond customers in the area, including residential and commercial clients, and to anyone who interacts with us in connection with a booking, enquiry, service visit, or payment.

1. Introduction

Cleaner Richmond is committed to protecting personal data and respecting privacy rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We process personal data fairly, lawfully, and transparently. This policy is intended to help you understand what information we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, who may process it on our behalf, and what rights you have.

By using our services, making an enquiry, or otherwise providing information to us, you acknowledge the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

2. Data We Collect

We collect only the personal data necessary to provide our services effectively and manage our business. The categories of information we may collect include:

Identity details, such as your name and title.
Contact details, such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service information, such as booking dates, service preferences, cleaning instructions, access arrangements, and notes relevant to the service requested.
Payment information, such as billing details, payment status, and transaction records. We do not need to store full card details if payments are processed by a payment provider.
Communication records, including emails, messages, complaint information, and customer support history.
Technical and usage data if you interact with our online systems, such as IP address, browser type, device information, and basic analytics data.
Special instructions that you voluntarily provide, which may include access needs or preferences related to the cleaning service.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless you choose to provide it and it is necessary for service delivery or legal compliance. Where such data is collected, we will handle it with enhanced care and only where a lawful basis applies.

3. How We Use Your Data

Cleaner Richmond uses personal data for the following purposes:

To manage enquiries and provide quotations.
To schedule and deliver cleaning services.
To communicate with customers about bookings, changes, cancellations, and service updates.
To issue invoices, process payments, and maintain financial records.
To respond to complaints, requests, or service issues.
To maintain internal records and improve our services.
To comply with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations.
To protect against fraud, misuse, and security incidents.

We only use personal data where it is necessary and proportionate to the purpose stated. We do not sell personal data.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal data. Cleaner Richmond relies 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, providing cleaning services, managing service changes, and handling payments.

Legal Obligation

We process certain data where it is necessary to comply with legal obligations, such as tax, accounting, insurance, safeguarding, or record-keeping requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. These interests may include managing our business operations, improving services, preventing fraud, maintaining security, and keeping appropriate internal records.

Consent

Where we rely on consent, we will ask for it clearly and separately. You may withdraw your consent at any time, and we will stop the relevant processing unless another lawful basis applies.

5. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as processors on our behalf. These processors are only allowed to use personal data according to our instructions and are required to keep it secure and confidential. Examples may include:

Booking and scheduling providers that help manage appointments.
Payment service providers that handle transactions securely.
IT and cloud service providers that store systems, documents, or backup data.
Communication providers used for email, messaging, or customer service tools.
Professional advisers, including accountants, insurers, or legal advisers, where necessary.

We may also disclose personal data if required by law, court order, or a lawful request from a public authority. If we need to transfer data outside the UK, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place so that your information remains protected.

6. Data Retention

Cleaner Richmond keeps personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by law. Retention periods depend on the type of record and the legal or operational requirement involved.

Customer service and booking records are kept for as long as needed to manage the service relationship and handle follow-up issues.
Financial and tax records are generally kept for the period required by accounting and tax laws.
Communication records may be retained for a reasonable period to support customer support, dispute handling, and business continuity.
Technical records are kept for security, diagnostics, and system management purposes only for as long as needed.

When data is no longer required, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it no longer identifies you.

7. 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, limited staff access, and appropriate contractual safeguards with processors.

While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we take reasonable steps to reduce risk and respond promptly to any suspected breach.

8. Your Rights

Depending on the circumstances and applicable law, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

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 data.
Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data in certain situations.
Right to restriction – to request limits on how we use your data in certain cases.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to raise concerns with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve any issue directly.

9. Children’s Data

Our cleaning services are not intended for children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is incidentally provided in connection with a household booking or service arrangement. If we become aware that we have collected data unlawfully, we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

10. Automated Decision-Making

Cleaner Richmond does not use fully automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects. If this changes in the future, we will update this policy and provide appropriate information about how such processing works and your rights in relation to it.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law, our services, or our data handling practices. When we make changes, we will revise the policy accordingly and make the updated version available where appropriate. We encourage you to review this policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we protect your information.

12. Summary of Key Principles

We collect only what we need to provide cleaning services and manage our business.
We process data lawfully using contract, legal obligation, legitimate interests, or consent where applicable.
We retain data only as long as necessary and then delete or anonymise it securely.
We use trusted processors under binding instructions and security controls.
We respect your rights and aim to respond to requests promptly and fairly.

This Privacy Policy applies to all Cleaner Richmond customers in the area and is intended to provide clear, transparent information about how personal data is handled in connection with our services.