Privacy Policy for Gardeners Hammersmith Customers in the Area
This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Hammersmith collects, uses, shares, stores, and protects personal data relating to customers in the area. It applies to all Gardeners Hammersmith customers in the area, including people who enquire about our services, request quotations, book gardening work, receive ongoing maintenance, or otherwise interact with us in connection with our services. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, transparent, and secure way in line with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
1. Who We Are
Gardeners Hammersmith provides gardening and related outdoor maintenance services to customers in the area. For the purposes of data protection law, we act as the data controller when we decide why and how personal data is used. This means we are responsible for ensuring that your information is handled appropriately and that your rights are respected.
2. Personal Data We Collect
We may collect and process personal data that you provide directly to us, data that we obtain from your use of our services, and data that is supplied by third parties where permitted by law. The types of personal data we may collect include your name, address, service location, billing details, service preferences, property access instructions, communication records, and information about the gardening work you request or receive. We may also keep records of quotes, invoices, payment status, complaints, feedback, and correspondence relating to your service history.
In some cases, we may collect limited technical information when you contact us through online systems or service platforms, such as device or usage information needed to operate and secure those systems. We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and lawful to do so. If you choose to share such information with us, we will only process it where a lawful basis applies and where additional safeguards are in place.
3. How We Use Your Data
We use personal data to provide gardening services, prepare quotations, manage bookings, carry out work at your property, process payments, maintain customer records, respond to enquiries, deal with complaints, and improve our services. We may also use your data to communicate with you about service updates, appointment changes, safety matters, and contractual administration. Where permitted by law, we may use customer information for legitimate business management, record keeping, service quality monitoring, and prevention of fraud or misuse.
4. Lawful Basis for Processing
We only process personal data when we have a lawful basis under the UK GDPR. The lawful bases we rely on may include contract, when processing is necessary to provide requested services or to take steps before entering into a contract; legal obligation, when we must retain records or meet tax, accounting, or regulatory requirements; legitimate interests, when processing is necessary for the operation, improvement, and protection of our business and customers, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights; and consent, where we ask for clear permission for specific uses of data and you can withdraw that consent at any time.
If we need to process personal data for a purpose that is not covered by one of these bases, we will notify you and explain our approach before doing so.
5. Sharing Your Data and Processors
We may share personal data with carefully selected third parties that help us run our business and deliver services. These may include IT and cloud service providers, secure data storage providers, payment processors, accounting support, scheduling or customer management systems, and professional advisers such as legal or financial consultants. These third parties act as processors when they handle data on our behalf and only according to our instructions.
We require processors to implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures and to process data only for agreed purposes. We do not sell your personal data. We may also disclose information where required by law, to respond to lawful requests, to protect our rights, to prevent harm, or in connection with a business reorganisation, provided such disclosure is lawful and appropriate.
6. International Transfers
If any processor stores or accesses data outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations or other lawful transfer mechanisms recognised under data protection law.
7. Data Retention
We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including legal, accounting, tax, and service management requirements. Customer records, invoices, correspondence, and service histories are retained for periods that are reasonable and proportionate to the nature of the relationship and any legal obligations we must meet. When data is no longer needed, we securely delete it or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.
The exact retention period may vary depending on the type of record and the reason it must be kept. For example, some financial records may need to be retained for statutory periods, while general enquiry records may be deleted sooner if they are not followed by a service booking. We review retention needs periodically to ensure we are not keeping data longer than necessary.
8. Your Rights
Under data protection law, you may have the right to request access to the personal data we hold about you, to ask for correction of inaccurate or incomplete information, to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances, to object to processing based on legitimate interests, to request restriction of processing in some situations, and to request data portability where the law allows. Where we rely on consent, you also have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.
You can exercise these rights by contacting us through the contact methods provided in our service communications or website materials, where available. We may need to verify your identity before responding. These rights are not absolute and may be limited where we have a lawful reason to continue processing or keeping the data.
9. Security of Your Information
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and careful management of service records. Although no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we work to keep your data safe and to reduce the risk of security incidents.
10. Complaints and Supervisory Authority
If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, we encourage you to contact us so that we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed. We would appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns first wherever possible.
11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or data handling practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers in the area to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how Gardeners Hammersmith uses personal data.
