Privacy Policy - Gardeners Aldwych

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Aldwych collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data relating to all customers in the area. It applies to every customer who makes an enquiry, receives a quotation, books a service, communicates with us, or otherwise uses our gardening services. 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.

We respect your privacy and aim to collect only the information we need to provide services efficiently, manage customer relationships, maintain records, and meet legal obligations. This policy is written to help you understand what data we process, why we process it, how long we keep it, who may process it on our behalf, and what rights you have over your personal data.

1. Who this policy applies to

This policy applies to all Gardeners Aldwych customers in area, including prospective customers, active customers, former customers, and anyone who contacts us for information about our services. It also applies where we process data about household representatives, property managers, and other individuals whose details are supplied to us in connection with our services.

Please read this policy carefully so you can understand how your information is handled when you use our services.

2. What personal data we collect

We may collect and process a range of personal data depending on how you interact with us and the type of service requested. The information we collect may include:

Identity data such as your name and title.
Contact data such as address, telephone number, and email address.
Service data such as details of the gardening work requested, property access instructions, preferred service times, and job history.
Payment and billing data such as invoice details, payment status, and transaction records.
Communication data such as messages, calls, feedback, complaints, and notes relating to customer enquiries.
Technical data where relevant, such as basic device or browser information if you interact with digital systems used for administration.
Operational data such as service preferences, attendance records, and appointment information.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and lawful to do so, and usually only where you choose to provide it or where it is required for a specific legal or administrative reason. We ask that you only share information that is relevant to the services requested.

3. How we use your personal data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotations.
To deliver gardening services and manage bookings.
To maintain service records and customer preferences.
To issue invoices, process payments, and manage accounts.
To communicate about appointments, changes, and service updates.
To handle complaints, feedback, and requests.
To comply with legal, tax, accounting, and insurance requirements.
To improve our services, internal processes, and customer experience.

We will only use your data where we have a valid reason under data protection law. We do not sell your personal information and we do not use it for unrelated purposes without a lawful basis.

4. Lawful basis for processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. Gardeners Aldwych relies on the following lawful bases as appropriate:

Contract

We process data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, such as arranging services, managing bookings, and issuing invoices.

Legitimate interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights and interests do not override those interests. This may include maintaining service records, improving operations, preventing misuse, and responding to customer queries.

Legal obligation

We may process data to comply with legal obligations, including accounting, tax, recordkeeping, and regulatory requirements.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where you voluntarily choose to receive certain communications or provide optional information. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

We always aim to ensure the legal basis used is appropriate to the specific purpose of processing.

5. Sharing and processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who process data on our behalf, known as processors. These parties are only permitted to use your data in line with our instructions and applicable law. Typical processors may include:

IT and hosting providers that support our administrative systems and data storage.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers who assist with invoicing, tax, and financial records.
Payment service providers that handle card or electronic payments where applicable.
Communication service providers used for messages, scheduling, or customer administration.
Professional advisers such as legal, tax, or insurance advisers where needed.

We may also disclose data if required by law, by a court order, or to protect our rights, property, staff, customers, or the public. Where personal data is shared with a processor, we take reasonable steps to ensure appropriate confidentiality, security, and contractual safeguards are in place.

We do not permit processors to use your data for their own independent purposes.

6. Data retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and why it is held.

Customer and service records are generally retained for the period needed to manage the service relationship and address any follow-up matters.
Financial and accounting records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Communication records may be retained for a reasonable period to support service history, dispute resolution, and customer care.
Legal and insurance-related records may be kept for longer where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

When data is no longer required, we will securely delete, anonymise, or archive it in accordance with our retention practices. Retention is reviewed periodically to ensure data is not kept longer than necessary.

7. Data security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures are designed to reflect the nature of the data we process and the risks involved.

Although no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to use reasonable protections and limit access to personal data to those who need it for legitimate business purposes. We also expect any processors we use to maintain suitable security standards.

8. Your rights

Under data protection law, you may have the following rights in relation to 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 circumstances.
Right to restrict processing – to request that we limit how we use your data in certain cases.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests in certain situations.
Right to data portability – to receive 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 raise concerns about how your data is handled. If you believe your personal data has been used incorrectly, you may seek a review of the matter and request further information about our processes. We aim to respond to rights requests within the time limits set by law.

9. International transfers

Where personal data is processed outside the UK, we will take appropriate steps to ensure it is protected in line with applicable data protection requirements. This may include using approved safeguards and checking that processors apply suitable security and legal protections.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect legal, operational, or service changes. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is handled.

11. Summary of our approach

Gardeners Aldwych is committed to processing personal data responsibly, securely, and only where necessary. We collect limited information needed to provide gardening services, administer customer accounts, and meet our legal duties. We use appropriate lawful bases, work with trusted processors, retain information only for as long as needed, and respect the rights of all customers in area. Your privacy matters to us, and we aim to keep your data handled with care and in compliance with applicable law.