Privacy Policy
Gardeners Swiss Cottage Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Swiss Cottage collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data of its customers and prospective customers. It applies to all Gardeners Swiss Cottage customers and potential customers within the service area, whether you contact us online, by post, or in person.
We are committed to handling your personal data in compliance with the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation and associated data protection laws. Please read this policy carefully to understand how and why we use your information.
Who This Policy Applies To
This Privacy Policy applies to all individuals in the Gardeners Swiss Cottage service area who:
Make enquiries about our gardening or related services, become or are current customers, are former customers whose details we still hold in line with our retention periods, or act on behalf of a customer, such as a landlord, tenant, property manager, or other representative.
By providing us with your personal data, or by using our services, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy.
Personal Data We Collect
We only collect personal data that is necessary to provide and manage our services. The types of data we may collect include:
Identification and contact details, such as your name, postal address, service address, and any other address details you choose to provide, together with any non electronic contact information you choose to share.
Service and contract information, such as details of the gardening services requested or provided, site access instructions, property characteristics relevant to the work, service history, invoices, and records of payments.
Communication records, such as notes of conversations, letters you send to us, and any messages or instructions you give us during the course of our relationship.
Usage and preference information, such as your preferred days and times for visits, preferred methods of communication, and any specific requirements relevant to your garden or property.
How We Collect Your Data
We collect personal data in several ways, including:
Directly from you when you make an enquiry, request a quotation, enter into an agreement for our services, or communicate with us for any reason.
Through our ongoing relationship with you, when we record details relating to the services we provide, work carried out at your property, or changes you request.
From third parties, where lawful and appropriate, for example where a landlord, tenant, or managing agent provides your details so that we can arrange gardening services at a property.
Lawful Basis for Processing Your Personal Data
We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection laws. Depending on the context, we rely on the following lawful bases:
Contract: We process your personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, such as preparing a quote, and then delivering and managing the agreed gardening services.
Legal obligation: We may process your data where necessary to comply with legal obligations, such as maintaining certain tax or accounting records.
Legitimate interests: We may process your data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This can include managing our relationship with you, scheduling work efficiently, maintaining and improving our services, and addressing any queries or complaints.
Consent: In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time, although this will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:
To provide and manage gardening and related services, including visiting your property, carrying out agreed work, and managing follow up visits.
To prepare and issue quotations, invoices, receipts, and other service documentation.
To communicate with you about bookings, access arrangements, changes to services, and any issues that arise during the provision of services.
To manage our business operations, such as record keeping, accounting, budgeting, planning routes and schedules, and monitoring service quality.
To comply with legal and regulatory requirements, including tax and accounting rules.
To protect our rights, property, and safety, and those of our staff, customers, and others, including managing and resolving disputes.
Data Sharing and Processors
We do not sell your personal data. We may share your personal data with third parties only where necessary and lawful. These third parties may act as data processors and will only process your data on our instructions.
This may include:
Service providers who support our business, such as bookkeeping or accountancy services and administrative support providers.
Professional advisers, such as legal or financial advisers, where necessary to obtain advice or protect our interests.
Public authorities, regulators, or law enforcement agencies, where we are required to do so by law or where disclosure is necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others.
Where we use processors, we take steps to ensure they provide appropriate safeguards and that your personal data is protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy and data protection laws.
Data Retention
We keep your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and to meet any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
In general:
Basic customer and contract information, including your name, address, service history, and invoices, is usually retained for up to seven years after the end of our relationship, to comply with tax and accounting obligations and in case of queries or disputes.
Enquiry information, where no contract is formed, may be retained for a shorter period, typically up to two years, unless you request earlier deletion where appropriate.
We may retain information for longer where necessary in connection with a dispute, investigation, or legal claim, in which case it will be kept only as long as needed for those purposes.
When personal data is no longer required, we will delete it or anonymise it so that you can no longer be identified.
International Transfers
Our services are primarily provided within our local service area, and we aim to keep personal data within the United Kingdom where possible. If, in limited cases, your data needs to be transferred outside the United Kingdom, we will take steps to ensure an appropriate level of protection, such as using standard contractual clauses or other safeguards permitted by data protection law.
How We Protect Your Data
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure, or access. These measures include restricting access to personal data to those who need it for legitimate business purposes, using secure methods for storing records, and periodically reviewing our security practices.
While we make every effort to protect your information, no system can be entirely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee the absolute security of your data, but we are committed to taking reasonable and proportionate steps to safeguard it.
Your Data Protection Rights
Under data protection law, you have several rights in relation to your personal data. These rights are not absolute and may be subject to certain conditions and exemptions, but we will always respond to you in accordance with the law. Your rights include:
The right of access: You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, together with information about how and why we process it.
The right to rectification: You can ask us to correct or complete any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.
The right to erasure: In certain circumstances, you can request that we delete your personal data. This is sometimes known as the right to be forgotten.
The right to restrict processing: In certain circumstances, you can ask us to restrict the way we use your personal data.
The right to data portability: In some cases, you may ask us to provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine readable format, and to transmit it to another controller where this is technically feasible.
The right to object: You may object to processing based on our legitimate interests, in which case we will stop processing your data unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue.
The right to withdraw consent: Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.
If you wish to exercise any of these rights, you should contact us using your usual contact method for Gardeners Swiss Cottage. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request.
Complaints
If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, we encourage you to raise them with us in the first instance so that we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority in the United Kingdom.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, services, or legal obligations. When we make significant changes, we will take reasonable steps to bring them to your attention. The most current version of this policy will apply to our use of your personal data.
By continuing to use our services after any changes come into effect, you acknowledge the updated Privacy Policy as applying to your continued use of Gardeners Swiss Cottage services within our service area.
