Privacy Policy - Gardeners West Ham

Gardeners West Ham is committed to protecting personal data and respecting privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal information when we provide gardening services. It applies to all Gardeners West Ham customers in the area, including prospective customers, current customers, and anyone who contacts us about our services.

We process personal data in a fair, lawful, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy is designed 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 in relation to your information.

1. Information We Collect

We only collect personal data that is relevant and necessary for providing our services, handling enquiries, managing bookings, and meeting legal or administrative obligations. Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of information:

Identity details such as your name.
Contact details such as your address, email address, and telephone number.
Service details such as the type of gardening work requested, property access notes, scheduling preferences, and service history.
Payment information such as transaction records, invoices, and payment status. We do not store card details unless this is necessary for a specific payment process and permitted by law.
Communication records including messages, service requests, feedback, complaints, and notes from telephone or email correspondence.
Technical information if you visit any digital service we use, such as basic device or usage data generated by security or analytics tools.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is clearly necessary and you have provided it voluntarily, or a legal basis applies. Special category data includes information about health, religion, ethnicity, or similar sensitive information.

2. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data only for legitimate business purposes connected to our gardening services. This may include:

Responding to enquiries and providing quotations.
Scheduling and delivering gardening services.
Managing customer records and service history.
Processing payments and maintaining financial records.
Communicating about appointments, service changes, or follow-up work.
Handling complaints, disputes, and insurance matters.
Meeting legal, accounting, tax, and regulatory obligations.
Improving service quality, administration, and operational efficiency.

We do not sell personal data, and we do not use personal data for purposes incompatible with the reasons it was collected.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process personal data only where we have a lawful basis under the UK GDPR. Depending on the situation, one or more of the following bases may apply:

Contract

We process information when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, such as arranging garden maintenance, landscaping, or related services.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is in our legitimate interests to run and improve our business, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include responding to enquiries, managing customer accounts, keeping service records, or protecting our business from fraud and misuse.

Legal Obligation

We may retain and use certain information to comply with legal obligations, such as tax, accounting, insurance, or record-keeping requirements.

Consent

Where required, we will rely on your consent. If consent is used as the basis for processing, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

4. Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties only when necessary for service delivery, administration, legal compliance, or business operations. These third parties act as processors or independent controllers depending on the service they provide.

Examples of processors may include:

IT and hosting providers that support secure data storage and system maintenance.
Accounting and bookkeeping services used for invoicing, tax records, and financial administration.
Payment service providers that handle payment processing securely.
Communication tools used to manage emails, messaging, or appointment reminders.
Professional advisers such as insurers, legal advisers, or auditors where necessary.

All processors are required to protect personal data, process it only on our instructions where applicable, and implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures. We do not allow processors to use personal data for their own unrelated purposes.

We may also disclose information if required by law, court order, or a lawful request from a public authority.

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as long as required by law. Retention periods depend on the type of information and the context in which it was collected.

Enquiry records may be kept for a reasonable period to follow up on service requests and maintain business continuity.
Customer and service records are retained for the duration of the service relationship and for an additional period where needed for administration, warranty issues, or disputes.
Financial and tax records are kept for the period required by applicable accounting and tax laws.
Complaint, legal, or insurance records may be retained longer where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

6. Data Security

We use appropriate safeguards to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These safeguards may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and periodic review of our data handling practices.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to reduce risk and protect the information we hold.

7. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have certain rights regarding your personal information. These rights may be subject to legal limits and exemptions, but we will always assess each request carefully.

Right of access – you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to erasure – you may request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing – you may ask us to limit how your data is used in certain situations.
Right to object – you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to data portability – you may request certain data in a structured, commonly used format where technically feasible.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond in line with applicable legal requirements. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

8. International Transfers

If any of our processors store or access personal data outside the UK, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place so that your information remains protected in accordance with data protection law. Such safeguards may include adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or data practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated to you.

10. Summary of Our Commitments

Gardeners West Ham collects only the information needed to provide reliable gardening services, manage customer relationships, and meet our legal obligations. We process personal data on lawful grounds such as contract, legitimate interests, legal obligation, or consent where relevant. We retain information only as long as necessary, share it only with trusted processors or where required by law, and respect your rights under the UK GDPR.

This policy applies to all Gardeners West Ham customers in the area. By using our services or contacting us, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed as described in this Privacy Policy.