Gardeners Shacklewell Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Shacklewell collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to our customers in the Shacklewell area. It also explains the rights individuals have under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act. This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners Shacklewell customers in our service area, including past, current and prospective customers whose data we hold.

Who we are and scope of this policy

Gardeners Shacklewell is a local gardening and outdoor maintenance service provider. In the course of running our business, we act as a data controller for the personal information of our customers and prospective customers. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed and are responsible for ensuring that our use of your data complies with applicable data protection law.

This Privacy Policy covers personal data that we collect in person, by phone, through online enquiries, through social media messages, or by any other method when you engage with Gardeners Shacklewell services in the Shacklewell area.

What personal data we collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you:

Identification and contact details: name, postal address, service address, billing address, and other basic contact information you provide to us.

Communication information: details contained in messages or other communications you send to us, including enquiries, feedback, complaints or service instructions.

Service and contract information: records relating to the gardening or maintenance services you request from us, details of site visits, access instructions that you choose to provide, schedules, and related correspondence.

Billing and payment information: records of invoices issued and payments received, payment status and methods. We do not store full payment card details. Where payments are processed electronically, these are handled by payment processors who may act as independent controllers or processors of your data.

Usage and interaction information: information about how you interact with us, for example when you contact us to request a quote, confirm a booking, reschedule a visit, or respond to our communications.

Limited technical information: where relevant to our services, we may collect basic technical information that you choose to provide, for example photos or descriptions of your garden or outdoor space to enable us to prepare a quote or plan work.

How we collect your data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact Gardeners Shacklewell, request a quote, make a booking, enter into a service agreement, or communicate with us by any means. We may also receive data about you indirectly when an existing customer passes on your details with your permission for the purpose of a referral or introduction.

Lawful bases for processing

We process your personal data on the following lawful bases under data protection law:

Contract: we process your identification, contact, service and billing information where necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, including providing gardening services, issuing invoices and managing your account.

Legitimate interests: we may process your personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, and where those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. This may include managing and improving our services, keeping records of past work, scheduling jobs efficiently, and responding to your enquiries. When relying on legitimate interests, we carefully consider the impact on your privacy.

Legal obligation: we process some personal data to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, for example maintaining certain financial and tax records.

Consent: in some limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example if we send you certain types of optional marketing communications. Where we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time.

How we use your personal data

We use the personal data we collect to:

Provide gardening and maintenance services you request, including attending your property, delivering agreed work and communicating with you about appointments.

Prepare and issue quotes, estimates and invoices, and manage payments and accounts.

Respond to your enquiries, questions and feedback, and handle complaints or disputes.

Plan our work, manage bookings and allocate staff and resources efficiently.

Maintain internal records of completed work, service history and customer interactions.

Meet legal, tax and accounting obligations, including maintaining financial records.

Where permitted, send you information about services that may be relevant to you, taking into account your preferences and applicable laws on direct marketing.

Data sharing and processors

Gardeners Shacklewell does not sell your personal data. We may share your personal data in limited circumstances with:

Service providers and processors: third parties who provide services to us, such as accounting support, payment processors, cloud storage providers or administrative support. These providers act as data processors and may only process your data on our instructions and for specified purposes. We ensure that appropriate data protection terms are in place with such processors.

Professional advisers: such as accountants or legal advisers, where necessary to obtain professional advice or to protect or defend our legal rights.

Authorities: regulators, law enforcement or other authorities where required by law, regulation or court order, or where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Any sharing of data is carried out in compliance with data protection law and with appropriate safeguards to protect your personal information.

Data retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. The length of time we retain information depends on the type of data and the reasons for processing it.

Customer records related to services, quotes and job history are generally kept for a period that allows us to refer to previous work and manage our relationship with you, and to meet legal and tax obligations. Financial and invoicing records are typically retained for the period required by applicable accounting and tax laws.

Where we no longer need personal data for the original purpose and are not required by law to keep it, we will securely delete or anonymise it.

International transfers

Where our use of third party service providers involves the transfer of personal data outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area, we take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. These may include standard contractual clauses or other mechanisms recognised under data protection law to ensure that your personal data remains protected.

How we protect your data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect 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 their role, using secure systems for storing digital records, and handling physical documents with care. While no system can be completely secure, we work to maintain a level of security that is appropriate to the nature and risks of the data we process.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights apply in many situations, although they may be subject to certain conditions and exemptions. Your rights include:

Right of access: you can request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of that data, together with certain information about how it is used.

Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct personal data that is inaccurate or to complete information that is incomplete.

Right to erasure: in certain circumstances, you can request that we delete your personal data, for example where the data is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected and we are not required to keep it.

Right to restriction of processing: you can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as while we consider a request for rectification or objection.

Right to object: you can object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests, including profiling, and to processing for direct marketing purposes. We will stop processing your data for these purposes unless we have compelling legitimate grounds or are required to do so by law.

Right to data portability: in some cases, you can request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, or that we transmit it directly to another controller, where technically feasible.

Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on your consent to process personal data, you can withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

Exercising your rights and complaints

If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights or have questions about this Privacy Policy or how Gardeners Shacklewell handles your personal data, you can contact us using the usual communication methods you use to reach our service. We will respond to your request in accordance with applicable data protection law.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you are concerned about how your personal data is being handled. We would, however, encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve any concerns directly.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, how we process personal data, or legal developments. When we make significant changes, we will take reasonable steps to bring the updated policy to your attention. The most recent version of this Privacy Policy will apply to the personal data we hold and process about you.