Gardeners South Hackney Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners South Hackney collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data relating to customers and prospective customers in South Hackney and the surrounding area. It also explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and related data protection laws.

Scope and who this policy applies to

This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners South Hackney customers and prospective customers in the South Hackney area who contact us, request a quote, or use our gardening and related services at residential or commercial properties.

Data controller

For the purposes of UK data protection law, Gardeners South Hackney is the data controller. This means we are responsible for deciding how and why your personal data is used and for ensuring that it is handled lawfully, fairly, and securely.

Types of personal data we collect

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

Identification and contact details, such as your name, address, and general contact information. Service and property details, such as descriptions of your garden or outdoor space, access instructions, preferred service times, and records of the services you have requested or received. Communication records, such as notes of phone conversations, and details of enquiries and complaints. Billing and payment information, such as payment status and basic transaction details. We do not store full card numbers or security codes. Usage and preference information, such as the types of services you are interested in, frequency of visits, and feedback you provide about our services. Basic technical or device information when you interact with us online, such as general device type and pages viewed, where this is necessary for the operation of our website or online booking systems.

How we collect your personal data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us by phone, online form, or message, when you request a quote or make a booking, when we visit your property, and when you communicate with us about existing or future services. We may also receive limited data from third parties who help us provide our services, such as booking platforms or payment processors, where this is necessary to manage your enquiry, booking, or payment.

Lawful bases for processing your data

We only use your personal data when we have a lawful basis to do so. Depending on the specific activity, we rely on the following lawful bases:

Contract: We process your personal data when 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 providing a quote, and delivering and managing gardening and related services you have requested. Legitimate interests: We process your data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This includes managing our relationship with you, improving our services, scheduling work efficiently, and protecting our business. Legal obligations: We process your data where we are required to do so to comply with a legal obligation, for example, accounting and tax record keeping. Consent: Where required by law, we will rely on your consent for certain activities, such as sending you direct marketing messages by electronic means, and you can withdraw your consent at any time.

How we use your personal data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to your enquiries and requests for quotes. To plan, schedule, and deliver gardening and related services at your property. To manage our relationship with you, including handling feedback, queries, and complaints. To administer billing, payments, and basic financial records. To improve our services, including reviewing the types of services requested and customer feedback. To send you service updates and, where permitted, information about services that may interest you. To meet our legal, regulatory, and tax obligations and to protect our business, for example by managing disputes or preventing misuse of our services.

Data sharing and use of processors

We do not sell your personal data. We only share your data where it is necessary and appropriate, in line with data protection law:

Service providers acting as data processors: We may share your personal data with carefully selected third parties who provide services to us, such as booking or scheduling platforms, payment processors, accounting support, and information technology or communication tools. These processors are only permitted to use your data in accordance with our instructions and for the purposes we specify. Professional and legal advisers: We may share information with professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers where necessary to obtain advice or comply with legal obligations. Authorities and regulators: We may need to share information with law enforcement, regulators, or other authorities where required by law or to protect our rights or the rights of others.

Where we use processors, we ensure there are appropriate written agreements in place that include data protection obligations, including obligations to keep your data secure and to process it only on our documented instructions.

International transfers

In some cases, our service providers may store or access your personal data from locations outside the United Kingdom. Where this happens, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data, such as the use of approved standard contractual clauses or reliance on other lawful transfer mechanisms recognised under data protection law.

Data retention and storage

We keep your personal data only for as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and to meet legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

In general, we retain contact details, service records, and related communications for a period that allows us to manage our relationship, handle any complaints or disputes, and comply with tax and accounting rules. After this period, information is securely deleted or anonymised so that it can no longer identify you. The exact retention period may vary depending on the type of data and the reason we collected it. We review our retention practices regularly to ensure that personal data is not kept for longer than necessary.

Data security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include limiting access to personal data to those who need it to perform their duties, using secure systems and tools, and providing guidance to staff and contractors on handling personal information responsibly.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to certain conditions and exemptions, these include:

Right of access: You can request confirmation of whether we hold personal data about you and, if so, request a copy of that data and information about how we use it. Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct or update inaccurate or incomplete personal data. Right to erasure: In some circumstances, you can ask us to delete or remove personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected or where you withdraw consent and there is no other lawful basis for processing. Right to restriction: You can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as while we investigate a concern you have raised about its accuracy. Right to data portability: In certain cases, you can request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and you may ask us to transfer it directly to another controller where this is technically feasible. Right to object: You can object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests as the lawful basis, including for direct marketing. We will stop processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds or the processing is required for legal reasons. Rights in relation to consent: Where we rely on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Exercising your rights

If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights or have questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us using the usual communication methods you use for our services. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request. We aim to respond within the timeframes required by law.

Complaints

If you are concerned about how we handle your personal data, you should contact us first so we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK data protection supervisory authority if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, our data processing practices, or legal requirements. The most recent version will always apply to the personal data we hold about you. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we protect your information.