Gardeners Hampton Hill Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Hampton Hill collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to its customers and prospective customers within the Hampton Hill area and surrounding locality. It is intended to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners Hampton Hill customers and anyone who makes an enquiry or otherwise interacts with our gardening services in this area.

Who we are and scope of this policy

Gardeners Hampton Hill provides gardening and related outdoor maintenance services to residential and commercial customers in and around Hampton Hill. In the course of providing these services we act as a data controller in respect of the personal data we collect and determine how and why it is processed. This Privacy Policy covers personal data collected offline, for example during site visits, telephone calls or written correspondence, and online, for example when you submit an enquiry form or otherwise communicate with us using digital tools.

Personal data we collect

We only collect personal data that is relevant for providing and managing our gardening services and for running our business. The categories of personal data we may collect include the following.

Identification and contact data such as your name, postal address, service address, billing address, and general location information relevant to the provision of services, plus contact details such as your preferred communication method.

Service and contract data such as details of the gardening or maintenance services you request or receive, estimates, quotes, site notes, photographs of gardens or outdoor spaces where needed for planning work, records of visits and work carried out, and any instructions or preferences you provide about your garden or property.

Payment and transaction data such as records of payments made, the amounts, dates and methods of payment, and information required for accounting and tax records. We do not store full payment card details if electronic payment is used; only limited information necessary for identifying and reconciling transactions is retained.

Communication data such as records of enquiries, correspondence, feedback, complaints and testimonials, as well as notes from phone calls or in-person discussions where these are relevant to the services we provide or our legal obligations.

How we collect personal data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us to request a quote or book a service, during site visits and consultations, when you communicate with us by phone or in writing, or when you otherwise choose to provide information to us. We may also receive personal data from third parties where this is necessary and lawful, for example from landlords, managing agents or existing customers who introduce you to us for the purposes of providing gardening services at a particular property.

Lawful bases for processing

We will only process your personal data where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the situation, the lawful bases we rely on include the following.

Contract: We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into a contract with you or to perform a contract, such as to provide gardening services, prepare and issue quotes or invoices, and manage bookings and ongoing maintenance schedules.

Legal obligation: We process personal data where it is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations, for example keeping records for tax and accounting purposes, complying with health and safety requirements, and responding to lawful requests from public authorities.

Legitimate interests: We process personal data where this is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This includes managing our relationship with you, improving our services, keeping appropriate business records, and protecting or defending our legal rights.

Consent: In limited cases we may rely on your consent, for example where you explicitly agree to the use of certain photographs for marketing materials or testimonials, or where consent is required for a particular type of optional communication. Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us, and this will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

How we use personal data

We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes.

To provide and manage gardening and related services, including arranging site visits, planning and delivering work, responding to requests and instructions, and managing ongoing maintenance schedules.

To prepare and manage quotes, contracts, invoices and payments, and to maintain accurate business and financial records.

To communicate with you about your enquiries, bookings, changes to services, and any issues or concerns you raise, and to provide customer support.

To manage our business operations, including scheduling, resource planning, quality control, record keeping, and risk management.

To comply with applicable laws, regulations and legal requirements, and to cooperate with lawful requests from regulators or public authorities.

To protect our rights, property and safety, and those of our customers and third parties, including for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Data sharing and processors

We do not sell your personal data. We may share personal data with third parties where necessary and lawful as described below.

Service providers and processors: We may share personal data with carefully selected third party service providers who act as data processors on our behalf, such as providers of accounting software, cloud storage, scheduling tools or document management systems. These processors are only permitted to process personal data in accordance with our instructions and are required to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it.

Professional advisers: We may share data with professional advisers such as accountants, auditors or legal advisers where this is necessary for the services they provide to us and where they are bound by duties of confidentiality.

Legal and regulatory bodies: We may share personal data with public authorities, regulators, law enforcement agencies or courts where we are required to do so by law or where it is necessary for the prevention or detection of crime, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

International transfers

If any of our service providers are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, we will only transfer personal data where appropriate safeguards are in place to protect it in accordance with data protection law, such as standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision. Details of current international transfers and safeguards can be provided upon request.

Data retention

We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements. The specific retention period will depend on the nature of the data and the purposes of processing.

In general, records relating to services provided, contracts, invoices and payments are kept for a period required by law for tax and accounting purposes. Enquiry information that does not lead to an ongoing customer relationship is kept for a limited period so that we can manage follow up and respond to any subsequent queries. Photographs and site notes taken for planning and delivering services are kept for as long as they remain relevant for current or reasonably anticipated future work, unless you request their deletion where we have no overriding legal or contractual reason to retain them.

When personal data is no longer required, it will be securely deleted or anonymised so that it can no longer be associated with you.

Security of personal data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, the use of password protection and, where appropriate, encryption. Access to personal data is limited to those individuals and service providers who have a legitimate need to know it for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

Your data protection rights

As a data subject you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data under data protection law. These rights apply to all Gardeners Hampton Hill customers and individuals whose personal data we process in connection with our services in the Hampton Hill area, subject to certain conditions and exemptions.

Right of access: You have the right to request confirmation as to whether we process your personal data and, if we do, to receive a copy of that data along with certain related information.

Right to rectification: You have the right to request the correction of inaccurate personal data and the completion of incomplete data we hold about you.

Right to erasure: In certain circumstances you may have the right to request that we delete your personal data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or where you have withdrawn consent and there is no other lawful basis for processing.

Right to restriction of processing: You may request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, for example while we verify its accuracy or consider an objection you have raised.

Right to object: You have the right to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to processing of your personal data based on our legitimate interests. We will stop processing the data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or where the processing is required for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Right to data portability: Where processing is based on consent or on a contract and carried out by automated means, you may have the right to receive the personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and to transmit that data to another controller where technically feasible.

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

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK supervisory authority for data protection if you have concerns about how we handle your personal data. We 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 practices, legal requirements or the services we provide. Any updated version will apply to all personal data held at the time of the update and to data collected after the update is issued. You should review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.