Privacy Policy - Gardeners Wallington

Effective date: This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners Wallington customers in the area, including anyone who uses our gardening services, requests a quotation, makes an enquiry, or communicates with us in connection with our work.

We are committed to protecting personal data and handling it in a fair, lawful, and transparent way. This Privacy Policy explains 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 under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of data protection law, Gardeners Wallington acts as the data controller for the personal data we collect and use in connection with our services. This means we decide how and why personal data is processed for our business operations.

Our services may include garden maintenance, lawn care, hedge trimming, planting, seasonal tidy-ups, landscaping support, and related customer service activities. This policy applies to all customers in the Wallington area and anyone whose personal data we process during the course of providing or arranging those services.

2. What Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for business, service, legal, and administrative purposes. Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

Identity details: name, title, and where relevant business name.
Contact details: address, email address, and telephone number.
Service details: property access information, garden preferences, service history, and notes relevant to carrying out agreed work.
Payment and billing information: payment status, invoicing records, and transaction details where needed for accounting purposes.
Communication records: emails, messages, notes from phone calls, and service instructions.
Technical information: basic website or device data, where applicable, such as IP address or browser information used for security and performance monitoring.
Special category data: we do not intentionally collect special category data. If such information is ever provided by you, we will process it only where lawful and necessary.

We do not collect more information than is needed for the purpose at hand.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to respond to enquiries and provide quotations;
to arrange, deliver, and manage gardening services;
to maintain accurate customer records;
to process invoices, payments, and refunds where applicable;
to communicate service updates, scheduling changes, or job-related information;
to comply with tax, accounting, and legal obligations;
to handle complaints, disputes, or insurance-related matters;
to improve our services and ensure operational efficiency;
to protect our business from fraud, misuse, or security incidents.

We use your personal data only for legitimate business purposes and in line with the law.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for each type of processing. 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 providing quotes, booking services, managing appointments, and completing the work you have requested.

Legal Obligation

We may need to process and retain information to meet legal obligations, such as record-keeping for tax, accounting, or regulatory purposes.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is reasonably necessary for our legitimate interests, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This can include managing customer relationships, improving services, preventing fraud, maintaining security, and running our business efficiently.

Consent

In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example if we ask to use information in a way that is not covered by another lawful basis. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

We will always ensure that any processing is proportionate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary.

5. Who We Share Data With

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who process information on our behalf or as independent service providers. These may include:

Accountants and bookkeeping providers for financial record management;
Payment processors for secure handling of transactions;
IT and cloud service providers for storage, email, and system support;
Scheduling or administrative tools used to organise jobs and customer records;
Professional advisers such as insurers, legal advisers, or dispute resolution services where needed;
Public authorities where required by law or lawful request.

We require any processor acting on our behalf to use appropriate security measures and to process personal data only under our instructions or in accordance with their own legal obligations.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or for as long as required by law. Retention periods vary depending on the type of data and the reason for processing.

Typical retention periods

Customer and service records: retained for the duration of the customer relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards to handle follow-up queries, claims, or service history.
Financial and tax records: retained for the period required by applicable accounting and tax laws.
Communication records: retained as needed to manage ongoing service, resolve disputes, and maintain accurate business records.
Inactive enquiries: retained for a limited time unless a longer period is necessary for legal or operational reasons.

When data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it where appropriate.

7. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, password protection, limited staff access, and careful handling of paper and electronic records.

While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to reduce risk and safeguard information responsibly.

8. Your Rights

Under the UK GDPR, you have several rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal conditions and exemptions, these may include:

Right of access: you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data;
Right to erasure: you can ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances;
Right to restriction: you can request that we limit how we use your data in certain cases;
Right to object: you can object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing;
Right to data portability: you can request a copy of data you provided to us in a structured format where applicable;
Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you believe your data has been handled improperly, you also have the right to raise a concern with the relevant data protection authority. We encourage you to contact us first so we can address your concern promptly and fairly.

9. Automated Decision-Making

We do not use automated decision-making or profiling in a way that produces legal or similarly significant effects on individuals. If this changes in the future, we will update this policy and provide appropriate information.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are directed to adults and property owners or occupiers arranging gardening services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is unavoidably included in communications or records connected to our services, and then only where necessary and lawful.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

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

We recommend reviewing this policy periodically to stay informed about how your data is protected.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

Gardeners Wallington is committed to treating personal data with care, transparency, and respect. We collect only what is needed, use it for clear and lawful purposes, retain it only as long as necessary, and work with processors that are expected to maintain appropriate security and confidentiality.

By using our services, you can expect a responsible approach to privacy and data protection at every stage of the customer relationship.