Privacy Policy - Gardeners Lower Morden

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Lower Morden collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data relating to customers in the Lower Morden area. It applies to all Gardeners Lower Morden customers in the area, including individuals who request a quotation, book a service, communicate with our team, or receive ongoing gardening services. We are committed to handling personal data fairly, lawfully, and transparently in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

By using our services, you acknowledge that your personal information may be processed in accordance with this policy. We only collect information that is necessary for legitimate business purposes and we aim to keep it accurate, secure, and retained only for as long as needed.

1. Information We Collect

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

Identity information: name, title, and any details you provide when making an enquiry or booking.
Contact details: address, email address, telephone number, and preferred method of communication.
Service information: details about your garden, the type of work requested, appointment notes, and service preferences.
Billing and payment information: transaction records, invoicing details, and payment status.
Communication records: emails, messages, call notes, complaints, and feedback.
Technical information: limited data such as device type or IP-based location data if you interact with digital systems we use for administration or records.

We do not deliberately collect special category data unless it is necessary and you have provided it to us in a relevant context. If such information is ever shared, we will only process it where permitted by law and only for a specific purpose.

2. How We Use Personal Data

Gardeners Lower Morden uses personal data for the following purposes:

to respond to enquiries and provide quotations;
to deliver gardening services and manage bookings;
to maintain service records and customer accounts;
to issue invoices, record payments, and manage financial administration;
to communicate about appointments, service updates, and changes to arrangements;
to handle complaints, queries, and customer support matters;
to improve our services, administration, and customer experience;
to comply with legal, accounting, tax, and insurance obligations;
to protect our business, staff, customers, and property from fraud or misuse.

We only process data where we have a lawful basis to do so. We do not use customer information for unrelated purposes without a valid legal reason.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for each processing activity. The lawful bases we rely on are set out below:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes taking enquiries, preparing quotes, scheduling work, providing services, and handling payments.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include maintaining records, service quality monitoring, responding to complaints, and protecting our operations from fraud or abuse. We always consider whether the processing is proportionate and relevant.

Legal Obligation

Some data must be processed or retained to comply with legal obligations, including tax, accounting, insurance, health and safety, and regulatory requirements.

Consent

In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example where you agree to receive certain forms of communication that are not necessary for service delivery. Where consent is used, you can withdraw it at any time.

4. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, and in line with applicable legal and business requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the context in which it is used.

Customer and service records: retained for as long as needed to provide services, resolve disputes, and manage account history.
Financial records: retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Communication records: retained for a reasonable period to support customer service and business administration.
Legal and insurance records: retained where necessary to defend claims or meet statutory obligations.

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

5. Processors and Data Sharing

We may share personal data with trusted third parties, known as processors or service providers, where this is necessary to operate our business. These parties only process data on our instructions and are required to protect it appropriately.

Examples of processors may include:

accounting and bookkeeping providers;
payment processing services;
IT, email, cloud storage, and system administration providers;
customer management or scheduling tools;
professional advisers such as accountants, insurers, or legal advisers.

We may also disclose personal data where required by law, where it is necessary to establish or defend legal claims, or where it is needed to protect the rights, safety, or property of our business, staff, or customers. If personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place.

6. Data Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, loss, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, password protection, and restricting access to authorised personnel only.

While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we take data protection seriously and regularly review our practices to reduce risk. We also encourage good information-handling habits among those who process data on our behalf.

7. Your Rights

As a data subject, you have a number of rights under UK GDPR. These rights may apply in different circumstances and may be subject to legal conditions or exceptions.

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 information.
Right to erasure: you can request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction: you can ask us to limit how we process your data in some situations.
Right to object: you can object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability: you can request certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond within the legal timeframe. We may need to verify your identity before responding to ensure data is released only to the correct person.

8. Complaints and Further Information

If you are concerned about how your data has been handled, we encourage you to raise the issue with us first so we can review it and attempt to resolve it. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed.

We welcome questions about this policy and will do our best to explain how your information is used in a clear and respectful way.

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law, our services, or how we process personal data. The most recent version will apply to all Gardeners Lower Morden customers in the area. We encourage you to review this policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we protect your information.

Last reviewed: current as of the date of publication.