Gardeners Chelsea Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Chelsea collects, uses, stores and protects personal data about customers and prospective customers in the local area. It also explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and related data protection laws. This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners Chelsea customers in the area, including individuals and businesses that use or enquire about our gardening and related services.

Who We Are

Gardeners Chelsea is a gardening services business operating in the local area. For the purposes of data protection law, Gardeners Chelsea is the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed.

Personal Data We Collect

We collect and process different types of personal data depending on how you interact with us. This may include the following categories of data.

Identification and contact details such as name, title, postal address, service address, billing address, and any contact preferences.

Communication data such as information you provide when you contact us by post or in person, or through any other communication method you choose to use, including the content of your messages and our responses.

Service and contract information such as details about the gardening or maintenance services you request or receive, property details relevant to the services, access instructions, visit history, and records of quotes, invoices and payments.

Payment and transaction information such as amounts charged, dates of payment, payment method and related transaction references. We do not store full card details when third party payment processors are used.

Usage and technical data where applicable, such as information about how you use any online forms or digital services we provide, including basic technical information needed to operate and secure those services.

Marketing and preference information such as your preferences about receiving service updates or marketing communications from us, and records of your consent or objection to marketing.

How We Collect Your Data

We collect personal data in several ways.

Directly from you when you contact us to request a quote, make a booking, ask a question, provide feedback or otherwise communicate with us.

During the provision of services when we visit your property or perform work and record relevant details about the services provided, access and scheduling.

From third parties where this is necessary to provide our services or comply with legal obligations, for example payment processors or professional advisers. In such cases we only receive the minimum information needed for the relevant purpose.

Purposes and Lawful Basis for Processing

We only process your personal data where we have a lawful basis to do so under data protection law.

To provide quotes and deliver gardening services. We use your identification, contact and service information to prepare quotations, schedule visits, carry out agreed work, manage access to your property and communicate with you about the services. The lawful basis is performance of a contract or steps taken at your request before entering into a contract.

To manage billing and payments. We process payment and transaction data to issue invoices, record payments, and maintain financial and tax records. The lawful basis is performance of a contract and compliance with legal obligations relating to accounting and taxation.

To respond to enquiries and provide customer support. We use communication data to answer questions, handle complaints and manage ongoing customer relationships. The lawful basis is performance of a contract or our legitimate interest in providing customer service.

To manage our business operations. We may use your data to plan schedules, manage capacity, improve our services, train staff and maintain accurate business records. The lawful basis is our legitimate interest in running and developing our business in a way that is fair and does not override your rights.

To send service updates and marketing. With your consent where required, we may use your contact details and preference information to send you information about our services, seasonal offers or changes to our terms. The lawful basis is consent, or in some cases our legitimate interest in promoting our services to existing customers, subject to your right to opt out at any time.

To comply with legal obligations and defend legal claims. We may process any relevant data to meet obligations under law, respond to requests from authorities, prevent fraud, or establish, exercise or defend legal claims. The lawful basis is compliance with legal obligations and our legitimate interests.

Data Retention

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

Customer and service records including contact details, service history and related communications are generally retained for as long as you are an active customer and for a reasonable period afterwards, typically up to six years, to allow us to respond to queries, manage any disputes and meet tax and accounting obligations.

Financial and transaction records such as invoices and payment information are retained for the period required by applicable tax and company laws, which is normally at least six years.

Marketing contact details and preferences are retained until you withdraw your consent or object to receiving marketing, or until we decide to stop sending marketing communications, whichever occurs first. We may keep a limited record of your opt out request to ensure we respect your choice in future.

When data is no longer required it will be securely deleted or anonymised so that it can no longer be linked to you.

Data Processors and Sharing Your Information

We do not sell your personal data. We only share your data where this is necessary and lawful.

Service providers acting as data processors may process your data on our behalf to help deliver our services. These may include payment processing providers, cloud or document storage providers, scheduling or accounting software providers, and professional advisers such as accountants. These processors are only allowed to use your data in accordance with our instructions and must protect it appropriately.

Other third parties may receive your data where necessary for legal or regulatory reasons, for example government bodies, law enforcement agencies, courts, or professional advisers, but only where we are required or permitted to do so by law.

If we are involved in a business restructuring, such as a sale or transfer of the business, your data may be shared with relevant parties in accordance with data protection laws and subject to appropriate safeguards.

International Transfers

Where any of our service providers or systems are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, or store data in another country, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data. These may include relying on adequacy regulations, using standard contractual clauses approved by regulators, or other lawful transfer mechanisms.

How We Protect Your Data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction. These measures include restricting access to personal data to those who need to know it for their work, using secure storage solutions, and maintaining procedures to deal with suspected data breaches. If we are legally required to notify you of a data breach that affects you, we will do so.

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.

Right of access. You can request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of the data we hold about you, along with certain information about how we use it.

Right to rectification. You can ask us to correct or complete any personal data that is inaccurate or incomplete.

Right to erasure. You can ask us to delete your personal data in certain situations, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected or where you withdraw consent and there is no other lawful basis for processing.

Right to restriction. You can request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, for example while we verify the accuracy of the data or our reasons for processing it.

Right to data portability. In some cases you can ask us to provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format, and to transmit it 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 profiling on that basis, or where we process your data for direct marketing. We will stop processing your data unless we have compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests or rights, or where the processing is needed for legal claims.

Rights in relation to consent. Where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdrew consent.

Exercising Your Rights and Complaints

If you wish to exercise any of your rights described in this Privacy Policy, or if you have questions or concerns about how we handle your personal data, you can contact Gardeners Chelsea using the contact details published on our website or in our service documentation.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection supervisory authority if you believe that your rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve any issues 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 be made available through our usual communication channels and will indicate the date it was last revised. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.