Privacy Policy

Gardeners North Woolwich Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners North Woolwich collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data relating to customers and prospective customers in the North Woolwich area. It also explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners North Woolwich customers and individuals who make enquiries or use our gardening and related services within the North Woolwich area, whether as private individuals or representatives of businesses or organisations.

Who we are and scope of this policy

Gardeners North Woolwich provides gardening, landscaping, and related maintenance services to residential and commercial customers in the North Woolwich area. For the purposes of data protection law, Gardeners North Woolwich is the data controller in respect of the personal data described in this Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy covers personal data we collect when you contact us, request a quote, enter into a contract for services, or otherwise interact with us in the course of our business.

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, postal address, service address, and other basic contact details you provide to arrange or manage services.

Service and contract information, such as details of the services you request, property access instructions you choose to share, visit dates, frequency and type of work carried out, and records of work completed.

Billing and payment information, including information required to issue invoices and record payments. Card or bank details are handled in line with secure payment practices and are not stored by us unless this is strictly necessary and clearly communicated.

Communication records, including emails and other correspondence relating to quotations, bookings, service delivery, complaints, feedback, or other queries.

Marketing preferences, such as your choices about receiving updates about services, seasonal offers, or service reminders.

Technical information, to the extent that it is necessary for us to operate our website or digital tools, such as basic usage information and device identifiers collected via standard web technologies. These are used to improve the operation and security of our online presence.

How we collect your personal data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us to request a quotation, arrange a visit, or ask us to provide services. This may be done in person, by correspondence, or through our online presence.

We may also receive your details from third parties where you have asked them to refer you to us, or where a landlord, letting agent, or property manager requests services for a property connected to you. In such cases we only process the information necessary to provide the requested services.

Lawful basis for processing

We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. The main lawful bases we rely on are:

Contract: We process personal data to enter into and perform a contract with you, including to provide gardening and related services, issue invoices, and manage any ongoing maintenance arrangements.

Legitimate interests: We process personal data where it 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 customers, improving our services, keeping appropriate records, and ensuring the security of our staff and equipment when attending your premises.

Legal obligation: We may process personal data where this is necessary to comply with legal obligations, such as tax, accounting, or regulatory requirements, and to respond to lawful requests from public authorities.

Consent: In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example where you choose to receive certain types of marketing communications. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

How we use your personal data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To handle enquiries, provide quotations, and respond to your requests for information about our services.

To schedule, deliver, and manage gardening and related services at your property or the property you are responsible for.

To issue invoices, process payments where applicable, and maintain accurate financial and transactional records.

To communicate with you about planned visits, changes to appointments, service updates, and important information relating to your contract.

To manage our business operations, including ensuring quality of service, monitoring workloads, and planning resources.

To maintain the safety and security of our staff and equipment when attending your property by keeping necessary access and contact details up to date.

To send you service-related information and, where permitted, marketing messages about services that may be of interest to you. You can opt out of marketing communications at any time.

To comply with legal and regulatory requirements, to prevent or detect fraud, and to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Data sharing and processors

We may share your personal data with trusted service providers who act as data processors on our behalf. These may include:

IT and cloud service providers who host our records or provide communication tools.

Accounting or bookkeeping providers who assist us with financial and tax records.

Payment service providers who process customer payments securely on our behalf.

These processors are only permitted to use your personal data in accordance with our instructions and for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. They are required to keep your data secure and to comply with data protection law.

We may also share limited personal data with professional advisers, such as legal or tax advisers, where necessary to protect our business interests or comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal data. We will only disclose personal data to third parties for their own independent purposes where we are required to do so by law or where it is necessary to protect our rights, property, or safety, or that of our customers, staff, or others.

International data transfers

Where personal data is stored or accessed outside the United Kingdom by our service providers, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data. These safeguards may include using providers in countries that have been recognised as providing an adequate level of protection, or putting in place standard contractual clauses or equivalent measures approved under data protection law.

Data retention

We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

Customer and service records are typically retained for a period that allows us to manage ongoing services, handle queries or complaints, and meet tax and accounting obligations. After this period, personal data is securely deleted or anonymised so that it can no longer be associated with you.

The specific retention period may vary depending on the type of data and the nature of our relationship with you. We may retain certain data for longer where it is necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.

Security of your 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 include limiting access to personal data to staff and processors who need it for legitimate business purposes, implementing secure storage and handling procedures, and keeping our systems under review.

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 rights include:

Right of access: You can request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you.

Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data that we hold about you.

Right to erasure: In certain circumstances, you can request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the original purpose and we have no legal obligation to retain it.

Right to restriction of processing: You can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as while we are verifying its accuracy or considering an objection you have raised.

Right to object: You can object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests, including profiling, and you can object at any time to processing for direct marketing purposes.

Right to data portability: In some circumstances, you can request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and that we transfer it to another controller where technically feasible.

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

Exercising your rights and contacting us

If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, or if you have questions or concerns about how Gardeners North Woolwich handles your personal data, you can contact us using the contact details provided on our main customer communications or on our website.

We will respond to requests as required under data protection law. To protect your privacy, we may need to verify your identity before acting on your request.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, we encourage you to contact us so that we can seek to resolve your concerns. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK data protection supervisory authority. Information on how to raise a concern is available from the relevant authority.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or data protection guidance. Any updated version will apply to all Gardeners North Woolwich customers in the North Woolwich area from the date it is published. We recommend that you review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we handle your personal data.