Gardeners Mitcham Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Mitcham collects, uses, stores and protects personal data of its customers and prospective customers in the Mitcham area. It is intended to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and related data protection laws. By using our gardening and related services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

Scope of this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners Mitcham customers and prospective customers located within the Mitcham area, including individuals and businesses who contact us, request a quote, make a booking, or receive our services. It covers personal data collected through telephone, written correspondence, text-based communication, in person, and through any online contact forms or enquiry channels we may use.

Data Controller

For the purposes of data protection law, Gardeners Mitcham is the data controller in relation to the personal data we collect and process about you. As data controller, we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data and are responsible for ensuring that such processing is carried out in compliance with applicable law.

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, address in the Mitcham area or surrounding locality, billing address if different, and any contact details you provide, for example mobile or landline number and other communication details.

Service and contract details such as information about the gardening or maintenance services you request, property access instructions, preferences relating to your garden or outdoor space, schedules, records of work carried out, and any related correspondence.

Payment and transaction information such as records of payments received, payment method details to the extent required for processing transactions, invoices, and any information needed for accounting and tax purposes. We do not store full card details where payment is taken through third party payment providers.

Communication records such as notes of conversations, emails, text-based messages, and any feedback or complaints you may provide about our services.

Technical information to the extent you interact with us through an online channel, which may include basic device and usage information necessary to operate and secure such channels, subject to applicable cookie and tracking rules.

How We Collect Your Data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us to request information or a quote, make a booking, or engage our services. This may occur by telephone, text-based message, in person, or via any online contact form or enquiry channel we make available.

We may also receive personal data from third party service providers that help us manage bookings or process payments, and from publicly available sources, for example to verify address details where necessary to provide services in the Mitcham area.

Purposes and Lawful Bases 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:

Performance of a contract. We use your identification, contact and service details to provide quotations, confirm bookings, deliver gardening services, communicate about appointments, and manage your account with us.

Compliance with legal obligations. We process certain information, such as transaction and accounting records, to comply with tax, accounting and other legal requirements.

Legitimate interests. We process personal data for our legitimate business interests, which include managing and improving our services, maintaining accurate records of work performed, responding to enquiries and complaints, ensuring site security and safety for our staff, and protecting our legal rights. When relying on legitimate interests, we balance our interests against your rights and freedoms and process only what is necessary.

Consent. Where required by law, and where we wish to send you certain forms of marketing communication or use optional cookies or similar technologies, we will rely on your consent. You may withdraw consent at any time, which will not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

How We Use Your Personal Data

We use your personal data to provide and manage gardening and related services in the Mitcham area, including assessing your enquiry, offering quotations, scheduling visits, performing agreed work, and following up where necessary.

We also use your data to administer payments and invoices, maintain accurate business and financial records, handle any queries or complaints, and keep internal records of the services we have provided to you.

Where permitted, we may use your contact details to provide information about services that may be of interest, for example seasonal gardening services or service updates, subject to your marketing preferences and applicable rules.

Data Sharing and Processors

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your personal data with carefully selected third parties who act as data processors on our behalf, for example:

Payment and accounting service providers that process transactions and assist us with financial administration.

Scheduling or customer management providers that help us manage bookings and customer information securely.

Professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers where required to protect our business or comply with legal obligations.

IT and support providers that help maintain our systems, security and data storage solutions.

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. We require all processors to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data.

We may also share personal data where required to comply with legal obligations, respond to lawful requests from public authorities, or establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including providing services, meeting legal, accounting or reporting requirements, and resolving disputes.

In general, customer and service records are kept for the duration of our relationship with you and for a reasonable period thereafter, typically up to six years after the end of the relevant tax year, in line with accounting and limitation requirements. In some cases, we may keep data for longer if required by law or if it is necessary in connection with ongoing legal matters.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will take appropriate steps to securely delete or anonymise it.

International Transfers

If any of our service providers are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, or use infrastructure in such locations, we will ensure that an adequate level of protection is in place for your personal data. This may involve using contracts that incorporate standard data protection clauses approved by the relevant authorities or relying on other lawful transfer mechanisms.

Data Security

We take the security of your personal data seriously. We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect information against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. These measures include access controls, secure storage, staff awareness and limiting personal data to what is necessary.

While we strive to protect your personal data, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security but will act promptly and responsibly in the event of any suspected data security incident.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection law, you have certain rights in relation to your personal data. These include:

The right of access. You may request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you, together with related information.

The right to rectification. You may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.

The right to erasure. In certain circumstances, you may request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected and we have no other lawful basis for retaining it.

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

The right to object. You may object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including profiling based on those interests, and we will stop processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds or need the data for legal claims. You also have an absolute right to object to direct marketing.

The right to data portability. Where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you may request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format, or that we transmit it to another controller where technically feasible.

To exercise any of these rights, you can contact us using the usual communication channels you use to interact with Gardeners Mitcham. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request.

Complaints and Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, you can contact us through the same methods you use to arrange or discuss services with Gardeners Mitcham. We will aim to respond promptly and address any concerns.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority for data protection if you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data. We would, however, appreciate the chance to address your concerns first, so please contact us in the first instance where possible.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements or services. Any updated version will apply to all personal data from the date it is issued. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.