Privacy Policy

Gardeners Hither Green Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Hither Green collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to our customers in the Hither Green area and surrounding neighbourhoods. It also describes your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners Hither Green customers in our service area, whether you contact us online, by post or in person, and whether you purchase services once or on a regular basis.

Who We Are and Scope of This Policy

Gardeners Hither Green is a gardening services provider operating in the Hither Green area. For the purposes of data protection law, we act as the data controller in relation to the personal data we collect about our customers and prospective customers. This means we determine the purposes and means of the processing of your personal data. This Privacy Policy covers personal data processed in connection with enquiries, quotes, bookings, service delivery, customer care and related administration.

Types of Personal Data We Collect

We collect only the personal data that is necessary for us to provide and manage our gardening services and to run our business. The types of personal data we may collect include: your name; your home or site address where services are to be provided; billing address where different from the service address; basic contact details such as your preferred communication method; information about your garden or outdoor area, such as size, access details, layout notes and work required; records of our communications with you, including enquiries, quotations, invoices and feedback; limited financial information necessary to process payments, such as partial payment card details or transaction references where provided through our payment provider. We do not intentionally collect special category data such as health information unless you choose to share it and it is strictly relevant, for example mobility requirements that affect how we access your property.

How We Collect Your Personal Data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us to request information, ask for a quote, make a booking or provide feedback. This may be by phone, text-based message, post or in person. We may also receive personal data when existing customers refer you to us, in which case we will inform you of the source when we first contact you. Limited personal data may be generated by us as we provide services to you, such as service notes, visit history, and records of any issues raised and how they were resolved.

Purposes and Lawful Bases for Processing

We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. The main purposes and lawful bases are: to respond to enquiries, provide quotations and set up your account, based on our legitimate interest in responding to potential customers and, where appropriate, to take steps at your request before entering into a contract; to provide gardening and related services, manage bookings, and administer payments, based on performance of a contract with you or to take steps prior to entering into a contract; to manage our relationship with you, including handling complaints, queries and service updates, based on our legitimate interest in running and improving our business and maintaining good customer relationships; to keep basic records for accounting, tax and legal compliance, based on our legal obligations; to send non-essential updates or information about similar services you have purchased, where permitted, based on our legitimate interests. You can object to this at any time. Where we rely on consent as a lawful basis for a specific use of your data, we will clearly explain what we are asking for and you may withdraw your consent at any time.

Data Retention Periods

We keep personal data only for as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy and to meet legal and regulatory requirements. We typically retain customer records, including contact details, service history and invoices, for up to seven years after the end of our relationship with you, to comply with tax and accounting requirements and to deal with any potential disputes. Enquiry records from individuals who do not go on to become customers may be kept for up to two years for reference and to respond to repeat enquiries. Where data is no longer needed, we will securely delete it or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

Sharing Your Personal Data and Use of Processors

We do not sell your personal data and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing purposes. We may share your personal data with carefully selected service providers that act as data processors on our behalf. These may include providers of scheduling or business administration tools, IT support and data backup services, payment processing services for handling card or electronic payments, and professional advisers such as accountants for financial record keeping. Where we use processors, they are only permitted to process your personal data according to our instructions and for the purposes we specify. They are required to keep your data secure and confidential and to comply with data protection law.

International Transfers

Some of our service providers may store or process data outside the United Kingdom. Where this occurs, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as using service providers in countries that the relevant data protection authorities have found to provide an adequate level of protection, or by putting in place standard contractual clauses or equivalent measures. You can contact us for further information about any international transfers that may apply to your data.

How We Protect Your Personal Data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to keep your personal data secure. These measures may include restricted access to information based on job role, using password protection and security settings on devices, storing records in secure systems, and training staff who handle personal data on confidentiality obligations. While no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, we work to protect your data against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration and destruction.

Your Data Protection Rights

As a customer or prospective customer of Gardeners Hither Green in our service area, you have several rights in relation to your personal data under data protection law. These include the right to be informed about how your data is used, which is the purpose of this Privacy Policy; the right of access to obtain a copy of your personal data and information about how we process it; the right to rectification of inaccurate or incomplete personal data; the right to erasure of your personal data in certain circumstances, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected and we are not required to keep it; the right to restrict processing of your data in certain circumstances, such as while we investigate a concern you have raised; the right to data portability in some situations, allowing you to receive certain personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and to transmit it to another controller; the right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including certain forms of direct marketing. If you object, we will stop processing your data for that purpose unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue.

Exercising Your Rights and Complaints

If you wish to exercise any of your rights, or if you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our handling of your personal data, you can contact us using the details provided when you first engaged our services or as shown on our customer communications. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data or to exercise other rights. We aim to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. You also have the right to raise a concern or complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data. We would, however, welcome the opportunity to address your concerns directly before you approach the authority.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, in how we handle personal data, or in applicable laws and guidance. Any changes will take effect when the updated policy is made available to customers. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically so that you remain informed about how Gardeners Hither Green uses and protects your personal data.