Gardeners New Southgate Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners New Southgate collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data of its customers in the New Southgate area. It also describes your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and related data protection laws. This policy applies to all existing and prospective customers of Gardeners New Southgate in the local service area.

Who We Are

Gardeners New Southgate is a gardening and outdoor maintenance service provider operating in the New Southgate area. In relation to the personal data we collect from you, we act as a data controller, which 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 and which services you use. This may include:

Identification and contact information, such as your name, postal address, and any other contact preferences you provide to us.

Service and property details, such as the service address, type and size of garden or outdoor space, access instructions, and information about any specific requirements or preferences for your garden.

Booking and transaction information, such as dates and times of bookings, services requested, work records, invoices, and payment-related details provided at the point of sale or through payment processors.

Communication records, such as notes from conversations with you, and any feedback or complaints you submit to us.

Usage information, such as how you reached us, for example whether you contacted us by phone, online form, or other means, and basic technical information necessary to ensure the security and performance of any online forms or tools we use.

How We Collect Your Data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us to request a quote, make a booking, or ask a question about our services. We may also collect data when you confirm or amend your bookings, respond to our communications, or provide feedback.

In some cases, we may receive limited personal data from third parties, for example where a family member, landlord, or letting agent books a service on your behalf and shares your contact or access details with us.

Purposes and Lawful Bases for Processing

We use your personal data only when we have a lawful basis to do so under data protection law. The main purposes and lawful bases are:

To provide our gardening services to you. This includes managing enquiries, supplying quotes, scheduling visits, carrying out work, and issuing invoices. The lawful basis is performance of a contract or taking steps at your request before entering into a contract.

To manage our relationship with you. This includes handling your queries, complaints, or feedback, and sending essential service communications such as appointment confirmations or changes. The lawful basis is performance of a contract and our legitimate interests in running our business and keeping customers informed.

To process payments and maintain financial records. This includes recording payments, managing refunds where applicable, and fulfilling our accounting and tax obligations. The lawful bases are performance of a contract and compliance with legal obligations.

To improve and develop our services. This includes reviewing feedback, monitoring service quality, and making decisions about future services. The lawful basis is our legitimate interests in improving and growing our business.

To send marketing communications about our services, only where permitted by law. Where required, the lawful basis is your consent. You can withdraw consent to marketing at any time, and this will not affect the services we provide.

To protect our business, staff, and customers. This includes managing and resolving disputes, enforcing our terms, and preventing or detecting fraud or misuse. The lawful bases are our legitimate interests and, where relevant, compliance with legal obligations.

Data Retention

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

Customer account and booking information is generally retained for up to seven years after the last interaction with you, in line with accounting and tax record requirements. Communication records and feedback may be kept for a similar period where relevant to our services or any potential claims.

Where we rely on your consent for a particular type of processing, such as certain marketing activities, we keep the relevant data until you withdraw consent or until it is no longer needed, whichever occurs first. We may keep a limited record that you have opted out, so that we can respect your preferences.

When data is no longer required, we securely delete or anonymise it so that it can no longer be linked to you.

Data Sharing and Processors

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your data with third parties in limited circumstances, where necessary for the purposes described in this policy.

Service providers acting as data processors may process data on our behalf to support our operations, such as companies providing payment processing, accounting software, scheduling tools, or secure data storage. These providers are only permitted to use your data in accordance with our instructions and must protect it with appropriate security measures.

Professional advisers, such as accountants, auditors, or legal advisers, may access certain data where necessary to provide their professional services to us.

Public authorities or law enforcement agencies may receive your data where we are legally required to disclose it or where this is necessary to protect our rights, property, or safety, or the rights, property, or safety of others.

Where data is transferred outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area by our processors, we require that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as standard contractual clauses or equivalent protections, in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Security of Your Personal Data

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, or damage. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, and measures to keep our systems up to date and protected. While no system is completely secure, we are committed to maintaining an appropriate level of protection for the data we process.

Your Data Protection Rights

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

The right of access. You can ask for confirmation of whether we process your personal data and request a copy of the data we hold about you.

The right to rectification. You can request that inaccurate or incomplete personal data is corrected or updated.

The right to erasure. You can ask us to delete your personal data in certain circumstances, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected and there is no legal requirement to keep it.

The right to restrict processing. You can request that we limit the way we use your personal data, for example while we consider a request for rectification or an objection to processing.

The right to data portability. In certain circumstances, you can 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 this is technically feasible.

The right to object. You can object to certain types of processing, including processing based on our legitimate interests and direct marketing. We will stop processing your data for these purposes unless we have compelling legitimate grounds or we need to continue processing for legal reasons.

The right to withdraw consent. Where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you can withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

How This Policy Applies to All Customers in the Area

This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners New Southgate customers located in our service area, regardless of how you contact us or which specific gardening services you use. By engaging our services or contacting us for a quote or enquiry, you acknowledge that you have been informed of how we handle your personal data as described here.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

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