Privacy Policy

Gardeners Snaresbrook Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Snaresbrook collects, uses, stores and shares personal data relating to customers and prospective customers. It applies to all Gardeners Snaresbrook customers and prospective customers in the Snaresbrook area, including those who contact us to request information, quotes or services, as well as those who receive our services on a one-off or ongoing basis.

Who we are and scope of this policy

Gardeners Snaresbrook provides gardening and related services to residential and commercial customers in and around the Snaresbrook area. In relation to the personal data described in this Privacy Policy, Gardeners Snaresbrook acts as a data controller. This Policy applies to all personal data we process about our customers and prospective customers in connection with the provision of our services and the operation of our business in the Snaresbrook area.

Types of personal data we collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you:

Identification and contact details: name, title, address, service address, billing address, and general contact details such as email address and other communication information that you choose to provide.

Service and contract information: details of the gardening services you request or receive, property and garden details relevant to our work, records of visits, quotes and estimates, contracts, invoices and payment history.

Communication records: information contained in enquiries, messages and correspondence you send to us, such as requests for quotes, feedback or complaints, and notes made by us in the course of dealing with your requests.

Payment related data: information necessary to process payments for our services, such as partial payment card details or transaction identifiers. We do not store full payment card information where payment is processed by a third-party payment provider.

Technical and usage data: limited technical information where you interact with us online, such as basic device and browser information, and records of when you access or use our online forms or platforms. We do not aim to identify you from this information alone, but it may be associated with your contact details where necessary to handle your enquiry or booking.

How we collect your personal data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us, request a quote, make a booking, enter into a service agreement, or communicate with us in any way. This can be by telephone, through online forms, written correspondence, or in person when we attend your property.

We may also receive personal data indirectly, for example when an existing customer refers you to us or submits your details with your permission, or where a managing agent, landlord or other intermediary shares necessary details to allow us to provide gardening services at a property you use or occupy.

Lawful bases for processing your data

We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and related data protection law. The main lawful bases we rely on are:

Contract: processing is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, such as providing gardening services, preparing quotes and estimates, taking payment, scheduling visits and managing your account.

Legal obligation: processing is necessary to comply with legal obligations, for example accounting, tax and record-keeping requirements, or responding to lawful requests from regulatory or public authorities.

Legitimate interests: we process certain data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and those interests are not overridden by your data protection rights. This includes managing and improving our services, handling general enquiries, maintaining accurate records of customer interactions, and protecting our business from fraud or misuse.

Consent: where we rely on your consent, for example for certain types of direct marketing or where we wish to use your information in a way that is not covered by another lawful basis, we will obtain your clear and specific consent in advance. Where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time.

How we use your personal data

We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:

To provide and manage gardening services: including creating customer records, providing quotes and estimates, planning and carrying out visits, and handling any changes, cancellations or follow-up work.

To communicate with you: responding to enquiries, sending service confirmations, updates and reminders, and contacting you regarding your account, payments or any issues relating to your services.

To manage our business: maintaining accurate records, managing customer relationships, monitoring service quality, training staff and improving the services we offer in the Snaresbrook area.

To handle payments and accounting: issuing invoices, processing payments and refunds where applicable, and maintaining financial records in line with legal obligations.

To ensure security, safety and legal compliance: protecting our staff, property and systems, preventing and detecting misuse or fraudulent activity, and complying with applicable laws and regulations.

To send relevant information and offers: where permitted by law and, where required, with your consent, we may use your contact details to send you information about services or offers that we think may be of interest to you, particularly in connection with gardening services in the Snaresbrook area. You can opt out of such communications at any time.

Data sharing and processors

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your personal data with trusted third parties where necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

Service providers and data processors: we may engage third parties to help us operate our business, such as providers of customer management tools, payment processing services, accounting services, IT support and data storage. These providers act as data processors on our behalf and are only permitted to process your personal data according to our instructions and for the purposes described in this Policy. We require them to implement appropriate security measures and to protect your data.

Professional advisers: we may share information with professional advisers, such as accountants, auditors or legal advisers, where necessary to obtain professional services or comply with our legal obligations.

Authorities and legal requirements: we may disclose personal data where required to do so by law, to comply with regulatory obligations, or to respond to lawful requests from public authorities, including law enforcement.

Business transfers: if we undergo a reorganisation, change of ownership or similar business transaction involving the transfer of all or part of our business in the Snaresbrook area, your personal data may be transferred as part of that process in accordance with applicable data protection law.

International transfers

Where we use service providers or systems that are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, we take steps to ensure that your personal data is protected in accordance with applicable data protection law. This may include relying on adequacy regulations or using standard contractual clauses and other appropriate safeguards.

Data retention and storage

We keep your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to provide services to you, to comply with legal, accounting and reporting obligations, and to resolve disputes.

In general, customer and service records will be retained for as long as you remain a customer and for a period after you cease to be a customer, to allow us to respond to any queries, complaints or legal claims. Financial and transaction records will typically be retained for a period required by tax and accounting laws.

When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal data, we will either delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer be associated with you.

Data security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include limiting access to personal data to those staff and service providers who have a business need to know it, using appropriate security controls on our systems, and taking care when handling and disposing of records.

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, together with certain information about how it is used.

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

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 purposes for which it was collected or where you have withdrawn consent and there is no other lawful basis for processing.

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

Right to object: you can object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests as our lawful basis, including profiling based on those interests. You also have an absolute right to object at any time to your personal data being used for direct marketing.

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 transfer it to another controller where this is technically feasible.

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

How to exercise your rights and complaints

If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, or if you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, you can contact us using the usual contact details you use to communicate with Gardeners Snaresbrook in relation to our services.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe that we are not processing your personal data in accordance with data protection law, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, how we process personal data, or legal and regulatory developments. When we make significant changes, we will take appropriate steps to bring the updated Policy to your attention. The most recent version of this Privacy Policy will always apply to the personal data we hold and process about you as a customer or prospective customer of Gardeners Snaresbrook in the Snaresbrook area.