Rubbish Clearance Swiss Cottage Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Rubbish Clearance Swiss Cottage collects, uses, stores and protects your personal data when you use our rubbish clearance and related services. It applies to all Rubbish Clearance Swiss Cottage customers and prospective customers within our service area, including individuals, households and businesses who contact us, request a quote, make a booking or otherwise interact with us.

We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data in a transparent and lawful way in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and all applicable data protection laws.

Who we are and how to contact us

Rubbish Clearance Swiss Cottage is the controller of your personal data when you use our services or contact us. This means we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal information.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or about how we handle your personal data, or if you wish to exercise your data protection rights, you can contact us using the details provided on our usual communication channels.

Personal data we collect

We collect and process different categories of personal data, depending on how you interact with us and which services you use. The main categories of data we collect are:

Contact details: This includes your name, address, email address, telephone number and any other contact information you provide when you ask for a quote, make an enquiry or book a service.

Service information: This includes details about the property where the rubbish clearance is to take place, access information, type and quantity of waste, preferred dates and times, and any instructions you provide to help us perform the service safely and efficiently.

Billing and payment information: This may include billing address, details of services ordered, invoice details and payment status. We may also receive limited payment-related information from payment providers or banks, but we do not store full card details in our systems.

Communication records: This includes emails, phone call notes, text messages and other correspondence between you and Rubbish Clearance Swiss Cottage, such as enquiries, complaints, feedback and job confirmations.

Technical and usage data: When you interact with us online, we may collect technical data such as IP address, device information and general usage data about how you access our website or digital services, to help us maintain security and improve our services.

Marketing preferences: This includes your preferences about receiving marketing information from us and your communication preferences.

How we collect your data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us by phone, email, online forms, messaging services or in person. We may also receive information about you from third parties where it is necessary for us to provide services to you, for example from online advertising platforms, comparison sites, or business partners who refer you to us.

Where we receive your personal data from third parties, we ensure that those parties are lawfully entitled to share your information with us and that we process it in line with this Privacy Policy.

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 provide our services: We use your personal data to provide rubbish clearance and related services you request, including giving quotes, confirming bookings, visiting your property, performing the work, issuing invoices and managing payments. The lawful basis is performance of a contract or taking steps at your request before entering into a contract.

To communicate with you: We use your contact and service information to respond to your enquiries, manage your bookings, send service updates, and handle any complaints or queries. The lawful basis is performance of a contract and our legitimate interests in ensuring effective communication with customers.

To manage our business operations: We use personal data for record keeping, financial management, tax and accounting purposes, and to manage risk, insurance and health and safety obligations. The lawful basis is compliance with legal obligations and our legitimate interests in running our business.

Marketing and customer relationship management: We may use your contact details to send you information about our services, special offers or updates that we believe may be of interest to you, as long as we do so in line with marketing laws. The lawful basis is either your consent, where required, or our legitimate interests in promoting our services, balanced carefully against your rights. You can opt out of marketing at any time.

Security and fraud prevention: We may use personal data to protect our business, staff and customers, for example to detect and prevent fraud or abuse of our services. The lawful basis is our legitimate interests in ensuring security and preventing unlawful activity.

Legal claims and compliance: We may process your data where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, or where we are required to do so by law or a lawful request from a competent authority. The lawful basis is compliance with legal obligations and our legitimate interests in protecting our legal rights.

Data retention

We keep your 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.

In general, we keep customer and service records for a period that allows us to manage ongoing relationships, deal with queries or complaints, and maintain accurate financial records in line with tax and accounting regulations. After these periods expire, data is securely deleted or anonymised so it can no longer be linked back to you.

The exact retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and our legal obligations, but we regularly review the data we hold and apply appropriate retention and deletion schedules.

Data sharing and processors

We may share your personal data with trusted third parties where it is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. These third parties act either as our processors, who process data on our behalf, or as separate controllers.

Service providers and contractors: We may share limited personal data with subcontractors and other service providers who help us perform our services, such as waste disposal facilities, IT providers, customer management systems, accountants and payment processors. These parties may only process your data in accordance with our instructions and must ensure appropriate security and confidentiality.

Professional advisers and authorities: We may share data with our professional advisers, such as lawyers, accountants or insurers, and with regulatory, law enforcement or governmental authorities where required by law or to protect our legal rights.

Business transfers: In the event that we undergo a business sale, merger or reorganisation, your personal data may be transferred as part of that transaction, but will remain subject to the protections described in this Privacy Policy.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

International transfers

Our primary operations are based in the United Kingdom. If we ever need to transfer your personal data outside the UK or the European Economic Area, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as standard contractual clauses or equivalent measures, to protect your data to a level essentially equivalent to UK data protection law.

How we protect your data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, disclosure or destruction. These measures include access controls, secure storage, staff training and procedures for managing data breaches.

While no system can be completely secure, we are committed to maintaining effective security safeguards and to reviewing them regularly.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights apply to all Rubbish Clearance Swiss Cottage customers and prospective customers within our service area, subject to certain legal conditions and exceptions.

Right of access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to obtain information about how we use it.

Right to rectification: You have the right to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data about you.

Right to erasure: In certain circumstances, you can ask us to delete or remove your personal data, for example if it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected.

Right to restriction: You may ask us to restrict the processing of your data in specific situations, such as while we are considering a request for rectification or objection.

Right to data portability: Where we process your data on the basis of your consent or a contract and by automated means, you may have the right to receive your data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to transmit it to another controller.

Right to object: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests, including for direct marketing. If you object to marketing, we will stop sending it to you.

Rights relating to consent: Where we process your data on the basis of consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing before consent was withdrawn.

To exercise any of your rights, please contact us using our usual contact details. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request. We aim to respond within the timeframes required by law.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data, we encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve your concerns. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority in the United Kingdom.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements or the services we offer. Any significant changes will be made available through our usual communication channels. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.