Privacy Policy - Gardeners Bellingham

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Bellingham collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data of customers and prospective customers in the Bellingham area. It applies to all Gardeners Bellingham customers in the area, including anyone who enquires about our gardening services, receives a quotation, books work, or otherwise interacts with our business. We are committed to handling personal information in a lawful, fair, and transparent way, in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

We only collect and use personal data where it is needed for legitimate business purposes, to provide gardening services properly, to meet our legal obligations, and to improve the way we serve customers. This policy sets out what information we may collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, who may process it on our behalf, and what rights you have over your personal data.

1. Personal Data We Collect

Gardeners Bellingham may collect a range of information depending on how you interact with us. The data we collect is limited to what is necessary for service delivery, administration, and compliance.

Information you provide directly

Identity details such as your name.
Contact details such as your address, phone number, and email address.
Service information such as the type of gardening work requested, property access instructions, preferences, and appointment details.
Billing information where relevant, including invoicing details and payment records.
Communication records such as emails, message history, and notes about your requests or feedback.

Information collected automatically

We may also collect limited technical or operational data when you interact with our online systems or communicate with us electronically. This may include basic device information, dates and times of messages, and records needed to maintain service performance and security.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is strictly necessary and you have provided it voluntarily, or we are required to process it for a lawful reason. Special category data may include information about health, religion, or other sensitive matters. If such data is ever received accidentally, it will be handled with appropriate care and only retained where there is a valid legal basis.

2. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To provide quotations, schedule work, and deliver gardening services.
To manage customer accounts, invoices, and payments.
To communicate about appointments, service updates, and customer requests.
To keep records of work completed and customer preferences.
To handle complaints, queries, or service issues.
To comply with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory requirements.
To protect our business, customers, and staff from fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which it was collected unless we reasonably believe that we need to use it for another compatible purpose. If we need to use it for a new purpose, we will ensure that there is a proper legal basis to do so.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal data. Gardeners Bellingham relies on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes preparing quotes, delivering gardening work, issuing invoices, and managing service arrangements.

Legitimate interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include maintaining records, responding to enquiries, improving service quality, preventing fraud, and protecting our operations.

Legal obligation

We may process and retain certain information where it is necessary to comply with legal obligations, including tax, accounting, insurance, or regulatory requirements.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent. If we do, you will be told clearly what you are consenting to, and you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

4. Sharing Your Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who help us operate our business. These third parties act as processors when they process data on our instructions, and they are required to protect your information and use it only for the agreed purpose.

Examples of processors may include:

IT and cloud service providers that store and protect business records.
Invoicing or accounting providers that help manage payments, tax, and bookkeeping.
Communication service providers that support email, messaging, or customer contact systems.
Business administration providers that assist with scheduling, file management, or record keeping.

We may also disclose personal data where required by law, court order, law enforcement request, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Gardeners Bellingham, our customers, or others. Where processors are used, we take reasonable steps to ensure they meet appropriate data protection standards.

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the reason for processing.

Customer enquiries and quotations: retained for a reasonable period to manage follow-up, service history, and business administration.
Service and invoice records: retained for the period required for accounting, tax, and legal compliance.
Communication records: kept as long as needed to resolve queries, maintain accurate service records, or demonstrate agreement.
Security or system logs: retained only for the time necessary to ensure operational security and integrity.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you. Retention decisions are reviewed periodically to ensure data is not kept for longer than necessary.

6. Your Rights Under GDPR

As a customer in the Bellingham area, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights are subject to certain legal conditions and exemptions, but we will always consider your request carefully and respond appropriately.

Right of access: you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to erasure: you can request deletion of your data where there is no lawful reason for us to keep it.
Right to restriction: you can ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to object: you can object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability: you can request certain information in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond within the time limits required by law. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request to protect your information.

7. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures are designed to reflect the nature of the data we hold and the risks involved in processing it. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to keep records protected and only accessible to people who need them for legitimate business purposes.

8. International Transfers

Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. This may include the use of approved contractual protections or ensuring the destination offers a suitable level of data protection. Any such transfer will only take place where permitted by law and necessary for the operation of our services.

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or operational practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their personal data is handled.

10. Summary of Our Commitment

Gardeners Bellingham is committed to respecting privacy, protecting personal information, and using data responsibly. We collect only what is necessary, process it on a valid legal basis, retain it for appropriate periods, and share it only with trusted processors or where required by law. Our goal is to provide reliable gardening services while maintaining a high standard of data protection for every customer in the area.