Gardeners Preston Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Preston collects, uses and protects your personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and applicable data protection laws. It applies to all Gardeners Preston customers and prospective customers in the Preston area, including people who contact us about our gardening services, request quotes, or use our services on a one-off or ongoing basis.

Who We Are

Gardeners Preston is a gardening and grounds maintenance service operating in the Preston area. For the purposes of data protection law, Gardeners Preston is the data controller of the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed when you deal with us as a customer or potential customer.

Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and use the following categories of personal data about you when you contact us or use our services:

Identification and contact details, such as your name, postal address, service address, and any other contact details you choose to provide.

Communication details, including the content of enquiries, quotations, instructions, feedback and complaints you send to us and our responses to you.

Service and contract information, including details of the gardening or maintenance services you request, notes from site visits, schedules, invoices, payments and transaction records.

Technical and usage information, such as basic information about how you access and use our online content if you visit our website or online profiles, including device details and general usage data where this is collected.

Preference and marketing information, such as whether you wish to receive updates or offers about our services, and your communication preferences.

We only collect the personal data we need in order to provide and manage our services and to run our business efficiently and safely.

How We Collect Your Data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us for information, request a quote, book a visit, or use our services. This can be by phone, in person, by post, or through online communication tools.

We may also collect information generated through the performance of our services, for example notes taken during site visits, records of work carried out, and billing and payment information.

In limited cases, we may receive information from third parties, for example where another person makes a booking on your behalf or refers you to us. When we receive data from third parties we take steps to confirm that they have a lawful basis to share it with us.

Purposes and Lawful Basis for Processing

We process 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 respond to enquiries and provide quotations. When you contact us with an enquiry or request a quote, we use your personal data to respond and provide the information you have requested. The lawful basis for this is taking steps at your request prior to entering into a contract.

To deliver our gardening services. We use your personal data to schedule and carry out work, access your property where needed, manage our teams, and keep you informed about the work. The lawful basis for this is performance of a contract with you.

To manage billing and payments. We process your personal data to issue invoices, receive and record payments, and manage any related queries. The lawful basis for this is performance of a contract with you and our legitimate interest in running our business.

To manage customer relationships and service records. We keep records of work carried out, service history and communications to help us provide consistent, high quality services and to handle any questions or complaints. The lawful basis is our legitimate interest in managing and improving our services.

To send optional marketing communications. With your consent, we may send you information about services, seasonal offers or updates that may be relevant to you. You can withdraw your consent at any time. The lawful basis is your consent.

To comply with legal obligations. We may need to process and retain certain personal data to meet our legal and regulatory obligations, such as accounting and tax requirements. The lawful basis is compliance with a legal obligation.

Data Sharing and Processors

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your personal data with trusted third parties who act as data processors on our behalf. These processors only use your data in accordance with our instructions and for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.

Categories of processors may include:

Payment processing and accounting service providers who assist with invoicing, bookkeeping and financial records.

IT and hosting providers who help us operate and secure our digital systems and records.

Professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers where necessary for the management of our business.

Where required by law or to protect our rights, we may also share data with regulatory bodies, law enforcement or other authorities.

When we use processors, we put in place appropriate contracts and safeguards to ensure that your personal data is protected and processed lawfully and securely.

International Data Transfers

Our core activities are based in the Preston area and we aim to store and process your personal data within the United Kingdom or in locations subject to equivalent data protection standards. If we use service providers that transfer data outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as standard contractual clauses or other legally recognised protections.

Data Retention

We keep your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including to provide services to you, maintain accurate records, and meet legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

In practice, this generally means:

Enquiry and quote information is retained for a reasonable period to respond to follow-up enquiries and manage potential bookings.

Service and contract records, including invoices and payment details, are usually kept for several years in line with legal and tax obligations.

Marketing preference information is kept for as long as you remain subscribed or until you withdraw your consent.

When personal data is no longer required, we will securely delete or anonymise it so that you can no longer be identified from it.

How We Protect Your Data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. These measures may include secure storage systems, restricted access to records, staff awareness and, where relevant, data encryption and secure backup procedures.

While no system can be completely secure, we work to ensure that the level of protection is appropriate to the nature of the data and the risks associated with processing it.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection law, individuals in the Preston area using Gardeners Preston services have a number of rights in relation to their personal data. These include:

The right of access. You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you and certain information about how we process it.

The right to rectification. You have the right to ask us to correct or update inaccurate or incomplete personal data.

The right to erasure. In certain circumstances, you may ask us to delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected and we have no other legal basis for keeping it.

The right to restrict processing. You may request that we limit how we use your personal data in specific situations, for example while we consider an objection or a request for rectification.

The right to object. You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data when we rely on legitimate interests as our lawful basis. You also have an absolute right to object to direct marketing at any time.

The right to data portability. In some cases, you have the right to receive the personal data you provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to request that we transfer it to another controller where technically feasible.

You also have the right to withdraw consent at any time where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, for example for marketing communications. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing that took place before you withdrew it.

How To Exercise Your Rights

If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights or have questions about how Gardeners Preston handles your personal data, you can contact us using your usual communication method with us. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request to protect your privacy and the security of your data.

You also have the right to raise concerns with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data. However, we encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve any issues directly.

Updates To This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, our processing activities or applicable laws. When we make significant changes, we will take reasonable steps to inform you. The most current version of this policy will apply to the personal data we hold and process about you.

This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners Preston customers and prospective customers in the Preston area and explains our commitment to handling your personal data lawfully, fairly and transparently.