Gardeners Dagenham Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Dagenham collects, uses, stores and protects personal data of its customers and prospective customers in the Dagenham area. It also sets out your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners Dagenham customers and individuals who enquire about or use our gardening services within the Dagenham area.

Who we are and scope of this policy

Gardeners Dagenham is a gardening services provider operating in the Dagenham area. In the context of the data protection laws, Gardeners Dagenham acts as the data controller for the personal data it collects and uses in connection with providing gardening and related services. This Privacy Policy covers personal data collected offline and online, including through telephone enquiries, written correspondence and any online forms or messages you send to us.

Personal data we collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for us to provide and manage our services. Depending on your relationship with us, we may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

Identification and contact details, such as your name, postal address, service address, and communication preferences. Communication details, such as information you provide when you contact us with enquiries, feedback or complaints, and records of those communications. Service related information, such as details about your garden or property that are relevant to the services requested, access instructions, and service history. Transaction and billing information, such as details of services booked, dates of services, prices, and payment status. Technical information where applicable, such as basic technical data from your device when you interact with our online content, including IP address, browser type and general location data, where this is necessary to provide and secure our online services.

We do not intentionally collect special category data such as health information, racial or ethnic origin, or other sensitive categories. If you voluntarily share such information with us and it is relevant for the service for example mobility considerations for site access, we will treat it with additional care and only use it for the specific purpose for which you provided it.

How we collect your data

We obtain personal data in several ways, including information you provide directly to us when you call us to request a quote or book a service, when you communicate with us by post or through online messages, and when you provide information to our gardeners during a site visit or while a service is being carried out. We may also collect personal data from third parties where it is lawful to do so, for example from payment processors confirming that a payment has been made, or from public sources such as property information that helps us plan and deliver services.

Lawful bases for processing

Gardeners Dagenham relies on several lawful bases to process personal data in accordance with the UK GDPR:

Contract. We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into and perform a contract with you, such as to provide gardening services, issue quotes, manage bookings, and handle payments. Legal obligation. We process personal data to comply with legal and regulatory obligations, such as accounting, taxation and record keeping requirements. Legitimate interests. We process personal data where it is in our legitimate interests and these are not overridden by your data protection rights, for example to manage and improve our services, respond to your enquiries, maintain accurate records, prevent fraud, and ensure the security of our systems and staff. Consent. Where required by law, we will rely on your consent, for example for certain types of marketing communications. When we rely on consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time.

How we use your personal data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide and manage services, including assessing your requirements, preparing quotes, scheduling and delivering gardening services, and communicating with you about appointments and service updates. To manage our relationship with you, including dealing with enquiries, feedback and complaints, and maintaining accurate customer records. To process payments and accounting, including issuing invoices, recording payments and meeting our financial reporting and audit obligations. To improve our services, including analysing service requests, identifying trends and making improvements to how we operate and the services we offer. To ensure safety and security, including safeguarding our staff during site visits and protecting our systems and records against misuse or unauthorised access. To send you service related messages, such as reminders or updates relating to your existing services. With your consent, to send you marketing communications about our services where permitted by law.

Data sharing and processors

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

Service providers acting as data processors, such as IT and hosting providers who support our business systems, and payment processing providers who handle card or electronic payments on our behalf. Professional advisers, such as accountants or legal advisers, where required for the management of our business and compliance with legal obligations. Public authorities and regulators, where we are required to disclose information by law or to protect our legal rights, for example for tax or law enforcement purposes.

Where we use data processors, we ensure that appropriate contracts and safeguards are in place so that your personal data is processed only in accordance with our instructions, securely, and in compliance with applicable data protection laws.

International transfers

Our primary data processing activities take place within the United Kingdom. If it becomes necessary to transfer personal data outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as using standard contractual clauses or transferring data to countries that provide an adequate level of data protection as recognised by applicable data protection authorities.

Data retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including any legal, accounting or reporting obligations. The exact retention period depends on the type of data and the context in which it was collected. Customer and service records are generally kept for a period necessary to manage our relationship with you and to comply with legal limitation periods for claims. Financial records, such as invoices and payment details, are retained for the period required by tax and accounting laws. Correspondence and enquiry records may be retained for a reasonable period to enable us to answer follow up questions, manage our services and improve our operations.

When personal data is no longer required, we will securely delete or anonymise it so that it can no longer be linked to an identifiable individual.

Security of your personal data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. These measures include access controls to restrict personal data to staff and processors who need it for their roles, secure storage and handling procedures, and regular review of our security practices. While we take reasonable steps to protect your data, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and you should take care when sharing personal data with us.

Your data protection rights

Under the UK GDPR, you have various rights in relation to your personal data, subject to certain conditions and exemptions. These include:

Right of access. You can request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of that data. Right to rectification. You can request that inaccurate or incomplete personal data be corrected. 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 and there is no legal requirement to retain it. 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. Right to object. You can object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and you can object at any time to the use of your personal data for direct marketing. Right to data portability. In some cases, you may request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format, or transfer it to another controller where technically feasible.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we may need to verify your identity before responding. We aim to respond without undue delay and within the timeframes required by law.

Complaints and contact

If you have concerns about how Gardeners Dagenham handles your personal data, you can contact us using the usual communication channels you use to arrange our services. We will do our best to address your concerns. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority in the United Kingdom if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed.

Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements or the way we deliver our services. Any changes will take effect when the updated Privacy Policy is made available. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy regularly so that you remain informed about how we use and protect your personal data.