Privacy Policy

Gardeners Fulwell Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Fulwell collects, uses, stores and protects personal data for all customers and prospective customers in our service area. We are committed to handling your information in a lawful, fair and transparent way in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and related data protection laws.

Scope of this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners Fulwell customers, as well as people who enquire about or use our gardening and related services within our operating area. It covers personal data collected through face to face contact, telephone, text, written correspondence and any other direct communication channels we use to manage and deliver our services.

Personal Data We Collect

We only collect information that is relevant to providing and managing our gardening services and running our business. The types of personal data we may collect include:

Basic contact details such as your name, home address, garden address if different, and preferred contact details.

Service information such as details about your garden, property access instructions provided by you, your service preferences, and records of work carried out.

Communication records including notes of conversations, messages and correspondence related to enquiries, quotations, bookings, scheduling and feedback.

Billing and payment information such as invoice details, payment records and transaction history. We do not store full payment card details.

Technical and usage data where applicable, such as basic information about how you interact with any digital communication we use, limited to what is necessary to manage enquiries and bookings.

We do not intentionally collect special category data such as health information, unless you choose to share limited details that are necessary for us to carry out our work safely or to meet specific service needs. In such cases, we will only use that information with your clear consent and only for the purpose you provided it.

How We Collect Your Data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us, request a quote, make a booking, or communicate with us about your gardening needs. This may be in person, by phone, by text message or other direct communication methods that we use.

We may also generate personal data as we deliver our services, for example creating job records, invoices and service notes relating to your property and the work we undertake.

Lawful Basis for Processing

We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. The main lawful bases we rely on are:

Contractual necessity. We use your personal data to provide you with quotes, carry out agreed gardening services, manage bookings, and handle billing and payments. Without this information, we would not be able to perform our contract with you or take steps at your request before entering into a contract.

Legitimate interests. We may process your data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This includes managing our customer records, planning work schedules, maintaining records of completed work, improving our services and handling routine business administration.

Legal obligations. We may process certain information to meet legal and regulatory requirements, including tax and accounting obligations and record keeping rules.

Consent. Where required by law, we will rely on your consent, for example for certain types of optional communications or where we handle any special category information you choose to share. You may withdraw your consent at any time, although this will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

How We Use Your Personal Data

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

To respond to enquiries and provide quotes.

To schedule and deliver gardening and related services at your property.

To manage customer accounts, including invoicing and recording payments.

To communicate with you about upcoming visits, changes to appointments, service updates and important information relevant to your property.

To manage our business operations, including planning workloads, managing staff or subcontractors and keeping appropriate records.

To handle complaints, resolve disputes and respond to your questions and requests.

To meet our legal and regulatory obligations.

Data Sharing and Processors

We do not sell your personal data. We only share it when necessary for the running of our business, to provide our services, or to meet legal obligations.

In some cases, we may use carefully selected third parties to process personal data on our behalf in accordance with our instructions. These may include:

Accountancy or bookkeeping providers who help us with invoicing, accounts and tax compliance.

IT, hosting or digital service providers who support secure storage of records, scheduling or communication tools.

Professional advisers such as legal or regulatory advisers where reasonably necessary to protect our rights or comply with our obligations.

Where we use data processors, we ensure they are subject to appropriate contractual and security obligations, and that they only process your data for the purposes we specify.

We may also need to share data with public authorities, law enforcement or regulators where we are legally required to do so or where this is necessary to protect our rights, property or safety.

Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as it is reasonably required for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, including for the purposes of satisfying legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

In general, we retain basic customer and service records for a period that enables us to manage ongoing or repeat work, answer queries about past work, maintain accurate accounting records and comply with tax laws. After the relevant retention period has ended, we will securely delete or anonymise your personal data.

The exact retention period may vary depending on the type of information and the services we have provided, taking into account legal limitation periods for potential claims and statutory obligations.

International Transfers

Our core activities are based within our local service area. If we use any service providers that store or access personal data outside the United Kingdom, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that your personal data is protected to a standard that is essentially equivalent to the protections available under UK data protection law. This may include using recognised data transfer mechanisms and contractual safeguards.

Data Security

We take reasonable and appropriate measures to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. These measures include limiting access to personal data to those who have a legitimate business need to know and taking steps to ensure that anyone processing personal data on our behalf does so only on our instructions and subject to confidentiality obligations.

Your Data Protection Rights

As a data subject under UK data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to certain conditions and exemptions, these may include:

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

The right to rectification. You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.

The right to erasure. In certain circumstances, you can ask us to delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected.

The right to restrict processing. You can ask us to limit the way we use your data in certain situations, such as while we consider a request for rectification.

The right to object. You may object to processing based on our legitimate interests, in which case we will stop processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests or we need to continue processing for legal reasons.

The right to data portability. In some cases, you can request that we provide certain personal data to you or to another controller in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format.

Where we rely on consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

Exercising Your Rights

If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, or if you have any questions or concerns about how we handle your personal data, you can contact us using the usual communication methods you use to interact with Gardeners Fulwell. We will respond to your requests in accordance with applicable data protection laws and may need to verify your identity before acting on certain requests.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you are unhappy with how we use your personal data. We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns directly first.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, our business practices or applicable law. Any changes will take effect when the updated Privacy Policy is made available. We encourage you to review this notice periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.