Privacy Policy

Gardeners Cowley Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Cowley collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to our customers. It applies to all Gardeners Cowley customers located in our service area who use our gardening, maintenance or related services, whether services are arranged in person, by message or through any other method.

Gardeners Cowley is committed to complying with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. We only process personal data where we have a lawful basis to do so, and we handle all personal information in a fair, transparent and secure manner.

Personal Data We Collect

We collect and process different types of personal data in the course of providing our services. The main categories of data we collect are:

Contact details such as name, postal address, and, where provided, preferred contact details for arranging services and communicating about bookings.

Service information such as property type, garden layout, access instructions, details of requested work, frequency of visits and any related notes needed to carry out services safely and effectively.

Booking and transaction records such as dates and times of visits, services performed, amounts charged, payment status and related administrative records required for accounting and tax purposes.

Communication records such as messages or notes about enquiries, quotations, feedback, complaints and any follow-up communication necessary to manage our relationship with you.

Technical and usage information where relevant, such as basic device or usage details generated by normal browsing activity if you access any online content relating to Gardeners Cowley. We do not seek to identify individuals from this information unless required for security or legal reasons.

How We Collect Personal Data

We mainly collect data directly from you when you contact us to request a quote, make a booking, or ask a question about our services. This may occur in person, via written messages or through any other direct communication you choose to use.

We may also create records about you during the provision of services, for example, notes relating to your garden, access arrangements or work history, in order to deliver and manage ongoing services.

In some cases, we may receive your details from a third party who is arranging services on your behalf, for example, a family member, landlord, letting agent or property manager. In such cases, we will treat your data in accordance with this Privacy Policy and will, where appropriate, inform you that we hold your details.

Lawful Bases for Processing

We rely on the following lawful bases under the UK GDPR when processing your personal data:

Contract: We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, such as to provide gardening services, respond to booking requests, send confirmations, and issue invoices.

Legitimate interests: We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include maintaining service history records, improving our services, managing scheduling, and handling routine business administration.

Legal obligation: We process certain data to comply with legal requirements, including tax, accounting and record-keeping obligations, as well as to respond to lawful requests from regulatory or public authorities.

Consent: In limited circumstances we may rely on your consent, for example, if we wish to send you optional updates or marketing messages beyond what is necessary to provide our services. Where we rely on consent, you are free to withdraw it at any time.

How We Use Your Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To provide and manage our gardening and related services to you, including arranging appointments, accessing your property as agreed and carrying out requested work.

To communicate with you about enquiries, quotes, bookings, changes to appointments, service updates and any issues that may arise during delivery of services.

To manage billing and payments, including issuing invoices, recording payments received and keeping appropriate financial records.

To maintain internal records of service history so that we can understand your preferences, plan future work, and provide a consistent and reliable service.

To handle feedback, queries, or complaints and to resolve any disputes that may arise.

To comply with our legal obligations and to exercise or defend legal claims if necessary.

Data Sharing and Processors

We do not sell your personal data. We only share your data when it is necessary and lawful to do so. Categories of recipients may include:

Service providers acting as data processors who support our business operations, such as providers of accounting or record-keeping tools, secure data storage services, scheduling or administration tools, and professional advisers. These providers only process your data on our instructions and are bound by data protection obligations.

Professional advisers such as accountants or legal professionals where this is necessary for legitimate business or legal reasons.

Public authorities, regulators or law enforcement agencies where we are legally required to disclose information or where disclosure is necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others.

Where we use external processors, we take steps to ensure that appropriate technical and organisational measures are in place to protect your data and that processing is carried out in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

International Transfers

Where we use service providers that store or process data outside the United Kingdom, we take steps to ensure that an adequate level of protection is in place, such as using providers in countries with an adequacy decision or incorporating appropriate contractual safeguards where required by law.

Data Retention

We keep your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and to meet our legal, accounting and reporting obligations.

Customer account and service records are typically retained for as long as you remain a customer and for a reasonable period thereafter, to handle any queries or disputes and to maintain accurate business records.

Financial records, including invoices and related payment information, are retained for the period required by tax and accounting laws.

Where data is no longer needed, we will securely delete or anonymise it so that it can no longer be associated with you.

Your Data Protection Rights

As a customer of Gardeners Cowley within our service area, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data under data protection law. These include:

Right of access: You have the right to request confirmation that we are processing your personal data and to receive a copy of the data we hold about you, along with certain information about how it is used.

Right to rectification: You have the right to request correction of any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.

Right to erasure: In certain circumstances, you may request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the original purpose and we have no overriding legitimate reason to retain it.

Right to restriction of processing: You may request that we limit the way we use your data in certain situations, such as while we are verifying its accuracy or assessing an objection you have raised.

Right to object: You may object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests as our lawful basis. We will stop processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights and freedoms, or where processing is required for legal claims.

Right to data portability: Where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you may request that we provide you with your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, or that we transmit it to another controller where technically feasible.

Right to withdraw consent: Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

You also have the right to raise a concern or lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed. We would encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve any concerns you may have.

Security of Your Data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure. Measures may include access controls, secure storage, minimisation of data collected and regular review of our handling practices.

While we take reasonable steps to secure your data, no method of transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security, but we are committed to maintaining a level of protection that is appropriate to the nature and risks associated with the personal data we process.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, our data processing practices or applicable law. Any updated version will apply to all Gardeners Cowley customers in our service area from the date it is made available.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.