Privacy Policy

Gardeners Sipson Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Sipson collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to customers and prospective customers in the Sipson area. It is intended to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners Sipson customers and anyone who contacts us to enquire about our gardening services in the area.

Scope of this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy covers personal data that we collect from individuals in connection with the provision, or potential provision, of our gardening and related services. It applies whether you contact us in person, by post, via online forms, or through any other means. By engaging with Gardeners Sipson, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy and understand how we handle your personal data.

Types of Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is relevant and necessary for us to provide our services and run our business. The categories of personal data we may collect include the following.

Identity data such as your name and, where relevant, the name of any person you authorise to act on your behalf.

Contact data such as your correspondence address, service address if different, and any other contact details you choose to provide.

Service and contract data such as details of the gardening services you request, quotations and estimates, service schedules, invoices, and payment records.

Communication data such as information contained in enquiries, feedback, complaints and any other correspondence you send to us, including notes of telephone conversations where relevant.

Technical or usage data only where necessary and proportionate, for example basic information generated when you visit our online pages, such as the time and date of access and the pages viewed. We do not seek to identify you personally from such technical data except where required to investigate or prevent misuse or to comply with legal obligations.

How We Collect Personal Data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us to request a quote, book a visit, or communicate with us about existing or potential services. This may be done in person, by post or through online forms or messaging tools.

We may also generate personal data about you through the ordinary course of providing services, for example information about the services we have performed at your property or records of communications relating to your account.

In some cases, we may receive personal data about you from third parties, for example where a person refers you to us, or where an agent or family member contacts us on your behalf. In such circumstances we treat your personal data in accordance with this Privacy Policy and, where appropriate, we will make reasonable efforts to inform you of the processing.

Lawful Basis for Processing

We will only process your personal data where a lawful basis under data protection law applies. The main lawful bases we rely on are the following.

Performance of a contract. We process personal data where it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, for example providing a quotation, and where it is necessary to perform a gardening services contract we have agreed with you, such as arranging visits, carrying out work, and handling payments.

Legitimate interests. We process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where these interests are not overridden by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. This may include managing our relationship with you, maintaining and improving our services, keeping basic records, and protecting our business from misuse or unlawful activity.

Legal obligation. We process personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject. This can include record keeping, tax and accounting requirements, responding to lawful requests from authorities, and complying with applicable health and safety or regulatory duties.

Consent. In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example if we wish to send you certain types of optional marketing or promotional information. Where we rely on consent, you are free to withdraw it at any time, and we will explain how you can do so at the point where consent is obtained.

How We Use Your Personal Data

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

To provide and manage our gardening and related services, including arranging appointments, accessing service locations, tailoring work to your requirements and maintaining records of services provided.

To communicate with you about enquiries, quotes, bookings, service changes, billing, and any issues that may arise in relation to your contract or requested services.

To manage our business operations, including administration, record keeping, financial management, and handling customer feedback or complaints.

To comply with legal and regulatory obligations, including responding to lawful requests and maintaining records as required by law.

To protect our rights, property and safety, and that of our customers and third parties, which may include preventing and investigating misuse, fraud or potential disputes.

Data Sharing and Processors

We may share your personal data with carefully selected third parties where this is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy and where appropriate safeguards are in place.

Service providers acting as processors. We may use external providers to support our operations, such as providers of accounting or bookkeeping software, scheduling tools, or secure data storage services. These providers act on our instructions and are not permitted to use your personal data for their own independent purposes. We require such processors to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data.

Professional advisers. We may share personal data with professional advisers, such as accountants or legal advisers, where reasonably necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or for compliance with our legal obligations.

Authorities and legal recipients. We may disclose personal data where required to do so by law or where necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others. This may include disclosure to law enforcement, courts or regulatory bodies.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

International Transfers

Where we use third party processors or service providers that are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, or that store data in such locations, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. This may include relying on adequacy regulations, contractual protections, or other safeguards permitted under data protection law.

Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

Customer and contract records are generally kept for the duration of our relationship with you and for a reasonable period afterwards, in order to respond to queries, manage any disputes and comply with relevant legal obligations. Financial and transaction records may be retained for longer periods as required by tax and accounting laws.

When personal data is no longer required, we will securely delete it or, in some cases, anonymise it so that it can no longer be associated with you.

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 are designed to provide a level of security appropriate to the risks presented by the processing. Access to personal data is restricted to those individuals who need it for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy and who are subject to duties of confidentiality.

Your Data Protection Rights

As a data subject, you have a number of rights under data protection law in relation to your personal data.

Right of access. You have the right to request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, together with certain information about how we use it.

Right to rectification. You have the right to request that inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you is corrected or completed.

Right to erasure. In certain circumstances, you may have the right to request the deletion of your personal data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or where you have withdrawn consent and there is no other lawful basis for processing.

Right to restriction. You may have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, for example while we verify the accuracy of your data or consider an objection you have raised.

Right to object. You may have the right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, on grounds relating to your particular situation. We will stop processing your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or where processing is required for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Right to data portability. In certain situations, you may have the right to receive the personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and to request that we transmit that data to another controller where technically feasible.

Where we rely on consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

Contact and Complaints

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, about how we handle your personal data or if you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, you can contact Gardeners Sipson using the usual communication channels you use as a customer or prospective customer.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority for data protection matters if you believe that your rights have been infringed. We would, however, welcome the opportunity to address your concerns directly in the first instance.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, in the way we provide services, or in applicable law. Any updated version will apply to all personal data held by Gardeners Sipson at the time of the update and will replace any earlier versions. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we process your personal data in the Sipson area.