Gardeners Hadley Wood Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Hadley Wood collects, uses, stores and protects personal data about its customers in the local area. It is intended to meet the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation and related data protection laws. By using our gardening and related services you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

Scope of this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all existing and prospective customers of Gardeners Hadley Wood within our service area, including individuals who make enquiries, request quotations, enter into service contracts, or otherwise interact with us in relation to our gardening services. It also applies to individuals whose personal data is provided to us by our customers, for example where a customer gives us the contact details of a tenant or neighbour for access or coordination purposes.

Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data when you interact with Gardeners Hadley Wood or use our services:

Identification and contact details such as your name, postal address, property address where services are delivered, and any other contact details you voluntarily provide.

Service and contract details such as records of services requested or provided, site notes and assessments, photographs of the garden or relevant parts of the property where necessary to plan or evidence work, and communications about your requirements or preferences.

Billing and payment information such as records of invoices issued, payments received, payment method used, and related accounting information. We do not store full card details if a card payment processor is used.

Communication data such as records of your communications with us including enquiries, quotations, complaints, feedback and any other correspondence relevant to our services.

Technical and usage information where you interact with any online content we provide, such as logs or basic analytics that help us understand how our website or online listings are used. This may include information about the device and browser you use and general location based on IP address.

How We Collect Personal Data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us, request a quote, make a booking, enter into a contract, pay an invoice, or communicate with us about our services in any way.

We may also receive personal data from third parties, for example from property managers, landlords, estate agents or neighbours who ask us to provide services at a particular property and give us your contact details to facilitate access or coordination.

In addition, some usage or technical data may be collected automatically through our website or through platforms where our business is listed, using basic logging or analytics tools operated by those platforms or by processors acting on our behalf.

Lawful Bases for Processing

We only process your personal data where we have a valid lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the situation, the lawful basis will usually be one or more of the following:

Contract. We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into, perform or manage a contract with you, for example to provide gardening services, manage bookings, issue invoices, or respond to your service requests.

Legal obligation. We process certain information when we are required to do so by law, for example to maintain accounting records for tax and financial reporting purposes.

Legitimate interests. We process some personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests as a business and where your rights and freedoms are not overridden. This may include managing and improving our services, handling customer enquiries, protecting our business, or keeping basic records of work carried out at your property.

Consent. In limited circumstances we may rely on your consent, for example where we wish to send certain forms of marketing communications or use optional photographs of your garden for promotional purposes. Where we rely on consent you may withdraw it at any time.

How We Use Your Personal Data

We may use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide and manage gardening services, including visiting your property, carrying out agreed work, and keeping records of work performed.

To respond to enquiries, provide quotes or estimates, and communicate with you about requested or ongoing services.

To manage billing and payments, including issuing invoices, confirming payment receipt and maintaining financial records.

To plan and improve our services, including using non-excessive records of past work at your property to recommend ongoing maintenance or improvements.

To handle complaints, disputes or claims, and to protect or exercise our legal rights.

To comply with legal and regulatory obligations and to cooperate with lawful requests from public authorities where required.

Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy and to meet legal and regulatory requirements.

Customer and service records are generally retained for a period that allows us to respond to queries about past work, manage any potential disputes, and meet our tax and accounting obligations. Financial records such as invoices and payment details are typically kept for the period required by applicable tax and accounting laws.

Where we rely on consent, we will keep the relevant personal data until you withdraw your consent or it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected, whichever happens first, unless we are required to retain it for longer for legal reasons.

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

Data Processors and Third Parties

We may use carefully selected third party service providers as data processors to help us operate our business and deliver services. These may include:

Payment and invoicing service providers that process payments and help us manage invoices and accounts.

IT and cloud service providers that host or support our digital records, emails, calendars, or scheduling and job management tools.

Professional advisers such as accountants where access to certain records is required for professional or legal reasons.

Where we use processors, they are only permitted to process personal data on our documented instructions, must keep it secure, and are not allowed to use it for their own independent purposes. We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

We may disclose personal data to other third parties where necessary to comply with the law, to respond to legal requests, or to protect our rights or those of our customers or others.

International Data Transfers

Some of our service providers may store or process personal data outside the United Kingdom. Where this occurs, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data, such as using providers in countries that have been recognised as providing an adequate level of protection or entering into contracts that include standard data protection clauses.

How We Protect Your Personal Data

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, alteration or disclosure. These measures include limiting access to personal data to those who have a genuine need to know it for business purposes, using appropriate security settings on devices and accounts, and training relevant personnel on data protection responsibilities.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be subject to certain conditions and legal exemptions, but in general they include:

Right of access. You have the right to request confirmation of whether we hold personal data about you and to receive a copy of that data together with certain information about how it is used.

Right to rectification. You have the right to ask us to correct or complete personal data that is inaccurate or incomplete.

Right to erasure. In certain circumstances you have the right to request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected or where you withdraw consent and there is no other lawful basis for processing.

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

Right to object. You may have the right to object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests as our lawful basis. We will then consider your objection and stop processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests or the 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 have the right to request that we provide you with certain personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format or transmit it to another controller where technically feasible.

Right to withdraw consent. Where we rely on your consent to process personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements or data protection best practice. Any updates will take effect from the date on which the revised Privacy Policy is made available. You should review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.