Gardeners Mile End Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Mile End collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data of its customers and prospective customers within the Gardeners Mile End service area. It also explains your rights under 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.

Who this Privacy Policy applies to

This Privacy Policy applies to all individual customers and prospective customers of Gardeners Mile End located within our operating area, including people who contact us to request a quote, book services, receive ongoing maintenance, or otherwise interact with us in relation to our gardening and associated services.

Personal data we collect

We collect and process different categories of personal data, depending on how you interact with us. The main types of data we collect include:

Identification and contact details: name, postal address, service address, and any other contact details you choose to provide to us when you reach out or engage our services.

Service and contract information: details about the gardening services you request or receive, property access instructions that you provide to us, scheduling preferences, records of communications, quotes, invoices, and service history.

Payment-related information: limited payment information such as confirmation that payment has been made, payment method, and transaction amounts. We do not store full card details when payments are processed by third-party payment providers.

Communication data: information contained in emails, messages, letters, and notes of conversations you have with us, including enquiries, requests, feedback, and complaints.

Technical and usage information: when you visit our website, basic technical information may be collected, such as your internet protocol address, approximate location, device type, browser type, and information about how you use our site. This may be collected through standard logging tools or similar technologies to help us improve our services.

How we collect personal data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us, request a quote, make a booking, or communicate with us by any available channel. We may also collect data when you visit our website or social media pages, or when you interact with our content. In some cases, we may receive information about you from third parties where you have given them permission to share your information with us, for example recommendation platforms or referral partners.

Lawful bases for processing

We process personal data only when we have a lawful basis to do so under data protection law. Depending on the circumstances, we rely on the following lawful bases:

Performance of a contract: to take steps at your request before entering into a service agreement, to provide and manage our gardening services, and to fulfil our obligations under any contract we have with you.

Legitimate interests: to manage and grow our business, respond to enquiries, improve our services, maintain and secure our systems, handle complaints, and keep basic records. When relying on legitimate interests, we balance our interests against your rights and expectations.

Legal obligation: to comply with legal requirements, including tax, accounting, and consumer protection laws, and to respond to lawful requests from regulatory or public authorities.

Consent: in limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where you specifically agree to receive certain types of marketing communications. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

How we use personal data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide gardening services: scheduling and delivering services, accessing your property in accordance with your instructions, and managing ongoing maintenance arrangements.

To manage customer relationships: responding to enquiries, issuing quotes, sending booking confirmations, communicating about changes or updates to services, and handling feedback and complaints.

To manage payments and billing: preparing and sending invoices, recording payments, processing refunds where applicable, and maintaining financial records for accounting and taxation purposes.

To operate and improve our business: monitoring service quality, training our personnel, planning workloads, improving our website and service offering, and ensuring the security and integrity of our systems.

To comply with laws and manage disputes: complying with any legal, regulatory, or professional obligations, and managing or defending any actual or potential claims or disputes.

Data retention and storage

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, or as required by law. The length of time we keep data will depend on factors such as:

The duration of your relationship with us as a customer.

The type of data and the purpose for which it is processed.

Legal and regulatory requirements relating to record keeping, tax, and accounting.

Our need to retain information in order to resolve disputes or enforce our agreements.

In general, customer and service records are retained for a period that allows us to respond to queries about previous work and to meet our legal obligations. When data is no longer needed, we will delete it or anonymise it so that it no longer identifies you.

Data processors and third parties

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as data processors on our behalf. These processors may provide services such as payment processing, accounting support, scheduling tools, secure data storage, or information technology and security services.

We ensure that any processors are subject to appropriate contractual obligations and security requirements to protect your data and to process it only in accordance with our instructions and applicable data protection law.

We may also share limited personal data with third parties acting as independent controllers when necessary, for example professional advisers, insurers, or public authorities, where required by law or to protect our legitimate interests in managing our business and handling disputes.

We do not sell your personal data.

International data transfers

Where data is processed or stored outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area by our service providers, we take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. This may include 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 approved by relevant authorities.

Security of your personal data

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, or damage. These measures include limiting access to personal data to individuals who need it for their role, using secure storage solutions, and applying appropriate safeguards to our systems and devices.

While we strive to protect your personal data, no system can be completely secure. You are also responsible for taking reasonable steps to protect your own information when communicating with us and when using any online services.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of 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 the data we hold about you.

Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct or complete any inaccurate or incomplete personal data.

Right to erasure: in some circumstances, you can request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected and we have no legal obligation to retain it.

Right to restriction of processing: you can ask us to restrict how we use your data in certain situations, for example when you contest the accuracy of the information or object to our use of it.

Right to object: you can object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests as our lawful basis or where we use your data for direct marketing.

Right to data portability: where the processing is based on your consent or on a contract and carried out by automated means, you may request that we provide your personal data in a commonly used, 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 it at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdrew your consent.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed.

Marketing communications

We may use your contact details to send you information about our services that may be of interest to you, in line with data protection and electronic communications laws. You can opt out of marketing communications at any time by contacting us using the details available on our usual communication channels or by following any unsubscribe options that we may provide.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, our practices, or legal requirements. Any updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we handle your personal data.

Contacting Gardeners Mile End about privacy

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, about how we handle your personal data, or if you wish to exercise your data protection rights, you can contact us through our usual communication channels as advertised by Gardeners Mile End.