Gardening Gardeners Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Gardening Gardeners collects, uses, shares, and protects personal data of its customers. It applies to all Gardening Gardeners customers in the area who use our gardening, landscaping, and related services, whether contacting us online, by post, or in person. We are committed to processing personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation.
1. Who we are
Gardening Gardeners is a provider of gardening and landscaping services. For the purposes of data protection law, we act as the data controller in relation to the personal data we collect about our customers and prospective customers in the area. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed.
2. Personal data we collect
We collect and process different types of personal data depending on how you interact with us and which services you use. The categories of data we may collect include:
Identification and contact details such as name, postal address, service address, billing address, and communication details that you choose to provide.
Service and contract information such as details of the gardening or landscaping services you request or purchase, visit dates and times, instructions regarding your property, and information related to quotes, invoices, and contracts.
Payment and transaction details such as payment method, amounts paid, and transaction history. We do not store full card details when payments are handled by payment processors.
Communication records such as information you provide when you contact us to request a quote, make an enquiry, give feedback, or make a complaint, including any notes we create to manage our relationship with you.
Usage data and technical data where relevant, such as information arising from your use of our website or digital platforms, including device information, basic analytics, and service interaction data, where this is necessary for service provision or security.
Images and property information such as photos of gardens or outdoor areas where you request design, maintenance, or improvement services, where those photos may incidentally include your property or, rarely, other identifying details.
3. How we collect personal data
We collect personal data directly from you when you request a quote, agree a service, sign a contract, make a payment, send us correspondence, or otherwise interact with us. We may also receive information about you from third parties where this is required to provide our services, such as payment providers or business partners involved in delivering part of the service you have requested.
4. Lawful bases for processing
We only process your personal data when we have a lawful basis to do so. Depending on the context, we rely on the following legal grounds:
Performance of a contract: We process your data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract for gardening or related services that you have requested, including taking steps at your request before agreeing a contract.
Legal obligations: We process data where we are required to comply with legal duties, for example in relation to tax, accounting, record keeping, and responding to lawful requests from public authorities.
Legitimate interests: We process 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 relationship with customers, improving our services, preventing fraud, and ensuring the security of our operations.
Consent: In limited cases, we may ask for your consent to process your personal data for specific purposes, such as certain forms of marketing communications. Where we rely on consent, you are free to withdraw it at any time.
5. How we use personal data
We use your personal data for the following purposes:
To provide and manage our services, including arranging visits, carrying out gardening and landscaping work, and handling follow up actions.
To create and manage customer accounts, prepare quotes and contracts, and administer billing and payments.
To communicate with you regarding bookings, service updates, changes to terms, and responses to your enquiries and requests.
To maintain our business records, manage our operations, and exercise or defend legal claims.
To improve our services, including analysing feedback and, where appropriate, using property related information to plan and enhance service offerings.
To send you information about services that may be of interest to you where we are permitted to do so under applicable law or where you have given us consent.
6. Data retention
We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and to meet applicable legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
Customer and contract information is generally kept for the duration of our relationship with you and for a reasonable period afterwards to handle queries, disputes, or legal claims, and to comply with tax and accounting obligations.
Payment and invoice information is typically retained in accordance with legal retention requirements for financial records.
Marketing related data is retained until you object to or opt out of marketing, or until we determine that it is no longer necessary to keep it, subject to any longer retention that is legally required.
When data is no longer required, we will securely delete or anonymise it so that it can no longer be linked to an identifiable person.
7. 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 or when we are legally required to do so.
Service providers acting as data processors may support us with functions such as payment processing, accounting services, information technology support, customer relationship management, and data storage. These processors are required to act only on our instructions and to protect your data.
Professional advisers such as accountants, legal advisers, or insurers may receive personal data where needed for the management of our business, the protection of our rights, or in connection with legal proceedings.
Public authorities and regulators may receive data where we are obliged to disclose it in order to comply with law or regulatory requirements, or to respond to lawful requests.
We do not sell your personal data. Where data is shared with processors, we ensure appropriate contractual safeguards are in place, including commitments to confidentiality, security, and compliance with data protection laws.
8. International data transfers
Where any of our processors or service providers are located outside the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, or use infrastructure in other countries, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are applied to protect your personal data. These may include the use of legally recognised transfer mechanisms, such as standard data protection clauses approved by relevant authorities, or ensuring that the destination country has an adequate level of data protection.
9. Data security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, or damage. These measures include limiting access to personal data to those who have a business need to know, using appropriate physical and digital security measures, and regularly reviewing our procedures. While we strive to protect your personal data, no system can be completely secure, and you acknowledge that you provide information at your own risk.
10. Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have several rights in relation to your personal data, subject to certain conditions and exceptions. These rights include:
The right of access: You can request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of that data.
The right to rectification: You can request that inaccurate or incomplete personal data be corrected.
The right to erasure: You can request deletion of your personal data where there is no longer a valid reason for us to keep it, subject to legal and legitimate interest considerations.
The right to restrict processing: You can ask us to limit the way we use your data in certain circumstances.
The right to data portability: You can request that we provide certain personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine readable format, or that it be transmitted to another controller where technically feasible.
The right to object: You can object to our processing of your data based on legitimate interests and can object to direct marketing at any time.
Where we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
11. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or how we operate our services. Any updated version will be made available in place of this version and will apply from the date of publication. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we process your personal data, you can contact us using the communication channels made available by Gardening Gardeners.
