Gardeners Colyers Customer Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Colyers collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data relating to our customers within our service area. It also explains your rights under applicable data protection laws, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and related legislation. By engaging 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 Gardeners Colyers customers in our service area, including prospective customers who contact us for quotations, existing customers who use our services, and former customers whose data we may continue to hold in line with our retention periods. It applies to personal data collected through any method, including in person, by post, and through digital channels.

Personal Data We Collect

We collect and process only the personal data that is necessary to provide our services, manage our business, and meet our legal obligations. Depending on your relationship with us, we may collect the following categories of personal data:

Identification and contact information, such as your full name, postal address, and other basic contact details you choose to provide when you request a quote, make a booking, or communicate with us.

Service-related information, such as property details relevant to the provision of gardening services, including garden size, access notes, preferences regarding plants or treatments, and records of work carried out.

Communication records, such as notes of conversations, and correspondence between you and Gardeners Colyers relating to enquiries, quotations, appointments, complaints, or feedback.

Billing and transaction information, such as invoices, payment records, and information necessary for accounting and tax purposes. We do not store full payment card details; if electronic payment services are used, your card information is processed by third-party payment providers acting as data processors or, where applicable, as independent data controllers.

Technical and usage data, where applicable, such as basic information about how you access and use our online content. This may include device information, approximate location, and interaction data, in line with cookie or tracking technologies used by any digital platforms we operate.

Lawful Basis for Processing

We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. Gardeners Colyers may rely on the following lawful bases:

Contract: We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, for example to provide gardening services, schedule visits, manage payments, and handle any related customer service matters.

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

Legitimate interests: We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This includes managing and improving our services, maintaining business records, handling queries or complaints, and promoting similar services to existing or recent customers in line with applicable direct marketing rules.

Consent: In limited circumstances, we may rely on your explicit consent, for example where required for certain types of direct marketing or optional communications. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time by contacting us, and withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before your withdrawal.

How We Use Personal Data

Gardeners Colyers uses your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide and manage gardening and related services, including quotation, planning, scheduling, delivery, and follow-up of work at your property.

To communicate with you about appointments, changes, updates, and any questions you may have.

To issue invoices, process payments, manage accounts, and maintain accurate financial records.

To handle enquiries, requests, feedback, and complaints, and to provide customer support.

To improve our services, business processes, and customer experience, including through analysis of how our services are used.

To comply with legal, regulatory, and contractual requirements and to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Data Sharing and Processors

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your personal data with trusted third parties where necessary and lawful, including:

Service providers acting as data processors, such as IT and hosting providers, payment processing services, accounting or bookkeeping services, and companies that provide tools for communication or scheduling. These providers are contractually required to process your data only on our instructions and to protect it appropriately.

Professional advisers, such as accountants, auditors, or legal professionals, where necessary for the management of our business or to address legal matters.

Public authorities, regulators, or law enforcement agencies, where we are legally required or permitted to do so, or where this is necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others.

In some cases, our processors may operate outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area. Where international transfers occur, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses, or equivalent protections, to ensure your data remains protected.

Data Retention

Gardeners Colyers will retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including to meet any legal, accounting, or reporting obligations.

In general, we will keep core customer and service-related records for the duration of our relationship with you and for a period afterwards to deal with any queries, disputes, or claims. Financial and transactional data is usually retained for the minimum period required under tax and accounting laws, which may be several years after the end of the financial year in which the transaction occurred.

When we no longer need your personal data, we will securely delete or 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. Measures include limiting access to personal data to those employees, contractors, and service providers who have a business need to know it, and ensuring they are subject to confidentiality obligations. While we work to protect your data, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, and you should take care when sharing personal information with us or others.

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. Subject to those conditions, your rights include:

Right of access: You can request confirmation that we process your personal data and obtain a copy of that data, along with information about how it is used.

Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.

Right to erasure: In certain circumstances, you can 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 legal basis for processing.

Right to restriction of processing: You can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, for example while we verify its accuracy or consider an objection you have raised.

Right to data portability: In some cases, you can request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format, and that we transfer it to another controller where technically feasible.

Right to object: You can object to our processing of your personal data where we are relying on legitimate interests, including profiling based on those interests. You can always object to direct marketing and we will stop processing your data for that purpose.

Rights related to automated decision-making: Gardeners Colyers does not rely on solely automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects about you. If this changes, we will inform you and explain your related rights.

Exercising Your Rights and Complaints

If you wish to exercise any of your rights, or if you have any questions or concerns about how we handle your personal data, you can contact Gardeners Colyers using the contact details you already have for us from our communications or service documentation. We will respond to your request in line with applicable legal time limits and may request additional information to verify your identity before responding.

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

Changes to this Privacy Policy

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