Privacy Policy

Gardeners Hook Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Hook collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to customers and prospective customers. It applies to all Gardeners Hook customers and potential customers located in our service area, regardless of how you contact us or use our services.

We are committed to complying with the General Data Protection Regulation and relevant local data protection laws. We want you to understand what information we collect, why we collect it, and how you can exercise your rights.

Personal data we collect

We collect and process personal data that is necessary to provide our gardening and related services, to manage our relationship with you, and to run our business. The categories of data we may collect include:

Identification and contact data, such as your name, postal address, service address, and any other details you choose to provide that help us identify you and communicate with you.

Service and contract data, including details of the services you request or receive from us, site notes and instructions, garden layout or access information you share with us, dates and times of visits, and records of estimates, quotes and contracts.

Communication data, such as information you provide when you contact us by any method, including verbal instructions, messages, and other correspondence, as well as notes of conversations that are relevant to the services we provide.

Billing and transaction data, including information required to issue invoices and record payments, such as invoice history and payment status. We do not store full payment card details when card payments are processed via third party payment providers.

Usage and technical data, where relevant, such as basic information about how you use our online content and services, for example the time, date and duration of your interactions, and the technical details of the device or browser you use. This may include the use of cookies or similar technologies where permitted by law and subject to your preferences.

Lawful bases for processing

We process your personal data only where we have a valid legal basis to do so. Depending on the context, we rely on the following lawful bases under the GDPR:

Contract: We process personal data to enter into and perform a contract with you, or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract. This includes providing quotes, booking and delivering services, taking payment, and managing ongoing service arrangements.

Legitimate interests: We process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, and where these interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. Examples include managing our customer records, scheduling and optimising service routes, improving our services, handling general business administration, and protecting our property and systems. Where we rely on legitimate interests, we carefully balance these against your privacy rights.

Legal obligations: We process personal data where we are required to do so to comply with applicable laws, such as tax and accounting rules, record-keeping obligations, and responding to lawful requests from public authorities.

Consent: In some cases, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain types of marketing communications or optional use of cookies. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time, and we will explain how you can do so at the time we seek your consent.

How we use your personal data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide and manage services: including responding to enquiries, providing quotes, booking and carrying out gardening visits, tailoring our services to your requirements, issuing invoices, taking payments, and dealing with queries or complaints.

To manage our relationship with you: including sending important service information, requesting feedback, managing ongoing service plans or seasonal work, and updating you about changes to our terms or policies.

To operate and improve our business: including planning and scheduling work, training staff, monitoring service quality, developing new or improved services, and keeping internal records and statistics.

To meet our legal and regulatory obligations: including maintaining appropriate financial and tax records, and cooperating with requests from competent authorities where required by law.

To carry out marketing, where permitted: including sending you information about services that may be relevant to you. We will only do this in accordance with data protection and electronic marketing laws and will respect your right to opt out at any time.

Data retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and to meet any legal, accounting or reporting obligations.

In general, customer records and basic contract information are kept for the duration of your relationship with us and for a period after it ends, to enable us to respond to queries or disputes and to comply with legal requirements. Financial records such as invoices and payment details are typically kept for the period required by tax and accounting laws.

Where we no longer need personal data, we will either securely delete it or anonymise it so that it can no longer be linked to an identifiable person.

Data processors and third parties

We may share your personal data with carefully selected third parties who process data on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions. These data processors help us deliver our services and run our business. They may include:

IT and cloud service providers who host or support our systems, data storage, and communication tools.

Payment processors who handle card or electronic payments on our behalf.

Professional advisers such as accountants, auditors or legal advisers, where necessary to obtain professional advice or to comply with legal obligations.

These processors are only permitted to use your personal data for the purposes we specify, must keep it secure, and must comply with data protection laws.

We may also share personal data with other third parties where required by law, to protect our rights, property or safety, or where you have specifically asked us to share information. We do not sell your personal data.

International transfers

Where any of our service providers are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, or store data in other countries, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data in accordance with GDPR requirements. This may involve using standard contractual clauses or ensuring that the destination country has an adequate level of data protection.

Your data protection rights

If you are located in our service area and the GDPR applies to you, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to certain conditions and exceptions, these include:

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

Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct or complete personal data that is inaccurate or incomplete.

Right to erasure: You can request that we delete your personal data where, for example, it is no longer needed for the original purpose, you withdraw consent (where processing was based on consent), or you object to processing and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for us to continue.

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

Right to object: You can object to the processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests as our lawful basis, including profiling based on those interests. You also have an absolute right to object to direct marketing at any time.

Right to data portability: Where we process your personal data on the basis of consent or contract and by automated means, you can request that we provide it to you or to another controller in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format where technically feasible.

Right to withdraw consent: Where we rely on your consent to process personal data, you can withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing that took place before consent was withdrawn.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority if you have concerns about how we handle your personal data. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve your concerns directly.

Security of your personal data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include restricting access to personal data to those staff and service providers who need it for legitimate business purposes and requiring them to handle it in a confidential and secure manner.

Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, business operations or legal requirements. Any changes will be effective from the date they are made available. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we handle your personal data.

This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners Hook customers and prospective customers within our service area and is intended to provide clear and transparent information about our data protection practices.