Privacy Policy - Movers Battersea

This Privacy Policy explains how Movers Battersea collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing moving and related services. It applies to all Movers Battersea customers in the area, including individuals who request quotes, book services, communicate with us, or otherwise use our services. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Data We Collect

We collect only the personal data that is necessary to provide our services, manage our business, and meet legal obligations. Depending on the nature of the service, this may include:

Identity details such as your name, title, and business or household name.
Contact details such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service information such as move date, property access details, inventory, preferred service requirements, and special instructions.
Payment information such as billing address and payment status. We do not store full card details where payments are processed securely by a payment provider.
Communication records including emails, messages, call notes, complaints, and service feedback.
Website or technical data if you interact with our online systems, such as IP address, browser type, device information, and cookie-related data where applicable.
Optional information you choose to provide, including delivery preferences, accessibility needs, or other service-related requests.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and you choose to provide it, for example if you disclose accessibility or health-related information relevant to safely delivering our services. Where such information is collected, we process it with extra care and only where a valid lawful basis applies.

2. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to provide quotes and assess service requirements;
to arrange, manage, and complete moving services;
to communicate with customers before, during, and after a move;
to handle billing, payment processing, and account administration;
to respond to enquiries, complaints, and service issues;
to comply with legal, regulatory, insurance, and tax obligations;
to improve our services, training, quality control, and operational planning;
to prevent fraud, misuse, and other unlawful activity;
to send service-related updates and administrative communications;
where permitted, to analyse performance and customer experience.

We will only use personal data for the purpose for which it was collected, unless we reasonably need to use it for another compatible purpose. If we need to use it for an unrelated purpose, we will explain the legal basis before doing so.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under the UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. Movers Battersea relies on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes preparing quotes, managing bookings, moving items, invoicing, and fulfilling service requests.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your interests and rights do not override those interests. This may include service improvement, fraud prevention, internal administration, operational planning, and limited marketing of similar services where allowed by law.

Legal Obligation

We process data where required to meet legal obligations, such as tax, accounting, insurance, and regulatory requirements.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain optional communications or the processing of specific information where consent is the most appropriate basis. When we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

Vital Interests and Public Interest

These bases are rarely used, but may apply in exceptional situations where processing is necessary to protect someone’s life or for a task carried out in the public interest.

4. Data Sharing and Processors

We do not sell personal data. We may share personal data only when necessary and with appropriate safeguards in place. Some third parties act as processors, meaning they process data on our behalf and under our instructions. These may include:

Payment processors for secure payment handling.
IT and cloud service providers for data storage, email, scheduling, and business administration.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers for financial records and tax compliance.
Customer relationship management tools used to manage enquiries and bookings.
Insurance providers and claims handlers where relevant to a service issue or claim.
Professional advisers such as lawyers, auditors, or consultants where necessary.
Regulatory, legal, or public authorities where we are required to do so by law or to protect our rights.

Where processors are used, we require them to protect personal data, keep it confidential, and process it only on our instructions. We take reasonable steps to ensure that any third party handling personal data meets appropriate security and privacy standards.

5. International Transfers

Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure suitable safeguards are in place, such as an adequacy regulation, standard contractual clauses, or another lawful transfer mechanism. We take steps to ensure transferred data receives a level of protection consistent with UK GDPR requirements.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including satisfying legal, accounting, insurance, and operational requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the nature of the service. In general:

service and booking records are retained for the duration of the customer relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards;
financial and tax-related records are retained for the period required by law;
complaints, claims, and dispute records may be kept longer if needed to resolve issues or defend legal claims;
technical and administrative records are retained for a limited period unless they must be preserved for security or legal reasons.

When personal data is no longer required, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so it can no longer identify you.

7. Security of Personal Data

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard personal data against unauthorised access, loss, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and data minimisation practices. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we regularly review our measures to help protect customer data.

8. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be subject to conditions or exceptions. They include:

Right of access – you may request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of it.
Right to rectification – you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – you may request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – you may ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to data portability – you may request certain data in a structured, commonly used format where technically feasible.
Right to object – you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or to direct marketing.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to raise concerns about how your data is handled. If you believe your rights have been infringed, you may lodge a complaint with the UK data protection authority. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve the matter promptly and fairly.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is provided by an adult customer for a legitimate service-related reason. If we become aware that we have collected a child’s personal data without an appropriate basis, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

10. Cookies and Similar Technologies

If our systems use cookies or similar technologies, these may be used for essential functionality, security, performance analysis, and improving user experience. Where required, we will seek consent before placing non-essential cookies. You can manage cookie settings through your browser or device settings, although some features may not work properly if cookies are disabled.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, our services, or our data practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their personal data is handled.

12. Summary of Our Commitments

We collect only the personal data needed to deliver and manage services.
We process data using lawful bases under UK GDPR.
We share data only where necessary and with trusted processors.
We retain data only as long as required for lawful business and legal purposes.
We respect and support your data protection rights.

Movers Battersea is committed to protecting customer privacy and using personal data responsibly. This policy applies to all customers in the area and is intended to ensure transparency, accountability, and compliance with applicable data protection laws.