Aberdeen Removals Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Aberdeen Removals collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to customers and prospective customers in the Aberdeen area. It also explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. This Privacy Policy applies to all Aberdeen Removals customers and individuals who make enquiries or otherwise interact with our services in the Aberdeen area, whether by telephone, in person or online.

Who We Are and Scope of This Policy

Aberdeen Removals is a removals and related services provider operating in the Aberdeen area. As part of delivering our services, we act as a data controller in relation to the personal data of our customers and prospective customers. This means we determine how and why your personal data is processed, and we are responsible for ensuring that such processing complies with data protection law.

This Privacy Policy covers personal data processed in connection with booking and carrying out removals, storage, packing and associated services, as well as marketing and customer service activities relating to Aberdeen Removals in the Aberdeen area.

Types of Personal Data We Collect

We collect and process a range of personal data in order to provide our services and operate our business. The information we may collect includes:

Identification and contact details, such as name, postal address, service addresses, and any other contact preferences you choose to share with us. Service and contract information, such as details about the properties you are moving from and to, access information, inventory details, preferred service dates and times, special handling requirements and any additional instructions you provide. Payment and billing information, such as information necessary to process payments and manage invoices, including billing address and records of payments made. Communication records, such as information you provide when you contact us by telephone or in writing, including the content of communications, notes of conversations and customer service interactions. Website and usage data, where applicable, such as information collected when you use our website or digital services, including device information, basic technical data and usage data that helps us understand how people access our services.

We do not routinely collect special category personal data, such as health data, unless it is strictly necessary for a particular service and you have chosen to share it with us. In such cases, we will process it only as permitted by data protection law and with appropriate safeguards.

Lawful Basis for Processing Your Data

We must have a lawful basis under the UK GDPR to process your personal data. Depending on the context, we rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:

Contract: We process your personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, for example to provide quotations, confirm bookings, carry out removals and related services and manage payments.

Legal obligation: We may process your personal data when necessary to comply with legal obligations, such as accounting, taxation and record-keeping requirements or responding to lawful requests from public authorities.

Legitimate interests: We process personal data for our legitimate business interests, provided that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This includes managing and improving our services, handling customer queries and complaints, preventing fraud or misuse of our services and maintaining business records.

Consent: In certain limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example for specific types of marketing communications where consent is required by law. When we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time.

How We Use Your Personal Data

We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:

To provide quotations, estimates and service proposals, including assessing your requirements and preparing suitable service options. To set up, manage and fulfil contracts for removals, storage, packing and related services. To communicate with you about your enquiries, bookings, changes to services, service updates and customer support matters. To process payments, issue invoices, manage refunds and keep financial and accounting records. To manage and improve our operations, including planning resources, optimising routes and enhancing customer experience. To handle feedback, queries, disputes or complaints in a fair and transparent manner. To send you information about our services that may be of interest to you, where permitted by law and in line with your communication preferences. To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations and cooperate with regulators and public authorities where required.

Data Sharing and Use of Processors

We may share your personal data with trusted third parties who help us deliver our services and operate our business. These third parties act as data processors or, in some cases, as independent data controllers. Third parties may include:

Service providers who support our operations, such as removals subcontractors, storage facilities, packing material suppliers, IT and system support providers, payment processing providers and professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers. Regulatory, governmental and law enforcement bodies, where we are required or permitted by law to disclose personal data. Other parties in connection with business transactions, such as the sale or restructuring of all or part of our business, where your personal data may be transferred as part of that process in compliance with data protection law.

Where we use third party processors, we ensure that appropriate contracts are in place requiring them to process your data only in accordance with our instructions and to provide suitable technical and organisational measures to protect your data.

International Transfers

In most cases, your personal data will be processed within the United Kingdom or other locations within the European Economic Area. If we need to transfer your personal data outside of these areas, we will only do so where an adequate level of protection for your data is ensured. This may include using standard contractual clauses or other appropriate safeguards recognised by data protection law.

Data Retention

We keep your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and to comply with legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

In general, we retain core customer and contract information for a period that allows us to respond to queries, address any issues that arise after the completion of services and meet our legal obligations. After the relevant retention period has expired, we will securely delete or anonymise your personal data so that it can no longer be associated with you.

The specific retention period may vary depending on the type of data and the relevant legal requirements, such as tax and accounting rules.

Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include access controls, staff training, secure storage and regular review of our security practices.

While we take reasonable steps to safeguard your personal data, no system can be completely secure. We continually review and update our security measures in line with industry practices and legal requirements.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under the UK GDPR, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to certain conditions and exemptions, you may have the right to:

Access your personal data and obtain a copy of the information we hold about you, together with certain details about how we use it. Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you. Request erasure of your personal data where there is no good reason for us to continue processing it, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected and we have no legal obligation to retain it. Request restriction of processing of your personal data, for example if you contest the accuracy of the data or object to our processing. Object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests as our lawful basis, including profiling. We will stop processing your data unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue or we need to process the data for legal claims. Object to direct marketing, including any related profiling. Where we carry out direct marketing, you can opt out at any time and we will respect your choice. Request data portability, which allows you to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to request that we transmit it to another controller where technically feasible, when the processing is based on consent or contract and is carried out by automated means. Withdraw consent where we rely on consent as the lawful basis for processing your personal data. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing that took place before withdrawal.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, you can contact us using the contact details available through our normal customer communication channels. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request.

Complaints and Contact

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, you can raise them with us and we will do our best to address them. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements or business operations. Any updated version will apply to all personal data processed after the date of publication. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.