Privacy Policy

Introduction

Go Magic Sparks ("we" or "us") is committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you visit our website or use our cleaning services. It also outlines your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are based in London, UK, and we only operate in the UK, so UK data protection law applies.

Data Controller: Go Magic Sparks is the "data controller" of your personal information, which means we determine how and why your data is processed. If you have questions about this policy or your data, please contact us (see the "Contact Us" section below).

By using our website or services, you agree to the collection and use of your personal information as described in this Policy. We may update this Policy occasionally (to reflect changes in law or our practices), and we will notify you of any significant changes. The current version will always be available on our website.

Information We Collect

We only collect data that is necessary for us to operate our business and provide our services to you. This includes:

• Contact and Identity Information: When you get in touch or book a service, we may collect your name, email address, phone number, and home or business address. This information is needed to communicate with you and to perform the cleaning at the right location.
• Service Details: If you request a quote or book a cleaning, we record details about the service (e.g. the type of cleaning, date and time requested, size/type of property, any specific instructions). This helps us schedule and carry out the correct service.
• Payment Information: For payments made via bank transfer or cash, we will record the payment amount and confirmation (but obviously not store cash; for bank transfers, we might retain transaction references). For card payments, we use the third-party payment processor Stripe. We do not collect or store your card details on our servers. When you pay by card, your payment details (card number, etc.) are provided directly to Stripe on our behalf. Stripe processes the payment and only shares with us the necessary data: your name, contact, the amount paid, and a confirmation (we might also see limited details like the last 4 digits of your card or payment timeline). Stripe is a secure, PCI-compliant service; you can read more about how Stripe handles your data in their Privacy Policy at stripe.com/privacy.
• Feedback and Survey Data: If you fill out a survey, provide a review, or give us feedback (for example, after a service is completed), we collect whatever information you choose to provide about your experience. This could include your opinions on our service quality, and any suggestions or ratings. We use this to improve our services and may publish testimonials (with your consent). Survey responses are usually stored internally in aggregate form (we might share anonymized feedback in marketing, but we won't attribute quotes to you without permission).
• Newsletter Subscription Data: If you subscribe to our newsletter or request cleaning guides, we will collect your email address (and possibly your name) to send you our newsletter and relevant updates. We will only send you marketing emails if you have opted in. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link in the email or by contacting us.
• Website Usage Data (Cookies and Analytics): When you visit our website, we automatically collect some information about your visit through cookies and similar technologies. This includes technical information like your IP address, browser type, and device type, as well as statistics on how you navigated our site – for example, pages viewed, time spent on pages, and links clicked. We use Google Analytics to help gather this data. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect information on aggregate website usage (e.g. which pages are most popular). Importantly, this usage data does not identify you personally – we do not record personal details in analytics, and IP addresses are anonymized (masked) so that you are not identified. This data helps us improve our website's design and content. (See "Cookies & Analytics" below for more detail.)
• No Location Tracking: We do not use any form of GPS or real-time location tracking on our website or through mobile devices. Apart from the address you provide for cleaning services, we do not collect your precise geographic location. The only location-related data we get might be a general location inferred from your IP address for analytics (e.g. to know what city our site visitors come from), and even that is anonymized by Google Analytics and not tied to you specifically.

We do not intentionally collect any special categories of personal data (such as health information, racial/ethnic origin, political opinions, etc.) or data on children. Our services are not directed to children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16. If you are a parent/guardian and believe your child has provided us personal data, please contact us so we can delete it.

How We Use Your Information

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to (i.e., we have a lawful basis for processing). Under UK GDPR, the main bases we rely on are: to perform a contract with you, your consent, and our legitimate interests (such as improving our services or marketing to you, in a balanced way), or to comply with legal obligations. Here are the purposes for which we use your data:

• Providing Services: We use your information to schedule and perform the cleaning services you've requested. For example, we use your address to send our cleaners to the right location, and your contact info to communicate about the appointment. This is necessary for the performance of our contract with you (the cleaning service).
• Managing Payments: We process payments and record transaction details. If you pay by card, your data is handled via Stripe as noted above, and we use the confirmation to update our records. We may issue receipts or invoices using your contact details. Processing your payments and keeping financial records is part of performing our contract and complying with legal obligations (e.g., tax laws).
• Communication: We use your contact information to communicate with you regarding your bookings, respond to inquiries, send service confirmations and reminders, and notify you of any changes or issues (like a cleaner running late). These communications are part of our service to you. We may also follow up after a service is done to ensure everything went well or to address any complaints (customer support).
• Feedback and Improvement: If you provide feedback or fill surveys/reviews, we will use that information to understand customer satisfaction and improve our offerings. For instance, if multiple clients suggest a certain improvement, we'll try to implement it. We might reach out to you for clarification on feedback if needed. If you consent, we may publish your positive testimonials on our website or social media to showcase our clients' experiences.
• Marketing & Newsletter (Consent): With your consent, we will use your email address to send you our newsletter, cleaning tips, special offers or promotions. These emails are meant to be helpful (e.g., free guides) and occasional. You can opt out any time, and we will not spam you. Each marketing email will have an "unsubscribe" option. If you opt out, we'll remove you from the list promptly. We do not share your contact information with third-party companies for their own marketing.
• Analytics and User Experience: We use data about how users interact with our website to improve the user experience. For example, understanding which pages are most visited or where users spend time helps us optimize our site layout and content. Google Analytics provides us reports on website usage (e.g., total visitors per day, how users found our site). This is done under our legitimate interest to operate an effective website for our business. The data is aggregated and does not identify individuals, and we do not use it to profile you or make decisions about you personally.
• Legal Compliance and Protection: We may process your personal information to comply with legal obligations – for example, maintaining proper business records for tax and accounting (we must keep records of payments and invoices for a certain period by law). If required, we might use or disclose information to meet regulatory requirements or respond to lawful requests by authorities. We may also use data as necessary to enforce our Terms and Conditions, to handle any legal disputes, or to protect our rights or the safety of our customers and staff.

We will not use your personal data for new, unrelated purposes without informing you and obtaining any necessary consent.

Cookies & Analytics

Cookies: Our website uses cookies, which are small text files placed on your device to make the site work and to help us understand how it's used. Some cookies are essential for the site to function (e.g. session cookies for navigating pages), and others are optional (like analytics cookies). When you first visit, you will be informed about cookies and can choose whether to allow non-essential cookies.

Google Analytics: As mentioned, we use Google Analytics for insights on website traffic and usage. Google Analytics sets cookies to collect information such as: what pages you visit, how long you stay, how you arrived at our site (e.g., via a search engine), and what kind of device/browser you used. This information is transmitted to Google and compiled into anonymous reports for us. Importantly, we have configured Google Analytics to anonymize IP addresses – this means Google truncates/anonymizes the last octet of your IP address within the UK/EEA, so your full IP is not stored. We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data for their own purposes beyond providing us the analytics service. We do not collect any personally identifiable information via analytics; all analysis is on aggregate trends.

Opting Out of Analytics: If you prefer not to be included in Google Analytics tracking at all, you have options. Google provides a browser add-on that lets you opt out of Analytics on all websites. You can install this from the Google site (see Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on). Additionally, you can disable cookies in your browser settings (though this may affect some functionality on our site). We respect "Do Not Track" signals; if your browser is set to DNT, our analytics will try to honor that as feasible.

For more details on how we use cookies or to change your preferences, please see our Cookie Policy if available, or contact us.

How We Share Your Information

We treat your personal information with care and confidentiality. We do not sell your data to third parties for marketing or any other purpose. However, we do share information in certain essential scenarios, as outlined below:

• Service Providers (Processors): We use trusted third-party companies to help us deliver our services. These include:
  • Stripe: As noted, for payment processing. Stripe will receive your payment information when you make a card payment, and they will process it securely in accordance with their privacy policy. Stripe may retain some of your transaction data as required for their legal obligations and fraud prevention. We receive limited information back from Stripe to confirm payment.
  • Email/Newsletter Service: If we use an email marketing platform (e.g., MailChimp, SendinBlue, etc.) to send out newsletters, your email and name would be stored with that provider solely to send you our communications. Such providers are contractually bound to protect your data and not use it for other purposes.
  • Analytics Providers: Google Analytics will process usage data as described under Cookies & Analytics. Google acts as a data processor for us in providing aggregate statistics. (Google may set cookies on your browser when you visit our site, but it does not receive your personal details such as name or email from us.)
  • IT/Hosting Providers: Our website hosting company will inevitably process data that passes through the site (including possibly your IP address when you browse). We ensure any hosting or cloud storage providers we use are reputable and comply with data security standards. For instance, data may be stored on secure servers.
• Business Partners: We do not currently have joint ventures or partner companies with whom we share data. If that ever changes (for example, if we teamed up with a carpet cleaning specialist for certain jobs), we would do so only as needed for the service and with proper data protection agreements in place.
• Employees and Cleaners: Our cleaning staff and office staff will have access to the personal information they need to perform their duties. For example, a cleaner assigned to your booking will receive your first name, address, and any relevant instructions. All staff are bound by confidentiality and trained in handling customer information safely.
• Legal Requirements and Protection: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., law enforcement or regulatory body). We may also share information with our legal or professional advisors (like our accountants or lawyers) if needed for auditing or defending our rights. For example, we might share your transaction records with HM Revenue & Customs if ever required during financial audits. Any such third parties are also bound to keep your data confidential.
• Business Transfers: If in the future our business is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, personal data might be transferred to the new owner as part of that deal. If that happens, we will ensure the new owner is contractually obliged to respect the terms of this Privacy Policy or will notify you and obtain consent if required by law.

In all cases, we only share the minimum necessary information for the purpose at hand, and we ensure that any third party we share data with has a duty to keep it secure and use it only for the specified purpose.

International Data Transfers

We are based in the UK and generally store and process data within the UK or European Economic Area (EEA). However, some of our service providers might process data in other countries. For instance:

• Stripe is a global company – while they have European operations, some data may be processed in the United States.
• Google Analytics may transfer data to Google's servers in the United States or other countries outside the UK.

When transferring data outside the UK/EEA, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place as required by GDPR. Typically, this means relying on Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) or verifying that the recipient is in a country with an adequacy decision from the UK government, or other permitted transfer mechanisms. Both Stripe and Google are participants in frameworks or use standard clauses to legitimize international transfers of personal data. By using our site or services, you understand that your data may be transferred to and stored in servers located in other jurisdictions, which might have different data protection laws. We assure you that we take steps to protect your privacy in line with this Policy wherever the data is located.

Data Retention

We keep your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, including for satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Retention periods will vary depending on the type of data and purpose:

• Service and Contact Data: For most customer records (like your contact details, service history, and communications with us), we retain the information while you are an active customer and for a period afterward in case you return or have follow-up needs. If you haven't used our services in a while, we may archive or securely delete your contact data after, say, 2-3 years of inactivity. You can also request deletion sooner (see "Your Rights" below).
• Financial and Transaction Records: We are required by law to keep records of payments, invoices, and related transaction information for a certain period (for example, UK tax law requires keeping records for 6 years after the end of the financial year). This means any invoices issued, payment confirmations, and related names/addresses on those records will be kept for at least that duration. We securely archive such records and restrict access to them.
• Communications: Emails or messages you send us may be retained for a period for quality assurance and to refer back to if you have further requests. Typically, routine inquiries are kept for a year or two.
• Newsletter: If you have signed up for our newsletter, we will keep your email on our mailing list until you unsubscribe. If you unsubscribe, we will promptly remove your contact from the active list and (unless we need to keep it on a suppression list to ensure we don't accidentally email you again) we will delete it.
• Analytics Data: Google Analytics retains website visit data for a certain time (e.g., 26 months by default) after which it is automatically deleted. This data is not personally identifiable, but we mention it for transparency.
• Backups: Our systems may create backup copies of data (for reliability). These are stored securely and rotated on a schedule; when data is deleted from our main systems, it will eventually be purged from backups as those backups cycle out.

When we no longer need personal data for the purposes outlined, we will delete it or anonymize it. If deletion is not immediately possible (for instance, the data is stored in backups), we will ensure it's not actively processed until it can be removed.

Data Security

We take reasonable and appropriate measures to secure your personal data. This includes technical measures (like encryption, secure servers, firewalls) and organizational measures (like limiting access to personal data to only those employees or contractors who need it). For example:

• Our website uses HTTPS encryption to secure data in transit (look for the padlock in your browser address bar).
• Stored data is kept on secure servers with access controls. We use up-to-date security software to protect against malware and unauthorized access.
• Employees and contractors are trained on data protection and are required to keep information confidential.
• We regularly update and patch our systems and only use reputable vendors for our IT infrastructure.

However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure. While we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. You can help by using strong passwords, keeping them confidential, and notifying us immediately if you suspect any unauthorized access to your personal data.

If we ever experience a data breach that poses a significant risk to your rights and freedoms, we will inform you and the relevant authorities (like the ICO) as required by law.

Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have several rights regarding your personal data. We are committed to honoring these rights. Here is a summary of your key rights and how to exercise them:

• Right to Access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you. This is often called a "Subject Access Request". We will provide you with the information we have, usually within one month of your request (as required by law), and there is no fee for this service (unless the requests are excessive or repetitive).
• Right to Rectification: If you believe that any personal data we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to ask us to correct it. We will promptly update our records and confirm the changes.
• Right to Erasure: This is also known as the "right to be forgotten". You can ask us to delete or remove your personal data in certain circumstances – for example, if the data is no longer necessary for the purpose we collected it, or if you withdraw consent and we have no other legal basis to keep it. Note that we cannot delete data that we are required to keep by law (e.g., transaction records needed for financial reporting) or if we have an overriding legitimate interest to keep it. But we will inform you of any such reasons if applicable.
• Right to Restrict Processing: You have the right to request that we limit the processing of your data in certain situations. For instance, if you contest the accuracy of the data, you can ask us to "freeze" its use until it's verified. Or if you object to processing (see below), you can ask us to restrict use while your objection is being considered. When processing is restricted, we can still store your data but not use it further until resolved.
• Right to Data Portability: For data you provided to us and which we process by automated means on the basis of a contract or consent, you have the right to get that data from us in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format, and/or request that we transmit it to another service provider if technically feasible. In plain terms, this mainly applies to digital information you have given us directly.
• Right to Object: You have the right to object to certain types of processing. You can object to processing based on legitimate interests or public interest grounds if you believe it impacts your rights unfairly. You also have an absolute right to object to your personal data being used for direct marketing. If you object to marketing, we will stop sending you marketing messages immediately. If you object to other processing, we will evaluate your request and will stop processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue (or if needed for legal claims).
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Where we rely on your consent to process data (e.g., for newsletter emails), you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we did based on your consent before withdrawal. If you withdraw consent, we will stop the related processing (for example, stop sending you the newsletter).
• Right in Relation to Automated Decision-Making: We do not use your personal data for any automated decision-making or profiling that has legal or significant effects on you. But if we ever do, you would have rights to human review and to contest decisions.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in the "Contact Us" section. We may need to verify your identity to ensure we don't disclose data to the wrong person, so we might ask for some proof of ID for access or erasure requests. We will respond to all legitimate requests as soon as possible, and at most within one month, as required by law. If your request is particularly complex or if you have made a large number of requests, we may extend this period by up to two further months, but we will inform you if that's the case.

Your Right to Complain

We hope to resolve any privacy concerns you have directly. You can always contact us with questions or complaints (see "Contact Us" below). However, if you believe we have handled your personal data improperly or violated your rights, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection. You can contact the ICO or find information on how to raise a concern on their website: ico.org.uk. We would appreciate the chance to address your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please consider reaching out to us first, and we will do our best to help.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or your personal data, or if you wish to exercise your rights, please contact us:

Please note these contact details are for privacy inquiries. For general service inquiries or bookings, use the contacts on our website's contact page.

Updates to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal reasons. If we make significant changes, we will notify users by posting a prominent notice on our website or by email if appropriate. The "last updated" date at the bottom indicates when the latest changes were made. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your information.