Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

The Heating Professionals Ltd ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, store, and share your personal data when you use our website, contact us, book a service, or request a quote.

We are based in Stafford, Staffordshire and operate under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. For the purposes of data protection law, we are the data controller.

2. Information We Collect

We may collect the following personal data from you:

• Identity data: your name and title
• Contact data: your email address, phone number, and postal address
• Property data: information about your property relevant to the services you request, such as property type, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and current heating system
• Booking data: preferred appointment dates, service type, and any notes you provide when booking
• Payment data: payment card details are collected and processed securely by our payment processor, Stripe. We do not store your full card details on our servers
• Technical data: your IP address, browser type, device information, and browsing patterns on our website, collected through cookies and similar technologies
• Communication data: records of correspondence when you contact us by phone, email, or through our website forms

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data for the following purposes and on the following legal bases:

• To provide our services: processing your bookings, generating quotes, scheduling appointments via Google Calendar, carrying out heating installations, repairs, and servicing. Legal basis: performance of a contract.
• To process payments: taking payment for services and care plans via Stripe. Legal basis: performance of a contract.
• To communicate with you: sending booking confirmations, appointment reminders, service reports, and responding to enquiries. Legal basis: performance of a contract and legitimate interests.
• To improve our services: analysing how you use our website to improve our content, user experience, and service offerings. Legal basis: legitimate interests.
• To comply with legal obligations: maintaining records required by Gas Safe regulations, financial regulations, and tax law. Legal basis: legal obligation.

4. Third-Party Services

We share your personal data with the following third-party services where necessary to provide our services:

• Stripe: for secure payment processing. Stripe acts as an independent data controller for payment data. See Stripe's Privacy Policy.
• Google Calendar: for scheduling and managing appointments. Appointment details including your name, contact information, and service type are stored in our Google Calendar. See Google's Privacy Policy.
• Hosting provider: our website is hosted on secure servers. Technical data may be processed by our hosting provider for the purpose of delivering the website to you.

We do not sell your personal data to any third party. We only share your data with third parties where it is necessary to provide our services to you or to comply with a legal obligation.

5. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected. Specifically:

• Booking and service records are retained for 6 years in accordance with Gas Safe record-keeping requirements and HMRC guidelines
• Quote data is retained for 12 months unless you become a customer, in which case it is retained with your customer records
• Contact form enquiries are retained for 12 months
• Payment records are retained for 6 years as required by UK tax law

6. Cookies

Our website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience and to analyse website traffic. Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We use the following types of cookies:

• Essential cookies: required for the website to function properly, such as maintaining your session when using the quote tool or booking system
• Analytics cookies: help us understand how visitors use our website so we can improve it. These collect anonymous usage data

You can control and manage cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to refuse or delete cookies. Please note that disabling essential cookies may affect the functionality of our website.

7. Your Rights Under UK GDPR

Under data protection law, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of access: you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct any inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to erasure: you can request that we delete your personal data, subject to any legal obligations that require us to retain it
• Right to restrict processing: you can ask us to limit how we use your data
• Right to data portability: you can request your data in a structured, commonly used format
• Right to object: you can object to our processing of your data where we are relying on legitimate interests

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@theheatingprofessionals.co.uk. We will respond to your request within one month.

8. Data Security

We take the security of your personal data seriously. We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data against unauthorised access, loss, or destruction. These measures include encrypted connections (HTTPS) on our website, secure payment processing through Stripe, access controls on our internal systems, and regular review of our data handling practices.

9. Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed at individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected data from a child, please contact us and we will promptly delete it.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. Any updates will be posted on this page with the "Last updated" date revised accordingly. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us:

• Email: info@theheatingprofessionals.co.uk
• Phone: 01785 XXX XXX
• Post: Placeholder Street, Stafford, Staffordshire ST17 XXX

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.