Privacy Policy - Merton Movers

This Privacy Policy explains how Merton Movers collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing moving, removals, and related services. It applies to all Merton Movers customers in our service area, including individuals, households, landlords, tenants, and business clients who engage us for quotations, surveys, packing, removals, storage coordination, and other relocation services.

We are committed to handling personal data in a way that is lawful, fair, transparent, and secure. This policy is designed to meet the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

Merton Movers acts as the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. This means we determine the purposes and means of processing personal data in connection with our services, administration, and customer support.

We take our responsibilities seriously and aim to collect only the information necessary to provide a safe, efficient, and reliable moving service.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process different categories of personal data depending on the type of service requested. This may include:

Identity data such as name, title, and company name.
Contact data such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service information such as move dates, pickup and delivery addresses, inventory details, access information, and property instructions.
Payment and billing data such as payment status, invoice details, and transaction records.
Communication records such as emails, call notes, complaints, and service requests.
Technical data limited to information needed to secure and improve our systems, where applicable.
Special instructions you provide, for example details relating to fragile items, parking, security access, or lift use.

In some cases, we may also process information about third parties you provide to us, such as family members, building managers, or authorised representatives. If you share their information, you should ensure you have the right to do so and that they are aware of this policy.

3. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to provide quotations and assess service requirements;
to plan and carry out removals, storage-related tasks, and associated logistics;
to communicate with you about bookings, timing, access, changes, and service updates;
to process payments, issue invoices, and maintain accounting records;
to manage customer service, complaints, and aftercare;
to ensure security, prevent fraud, and protect our business, staff, and customers;
to comply with legal and regulatory obligations;
to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

We do not use personal data for unrelated purposes without informing you and, where necessary, obtaining a lawful basis to do so.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. Depending on the context, we rely on one or more of the following:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes preparing quotes, confirming bookings, completing the move, and managing payment.

Legal obligation

We may process and retain certain information where required to comply with tax, accounting, consumer, transport, insurance, or other legal duties.

Legitimate interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This includes business administration, service improvement, recordkeeping, fraud prevention, and internal reporting.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where you voluntarily agree to receive certain types of communications or to share optional information. Where consent is used, you can withdraw it at any time.

Vital interests and legal claims

In rare circumstances, we may process data to protect someone’s vital interests or to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

5. Sharing Personal Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary to deliver our services or meet our legal obligations. These third parties act as either independent controllers or processors acting on our instructions.

Our processors may include:

IT and cloud storage providers;
accounting and invoicing systems;
payment service providers;
customer relationship management tools;
email and communication platforms;
professional advisers such as lawyers, insurers, and accountants;
subcontracted moving partners or logistics support providers, where needed to complete a service.

We require our processors to handle personal data securely, use it only on our instructions, and comply with applicable data protection law. We do not sell your personal data.

We may also disclose information if required by law, by a court, by regulators, or to protect our rights, customers, staff, or property.

6. International Transfers

If any processor stores or accesses data outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as approved contractual protections or adequacy decisions, so your data remains protected in accordance with GDPR standards.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to satisfy contractual, legal, accounting, and dispute-resolution requirements. The retention period may vary depending on the nature of the service and the type of data involved.

As a general approach:

quotation and enquiry records are kept for a limited period to manage follow-up and business records;
contract and service records are retained for the duration of the service and for a reasonable period afterwards;
financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law;
complaints and dispute records are kept as long as needed to resolve issues and defend claims;
consent-based records are retained until consent is withdrawn or the information is no longer needed.

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

8. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, password protection, staff confidentiality obligations, and regular review of our procedures.

While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to reduce risks and respond promptly to any suspected data incident.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may apply depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis we rely on:

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 inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – you can ask us to delete your data in certain situations.
Right to restriction – you can ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability – you can ask for certain data to be provided in a usable format where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means.
Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise your rights, we may need to verify your identity to protect your information. We will respond within the time limits required by law, unless an extension is permitted.

Important: some rights may not apply in every case. For example, we may need to keep certain records to comply with legal obligations or to establish and defend claims.

10. Marketing Communications

We will only send marketing communications where permitted by law. You can object to direct marketing at any time, and we will stop using your data for that purpose promptly.

11. Children’s Data

Our services are not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary as part of a household service requested by an adult customer. Where children’s data is incidentally included, we will handle it with the same care and protection as all other personal data.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or data processing practices. The updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated.

13. Summary of Our Commitments

Merton Movers is committed to processing personal data in a lawful, transparent, and secure manner. We only collect what we need, use it for clear service-related purposes, retain it for no longer than necessary, and share it only with trusted processors or where required by law. We also respect your rights and aim to make it easy for you to understand how your information is handled.

By using our services, you acknowledge that this Privacy Policy applies to you as a customer of Merton Movers within our area of operation.