Privacy notice
This notice explains how I collect, use and look after your personal information when you visit quintessence.fyi, get in touch, book with me, become a garden, flower or events client, or use the Quintessence client portal. I've kept it as plain as I can. If anything is unclear, just ask.
Who I am
Quintessence is run by me, Dan Steel, a sole trader trading as Quintessence. I am the "controller" of your personal information, which means I decide how it is used and I'm responsible for looking after it.
What I collect
When you get in touch or book
Your name, email address, phone number, address, and whatever you tell me about your garden, event or enquiry. If you book through the website, the booking details (service, date and time).
When you become a client
- Contact details, the address of the garden or venue, and how to get access.
- Your brief, preferences and decisions, notes from our conversations, and the plans, plant lists and designs I make for you.
- Photos of your garden or venue, before, during and after the work.
- Quotes, invoices, payments and the agreement we sign, including the electronic signature record (see below).
When you use the client portal
Your email address (which you sign in with), your name as shown on messages, the messages and comments you post, the jobs you tick off, and a record of each sign-in. When you sign an agreement in the portal, I record the name you type, your sign-in email, the date and time, your IP address, your browser type, and a fingerprint of the exact text you signed. This is so we both have reliable evidence of what was agreed.
When you visit the website
Like most websites, quintessence.fyi collects technical information such as your device, browser, rough location (town or region) and the pages you look at, through cookies and similar technology. I use Google Analytics to understand which pages are useful. If you sign up to my newsletter, I keep your email address and name for that.
Social media
If you message or tag Quintessence on Instagram or Facebook, I see what you share there. Those platforms have their own privacy policies.
I don't ask for sensitive information (such as health details). If you choose to tell me something like that because it matters to your garden, for example that a space needs to be easy to reach, I only use it to design and carry out the work.
Why I use it, and the legal basis
| To reply to your enquiry and give you a quote | Steps you've asked me to take before a contract, or my legitimate interest in answering people who contact me. |
|---|---|
| To design, source, plant, deliver and look after your garden, flowers or event, and to run your portal | To perform our contract. |
| To invoice, take payment and keep accounts | To perform our contract, and to meet my legal obligations (tax and accounting). |
| To keep the signed agreement and its signature record | My legitimate interest in having clear evidence of what we agreed, and to defend legal claims. |
| To share photos of finished work on my website, social media, in print and for awards | Your consent, which you can give or withhold when you sign your agreement, and withdraw at any time. I never show your name, house number or full address, people, or the inside of your home without asking you first. |
| To send my newsletter | Your consent. Every email has an unsubscribe link. |
| To understand how the website is used | Your consent where cookies need it, otherwise my legitimate interest in improving the site. |
I do not sell your information, and I don't use it for automated decision-making or profiling.
Who I share it with
Only what each one needs, and only to do the work:
- People who help me deliver your project: subcontractors working on your garden, nurseries and suppliers delivering to your address, and my helpers. They get your name, the site address and access details, and only what the job needs.
- Services I use to run the business: Wix (the website, bookings and newsletter), Google Workspace (email, documents, spreadsheets and Google Analytics), Canva (design documents), and for the client portal Supabase (the database, hosted in London), Cloudflare (hosting) and Resend (sign-in emails). They act on my instructions.
- My accountants, bank and insurer, where needed for accounts, payments or a claim.
- Anyone the law requires, such as HMRC.
Some of these services are based outside the UK, mainly in the USA and the EU. Where your information leaves the UK, it is protected by UK adequacy rules or the safeguards UK law requires, such as approved contract terms.
How long I keep it
| Enquiries that don't go ahead | Up to 2 years, then deleted. |
|---|---|
| Client records, agreements, invoices and signature records | 6 years after our work together ends (the time limit for legal claims and HMRC records), then deleted. |
| Client portal account | Kept while your project and aftercare run. I close it within 12 months of the end of our work, or sooner if you ask; the agreement record is kept as above. |
| Photos used with your consent | Until you withdraw consent. I'll stop new use, but can't recall anything already printed. |
| Newsletter | Until you unsubscribe. |
Keeping it safe
Your portal is private: only you, the people you ask me to add, and I can see it. Sign-in uses a one-time code sent to your email, and portal data is stored in the UK. My devices and accounts are protected with strong passwords and two-step sign-in. If something ever went wrong with your information, I would tell you and, where the law requires, the Information Commissioner's Office.
Your rights
You have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the information I hold about you;
- ask me to correct anything that's wrong;
- ask me to delete your information, where I don't need to keep it (for example for tax);
- ask me to limit how I use it, or object to my using it on the basis of legitimate interests;
- ask for information you gave me in a reusable format; and
- withdraw your consent at any time, for photos or the newsletter, without affecting anything before.
Email dan@quintessence.fyi and I'll reply within one month. There's no charge.
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how I've handled your information, please tell me first and I'll do my best to put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, 0303 123 1113.
Changes
If I change this notice, I'll update the date at the top. If a change affects you as a client, I'll tell you in your portal or by email.