Who we are
Blincke is responsible for your information under UK data protection law (the "controller"). We connect people who need cleaning or trade work done in their homes with checked professionals across the United Kingdom, and hold the payment until the work is confirmed.
For anything about your information, email services@blincke.com.
What we collect, and why
We collect only what running a booking needs. The law asks us to give a reason (a "lawful basis") for each use, so it is shown beside each one.
| What | Why we use it | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Your account: name, email, mobile number if you add one, password and 2-step sign-in | To open and run your account, sign you in safely, and tell you about your bookings and jobs. | Our contract with you |
| Bookings: the address, how to get in, the size and condition of the property, your notes and photos | To price the job, find a professional, and let them do it. | Our contract with you |
| Payments: your wallet, top-ups, bookings paid, refunds and payouts | To take payment, hold it until the work is confirmed, pay the professional, and keep proper accounts. | Our contract with you; the law (tax and accounting records) |
| Reviews and ratings you give or receive | To show customers how professionals have done, and to order the list of professionals. | Our legitimate interest in a fair, trustworthy marketplace |
| Problems reported on a job: what each side said, and their photos and documents | To settle the problem fairly and move the held money the right way. | Our contract with you; our legitimate interest in settling disputes |
| Messages from us: emails, and push notifications if you turn them on for a device | To tell you what has happened and what to do next. | Our contract with you; your agreement for push notifications, which you can turn off at any time |
| Security records: when you signed in, from which IP address and browser, and what our staff did | To keep accounts safe, spot misuse, and check how staff use their access. | Our legitimate interest in security and preventing fraud |
Checks on professionals
Customers let professionals into their homes, so we check every cleaner, contractor and company before they can take a job. For a professional, we also collect:
- Identity: a photo ID, a live selfie and a face match, done on Didit's own page. We keep the result, not pictures of your documents or their numbers.
- UK residency: the result of the identity check, or a document or share code you give us, which our team checks. Share codes are stored encrypted.
- For a company: its number, name and status from the public Companies House register.
- The bank account your earnings are paid into, the services and areas you cover, your profile photo and your portfolio, which are public by nature.
Our lawful basis is our contract with you and our legitimate interest in keeping customers safe. Automatic checks help, but a person on our team approves every professional before they can take jobs. If a check fails, you can try again or ask us to look at it.
Who sees your information
- The other side of a booking. Before taking a job, a professional sees the area and the work, and your first name only if you chose them by name. Your name, full address and how to get in are shown once the job is theirs, and access codes only shortly before it starts. Customers see a professional's public profile, never their documents or bank details.
- Each side's dispute record. Customers and professionals see how disputes have gone for each other, as figures only: no names, statements or evidence.
- Our team. Staff see what their role needs, and nothing more. Every time someone opens a private document, it is logged.
- The services we use to run Blincke, listed below, only for the job we give them.
- The authorities, when the law requires it, for example HMRC or the police with a proper request.
We never sell your information or share it for advertising.
Services we use
These companies work for us under contract. They may use your information only to do that work for us.
| Service | What it does for us | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Card payments, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and refunds to your card. Your card details go straight to Stripe. | Ireland and the United States |
| Didit | Identity checks for professionals: photo ID, a live selfie and a face match. | European Union |
| Companies House | Confirming that a company is registered and active. We send only its company number. | United Kingdom |
| Resend | Sending our emails. | United States |
| postcodes.io | Turning a postcode into an area and a place on the map. We send only the postcode. | United Kingdom |
| Your browser's push service (Google, Apple, Mozilla or Microsoft) | Delivering notifications you turned on. Each one is encrypted, so the push service cannot read it. | Depends on your browser |
| Our hosting provider | Running the website and storing its database and files. | United Kingdom |
Outside the UK
Some of these services handle information outside the UK, in the European Union or the United States. When they do, it is protected as UK law requires: by the UK's recognition that a country's protection is adequate, or by contracts approved for the purpose, such as the UK's international data transfer agreement.
How long we keep it
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Your account details, photo, saved addresses and devices | While your account is open. When you close it, they are removed straight away. |
| Bookings, payments, refunds, payouts and our accounts | 6 years, as tax law requires, then deleted. They stay under "Closed account" and are used for nothing else. |
| A professional's verification documents | While the account is open, and up to 12 months after it closes. |
| Statements, photos and documents about a problem with a job | Up to 24 months after the problem is decided. |
| Reviews | They stay on the professional's profile. Once your account closes, they show no name. |
| Sign-in and security records | With your account, and with the records above after it closes. |
Your rights
You can ask us, free of charge:
- For a copy of the information we hold about you. Many of your records can also be downloaded at any time from your wallet, bookings or earnings pages.
- To correct it. Most details can be changed on your account page; for anything else, ask us.
- To delete it. Close your account from Account › Close your account, or ask us. What the law makes us keep is kept as described above, and nothing more.
- To limit or object to a use that relies on our legitimate interests, or to have your information sent to you or someone else in a common format.
- To change your mind about anything you agreed to: turn notifications off on your account page, and change your cookie choices from the foot of any page.
We reply within one month. We may ask you to confirm who you are first, so that nobody else can obtain your information.
Keeping it safe
- Every account, customer, professional and staff, signs in with a password and a code from an authenticator app.
- Passwords are stored only in scrambled form; sign-in secrets and share codes are encrypted.
- Private documents are kept where no web address can reach them, opened only by staff whose role needs it, and every opening is logged.
- Pictures are redrawn when they arrive, which removes the location and anything else hidden in the file.
- Card details are entered on Stripe and never reach us.
Children and changes
Blincke is for adults arranging or doing work in homes. It is not meant for children, and we do not knowingly collect information about them.
When we change this policy, the date at the top changes. If a change affects how we use your information, we will email you before it takes effect.
Contact and complaints
Email services@blincke.com with any question or request about your information.
If you are unhappy with how we have used your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data protection regulator: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or 0303 123 1113.
