Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

This website, carefulmovers.co.za, is operated under the Careful Movers brand ("Careful Movers", "we", "us" or "our"). Careful Movers is a trading name used by our registered entities, which provide furniture removals, storage and related logistics services across South Africa.

For the purposes of POPIA, Careful Movers is the Responsible Party that determines why and how your personal information is processed. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information lawfully, transparently and securely.

2. About This Policy

This policy applies to all personal information we process about customers, prospective customers, website visitors, suppliers and other individuals we deal with, whether collected through our website, our quotation and inventory tools, by phone, email, WhatsApp, in person, or through our service providers. Please read it together with our Cookie Policy and our Terms and Conditions.

By using our website or engaging our services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this policy. Where the law requires your consent to process your personal information, we will ask for it separately.

Key definitions

• Personal information – information that identifies or relates to an identifiable, living natural person, and where applicable, an existing juristic person (for example a company or trust).
• Processing – any activity involving personal information, such as collecting, storing, using, sharing or deleting it.
• Data subject – the person to whom the personal information relates (that is often you).
• Operator – a third party that processes personal information on our behalf, under our instruction.
• Special personal information – sensitive categories such as health, race, religion, biometric data or criminal history.

3. Our Information Officer

In line with POPIA, we have designated an Information Officer who is responsible for ensuring our compliance with the Act and for handling any privacy queries, requests or complaints.

4. The Personal Information We Collect

We collect only the personal information we need to quote for, arrange and carry out your move, to run our business, and to comply with the law. Depending on how you interact with us, this may include:

Category	Examples
Identity & contact details	Name, phone number, email address, physical and postal addresses, company name (for business moves).
Move & service details	Collection and delivery addresses, property type and access details, inventory of furniture and goods, dates, storage requirements, and any special instructions.
Payment information	Invoicing details, EFT proof of payment, and payment confirmations. Online card payments are processed by Payfast (see section 8) – we do not receive or store your full card number, CVV or PIN.
Communications	Records of your enquiries, quotes, bookings, emails, WhatsApp messages, phone calls, form submissions and reviews.
Website & technical data	IP address, device and browser type, pages viewed, and information collected through cookies and analytics (see our Cookie Policy).
Marketing preferences	Your consent to, or opt-out from, receiving marketing communications.
Careers (if you apply)	If you apply for a job, the information in your CV and application, such as work history and references.

We do not intentionally collect special personal information. If a specific service ever requires it, we will ask for your explicit consent first.

5. How We Collect Your Information

• Directly from you – when you request a quote, complete a form, use our instant cost calculator or inventory tools, call, email or WhatsApp us, make a booking, or pay for a service.
• Automatically – through cookies, analytics and similar technologies when you use our website (see our Cookie Policy).
• From third parties – such as referrals, Google, social media platforms and review platforms, or a person who books a move on your behalf. Where someone provides us with another person’s information (for example a recipient at a delivery address), they confirm they are entitled to do so.

6. Why We Process Your Information (Purpose)

We process your personal information for the following purposes:

• To respond to enquiries and prepare quotations;
• To arrange, schedule and carry out your removal, storage, disposal or related service;
• To process payments, issue invoices and keep accounting records;
• To communicate with you about your move, bookings and support;
• To manage our relationship with you and keep our records up to date;
• To improve our website, services and customer experience;
• To send you marketing about similar services, where permitted (see section 11);
• To comply with legal, tax, accounting and regulatory obligations;
• To protect our rights, prevent fraud, and ensure the security of our website and business.

7. Our Lawful Basis for Processing

We only process your personal information where the law allows. Depending on the situation, our lawful basis is one or more of the following, as recognised by POPIA:

• Performance of a contract – to provide the services you have requested;
• Your consent – for example, for certain marketing or optional cookies (which you may withdraw at any time);
• Legal obligation – to comply with laws such as tax and financial record-keeping;
• Legitimate interests – to run, protect and improve our business, provided this is balanced against your rights;
• Protection of a legitimate interest of the data subject.

We are committed to complying with all eight conditions for the lawful processing of personal information under POPIA: accountability, processing limitation, purpose specification, further processing limitation, information quality, openness, security safeguards, and data subject participation.

8. Payments and Payfast

We use Payfast (payfast.io), a South African payment gateway, to process online card and instant-EFT payments. When you choose to pay online, you are securely redirected to Payfast’s payment environment, which is PCI-DSS compliant.

• Your card details are entered directly into Payfast’s secure system. Careful Movers does not receive, see or store your full card number, expiry, CVV or PIN.
• Payfast processes your payment information as a separate party under its own privacy policy. Please review Payfast’s privacy policy at payfast.io/privacy-policy.
• We receive confirmation of payment (such as amount, date and reference) so that we can allocate it to your booking and issue your invoice.
• We may also accept payment by EFT or bank deposit, in which case we process the proof of payment you send us. Accounting records are kept in our accounting system for as long as the law requires.

9. When and With Whom We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only where necessary, with the following categories of recipients, who are required to protect it and use it only for the agreed purpose:

• Payment processor – Payfast, to process online payments (see section 8);
• Service providers and operators – our CRM, email, website hosting, cloud storage, analytics and IT providers who process information on our behalf under contract;
• Our crews and approved subcontractors – who need collection and delivery details to carry out your move;
• Accounting and professional advisors – such as our accountants and auditors, for invoicing and compliance;
• Marketing and analytics platforms – such as Google and social media platforms, subject to your cookie choices (see our Cookie Policy);
• Review platforms – where you choose to leave a review;
• Authorities and third parties – where required by law, to comply with legal process, or to protect our rights, property or safety.

Where we appoint an operator to process personal information on our behalf, we require them, in writing, to treat it confidentially and to apply appropriate security measures in line with POPIA.

10. Cross-Border (Trans-Border) Transfers

Some of our service providers (for example cloud, email, CRM and analytics providers such as Google and other international platforms) may store or process personal information on servers outside South Africa. Where personal information is transferred across borders, we take reasonable steps to ensure it receives an adequate level of protection, as required by section 72 of POPIA – for example, by using providers that are subject to laws or binding agreements that uphold principles comparable to POPIA.

11. Direct Marketing

We may send you marketing about our services by email, SMS, WhatsApp or other electronic means only where you have consented, or where you are an existing customer and we are marketing our own similar services and you have not opted out. You can opt out of marketing at any time – by using the unsubscribe link in our emails, replying “STOP”, or contacting us at info@carefulmovers.co.za. We will never sell your details to third parties for their own marketing.

12. Cookies and Tracking

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to make the site work, to understand how it is used, and (with your consent) for analytics and advertising. You can manage your preferences through our cookie consent banner. For full details, please see our Cookie Policy.

13. How Long We Keep Your Information

We keep your personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this policy, and to meet legal, tax and accounting requirements. For example, financial and tax records are generally kept for at least five years as required by South African law, and move records are kept for a reasonable period to handle any queries, claims or repeat business. When information is no longer needed, we securely delete or de-identify it.

14. How We Protect Your Information

In line with section 19 of POPIA, we apply reasonable technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal information against loss, damage, unauthorised access and unlawful processing. These include secure (SSL/TLS) connections on our website, a web application firewall, access controls, staff confidentiality obligations, and the use of reputable, secure service providers such as our PCI-DSS-compliant payment gateway. While we take security seriously, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

15. Your Rights as a Data Subject

Under POPIA, you have the right to:

• Be told what personal information of yours we hold and to request access to it;
• Request that we correct or update information that is inaccurate, misleading or out of date;
• Request that we delete or destroy information we are no longer entitled to keep;
• Object, on reasonable grounds, to the processing of your information;
• Withdraw your consent, where processing is based on consent (this will not affect processing already carried out);
• Object to direct marketing;
• Not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that significantly affects you;
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (see section 18).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Information Officer at info@carefulmovers.co.za. We may need to verify your identity before acting on your request, and we will respond within a reasonable time. Certain requests for access are handled under the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (PAIA) – see section 17.

16. Children’s Information

Our website and services are directed at adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information of children under 18 without the consent of a parent or guardian. If you believe we have collected a child’s information without proper consent, please contact us and we will delete it.

17. Access to Information (PAIA)

You may request access to records we hold in accordance with the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (PAIA). Please see our PAIA Manual for the categories of records we hold, the full request procedure and the fees, and contact our Information Officer using the details above to make a request. We may charge a reasonable, prescribed fee for processing certain access requests.

18. Complaints to the Information Regulator

If you have a concern about how we handle your personal information, please contact our Information Officer first so we can try to resolve it. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:

19. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or the law. The latest version will always be available on this page, with the “Last updated” date shown at the top. We encourage you to review it periodically.

20. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact us: