Data Deletion & Retention

Petra Paws Pets ("Petra Paws", "we", "us") holds personal data about customers who book our mobile pet grooming services in Dubai — mainly the contact and appointment details you give us when booking, and the booking messages we send you by email and WhatsApp.

This page explains how to ask us to delete that data, what we delete, how long we keep data if you do not ask, and the limited records we have to keep by law. It sits alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains what we collect and why.

You do not need an account to make a request, and there is no charge. Send us an email and we will handle it:

1. Email petrapawspet@gmail.com with the subject line Data deletion request.
2. Include the name, email address, and phone number you used when booking, plus any booking reference you have.
3. Tell us what you want removed — everything we hold, or only specific details such as your address or your phone number.

If you prefer, you can make the same request by replying to any WhatsApp message from us or by calling +971 54 199 6900. To simply stop receiving WhatsApp messages without deleting your records, reply STOP to any message from us.

So that we do not delete the wrong person's records, we may ask you to confirm details that match the booking, such as the appointment date or the address we attended. We will never ask you for a password, a full card number, or a one-time passcode as part of this process.

• We acknowledge your request within 7 days of receiving it.
• We complete it within 30 days. If a request is complex and needs longer, we will tell you why and give you a new date.
• We confirm in writing what was deleted and, if anything had to be kept, exactly what and for how long.

On a full deletion request we remove, or irreversibly anonymise, your customer record and its contact details, service address, pet profile and grooming notes, booking history, and any marketing preferences we hold. We also remove your details from the systems we use to send email and WhatsApp booking messages, so we stop contacting you.

One exception, in your favour: if you had opted out of WhatsApp, we keep that opt-out on file against your number. Deleting it would mean we could end up messaging you again.

A small amount of data may be kept even after a deletion request, because the law or a live dispute requires it:

• Financial records: invoices and payment references we must retain under UAE tax and accounting rules — generally five years.
• Records needed for a legal claim: kept only while the claim or complaint is open.
• Suppression record: the minimum needed (for example your phone number or email in a do-not-contact list) so that we do not message you again by mistake.

Anything retained is restricted to that purpose only. It is not used for marketing, and it is deleted once the retention period ends.

• Booking and customer records: while you are an active customer and for up to 24 months after your last appointment, then deleted or anonymised.
• Payment and accounting records: up to five years, as required by UAE law.
• Email and WhatsApp message records (delivery status and message references): up to 12 months.
• Website and security logs: up to 90 days.
• Do-not-contact records: kept for as long as needed to honour your opt-out.
• Backups: deleted data can remain in encrypted backups for a short period until those backups are overwritten in the normal cycle, normally within 90 days. Restored data is re-deleted.

We ask the providers who process data on our behalf — our hosting and database provider, our email provider, and our payment provider — to delete or anonymise your data in line with your request and their own legal retention duties.

Messages we already sent you on WhatsApp are also stored in your own WhatsApp app and on Meta's systems. You can delete the chat on your device at any time; how Meta handles WhatsApp data is described in the WhatsApp Privacy Policy, and that part is outside our control.

Our website does not use Facebook Login, so there is no connected Facebook or Instagram account for you to disconnect. If you have messaged our business profile on Instagram or Facebook, you can also delete that conversation from within those apps.

In the rare case where we cannot action a request — for example where a legal retention period applies, or where we cannot confirm that the request comes from the right person — we will explain why in writing and tell you what we can do instead, such as restricting how the data is used.

Petra Paws Pets · Nadd Al Sheba 1, Dubai, UAE · petrapawspet@gmail.com · +971 54 199 6900. If you are not happy with how we handled your request, reply to our response and we will review it; you may also raise the matter with the competent data protection authority in your jurisdiction.