Privacy policy

The data controller for Matiwala is the provider named on the Legal notice page. Questions about privacy can be sent to support@matiwala.com.

Account data: first name, email address, password (stored encrypted), role (customer or cleaner) and, if you log in with Google or Facebook, your name and email address as known to that provider. Profile data: postcode and city (never a full address - we only convert this into an approximate location on the map), a short introduction, and - depending on your role - preferences, services, rate, languages, experience and availability. Verification data: phone number (if you choose phone verification) and an identity document (cleaners only, if they choose to verify) - see 'Identity verification' below for how we handle this. Messages: the content of conversations between customers and cleaners within Matiwala. Payment data: which contact product you purchased, the amount and the payment status. You pay via Mollie; we never see or store your full card or bank details. Reviews and references: reviews you write or receive, and - for cleaners - the name and email address of references you provide yourself. A reference doesn't need an account of their own. Technical data: IP address and browser data we briefly retain to secure your session (logging in), and anonymized usage statistics (see the Cookie policy). Communication preference: whether you'd like to receive emails about new features and offers. This is separate from functional emails needed to use your account, such as a notification about a new message.

• Creating and managing your account, and offering Matiwala's core functionality (searching, showing profiles, sending messages) - necessary for performing our agreement with you.
• Reviewing and approving cleaner profiles before they become publicly visible. An approved profile (first name, city, introduction, services, rate and reviews) is visible to anyone on the internet and can be indexed by search engines like Google - legitimate interest: the platform's trustworthiness and cleaners' findability for customers.
• Processing payments for paid contact requests - necessary for performing the agreement.
• Identity and phone verification, to increase trust between users - legitimate interest, with your active choice to start this.
• Showing reviews and references on profiles - legitimate interest: transparency about past experiences.
• Sending functional emails (for example about a new message, a review or a reference response) - necessary for performing the agreement.
• Sending newsletters or offers, only if you haven't opted out - legitimate interest / consent, with an unsubscribe link in every email.
• Handling reports, preventing abuse and enforcing our Terms of service - legitimate interest.
• Complying with legal obligations, such as our statutory retention duty for payment records - legal obligation.

If you choose to verify your identity, you upload a copy of an identity document. This document is stored privately and is never publicly accessible or viewable via a direct link - only an administrator of Matiwala can view it, solely to review your request. Once your request has been reviewed (approved or rejected), the document is deleted. Only the outcome - verified or not - remains visible as a badge on your profile.

We only share data to the extent necessary to run Matiwala, with the following parties: - Mollie, to process payments. - Vercel, to host the website and store uploaded profile photos. - Our database hosting provider, to store account data. - Resend, to send emails. - Google, only if you log in with your Google account. - Meta (Facebook), only if you log in with your Facebook account. - Umami, for privacy-friendly, cookieless website statistics (see the Cookie policy). - Vercel Speed Insights, to measure the website's loading performance, without linking this to an individual.

These parties may only use your data to provide their service to us, never for their own purposes. We never sell personal data to third parties and never use your data for advertising purposes.

Some of the parties named above may (partly) process data on servers outside the European Economic Area, for example in the United States. In that case we ensure this happens on the basis of an adequate level of protection, such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

• Account data: for as long as your account exists. If you delete your account, we anonymize your data immediately and irreversibly.
• Identity documents: deleted as soon as your verification request has been reviewed.
• Payment and invoicing data: kept for 7 years, as required of us by law as a business.
• Messages, reviews and references: these are kept because they also (partly) contain the other party's data from the conversation, unless deletion is legally required or needed to investigate abuse.
• Data we process to prevent fraud or abuse: for as long as reasonably necessary for that purpose.

Passwords are never stored in readable form. Connections to Matiwala are encrypted (HTTPS). Access to sensitive data, such as identity documents, is limited to a small number of administrators and solely for review purposes. We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your data against loss or unlawful use.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) you have the right to: - access your data; - have inaccurate data corrected; - have your data deleted; - have the processing of your data restricted; - object to processing based on our legitimate interest; - receive your data in a portable format; - withdraw previously given consent, without this affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.

You can delete your account, including your profile data, at any time yourself via your account settings. For other requests, you can email support@matiwala.com; we respond within four weeks. If you disagree with how we process your data, you can file a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl).

For an overview of the cookies and similar techniques Matiwala uses, see the Cookie policy.

Matiwala is intended for users aged 18 and over, since entering into paid agreements requires this. We don't knowingly collect data from people under 18.

We may update this privacy policy from time to time, for example when we add new functionality. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated. We'll let you know about significant changes, for example by email.

Questions about this privacy policy? Email support@matiwala.com.