Privacy Policy

Trettle (“Trettle”, “we”, “us”, “our”) operates the website at trettle.com and related services that help customers discover, contact and hire independent local professionals. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use and share it, and the choices and rights you have.

For the purposes of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP Act”) and the rules made under it, Trettle is the Data Fiduciary for the personal data described in this policy. We also follow the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the rules made under it, including the rules on reasonable security practices and sensitive personal data.

This policy should be read together with our Terms of Service. By creating an account or using Trettle, you confirm that you have read this policy.

Information you give us

• Account details: your name, email address, mobile number, password (stored in encrypted, hashed form), profile photo, city and whether you use Trettle as a customer or a professional.
• Professional profile and verification details: business or studio name, categories, service areas, work history, and the documents you submit for verification, such as identity proof, PAN, GST registration or other business registration details.
• Project details and photos: project briefs, budgets, timelines, locality, reference images, drawings and the portfolio photos and descriptions that professionals upload.
• Messages and proposals: chats, proposals, quotes, attachments and other content you exchange with other users through Trettle.
• Reviews and reports: ratings and reviews you write, and any reports or complaints you send us.
• Support requests: what you tell us when you contact us by email or through a form.

Information collected automatically

• Usage and device data: IP address, browser and device type, operating system, pages and projects viewed, searches, referring pages, approximate location derived from your IP address, and error or crash logs.
• Cookies and local storage: small files and browser storage used to keep you signed in, remember your saved items and preferences, and keep the service secure. See Cookies and local storage.

Information from others

• Reviews, messages or reports that other users write about their interactions with you.
• Verification results from identity or business verification partners we use to check professionals.
• If paid features are introduced, payment status information from our payment partners. We do not store full card numbers.

We use personal data only for the specific purposes described here:

• To create and manage your account and provide the Trettle service.
• To display professional profiles, portfolios and reviews to people looking for services.
• To show your project posts to relevant professionals and help you receive and compare proposals.
• To let customers and professionals message each other and share files.
• To verify professionals’ identity and business details before showing a verified badge.
• To keep Trettle safe: preventing fraud, spam, fake reviews and misuse, and enforcing our Terms of Service.
• To respond to support requests, complaints and grievances.
• To send service messages, such as new proposals, messages, security alerts and policy updates.
• To send product news and offers, only where you have agreed to receive them. You can opt out at any time.
• To understand how the service is used and improve it, using aggregated or de-identified data wherever possible.
• To comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests from authorities.

We process your personal data on the basis of your consent, which you give through a clear action such as creating an account, posting a project, uploading a portfolio or sending a message, after being shown this notice. Your consent is limited to the personal data needed for the purpose you have agreed to.

In some cases the DPDP Act allows processing for certain legitimate uses without separate consent — for example, where you voluntarily provide data for a specific purpose, to comply with a law, a court order or a request from an authorised government body, or to respond to a medical emergency or threat to safety.

Withdrawing consent: you can withdraw consent at any time, as easily as you gave it, through your account settings or by emailing support@trettle.com. Withdrawal does not affect processing that took place before it. If you withdraw consent that is needed to run your account, we may no longer be able to provide some or all of the service to you.

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only in the following situations:

• With people you choose to interact with. When you post a project, send a proposal or start a chat, the other person sees the information needed for that interaction — for example your name, profile, project brief and messages.
• Publicly, where you publish it. Professional profiles, portfolio projects (including the budgets and materials you add) and reviews are visible to anyone using Trettle and may be indexed by search engines.
• With service providers who process data on our behalf as Data Processors — such as cloud hosting and storage, email and SMS delivery, analytics, customer support tools, verification partners and, if introduced, payment processors. They may use the data only to provide their services to us and must protect it under contract.
• For legal reasons, where we believe in good faith that disclosure is required by law, a court order or a lawful request from a government agency, or is necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of our users, the public or Trettle.
• In a business transfer, such as a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, subject to this policy continuing to protect your data.
• With your consent for any other purpose we tell you about at the time.

We keep personal data only for as long as it is needed for the purposes in this policy, or for as long as the law requires.

• Account and profile data is kept while your account is active.
• When you delete your account or withdraw consent, we erase or anonymise your personal data within a reasonable period, unless we must keep some of it to comply with law, resolve disputes, prevent fraud or enforce our agreements.
• Some records — such as transaction records, verification records and security logs — may be retained for the periods required under applicable Indian law and directions issued by authorities.
• Reviews you have written may remain visible in anonymised form so that the record of a professional’s work stays accurate.

We use reasonable security safeguards to protect personal data against unauthorised access, disclosure, loss or misuse, including encryption in transit (HTTPS), hashed passwords, access controls that limit staff access to what their role requires, monitoring and logging, and contractual obligations on our service providers.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a personal data breach occurs, we will notify affected users and the Data Protection Board of India, and other authorities where required, in the manner the law prescribes.

You can help by using a strong, unique password, keeping your login details private and keeping conversations and payments on the platform where possible.

Under the DPDP Act, you have the right to:

• Access information — a summary of the personal data we process about you, the processing activities, and the identities of other Data Fiduciaries and Data Processors we have shared it with.
• Correction, completion and updating of inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date personal data.
• Erasure of personal data that is no longer needed, unless we must keep it by law.
• Withdraw consent at any time, as described in Consent and legal basis.
• Grievance redressal — to have your complaints about our handling of your data addressed by our Grievance Officer.
• Nominate another person to exercise your rights on your behalf in the event of your death or incapacity.

You can update much of your information directly in your account settings. To exercise any other right, email support@trettle.com from the email address linked to your account. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India once you have used our grievance process. As a Data Principal you are also expected to provide accurate information and not to file false or frivolous complaints or impersonate others.

We use cookies and similar browser storage for the following purposes:

• Essential: keeping you signed in, protecting forms and accounts, and remembering choices needed for the service to work.
• Preferences: remembering saved projects and professionals, recent searches and similar settings on your device.
• Analytics: understanding which pages are used so we can improve them. Where required, we ask for your consent before using non-essential cookies.

You can block or delete cookies and clear site data in your browser settings. Doing so may sign you out or remove items saved on that device, and some features may not work properly.

We send service messages that you need in order to use Trettle, such as account, security, proposal and message notifications. Marketing emails or messages are sent only with your consent, and every marketing email includes a way to unsubscribe. You can also change your notification settings in your account or email support@trettle.com.

Trettle is meant for adults. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18, and we do not carry out tracking, behavioural monitoring or targeted advertising directed at children.

If you believe a child has given us personal data, please contact support@trettle.com and we will delete it.

Your data is stored on servers operated by our hosting and cloud providers. Some of these providers may store or process data outside India. Where this happens, we transfer data only to countries that are not restricted by the Central Government under the DPDP Act, and we require providers to protect it to the standard described in this policy.

Profiles, portfolios or messages may contain links to other websites or services. We are not responsible for their privacy practices, and we encourage you to read their privacy policies before sharing personal data with them.

If you have a question or complaint about how we handle your personal data, or wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact our Grievance Officer:

• Grievance Officer, Trettle
• Email: support@trettle.com (please use the subject line “Privacy grievance”)

We will acknowledge your complaint within 24 hours and aim to resolve it within 15 days of receiving it. If a matter needs more time, we will tell you why and keep you updated.

We may update this policy from time to time, for example when we add features or when the law changes. The “Last updated” date at the top shows when it last changed. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or through a notice on Trettle before they take effect and, where the law requires, ask for your consent again.

For general questions about this policy, you can also write to hello@trettle.com or visit our contact page.