Privacy Policy

1. Who Is Responsible for Your Information

Chiya Bari Pokhara ("Chiya Bari") is the data controller responsible to customers for personal information collected through its website, customer communication channels, and the Chiya Bari Digital Loyalty Card system.

The underlying website, application interface, digital loyalty system, database infrastructure, and technical architecture are owned, operated, and maintained by Scaleforgeit as an independent Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider, acting strictly as a data processor on Chiya Bari's instructions.

Scaleforgeit accesses information hosted on its platform only where necessary for platform stability, security, backups, or technical support. Scaleforgeit does not sell, rent, or use Chiya Bari customer information for its own marketing or independent business purposes.

Scaleforgeit is not a party to any relationship between Chiya Bari and its customers, has no direct contractual or fiduciary relationship with end customers, and provides infrastructure only. Except where required by mandatory law, all legal, regulatory, and customer-facing obligations relating to personal data collected through the Chiya Bari Digital Loyalty Card system — including responding to customer requests, notifying customers of incidents, and legal compliance — remain the sole responsibility of Chiya Bari as the subscriber and data controller.

2. Information We Collect

Only information reasonably necessary to operate the website, communicate with customers, and manage the loyalty system is collected.

A. Website and Contact Information

• Your first and last name.
• Phone number.
• Message or inquiry details you provide.
• Basic technical information such as browser type, device type, IP address, approximate location from browser/network settings, and pages visited.
• Information from WhatsApp, social media, or map/direction features when you choose to use those services.

B. Digital Loyalty Card Information

• Customer name and phone number.
• Date of birth, if provided for birthday wishes or special offers.
• Member ID and login PIN or account verification details (PINs are stored only as a secure one-way hash, never in plain text).
• Tea/cup purchase count, reward progress, free-tea eligibility, and redemption history.
• Staff activity records (e.g., adding cups, correcting entries, redeeming rewards) and basic security records such as failed login counts, used only to protect your account.
• Date and time of loyalty-related activity.

C. Information We Do Not Collect

Chiya Bari does not intentionally collect citizenship numbers, bank or financial details, religion, political opinion, health information, or other unrelated sensitive personal information through the Digital Loyalty Card system.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To create and manage loyalty accounts and identify members via phone number, Member ID, or PIN.
• To track cup counts, calculate reward progress, and provide rewards.
• To send loyalty updates, reward reminders, birthday wishes, or offers where appropriate.
• To respond to questions, complaints, or support requests.
• To improve website performance and customer experience.
• To prevent misuse, duplicate accounts, fraudulent redemptions, or unauthorized access.
• To maintain business records and comply with legal obligations.

4. Digital Loyalty Card Program

Joining the loyalty program is entirely voluntary; you may purchase from Chiya Bari without joining. If you request deletion of your loyalty account, Chiya Bari may delete or deactivate it after reasonable identity verification. Once deleted or deactivated, unused rewards may no longer be available, and Chiya Bari is not liable for any loss of accrued rewards resulting from deletion, deactivation, inactivity, or account misuse.

5. Marketing, Birthday Wishes & Communications

Chiya Bari may use your phone number or date of birth to send loyalty updates, birthday wishes, reward reminders, festival offers, or customer offers. You may opt out of promotional messages at any time by contacting Chiya Bari or replying stop/unsubscribe where available. Service-related messages (e.g., reward confirmations) may still be sent when necessary to operate the loyalty system. Customer phone numbers and loyalty information are never sold to third parties for their own marketing.

6. Cookies and Website Tracking

The website may use cookies or similar technologies to keep the site working properly, improve speed, understand general visitor activity, and improve customer experience. Third-party services such as map tools, hosting providers, analytics tools, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or review platforms may collect limited technical information under their own privacy policies, over which Chiya Bari and Scaleforgeit have no control. You can control or block cookies via your browser; some features may not work correctly if cookies are disabled. See also our Cookies Policy.

7. How We Share Information

Customer personal information is never sold. Limited information may be shared only where necessary with: Scaleforgeit, for platform provision, hosting, backups, and technical support; other hosting, database, email, SMS, or communication providers used to operate the service; legal, government, or regulatory authorities when required by law; and professional advisors (legal, accounting, compliance) where necessary for business operations.

8. Data Storage, Security & Assumption of Risk

Reasonable steps are taken to protect customer information, including staff login access, admin access controls, PIN hashing, database protection, limited staff permissions, activity logs, secure hosting, and routine technical monitoring.

No website, mobile application, cloud platform, or database of any kind can ever be guaranteed to be 100% secure. The Chiya Bari Digital Loyalty Card system, and the underlying Scaleforgeit platform, are provided on an "as available" and "as is" basis, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including any warranty of uninterrupted access, error-free operation, or absolute data security. By using the website or the loyalty system, you acknowledge and accept that you provide your information entirely at your own risk.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, neither Chiya Bari nor Scaleforgeit shall be liable for any unauthorized access, hacking, third-party breach, data loss, service interruption, or hosting/infrastructure failure that occurs despite the use of reasonable and industry-standard security measures, except where such loss is caused by that party's own gross negligence, willful misconduct, or fraud.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: neither Chiya Bari nor Scaleforgeit shall be liable to any customer or third party for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, goodwill, data, or anticipated loyalty rewards, arising out of or relating to the website, the Digital Loyalty Card system, or this Privacy Policy, regardless of the legal theory on which the claim is based, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

Where any liability cannot lawfully be excluded, the total aggregate liability of Chiya Bari and/or Scaleforgeit to any one customer for all claims arising out of or relating to the Digital Loyalty Card system in any twelve (12) month period shall not exceed the value of unredeemed rewards on that customer's account at the time the claim arises, or NPR 1,000, whichever is greater. This limitation does not apply to liability that cannot be excluded or limited under mandatory applicable law, including liability for gross negligence, willful misconduct, or fraud.

10. Your Responsibilities & Indemnity

You are responsible for keeping your PIN and account details confidential and for all activity that occurs under your loyalty account, whether or not authorized by you, except where caused by Chiya Bari's or Scaleforgeit's own fault. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Chiya Bari and Scaleforgeit from any claims, losses, or damages arising from your misuse of the loyalty system, provision of false information, sharing of your PIN, or violation of this Privacy Policy.

11. Data Retention

Customer information is kept only as long as reasonably necessary to operate the website, communicate with customers, manage the loyalty system, provide support, prevent misuse, and meet legal or business requirements. Loyalty accounts inactive for 90 days may be deactivated; deactivated accounts may be reactivated by Chiya Bari staff. Some information may be retained longer where reasonably required for support, dispute handling, fraud prevention, security, backups, accounting, or legal purposes. When no longer needed, information may be deleted, deactivated, or anonymized where reasonably possible.

12. Your Rights and Choices

You may contact Chiya Bari to request access, correction, deletion, deactivation, or clarification regarding your personal information or loyalty account, and to stop receiving promotional messages. For security, Chiya Bari may verify your identity using your phone number, Member ID, or other reasonable details before processing any request. As the infrastructure provider only, Scaleforgeit does not handle or respond to consumer data access, correction, or deletion requests — all such requests must be directed to Chiya Bari using the contact details in Section 19.

13. Age Requirement

The Chiya Bari website may be visited by general users. The Digital Loyalty Card system is intended only for individuals 16 years of age or older. Membership accounts are created by Chiya Bari staff at the counter at your request; by asking staff to create one, you confirm you are at least 16. Chiya Bari does not knowingly create memberships for anyone under 16; if Chiya Bari becomes aware that an account was created for someone under 16, the account may be deactivated and related information deleted or limited where reasonably possible. A parent or guardian who believes a minor's information has been collected may contact Chiya Bari to request deletion.

14. Third-Party Links and Services

The website may link to third-party platforms such as Google Maps, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or review platforms. Neither Chiya Bari nor Scaleforgeit is responsible for the privacy practices, content, security, or availability of any third-party website, app, or platform, and use of such third-party services is entirely at your own risk.

15. Platform Ownership and Proprietary Rights

The website design, layout, interfaces, imagery, source code, database architecture, and the Digital Loyalty Card application are the exclusive proprietary property of Scaleforgeit, which retains all ownership, copyright, and title over the technical platform. Chiya Bari holds a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the platform for its business operations, and retains ownership of its own brand elements and its tenant customer data records, but has no ownership rights over the underlying software or infrastructure.

16. Force Majeure & Service Availability

Neither Chiya Bari nor Scaleforgeit is liable for any failure or delay in performance, service downtime, or data unavailability caused by events beyond reasonable control, including but not limited to internet or power outages, hosting or cloud provider failures, cyberattacks, natural disasters, governmental action, or other events of force majeure.

17. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of Nepal. Any dispute arising out of or relating to this Privacy Policy or the Digital Loyalty Card system shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts of Kaski District, Nepal, and the parties agree to first attempt good-faith resolution directly before pursuing formal proceedings.

18. Updates to This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time by posting a revised version with a new effective date. Continued use of the website or loyalty system after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy. You are encouraged to review this page periodically.

19. Contact Us

Questions or requests about your data should be directed to Chiya Bari, not Scaleforgeit:

• Zero-km, Pokhara 33700, Nepal
• Phone: +977-9808884838
• Email: chiyabarinp@gmail.com
• Instagram: @chiyaabari

As the infrastructure SaaS provider, Scaleforgeit does not handle or respond to consumer data access, correction, or deletion requests.