Privacy Policy

Who we are

NC AI Services, a brand of Carteret Tech, is an AI consultancy headquartered in Morehead City, NC, serving owner-operated businesses in Eastern North Carolina. Contact: alex@ncaisvc.com · (252) 777-2488.

For a shorter, plain-language version of how we handle what you send us, see How we handle information.

Information we collect

We collect information you provide directly:

• Market Leak Check and consultation forms — name, business name, email, phone (optional), city and county, website (optional), your main concern or a description of your needs, and how you'd like us to reply.
• Free tools — the Profit Leak Calculator (email, optional name and company, and rough business estimates you enter), the AI Readiness Quiz (email, optional name and company, and your answers), and the AI visibility checker (a website domain, city, search term, and, after the first check, your email).
• Blog waitlist — your email address.
• Chat and voice demo — whatever you type to our chat assistant or say to the voice demo.
• Self-serve purchases — Stripe's checkout collects your name, email, phone, website, and card details. Card details are entered on Stripe's page and never reach our servers.

How we use your information

• To respond to your inquiry within one business day
• To scope and deliver the service you requested
• To send project-related communications

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Form submissions

Forms on this site are processed by Netlify Forms. Submissions are stored in Netlify's infrastructure, and a notification email is sent to us through Resend, our email delivery provider. The Profit Leak Calculator, AI Readiness Quiz, AI visibility checker, and blog waitlist also use Resend to email your results or a confirmation to the address you gave. Netlify's and Resend's privacy policies apply to that processing.

AI chat assistant & lead handling

Our website chat assistant ("Chip") and our lead-sorting step are powered by Google's Gemini AI models, reached through OpenRouter, a service that routes requests to AI providers. When you chat with Chip, the messages you type — including any contact details you provide — are sent to that provider to generate a response. Each chat is also saved as a transcript on Netlify's storage so we can review it, and your browser keeps a copy so the conversation survives a page reload until you reset it.

When a form is submitted, a short summary of it is sent to the same provider to help us prioritize our follow-up, and the business name, your name, county, what you need, and your website are used for a web search of your business's public presence. Neither step receives your email address or phone number. A person reviews every request before we reply.

We do not use your information to train AI models, and we do not sell or share it for advertising. If you would rather not use the chat, you can reach us directly by phone or email instead.

Voice demo

The voice demo streams your microphone audio from your browser directly to Google's Gemini Live service, which generates the spoken replies and on-screen transcript. We do not record or store the audio or the transcript. The demo only starts after you press its start button and allow microphone access.

AI visibility checker

The checker sends the domain, city, and search term you enter — not your email — to several AI search engines (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Perplexity models, through OpenRouter) to see whether they mention your business.

Scheduling and payments

Booking a call uses Cal.com, either through the calendar on our consultation page or when you ask our chat or voice assistant to book a time. Self-serve purchases are paid through Stripe's checkout. Cal.com's and Stripe's own privacy policies apply to what you give them.

Abuse prevention

To stop automated abuse, our server functions keep usage counters tied to your IP address. The AI visibility checker keeps its counters — tied to your IP address and, once you give one, your email address — for about one year, so the free checks can't be repeated endlessly. These counters are not used for anything else.

Analytics

We use a few different tools to understand how this site gets used. Here's exactly what each one does:

• Plausible Analytics — runs automatically for every visitor. It doesn't use cookies and can't identify who you are — it just gives us basic numbers like which pages get visited and roughly where visitors are coming from. Because it can't identify anyone, it doesn't need your permission.
• Google Analytics — only turned on if you click "Allow" on the cookie banner. It gives us more detail on traffic and how well pages are performing. Nothing loads and no cookie is set until you say yes. You can change your answer anytime via the "Cookie Preferences" link in the footer, or opt out separately using Google's own opt-out tool.
• PostHog — also only turned on with that same "Allow" click. It lets us anonymously watch how people click and scroll around the site, so we can spot what's confusing or broken. Anything you type into a field — name, email, phone, message — is automatically blacked out and never visible to us, whether or not you've said yes. Nothing loads and nothing is recorded until you click "Allow."

Cookies

Plausible never sets a cookie. If you click "Allow" on the banner, Google Analytics and PostHog each set a small cookie to remember your choice and measure visits — never before you say yes. We don't use any advertising or retargeting cookies, so nothing here follows you around to other websites.

Data retention

We retain contact form submissions for up to 2 years for business record purposes. Chat transcripts and blog waitlist signups do not currently expire automatically. You may request deletion of your data at any time by emailing alex@ncaisvc.com.

Your rights

You have the right to access, correct, or delete personal information we hold about you. Contact us at alex@ncaisvc.com to make a request.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy periodically. Material changes will be noted with an updated date at the top of this page.

Contact

Questions about this policy: alex@ncaisvc.com or (252) 777-2488.