What we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and how you can ask us to delete it. Effective May 28, 2026.
Effective Date: May 28, 2026
Last Updated: May 28, 2026
This Privacy Policy describes how Inflated Expectations LLC ("Inflated Expectations," "we," "us," "our") collects, uses, stores, and shares information about you when you visit inflatedexpectationsny.com (the "Site"), make a booking, sign a waiver, communicate with us, or otherwise interact with our business. Read this policy alongside our Terms of Service, which governs use of the Site and our rentals.
If you have questions about anything in this policy, email [email protected] and a human will write back. We are a family-owned business in Schenectady, not a data broker, and we treat your information accordingly.
We collect only what we need to deliver the rental, handle payment, communicate with you, comply with the law, and improve our service. The categories are:
Contact and identity information. Your name, email address, phone number, and the address where the Equipment will be delivered. This information is collected when you book a rental, request a quote, sign up for the Birthday Club, leave a review, or contact us directly.
Payment information. Card number, expiration date, billing ZIP code, and similar payment-processing data. We do not store full card numbers on our servers. Payment is processed by Stripe, Inc., which is PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant. We receive only the last four digits of the card number, the card brand, an internal transaction reference, and the payment outcome. Refer to Stripe's privacy policy for details on how Stripe handles payment data.
Booking and rental data. The unit you booked, the date and time, your selected add-ons, the venue type (residence, school, park, church, business, daycare), promo codes used, customer-supplied notes, and any operational records we generate (delivery confirmation photo, setup completion photo, walkthrough notes, weather correspondence, damage documentation, and pickup confirmation).
Waiver information. When you or a guest signs the liability waiver, we collect the signing party's printed name, signature, date, the printed names and ages of each minor child the signing party is authorizing to use the Equipment, and the relationship of the signing adult to each child. The waiver explicitly notifies the signing adult about this collection, and the signing adult is the parent or legal guardian who consents on the child's behalf.
Communications. Emails, text messages, voice messages, and chat exchanges between you and us, including the content, timestamps, and metadata necessary to maintain a customer-service record.
Site analytics. When you visit the Site, our hosting provider Cloudflare collects standard server-log information including IP address, browser type, referring URL, the pages you visit, the time of each visit, and approximate geographic region. We use Cloudflare's first-party Web Analytics product, which does not place third-party cookies and does not build cross-site advertising profiles.
Marketing preferences. Whether you have opted into our Birthday Club, whether you have opted into occasional promotional emails, and your unsubscribe preferences.
We use the information we collect for the following purposes only:
Booking and fulfillment. To process your booking, confirm delivery, send pre-event reminders, deliver the Equipment, monitor weather for your event, and pick up the Equipment.
Payment. To charge your deposit, charge any balance due, refund or credit your account when appropriate, and reconcile transactions with our payment processor.
Communication. To respond to your questions, send reminders, answer reviews, send confirmation photos, alert you to weather concerns, and provide customer service before, during, and after the rental.
Review credits. If you leave a Google review and request a $15 REVIEW15 credit, we use your email address to confirm the credit and apply it to your account.
Marketing emails. Only with your explicit opt-in. The Birthday Club is opt-in, sends one reminder per registered child per year, and lets you unsubscribe with a single reply. Occasional promotional emails (typically two to four per year, around peak season) are also opt-in. The unsubscribe link is in every promotional email and is honored within 24 hours.
Legal and safety. To document waivers, retain insurance-related records, respond to subpoenas or court orders, defend against legal claims, and investigate accidents or incidents involving our Equipment.
Service improvement. To analyze aggregate booking patterns, peak-demand timing, geographic clusters, and unit popularity. This analysis is performed at the aggregate level and does not target or single out individual customers.
We do not use your information for behavioral advertising, do not sell it for profiling, and do not feed it into AI training datasets.
We share information only as described below:
Stripe (payment processing). Payment information is shared with Stripe, Inc. to authorize, charge, refund, and dispute transactions. Stripe is the legal data controller for payment card data and operates under its own privacy policy.
Cloudflare (hosting and analytics). Cloudflare hosts the Site, accelerates content delivery, blocks malicious traffic, and provides first-party privacy-preserving analytics. Cloudflare does not aggregate user data for advertising or cross-site tracking.
Email service provider. We use a transactional email service to deliver booking confirmations, waivers, Birthday Club reminders, and customer-service messages. The provider processes email content solely on our instructions and does not use it for any other purpose.
Operational contractors. Occasionally, an independent delivery driver or setup contractor may receive your name, delivery address, phone number, and unit information so they can complete the delivery. These contractors are bound by written confidentiality agreements and may not use the information for any purpose other than the delivery.
Legal compliance. We may disclose information when required by law, subpoena, court order, regulatory request, or to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others.
Business transfer. If Inflated Expectations is acquired, merged, or its assets are transferred, customer information may transfer with the business under continued protection of this Privacy Policy.
We do not sell your personal information. We have never sold it. We never will.
We retain personal information only as long as needed to fulfill the purposes described above, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Specific retention windows:
Booking records: 7 years (matches the IRS recommended business records retention window).
Liability waivers: 7 years (matches the New York statute of limitations for negligence claims against an LLC).
Payment records: 7 years (matches state and federal tax record requirements).
Customer service correspondence: 3 years.
Marketing preferences (opt-in or opt-out flags): Indefinitely, so we never re-add you to a list you unsubscribed from.
Birthday Club entries: Until you unsubscribe or until the child turns 18.
Analytics logs: Aggregated by Cloudflare; raw logs are retained per Cloudflare's retention schedule, typically under 30 days.
At the end of the retention window, records are deleted or de-identified.
Inflated Expectations is a service for parents and guardians who book rentals for their families. The Site is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information directly from children.
Through the booking process and the Birthday Club, we do collect limited information about children when that information is provided by a parent or legal guardian: the child's first name, the child's age at the time of booking or signup, and the child's birthday (Birthday Club only). This collection is governed by the parent's or guardian's consent at the time of submission. Children's data is used only to operate the rental, send Birthday Club reminders to the parent, and document the waiver.
A parent or legal guardian may at any time request review, correction, or deletion of any information collected about their child by emailing [email protected]. We honor these requests promptly and in any event within 30 days, subject to legal retention requirements that may apply to waivers.
The Site uses a small number of first-party cookies and similar technologies for essential operation:
Session cookies. Used to maintain your booking cart, remember your selected unit during multi-step checkout, and maintain login state if you administer a booking.
Cloudflare analytics beacon. A privacy-preserving first-party measurement that records pageviews and visitor counts without tracking you across other sites.
We do not use third-party advertising cookies, social media pixels (Facebook Pixel, TikTok Pixel, etc.), or cross-site retargeting cookies. We do not participate in advertising networks.
You may disable cookies in your browser settings. Disabling essential session cookies will prevent the booking flow from working correctly.
Marketing emails are sent only to people who have explicitly opted in (Birthday Club signup or promotional email checkbox). We send:
One Birthday Club reminder per registered child per year, six weeks before the birthday. Two to four promotional emails per year for general subscribers, typically tied to peak season (spring booking opening, fall harvest events, summer holiday weekends, and winter sign-up specials).
Every marketing email contains an unsubscribe link and a plain-language statement of how to opt out by replying to the email with the word UNSUBSCRIBE. Unsubscribe requests are honored within 24 hours, and we maintain an opt-out flag indefinitely so you are never re-added.
Transactional emails related to your active bookings (deposit receipt, delivery confirmation, weather alerts, pickup confirmation, damage notice) are not marketing and are sent regardless of marketing preferences. You will continue to receive these as long as you have an active booking.
You have the right to:
Access. Request a copy of the information we hold about you.
Correction. Ask us to fix anything that is wrong or out of date.
Deletion. Ask us to delete your information, subject to our legal retention requirements (waivers and tax records).
Opt-out of marketing. Stop receiving marketing emails at any time.
Data portability. Request a structured export of your information in a common format (CSV or JSON).
Withdraw consent. Withdraw consent previously given for any optional processing.
To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected] with the subject line "Privacy Request." We will verify your identity (typically by sending a confirmation to the email address on file), and we will respond within 30 days. There is no charge for these requests.
Residents of California have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA") and the California Privacy Rights Act ("CPRA"):
The right to know what categories of personal information we collect, the sources, the purposes, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it. The disclosures above satisfy this right; if you would like a personalized report, email us.
The right to delete personal information, subject to legal retention requirements.
The right to correct inaccurate personal information.
The right to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising as defined under CCPA/CPRA.
The right to limit the use of sensitive personal information. We do not use sensitive personal information for any purpose other than the necessary operation of the service.
The right to non-discrimination for exercising these rights. Exercising any privacy right will never affect the quality, price, or availability of our service.
To exercise a California right, email [email protected] with the subject line "California Privacy Request."
Inflated Expectations operates in New York State. If you are an EU or UK resident who books a rental for a Capital District event while visiting the United States, you have rights under the General Data Protection Regulation:
The legal bases on which we process personal data are: (a) performance of a contract (the rental booking); (b) compliance with legal obligations (waiver, tax, insurance records); (c) legitimate interests (service operation, fraud prevention, analytics); and (d) consent (Birthday Club and promotional email).
You have rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, and objection. You may withdraw consent at any time for processing that relies on consent. You may lodge a complaint with the data protection authority in your country of residence.
Our representative for the limited circumstances in which GDPR applies can be reached at [email protected].
We protect your information through a combination of technical, administrative, and physical safeguards:
The Site is served exclusively over HTTPS. All form submissions are encrypted in transit. Card data is tokenized by Stripe and never touches our servers in raw form; Stripe holds PCI-DSS Level 1 certification, the highest standard for payment card security. The Site is hosted on Cloudflare's infrastructure, which provides DDoS mitigation, WAF rules, and TLS termination at the network edge.
Internally, access to customer data is limited to the small number of operational staff who need it. Records are stored in a database with access controls and audit logging. Backups are encrypted at rest.
No system is perfect. If a data breach occurs that affects your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant regulatory authorities promptly, in accordance with applicable breach-notification law.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as our business or applicable law changes. The current version is always available at inflatedexpectationsny.com/privacy.html with the effective date and last-updated date at the top. For material changes, we will notify customers with active accounts by email at least 14 days before the new version takes effect. Continued use of the Site or our services after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
If you have a question, a concern, a request, or a complaint about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your information, contact us:
Inflated Expectations LLC
Schenectady, New York
Email: [email protected]
Subject line: "Privacy Question" or "Privacy Request"
Phone: Contact Us
A human will respond, usually within two business days, always within 30 days for formal privacy requests.
Thank you for trusting us with your booking. We treat your data the way we would want ours treated.