Payment policy for setup, monthly billing, usage, and account handling.

The service operates on a structured payment model made of three parts: a one-time setup payment, a monthly base fee, and usage billing based on activity.

These parts support different stages of the service. The setup payment covers the path into onboarding and activation readiness. The monthly base fee supports the ongoing operating layer of the service. Usage billing reflects how much the assistant is actually used over time.

The setup payment is a one-time fee of $5,000 USD required for new clients before the service moves into the real onboarding path.

Payments are processed through TBC Bank's secure payment flow. ARIA does not store payment card details. The current setup amount is also listed on the Pricing page.

In practical terms, the setup payment is what gets the account into the proper setup flow, including dashboard activation, onboarding access, deployment path readiness, support around setup, and the initial knowledge-base path.

After that point, the client is responsible for uploading the business documents and information needed for the knowledge base. If the client needs help with that process, support remains available.

The monthly base fee is $200 per month. It is also listed on the Pricing page.

Monthly billing begins 30 days after the setup payment is completed. After that point, the monthly base fee continues on the normal billing cycle, even if usage is low or zero.

The monthly base fee supports infrastructure, continued availability, protection against abuse, operational reliability, and support overhead.

Usage billing is calculated from four components: input tokens at $1.50 per 1 million tokens, output tokens at $9.00 per 1 million tokens, storage at $0.30 per gigabyte per month, and file operations (Class A write/list/change at $5.00 per 1 million, Class B read/check at $0.50 per 1 million). Full pricing details are also listed on the Pricing page.

In business terms, input is what the system receives, output is what the system generates in response, storage is the total data held on behalf of the account, and file operations reflect how often stored files are accessed or modified. Each component is measured and reflected in the monthly invoice.

The normal billing path is:

• client signs up
• client completes setup payment
• client enters onboarding
• client uploads documents and builds the knowledge base
• client moves toward activation and deployment
• monthly billing begins 30 days after setup payment

If a monthly invoice is not paid successfully, the service does not stop immediately. A short grace period applies first.

The billing enforcement path is:

• monthly invoice is created
• payment attempt is made
• if payment is not completed, the invoice becomes overdue
• a 3-day grace period begins
• during grace, the AI can continue operating normally
• after grace, the AI is paused until overdue invoices are cleared

When the overdue balance is fully cleared, the AI can return to normal active operation.

Clients may fully delete their own account from the dashboard. That is a full wipe of the live account path.

A full wipe means the live account, documents, knowledge-base data, service access, and related live account data are removed from the live service environment.

If the client returns later, that client is treated as a new client and must go through the setup path again from the beginning. Visitor data collected through the AI assistant during the account's lifetime is retained by ARIA internally, as described in the Visitor Data Policy.

If an account remains unpaid or abandoned for an extended period, the account may eventually be fully removed from the live system.

As a practical operating rule, accounts that remain unpaid for several months, such as roughly 4 to 6 months, may be treated as abandoned and may be deleted from the live service environment.

ARIA does not offer refunds on the setup fee, monthly base fees, or usage charges that have already been processed. All payments made under the service billing structure are final once completed.

By proceeding with payment, the client confirms they have read and accepted this no-refund policy as part of the service agreement.

By paying for the service, the client is agreeing to the applicable policy structure, including this Payment Policy, the Terms of Service, and the Privacy Policy.

If the client does not agree with the policy structure, the correct step is not to proceed with payment.