Cancellation & refund policy
Last updated 5 November 2026
A Kukume booking holds an artist's time and travel for you, so the rules below balance fairness to you and to her. This policy is part of our Terms of Service.
How payment works
When you book you pay half the price up front (rounded up to the rupee), shown at checkout before you confirm. The other half is paid in the app after your appointment, once the service is done. The upfront amount is part of your total, not an extra charge. The one extra is the optional Priority artist fee (below), which is paid in full with it.
Priority artist fee
If you add Priority artist at checkout (₹99), your booking is offered first to our top-rated artists (rated 4.5 or more), starting as soon as you book. If none of them can take it, we match you with the best available artist and refund the fee automatically.
Otherwise the fee follows the same rules as the upfront amount: it is refunded in full if you cancel before an artist accepts, 24 hours or more ahead, or if we cancel, and it is kept, together with the upfront amount, whenever the upfront amount is kept below.
If you cancel
- Before an artist has accepted your booking: full refund of everything you paid, however close the appointment is. This includes Book now, while we are still finding you an artist.
- After an artist has accepted, 24 hours or more before your appointment: full refund of everything you paid.
- After an artist has accepted, less than 24 hours before: the upfront amount (half the price, and any Priority artist fee) is kept, because the artist has reserved that time for you. No balance is charged.
- Book now, after an artist has accepted: the upfront amount is kept, because she is getting ready to come to you straight away. No balance is charged.
- Once the artist is on the way, or has arrived: the upfront amount is kept and no balance is charged.
- You are not at the address, or don't answer, 15 minutes after the artist arrives: we treat it as a no-show. The upfront amount is kept.
To cancel, open the booking in the app (Bookings, then the booking) and tap Cancel booking. Before you confirm, the app tells you whether you get your money back. The time you confirm is the time of cancellation. Once your artist is on the way, the app can't cancel for you: write to us in Help & support (Profile, then Help & support) and tell us which booking.
If you want to change the time
You can move an appointment to another slot at no charge if you ask us in Help & support at least 24 hours ahead and a slot is free. Later than that, we treat it as a cancellation (under the rules above) and a new booking.
If we cancel or can't make it
If we can't find you an artist, the artist can't attend, or we have to cancel for any reason of our own (including unsafe conditions or a serious weather event), you get a full refund of anything you paid, or, if you prefer, we move you to another slot at no cost. If your artist is running more than 30 minutes late and you choose to cancel, that is also a full refund: tap Cancel booking in the app, or, if she has already set off, write to us in Help & support.
If you're not happy with the service
Tell us within 48 hours of the appointment through Help & support, with a photo if you can. Depending on what went wrong we will send an artist to fix it at no charge, or refund part or all of what you paid. We decide fairly, based on the design you booked and what was delivered. Changes of mind about a colour or shape after the service is complete are not a fault, but talk to us and we will do what we reasonably can.
Nails are personal and skin can react. If you have allergies or sensitivities, tell the artist before she starts. If you have a reaction, stop and seek medical advice first, then contact us.
How refunds are paid
- Refunds go back to the same payment method you used, never to a different account.
- We start the refund as soon as it is approved. It usually reaches you within 5 to 7 business days, depending on your bank or UPI app.
Questions
Write to us through Help & support in the app, or reach us directly at the details below. If something looks wrong on a payment, include the booking date and design so we can find it quickly. See also our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
- Name: Aryan Gowda D A
- Phone: +91 94810 55044
- Email: aryandevangi@gmail.com
Version history
These three pages change together. Major changes are marked, and we ask you to accept them again in the app before your next booking.
- Major change
Payments in the Kukume app for Android are now real, through PhonePe's payment gateway, and you pay by UPI. The cancellation and refund rules apply to them. The website and the iPhone app stay simulated for now.
- Minor edit
We no longer ask you to confirm your age when you sign in, and the Terms no longer set a minimum age. Nothing changes in what you pay or how we use your data.
- Minor edit
An account we end for abuse, fraud or putting someone at risk is now blocked, on its number and on the phones it was used on, so it can't be opened again with another number. The Privacy Policy now says that the Kukume app keeps an id for your phone for this, that on iPhone we can ask Apple to flag a blocked phone, and that a blocked account's number and phone ids are kept even if it is erased. All three pages now give our contact details: Aryan Gowda D A, +91 94810 55044, aryandevangi@gmail.com, who is also the grievance contact for your data.
- Minor edit
You can now turn on refill reminders, and offers and news, in Notifications: a reminder about 3 weeks after a visit, when it's usually time for your next one, and our new designs, festive looks and offers. Each is off unless you turn it on, and you can turn it off at any time. The Privacy Policy lists these uses, and gives examples of the booking updates we send (a reminder before your visit, your artist on the way, almost there or running late, what is left to pay, and refunds).
- Minor edit
Kuku now asks for your OK before your first message, since what you write and the photos you send go to Anthropic, whose AI engine runs it. You can turn this off in Profile > Privacy & data. The Privacy Policy says so under "Your consent". Kuku also now sends Anthropic only your first name, as the policy already said, rather than your full name.
- Major change
When you book, you now pay half the price up front (rounded up to the rupee) instead of a fixed ₹500, and the other half in the app after your appointment. The cancellation rules are the same, but where they keep the upfront amount (for example when you cancel less than 24 hours before, once an artist has accepted, or aren't there when she arrives), that is now half the price. Bookings you made before this change keep what you already paid.
- Major change
Help & support now starts with Kuku, our AI assistant. It can look up your bookings and explain refunds and our policies, and it passes anything it can't sort out to our team, who contact you on your phone number. It can't change, cancel or refund a booking itself. The Privacy Policy now says that when you ask Kuku about your bookings, Anthropic, whose Claude AI runs Kuku, receives those bookings' details (code, design, date and time, status, amounts and refunds, but not your address or your artist's name).
- Major change
We've added Kuku, an AI consultant you can chat with in the app. You can send it photos of nails you like, and it can turn one into a custom order priced by fixed tiers (Simple, Detailed, Statement, 3D & Sculpted) and book it with you; your nails are inspired by your photo, not an exact copy. The Privacy Policy now names Anthropic, whose Claude AI runs Kuku and receives your chats and photos (it doesn't train its AI on them), and says your artist sees the photos on a custom order. Chats are deleted after 90 days, and photos after 90 days, or 30 days after your visit if they are on a booking.
- Major change
You can now turn on alerts on your phone for updates about your booking. The Privacy Policy now says that, if you do, your phone's alert service (Google, Apple or Mozilla) delivers them, encrypted so it can't read them, and how long we keep your phone's alert address.
- Major change
You can now cancel in the app (open the booking and tap Cancel booking), and any booking, including Book now, is free to cancel until an artist accepts it. After that the 24-hour rule applies as before, and a Book now booking's upfront amount is kept once an artist has accepted. The Privacy Policy now names Sentry, which tells us when something in the app breaks and is set up not to receive your name, phone number, address or IP address.
- Major change
The Cancellation & refund policy now explains the optional Priority artist fee: it is refunded automatically if no top-rated artist can take your booking, and otherwise it follows the upfront amount, so it is refunded if you cancel 24 hours or more ahead and kept if you cancel later or aren't there.
- Major change
First published version of the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Cancellation & refund policy. The Privacy Policy explains your consent and how to withdraw it, and how to download or erase your data.