Terms

No guarantee of safety

• FamLocal is a directory, not a guarantee. We list places, events and kid businesses that fit our family checklist, but that checklist is about what a place is, not a safety check.
• We don’t check the people who run or work at these places, events or businesses. We don’t do background checks, inspections or safety checks of any kind.
• We can’t promise any place, event or business is safe, or right for your kids. Tips from families are their own opinions, not a promise from us.
• Details can change. Hours, prices, rules and who works there can be different from what you see here.
• You are responsible for your own decisions and for watching over your kids. Please do your own research and use your own judgment before you go.

For everyone

• FamLocal is a directory of family-friendly places, events and kid businesses. Details change: hours, prices and rules can be out of date. Check with the place before you go.
• You are responsible for your family’s safety. We share what we know so you can decide, but we can’t promise any place, event or business is safe or right for your kids.
• Be kind and honest. No spam, ads, hate, threats, or private details about other people (like a home address or phone number).
• We may remove anything, or close an account, that breaks these rules or puts kids or families at risk.
• The site is offered as it is. As far as the law allows, we aren’t responsible for losses that come from using it or from places, events or businesses listed on it.
• We may update these terms. If we make a big change, we’ll say so on the site. California law applies.

For families

• Your account is free. Keep your sign-in emails to yourself; anyone with the sign-in button or code can get into your account.
• Notes and events you send in are read before they show. Share only what you saw yourself. By sending them, you let us show them on the site and in our emails.
• Kid businesses are run with a parent or guardian, who must be at least 18 and handles every message. Deals between families and kid businesses are between them; we only help you find each other.
• You can delete your account any time from your account page.

Family reviews

• Reviews are families’ own honest opinions about places they went to, not a promise or a recommendation from us. Write only about a visit you made yourself, keep it about the place, and leave out links, phone numbers, names of staff and anything private.
• Reviews go up right away. Some are held for a quick read first, and we take down reviews that are rude, hateful, fake, an ad, off topic, about a person or private. We never take a review down for being negative, and paying never changes a place’s reviews or stars.
• Businesses may not review themselves or their competitors, write reviews for others, or offer anything in return for a review. Owners can answer any review once, in public.
• By posting a review you let us show it on the site, in our emails and when we share the site. You can change or delete it any time.

Postcard coupons

• Coupons on the FamLocal postcard are offers from each business, and the business decides their details. Scan one to save it to your free account. Each family can use each coupon once, by tapping “Use it now” at the business, through the date shown.
• After you use one, we may send one email asking how it went. Every family who used it gets the same note, and nothing is given for a review. Reviews from families who used a coupon say so.
• If you save a coupon and haven’t used it, we may send one reminder before it ends.
• Businesses see only how many families saved and used their coupon, never who.

For businesses

• A basic listing is free. Every place must pass our family checklist, and we decide what is listed. Paying never buys a place onto the site or changes family reviews.
• To claim a page you must own or manage the business. We may call to check.
• Changes and photos you send are checked before they show. Only send photos you own or have permission to use, and no photos where a child can be recognized without a parent’s OK. By sending them, you let us show them on the site, in our emails and when we share the site.
• Events you add are checked before they show, like everyone’s.

Plus and Featured

• Plus is $12 a month, or $120 a year. It adds extras to your page: more photos, a deal for families, booking, menu and social links, a longer story and a Spanish description. Plus doesn’t move your place up the lists.
• Featured is $49 a month, or $490 a year. The first 20 businesses get a founding price of $29 a month (or $290 a year), which stays the same for as long as they stay Featured.
• Extras are checked before they show, like every change. A family deal must be real and honored as written. If you stop paying, the extras come off your page; we keep them for a while in case you come back.
• You can also pay by check for a year at a time. We email an invoice (and our W-9 if you need it), and the plan starts when the check arrives. Checks are not refunded for unused months.
• If you move up from Plus to Featured, Plus stops and the unused part is credited to your next bill.
• Your first paid plan by card starts with a free month. We take your card at the start but charge nothing for 30 days; cancel before then and you pay nothing.
• It renews every month, or every year if you pay yearly, on the same card until you cancel. Payments are handled by Stripe; we never see your full card number.
• Cancel any time from your business page. You keep your plan until the end of the month or year you paid for. We don’t refund partial months or years.
• Featured places are labeled as paid (Sponsored). They show first in their lists and may appear on the home page and in the weekly email. We don’t promise a number of visits or customers.
• If a paying place stops passing the family checklist, we may take it down and refund the unused time.
• We may change the price with 30 days’ notice by email. Founding prices stay as promised.

The monthly postcard

• Each neighborhood has its own card every month. A spot’s price depends on the neighborhood and is shown before you pay; cards booked together cost less: 5% off 3 or more, 10% off 6 or more, 15% off 10 or more and 20% off 20 or more, never below $375 a spot. It is paid before the card goes to print, by card online or by check.
• There are twelve spots on the back, one business of each kind, and one sponsor on the front. The first to pay gets the spot. A spot is held for a short time while you pay online.
• Every coupon needs a real offer for families, honored as written through the end of the card’s month. We write the “Why we picked them” line, and we may edit your offer to fit the card. You send your logo by the booking deadline.
• A spot includes Featured on the website through the end of the card’s month (in areas with a FamLocal website), a post about your business on that area’s FamLocal Instagram and Facebook, and a results email after the card mails.
• A card prints only when enough spots are paid by its booking deadline. If it doesn’t fill and mail, every business on it gets back everything it paid for that card.
• We mail to about the number of homes we say for each neighborhood, using USPS Every Door Direct Mail, in that neighborhood’s week of the month. We don’t promise a number of calls, visits or customers, and we aren’t responsible for postal delays.
• If you pick “Keep my spot every month”, we save your card with Stripe. When your last card goes to print, we book the same spot on each of those neighborhoods’ next card, if it’s open, and charge your saved card that month’s price, with the same discounts. We copy your ad over and email you each time. Stop any time from your private page or by emailing us; a renewal already charged follows the same refund rules as any spot.
• For a week after your card mails, your kind of spot on that neighborhood’s next card is held for you (first pick). After that it’s open to anyone.
• Each business on the card gets its own link to share. When another business books and pays through it, the business that shared it gets $50 off its next card, taken off automatically when it books with the same email. Credits have no cash value and can’t bring a card below $1.
• Once a card goes to print it can’t be changed or refunded. Before then, ask us and we’ll refund your spot. If we can’t mail a card, we refund it in full.

Questions

Write to us at hello@familylocale.com. See also what we keep about you: Privacy.