Terms of service
The Lives We Keep
Last updated: October 7, 2026
These Terms of Service govern purchases from The Lives We Keep and the use of our personalized storytelling, book creation, and related services.
In these Terms, “we,” “us,” and “our” mean The Lives We Keep. “You” and “your” mean the person purchasing or using our services. The “storyteller” is the person whose memories and experiences form the subject of a project.
You can contact us at:
The Lives We Keep
Avenue Albert 1er 59
5070 Fosses-La-Ville
Belgium
Email: hello@theliveswekeep.com
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits consumer rights that cannot legally be excluded or limited.
1. Our services
The Lives We Keep helps individuals and families turn personal memories, stories, and photographs into personalized books.
Depending on the package purchased, your order may include guided questions, collection of written or recorded memories, transcription, drafting, editing, book design, digital files, printed books, or additional features.
The product description and options selected when you place your order determine what is included. Additional printed copies and other optional products or services are included only when purchased or expressly offered as part of your package.
Our service creates a personal account based on the material provided. It does not include independent historical research, verification of every event, or commercial publishing services unless expressly agreed in writing.
2. Eligibility and purchases made as gifts
You must be at least 18 years old and legally able to enter into a contract to place an order.
You agree to provide accurate billing, contact, and delivery information and to use a payment method you are authorized to use.
You may purchase a project as a gift. Purchasing a gift does not authorize you to consent to interviews, recordings, or the use of personal information on another person’s behalf without their permission or other lawful authority.
A gift recipient’s participation is voluntary. If a recipient chooses not to participate, cancellation is handled under Section 9.
Where several family members contribute, you must identify the person authorized to give project instructions and approve the final book. We may request clarification before acting on conflicting instructions.
3. Orders and acceptance
Before submitting an order, you should review the package, selected options, price, currency, and contact information.
Your order is accepted when we send an order confirmation confirming the purchase. A payment authorization alone does not constitute acceptance.
If we cannot accept an order because of an availability problem, payment failure, suspected fraud, or another legitimate reason, we will inform you and refund any payment collected for the unaccepted order.
If we identify a material pricing or description error, we will explain it and obtain your agreement before proceeding on different terms. We will not charge a higher amount without your consent. Any cancellation of an already accepted order remains subject to applicable law.
The package description and specific written commitments made when you order form part of your agreement with us.
4. Prices, taxes, shipping, and payment
Prices are displayed in the currency selected or identified in our store. Your checkout and order confirmation identify the currency in which you are charged.
Our displayed prices include applicable sales taxes or VAT, and standard shipping is free to delivery destinations accepted at checkout.
Optional upgrades and additional purchases are charged only when you select and approve them. We do not add an undisclosed service, handling, or processing fee after purchase.
If a destination would require an additional import charge payable by you, we will disclose it before accepting the order and obtain your agreement. Otherwise, we will bear that charge for the accepted shipment.
Your bank or payment provider may apply its own currency conversion or international transaction fees. These are outside our control and are not charges imposed by The Lives We Keep.
Payment is due at checkout unless a different payment arrangement is expressly offered. A one-time purchase does not enroll you in a subscription or authorize recurring charges.
Price changes apply to future purchases and do not change the price of an accepted order.
5. Providing stories, photographs, and other material
You are responsible for supplying the information and materials needed to create your project, including responses, photographs, names, dates, and other details you want included.
Please provide information honestly and identify uncertainty where memories are incomplete or accounts differ. You may skip questions or ask us to omit material you do not want included.
You confirm that you own the material you submit or have sufficient permission or another lawful basis for us to use it to fulfill your order. This includes any necessary rights relating to photographs, recordings, letters, and contributions from other people.
Do not submit material that unlawfully infringes copyright, privacy, publicity, or other rights, or that contains unlawful threats or defamatory statements.
Obtain any legally required permission before recording another person or submitting their recording. Providing personal information about children requires particular care and any necessary parental or guardian authorization.
Please send digital copies unless we expressly arrange otherwise. Keep your original photographs, recordings, and documents.
6. Drafting, editing, and use of technology
We may use software, including artificial intelligence tools, to assist with transcription, organization, drafting, and editing.
These tools can misinterpret words, confuse names or dates, or produce inaccurate wording. We remain responsible for providing the agreed service with reasonable care and skill.
Our aim is to preserve the storyteller’s meaning and voice. We may organize material, improve readability, and suggest wording, but we will not knowingly present invented life events as the storyteller’s actual experiences.
If a passage is inaccurate or does not reflect the intended meaning, please identify it during review so it can be corrected.
A personal memoir reflects the memories and perspectives of its contributors. We do not guarantee that every recollection can be independently verified or reconciled with another person’s account.
7. Review, revisions, and approval for printing
We will provide a proof for review before your personalized book is printed.
You or your authorized reviewer should check the manuscript, names, dates, captions, photographs, cover details, and layout carefully.
Revisions included in your purchased package will be provided without an additional charge. Correcting our failure to follow agreed instructions or deliver the agreed service does not count as a paid upgrade.
Requests that materially expand the project—such as adding substantial new content, changing the agreed format, or redesigning an approved book—may require an additional quote. We will obtain your agreement before charging for additional work.
We will not treat silence as approval to print. Production begins only after affirmative approval from you or your authorized reviewer.
Once production begins, changes may no longer be possible. If a requested change requires a reprint, we will explain any additional cost before proceeding.
Approval does not waive your rights concerning manufacturing defects, differences between the approved proof and the delivered book, or other failures to meet our contractual or legal obligations.
8. Project timing and delivery
Project timing depends on the package, the amount of material, the time taken to provide responses and revisions, and approval of the final proof.
Any production or shipping timeframe stated before purchase forms part of your order. We will distinguish time needed for your participation from time needed for our work and shipping.
If we are waiting for essential material or approval, we may pause the affected work and discuss an updated schedule with you. We will not print an unapproved book simply because you have not responded.
For US merchandise orders, we will comply with applicable shipment timing rules. Where no shipment timeframe has been stated, the applicable default is generally shipment within 30 days after receipt of a properly completed order. If we cannot meet the applicable deadline, we will provide the required delay notice and cancellation option, obtain any necessary consent to a revised date, or cancel and issue the required refund. Personalized production does not remove these obligations. ftc.gov
Please tell us before ordering if delivery by a particular date is essential. A birthday, anniversary, or holiday deadline is binding only if we expressly accept it.
We remain responsible for arranging delivery of your order. If a parcel is lost or damaged in transit, contact us so we can investigate and provide the appropriate remedy.
If an incorrect address supplied by you results in a failed delivery, we may request the reasonable additional cost of reshipping. We will explain that cost before proceeding. You will not be charged to correct a delivery error caused by us.
9. Customer cancellation and change-of-mind returns
The following is our voluntary cancellation policy. Any stronger rights provided by applicable law take priority.
Before personalized work begins
You may cancel for a full refund before we begin personalized drafting, editing, design, or production. Receiving an automated confirmation, creating an account, or sending an initial questionnaire does not by itself mean personalized work has begun.
After personalized work begins but before printing
You may request cancellation. We will stop avoidable further work and refund the amount paid, less a reasonable amount for personalized work already completed and unavoidable third-party costs already committed specifically to your order.
Any deduction will be explained in writing, will not duplicate another charge, and will never exceed the total order price. We do not charge a separate cancellation penalty.
After printing begins
Personalized books cannot ordinarily be reused or resold. Once printing begins, we do not offer change-of-mind returns or refunds for the personalized books being produced.
Any separately identifiable, unperformed services or uncommitted extras will be assessed for a refund under the principles above.
Separately purchased non-personalized goods
You may request a change-of-mind return within 14 days after delivery and send the item back within 14 days after notifying us. The item must be unused and complete. You are responsible for direct return postage for this voluntary return. We do not charge a restocking fee.
These restrictions do not apply to defective goods, incorrect orders, failures to provide the agreed service, or cancellations and refunds required by law.
To request cancellation, email hello@theliveswekeep.com with your name, order number if available, and a clear statement that you wish to cancel.
10. Damaged, defective, or incorrect orders
Contact hello@theliveswekeep.com if your book arrives damaged, contains a manufacturing defect, differs materially from the approved proof, or is not the product you ordered.
Please describe the problem and provide photographs where reasonably possible. Photographs help us assess the issue but are not an absolute condition for exercising your legal rights.
We will provide the remedy required by applicable law, which may include correction, replacement, a price reduction, or a refund. We will cover reasonable return or replacement shipping costs where the problem is our responsibility.
Minor variations between a screen preview and a printed book can occur because of paper, ink, screen settings, and production methods. This does not excuse a material departure from the agreed description or approved design.
We do not impose a short reporting deadline that removes statutory rights. Reporting a problem promptly helps us resolve it.
Ordinary wear, accidental damage after delivery, and changes you later wish to make to correctly reproduced approved content are not manufacturing defects.
11. Refund processing
We issue refunds to the original payment method unless another lawful method is expressly agreed.
We will initiate voluntary refunds within 14 calendar days after confirming the cancellation and amount due. Where the law requires a shorter deadline or a different starting point, we will follow that requirement.
For eligible goods returns, we may wait until we receive the goods or evidence that they have been sent back, where permitted by law.
We do not require you to accept store credit instead of a monetary refund to which you are entitled.
Your payment provider may take additional time to display a processed refund. Currency conversion differences or independently imposed bank fees are handled under your agreement with that provider.
12. Additional statutory withdrawal rights
Where European or other mandatory withdrawal laws apply to your purchase, those rights take priority over our voluntary policy.
Under applicable European rules, services generally carry a 14-day withdrawal period from contract formation; qualifying goods generally carry a 14-day period from receipt. Goods made to your specifications or clearly personalized are generally exempt from change-of-mind withdrawal.
That exception does not automatically remove withdrawal rights for separately supplied services or digital content.
Starting a service during a withdrawal period requires your express request where legally required. A lawful withdrawal may then involve a proportionate charge for services actually supplied. Loss of withdrawal rights following full service performance, or commencement of digital content supply, requires the legally prescribed consent, acknowledgment, and confirmation.
To withdraw, send a clear statement to our email or postal address before the applicable deadline. No explanation is required.
You may write: “I hereby give notice that I withdraw from my contract for the following goods or services,” identifying the order, order or receipt date, your name, address, and the date of your notice. Sign only if submitting on paper.
We will provide any additional statutory withdrawal information or form required for your purchase. Your Europe
13. Ownership and permitted use
You retain your existing rights in the stories, photographs, recordings, and other material you provide.
You grant us permission to copy, process, transcribe, edit, format, and share that material with service providers only as reasonably necessary to create and deliver your order, provide agreed support, and meet legal obligations. This permission does not transfer ownership of your material to us.
We will not publish your private story, photographs, or recordings in our advertising or portfolio without separate permission.
After full payment, to the extent we own rights in original text and design created specifically for your completed book, we grant you a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, and share the completed book for personal and family purposes, including making additional personal copies.
We retain ownership of our pre-existing templates, software, branding, and general production methods. Third-party material remains subject to the rights of its respective owners.
This agreement does not guarantee that every element of AI-assisted output qualifies for copyright protection or is unique.
If you intend to sell the book commercially or distribute it publicly, contact us before ordering so we can agree on the required rights and scope.
14. Digital files, recordings, and QR features
Digital books, audio recordings, QR features, and online access are included only where stated in your package.
Any material technical requirements, access restrictions, or hosting duration must be disclosed before purchase. We will not shorten an agreed access period retroactively.
A QR code links to a digital destination; printing the code does not itself guarantee permanent hosting.
Where downloadable files are supplied, keep your own backup. Retention of project materials and personal information is governed by our Privacy Policy and applicable law.
We will not introduce an automatic renewal or recurring hosting charge without your express agreement.
These provisions do not reduce any rights concerning the supply, functionality, or conformity of digital content or services.
15. Privacy and project communications
Our Privacy Policy explains how personal information is collected, used, shared, retained, and protected, and how applicable privacy rights may be exercised.
Accepting these Terms is not consent to marketing or to unrelated uses of sensitive personal information.
We may send communications needed to fulfill your order, including questions, proofs, payment confirmations, and delivery updates.
Where a purchaser and storyteller are different people, we will establish the appropriate project access and approval arrangements. Purchasing a gift does not automatically entitle the purchaser to every private communication or recording supplied by the storyteller.
16. Acceptable use and suspension
You must not misuse the website or services, attempt unauthorized access, upload malicious software, commit payment fraud, or use the service to create unlawful material.
We may pause an affected project where reasonably necessary to investigate suspected fraud, address a credible rights complaint, protect personal information, or prevent unlawful activity.
Where appropriate, we will explain the issue and provide a reasonable opportunity to resolve it. Any suspension will be proportionate to the concern.
If we terminate an order, we will explain the reason and refund amounts attributable to undelivered goods or unperformed services, subject only to lawful, justified deductions. We will not automatically forfeit your entire payment because of a breach.
17. Our responsibilities and liability
We are responsible for supplying the goods and services agreed in your order with reasonable care and skill.
Using payment providers, printers, couriers, or other service providers does not remove our responsibilities to you as the seller.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or restricts liability for fraud, intentional misconduct, gross negligence where exclusion is prohibited, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or any other liability that cannot legally be excluded.
We do not disclaim statutory warranties or consumer guarantees that apply to your purchase. US customers may have rights under federal and state law, including applicable implied warranties. Eligible European consumers retain legal conformity guarantees, including the applicable minimum two-year protection for new goods. Your Europe
Any entitlement to compensation is determined under applicable law. These Terms do not impose an automatic cap limiting all claims to the order price.
18. Events outside our reasonable control
Events such as serious transport disruption, natural disasters, or widespread infrastructure failures may affect fulfillment.
If this happens, we will inform you, take reasonable steps to reduce the impact, and explain the available options.
Such an event does not automatically entitle us to retain payment for goods or services we cannot provide. Applicable delay, cancellation, and refund rights continue to apply.
19. Complaints and disputes
Please send complaints to hello@theliveswekeep.com, including enough information to identify your order and understand the issue.
We will investigate and seek a fair resolution without undue delay. Contacting us does not waive your right to use another lawful remedy or require you to miss an applicable filing deadline.
Where eligible, you may seek assistance from the Belgian Consumer Mediation Service:
Consumer Mediation Service
Boulevard du Roi Albert II 8, Box 1
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Website: consumerombudsman.be
Email: contact@mediationconsommateur.be
Access to mediation is subject to that service’s jurisdiction and admissibility requirements. Consumer Mediation Service
These Terms do not require binding arbitration or waive class action rights, jury trial rights, or access to small claims procedures where available.
20. Governing law
These Terms are governed by Belgian law, subject to applicable conflict-of-law rules and mandatory consumer protections.
This choice does not deprive you of protections under laws that apply to your purchase and cannot be waived by agreement, including applicable US federal and state consumer protection laws.
Disputes may be brought before a court having jurisdiction under applicable law. These Terms do not require every consumer to bring proceedings exclusively in Belgium.
21. Changes and interpretation
The version of these Terms accepted when you order governs that purchase.
We may update these Terms for future orders. An update will not retroactively reduce your rights, increase the price of an accepted order, or materially change an existing purchase without a lawful basis and any required agreement.
If a provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to apply to the extent legally possible.
These Terms, the product description accepted at purchase, and any specific written agreement concerning your order form the agreement between us. They do not exclude binding pre-contract statements or statutory rights.
If another store policy conflicts with these Terms, mandatory law takes priority, followed by any specific agreement made for your order. A general policy will not remove a more favorable commitment expressly made to you.
22. Contact
For questions about these Terms or your order, contact:
The Lives We Keep
Avenue Albert 1er 59
5070 Fosses-La-Ville
Belgium