Terms of Service

Last updated 12 September 2026. These terms are in effect; a few areas are still being refined with counsel, and any material change is announced by email, as the Changes section describes.

Key is operated by White Noise in a Snow Storm, LLC (“Key”, “we”). By using key.new you agree to these terms. White Noise in a Snow Storm, LLC is a Delaware limited liability company.

What Key is

A marketplace for booking video calls with vetted local experts. Experts are independent, they are not our employees, and their recommendations are their own genuine opinions. We vet who joins the directory; we don’t guarantee any particular outcome of a call or the continued accuracy of any recommendation. Key is a software marketplace and payment collection agent; beyond facilitating the booking, the call, and the payment, Key is not a party to the arrangement between you and an expert, and experts are independent contractors, not Key’s employees or agents. Additional terms for experts appear in the For experts section below.

Accounts

You need an account with your real name to book or host calls. You’re responsible for what happens under your sign-in. We can suspend accounts that abuse the platform, other users, or these terms. You must be at least 18 years old to hold a Key account; a minor may take part in a call only alongside the adult account holder who booked it.

Booking, payment, and refunds

Prices are set by each expert and charged in USD by card at booking, processed by Stripe. Cancellation refunds follow one published matrix: cancel 48 hours or more before the call for a full refund; between 24 and 48 hours, 50%; inside 24 hours, no refund. If the expert cancels or doesn’t show, you’re always refunded in full. Refunds return to your card and typically take 5–10 business days.

In paying through Key you are not sending money to Key for Key’s own account: payments are processed by Stripe, a registered and licensed payment processor, and Key directs Stripe on the timing and split of each transfer rather than taking custody of your payment itself. If you do not show up for a scheduled call, no refund is due.

Either you or the expert may propose a reschedule, which is confirmed once the other accepts. At the moment a reschedule is accepted, notice is measured against the call time being moved away from, not the booking’s original call time: accepting a reschedule inside 48 hours of that call time caps the booking at a 50% refund going forward, and accepting one inside 24 hours of that call time makes the booking non-refundable going forward. Once a stricter cap applies to a booking, a later reschedule can only tighten it further, never loosen it, regardless of how much notice that later reschedule gives. Key’s fee, and any processing or service fee, may change; we will give you notice before a change applies to a new booking.

Gift vouchers and promo codes reduce or cover a booking’s price at checkout. A gift voucher’s remaining balance carries across bookings with no expiry, and any unredeemed balance is refundable to the original purchaser on request. Promo codes may carry their own conditions, including an expiry, set when they are issued. Neither is redeemable for cash except as this section provides, and a booking paid with either follows the same cancellation matrix, with refunds returning to the voucher or the original payment method as applicable.

Calls are recorded

Calls on Key are recorded and transcribed so both participants can replay them and keep the list of places discussed, this is a core feature of the platform, and by joining a call you consent to being recorded, as confirmed again at the start of every call. Each participant keeps their own rights in their voice, image, and words, and grants Key a non-exclusive, worldwide license to record, store, use, and reproduce the call and its transcript in order to provide the service, enable replay for both participants, look into a reported problem, and build the aggregate features described in the Privacy Policy. Don’t redistribute someone else’s call outside the platform.

For experts

You keep 80% of each call’s price; Key’s fee is 20%. Your share transfers to your bank via Stripe after the call takes place. When our systems indicate a call may not have happened as booked (for example, little or no recorded call time, or the client reports a problem), the payout is held while we check with the participants; it is released when the client confirms the call was fine or after human review. You’re responsible for your own taxes. Keep availability honest, show up, and recommend only what you genuinely believe in, paid placements and undisclosed affiliations are grounds for removal. Cancelling on clients repeatedly is too. The places you recommend on calls may be aggregated and shown on Key attributed to you, for example in most-recommended lists; that visibility is part of being an expert on the platform.

As an expert you are an independent contractor, not Key’s employee, partner, or agent, and nothing here authorizes you to make commitments on Key’s behalf. You’re responsible for any license, permit, or insurance your own expertise or business requires. You grant Key a license to use your profile photos, videos, bio, and recommendations to operate and promote the platform, including the attributed features described above; you keep ownership of that content.

Acceptable use

No harassment, no scraping, no circumventing payment (taking a Key-made connection off-platform to avoid the fee), no illegal content or use. We may remove content or accounts that break this.

Content and the shared desk

Each booking has a shared desk of notes, links, map pins, and files that both participants can see and add to. Whatever you add there is yours; you grant the other participant, and Key, a license to use it to run that booking and, for Key, to operate, secure, and improve the platform. Don’t upload anything you don’t have the right to share, and don’t upload illegal content.

Liability

Key provides the platform “as is”. Travel decisions and their consequences are yours; experts’ advice is opinion, not professional counsel. To the maximum extent the law allows, our total liability for any claim is capped at the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited. You agree to reimburse Key for any loss, claim, or expense Key incurs because of your breach of these terms or your misuse of the platform.

Disputes and governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, USA. Talk to us first, hello@key.new, most things resolve in one email.

Beyond that, if you are a U.S. resident, you and Key agree to resolve any dispute that email can’t fix through binding individual arbitration rather than in court, and you and Key each waive the right to bring or join a class, collective, or representative action; a court, not the arbitrator, decides whether this paragraph applies to a given dispute. If you are a consumer resident in the European Union or the United Kingdom, this arbitration and class waiver paragraph applies only to the extent your local consumer protection law allows, and nothing here takes away a right you cannot waive under that law, including your right to bring a claim in your home court. Formal legal notices to Key should be sent to Legalinc Corporate Services Inc., 131 Continental Dr, Suite 305, Newark, DE 19713, US, with a copy to hello@key.new; notices to you go to the email on your account.

Changes

We’ll update these terms as the product evolves, note the date above, and email you about material changes. Continuing to use Key after a change means you accept it.