Genealogy Chat

The same thing has happened to me. I rung up and said I wanted to renew my subscription (my credit card company wouldn´t automatically renew it as they said they´ve had problems with Ancestry-they didn´t say what) and I wanted exactly the same. But I´ve been given a watered down version of what I had before. When I try to access certain areas I´m told I have to upgrade to gain access. I never did this before.

I may add that the person I spoke to (it was a UK number) had appalling English, I just couldn´t understand her, and there were huge gaps in the conversation as though she was thinking what to say. I´m quite precise when I´m doing something like this but I found it so odd that I asked her which country she was talking from, she said U.S.

Ancestry are not being up front with us.

n for later

I think the packages changed about September - so if you renewed before then you will have the full UK until next annual renewal.

My ancestry runs out today they was asking for £83.40 i just rang them and said i was unhappy people was getting a discount i was offered none, Got a nice lad who offered me 10% off so i took it .
So ring them dont email them you get nowhere.
Been with Ancestry for 3 years i do it everytime and get a discount lol

June x

This thread has come as a real shock to me as, despite being subscribed to Ancestry UK for 3 years, this is the very FIRST I have heard about these subscription changes!! WHAT email??!! I certainly never got one. My sub there is up for renewal in April so maybe I won't hear about it until then.

Thanks to the OP for alerting us.

I definatley did get an email from Ancesty 30th Oct

From: Ancestry.co.uk

saying it was due 19 Nov, and they would automatically renew on 19th November

This is a courtesy email to remind you that your Ancestry.co.uk membership will be automatically renewed on 19 November, 2008.

We also have some important changes to tell you about your Ancestry.co.uk membership. We now have two subscriptions available to our UK customers:

* Essentials Membership
* Premium Membership
Essentials membership is for customers who are beginning their search; it provides essential records that are the cornerstone of any family history research, such as the Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes, Census records 1841 – 1901 and our World War I military records.

Premium membership contains all the information in the Essentials package, but will also include new and existing Parish and Probate records and new record releases. This package will also include immigration records and Irish records for just £2 per month extra.

Click here if you would like to find out more about these packages including price information.

Click here if you would like to find out more about these packages including price information.

We will continue to add our record collections, both existing and new, so giving you even more opportunities to discover new ancestors and create rich pictures of those you already know something about. These will include the addition of major new international record collections.

To ensure that you’ll be one of the first to be notified of these new collections or to change your preferences, please check that you’re signed up to receive our regular member newsletters and product updates by clicking here.

Since family history research is all about family, don’t forget to share your discoveries with your relatives and family friends. All you need is to have your family tree created on at Ancestry.co.uk. If you have not yet started to build your family tree online then click here.
Renewal Information

You will be automatically renewed to the following membership:
Membership: Annual Essentials Membership
Total Cost: £83.40

Please note that payment will be automatically taken from your selected method of payment on the 19 November, 2008 once your free trial ends. If you do not want to continue your membership you will need to cancel your membership BEFORE 19 November, 2008. To cancel, log on to Ancestry.co.uk and go to "My Account" and click on "Cancel

I have sent another reply to them. At first I thought perhaps I had missed the email, but when I see that Ken and various others havent had this email they claim to of sent, it has made me quite furious.

this is what I have sent them:

Hi,

thank you for actioning my email and cancelling my subscription.

However I am slightly concerned that you say emails were sent out detailing the details of the new subscription packages. I am actually registered under three different email addresses as I use each email address for different things, i.e one for searching, one for dna and one for family tree stuff and not one of those email addresses received the email you have claimed was sent out. I am also hearing from lots of other members who also have not had this email and were unaware of the changes.

I have been a customer of yours for quite a few years now and was rather annoyed with how we have been treated.

Thank you anyway for cancelling my subscription you have lost a valid customer and I am sure will now lose a lot more.

I will let you know if they reply - I am not holding too much hope of one

I am registered on ancestry with 3 different email addresses and not one of them email addresses has had the so called email that they are saying they sent out. A load of rubbish if you ask me.

I cancelled my subscription and to be honest they didnt even seem bothered that they had lost a customer. They are obviously making far to much money to be concerned.

I am protesting for now and refuse to pay or give them any money. I will be using my local library where it is free for now.

the 1911 census beta testing is keeping my occupied for now anyway.

Just a little tip for those who are due to renew and have different card details.
Don't contact them. I did this and got a month free, unfortunatley they stopped me as from today. So might be asking for a few look ups now, from you kind and generous people on here.

Megs

As it seems possible that Find My Past will be the only site to have 1911 census, I think I will cancel my subscription for Ancestry (had it for 8 years now) and just have the FMP one which I have just renewed (with discount) as I have used the site almost since it began.

My membership is due next month too. I've been with them 5 years and I didn't get an email either


I have a new card so they can't automatically renew.
I have had FMP since June and like that.....they are adding to 1901 and 1851 quite quickly now so might just stay with that for a while

Linda

My membership is due next month, it's my christmas pressie to me, but I will seriously think about renewing if they alter the packages. I'm glad I hadn't got round to telling them my new card number lol. So at least they can't just renew.
Susan

i never got an email about it and i have suscribed to them for 3 years
karen

I also had bits and pieces I couldn’t view again when I renewed my (UK) membership in November as has been spoken about above, so I sent Ancestry a letter which I have attached below along with their reply.

Hi Ancestry

Can you please tell me why when renewing my membership in November you never told me about the changes that you had made as to what I can look at.

You have taken away certain bits and pieces that I was able to look at before without telling me, that amounts to changing my contract with you with no prior warning and I am sure you are not allowed to do that without my knowledge.

I have read of many complaints about the same thing as this, which you have done to other people that have recently renewed membership with you on family history sites such as Genesreunited.

I am very disappointed with Ancestry about this and will pass this letter on to other organization’s that may be interested in taking this matter further.

Regards

Ken Rhoades (G.O.O.N.S)

Dear Ken,

Thank you for your email.

I apologize if you were unaware of the changes. We sent emails to all our users detailing the changes that were happening on the site. We recently split the membership into an Essentials and Premium membership. The Essentials membership is £83.40 and the Premium membership is £107.40. We did not want to raise the price of the membership for the new renewal unless an individual asked us for the Premium membership directly. Call us at the free UK number 0-800-404-9723 M-F 9am-7pm, S 9am-5pm GMT if you need further assistance on this issue.

Kind regards,

Nathaniel
Member Solutions
Ancestry.co.uk

I have sent a complaint. Asking them to cancel my subscription.

I think it would be courteous of them to inform of the changes in their packages before they automatically just renew subscriptions.

To go from being able to access all UK records to the next day only being able to access some, is taking the mickey slightly.

They must make a fortune and I refuse to pay extra out of principle.

will wait and see what there reply is.

When I realised baptisms and pallotts had gone missing I checked my account , only to find that the details on my card were are of date by 3 months. I'm curious to know how they have renewed my account this month ?

Hi all as soon as your sub runs out and they renew you loose Pallots & others mine was renewed in Aug.
Still i think they are making a fortune and all Genealogy sites prices are way to high, but we still keep renewing dont we...

Col

I seem to have access to all the regular ancestry records except pallots. I have the regular sub which expires in July.

I am always reluctant to use those things, as they never get answered. I was looking for an actual email address for complaints.

Click Contact Us at the bottom, then click the Email Ancestry Support tab.

Rose