General Chat

Hi Helen,

Did you query this with GR at the time? If it didn't lapse, they may be able to do something about it.

Good luck!

I have been a member since 2004, NEVER been on the continuous / auto renewal system,& I am still paying £9-95 per year for 12 months membership.
Last year,about 1 month before my membership was due to end I was offered 20% off on renewal which I accepted.
Like Sylvia, I just make sure that my renewal was / is always done within the time limit allowed,if you renew after the time limit then a previous 12 month membership status becomes a 6mth membership!
Ticking the coninuous box has nothing to do with what membership level you are on or how much you pay,it only allows GR to renew your membership automatically,taking another years money from your bank account using the same card details as was previously used.

Joan.

I´m absolutely bl***y fuming.
Back at the beginning of the month, had an E mail from Genes to say my sub was due for renewal on the 20th.
I knew my card had changed since last year, but there´s no provision for giving new card details.
Yesterday got an e mail to say my renewal had failed because my card was no longer valid. Didn´t get round to entering the new details yesterday.
Logged in this morning to find I had been downgraded to a free member, which means that Genes had given me less than 24 hours to respond to their e mail.
I have been a standard member for around 5 years & am thoroughly disgusted. If it was not for their poor organisation, they could have had my new card details 3 weeks ago & saved everyone all the trouble. After all, not everyone checks their e mails on a daily basis.
Unacceptable customer care on the part of Genes.

So were you charged the full price wisechild?

Yes Jax. I recieved an e mail within a couple of minutes telling me I had been "Upgraded".......presumably from free member to standard member at 9.95 for 12 months (whatever that may be in Euros.No mention of a discount.
I´m now able to post again, but I´m still absolutely furious.

Thanks Barry. All appears to be restored, but a little breathing space would have been appreciated. How do Genes know that I am available to jump at their command. They´re not so quick at responding to their members.

I cannot see the problem wisechild

As soon as your sub expires you become a free member and when you renew within the time allowed you are upgraded to standard.

If you paid £9.95 for 12 months you got it at the cheap rate.

My sub was renewed on 12th Jan automatically but I had to pay £9 something. Would have been nice to get the discount mentioned.
Why is it that some get it and others don't, I wonder. Maybe GR could answer this question.
I tried to contact them but it said I WAS FORBIDDEN TO ENTER for some reason or other. Sounds a lot of cr*p to me.

My point is Jax that there was no need for my sub to have been lapsed had there been the facility available to advise Genes of my new card details before the event.
Also, I don´t get "cheap" membership. I have been a member continuously for 5 years which is why I still pay 9.95 for 12 months & not 6.
It would seem that contacting Genes directly is either futile or impossible.
To be fair, I did get a 20% loyalty discount last year, so wasn´t really expecting another one.

Hmmm!

Vairy inter-resting!!
as a "standard"member........on automatic renewal....
will see what happens next month when mine falls due,,,,,,,,got a new card last august......

Bob

Think you´ll be joining the club Bob unless you can persuade Genes to accept your new card details before the event.
Don´t hold your breath.

I agree with you there wisechild as I had the same problem last year with a card I wanted to change due to the card being stopped and a new one issued. As I am on everyday anyway it was not a problem, but could have changed the details as I did with A****try to save messing around later on.

Ok so you dont think £9.95 a year is "cheap"??? I agree I pay £9.95 for six months....Why I dont know?

I do not need help from the boards (although every now and again I may throw one in)

I only have a basic tree and do not want any contact with other family members

Not bothered about chatting to friends, there are other free places I can do that

So I am just paying my money to try and help others, which is now few and far between.

But even for 5p a day I am not going to gumble

I don't think there's anything to stop people renewing with their new card before their membership actually expires. I think it warns you that membership is due for renewal shortly before it expires.

Also dont forget about cashback sites such as Quidco etc which may give you a discount. :-D

Yes SRS.
That´s exactly my point.
I was advised 3 weeks earlier that my membership would shortly expire, but there is no way to change card details at that point, even if you know the old card is invalid.
Genes just advises not to worry, they will let you know if the details they have are out of date.
Then when the old card is rejected, they give you less than 24 hours to give them the new details before they cancel your membership.
Admittedly it is re instated if you renew within a certain length of time, but in the meantime, all you can do is read posts & maintain your tree,

See my thread of Jan 9th on the Suggestions board.
What a palaver for what should be a simple operation.

GR have responded very promptly, so full marks for that, but they are determined to charge me £9.96 I think they said, for 6 months. Membership seems to have gone up to around £14. I have replied I think it is very unfair to have two different rates and won't be paying double what other people are paying, for the same service.

It's not a case of how cheap it is, it's a blooming cheek that they think it's ok to charge some people double.

Well I suppose they could always make everyone pay the £15 for six months and have no long service discounts at all

Well how many of the long standing members will stick around then? Some aren't even using their site to do their tree, some to chat, some to help others.

If this is pushed and GR take this on board, I don't think there will be any winners.

well, I would most certainly think twice if I had pay £20 or more per year instead of the £9.95 per year that I currently pay.


I haven't done more than look at my tree in a couple of years ...... and that was just once when they brought in the new tree last week, and I wanted to see what it was like

I don't use the records on here


I come on really only to help people, and chat with a few


......... is that worth £20+?

Well Helen,
All I can say is your the Lucky one as my membership is due 5th February and I haven't ben offered 20% discount.

Sue

I just renewed mine in Jan £9-95.I got an email to tell me my card had expired,sorted it out there and then no prob.

Marion

Helen, good morning. I really don't think your membership will have changed from annual to six monthly unless you neglected to pay until after the grace period of 4 weeks or whatever it was then. If it had done all those of us on annual would surely have changed. Mine has stayed on annual (although I do leave it continuous because with my memory I'd forget if I didn't). But others, not just Sylvia have said theirs stays the same even though not on continuous.

I so think 20% discount is a reasonable offer though. But if you have made up your mind to go you are obviously disenchanted with the site so it won't seem good value to you. I will be sorry to see you go. :-(