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Parish Records


Published on 13 Oct 2011 16:45 : parish records : 64 comments : 19311 views

I am Estelle, the Genes product assistant, and I'm here to tell you about the new records we have just added to the site. We now have 35 million Parish Records which mean you can search baptisms, marriages and burials as far back as 1538. Until now our earliest UK records were the birth, marriage and death indexes that began in 1837.

With Parish Records now available this will enable you to trace your families back even further than before. We thought we'd explain how you can get the best out of them.

The Parish Records collection is divided into 3 sections - baptisms, marriages and burials. We only have transcriptions of these events, no images are available. However, we will be adding to this collection and there will be some images.

You must remember that the census wasn't always entirely accurate where ages were concerned, so the baptism records can be very useful. Don't forget, this isn't the date of birth though, it is the day the child was baptised. The amount of information you see on each transcription will vary, but you may well find the names of both parents on baptism records.

One of the features of our Parish Records is that can now narrow your search down by county. So, if you have an idea of where your family were from you should be able to find them quickly and easily.


Parish search.

The first thing I always do with new records is look for my own family. I have found my GGG Grandfather, Thomas Rogerson in our Parish baptism records. This gives me the names of both of his parents. On most baptism records you should always see the child and the father's names. Luckily here I am also given the mother's name. This is great - no certificates to order! The information is already there for me.


Baptism transcription.

Using the information on the baptism record I then searched for Thomas' parents' marriage. I know they are called William and Julia and they were in Felkirk, so it didn't take me long to find the right record. The marriage record gives me the date they married and it also gives me the bride's maiden name. I can see where they were both living, here they were in Felkirk, which means I know where to look when I trying to find their births. So that's two more names for my tree that only took a couple of minutes to find.


Marriage transcription.

With the burial records the information you see is not very consistent. You'll certainly see a name and a date. There may be an age at death too. This will permit two things. Firstly, you'll be sure it is the correct person (and not someone who died as a child). Secondly, if it gives you an age, you can use that and work backwards to find their baptism record. On some records you might also see the names of a spouse or a parent.

We don't have the Parish Death records for my ancestor. However, I have found the author Jane Austen.


Burial transcription.

Well, I'm off now to keep searching these new records. We really hope you enjoy them!

Comments

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by PeeEmm on 14 Oct 2011 10:21 : Report Abuse
Thanks Estelle

This seems to work well - shame it's not FREE

Peter Monaghan :-D
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by durham rose on 14 Oct 2011 20:25 : Report Abuse
hello Estelle
this is intersting.Will have a go at looking for my family
regards Durham Rose
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by Jennifer on 17 Oct 2011 15:55 : Report Abuse
Why is it that I cannot find any of my family in these Parish records when I know they should be there ???? what am I doing wrong ?? :-S
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by Frederick on 17 Oct 2011 17:30 : Report Abuse
I am not happy that I have a very expensive membership and am told now I have to pay more to look at these records. That would bring my subscription to over £120 a year. to much. :-(
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by Patricia on 17 Oct 2011 18:06 : Report Abuse
Can you let us know which parishes are included and what years?
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by Debrainuk on 18 Oct 2011 14:41 : Report Abuse
I am very cross this has not been added to what I've supposed to have paid for the full subscription. To charge extra for this service is a bit disappointing as the information may not be any more useful than the information already available and to have to pay an extra charge I find very annoying and will not make me want to recommend the site.

Sorry Genes Reunited - you've let people down!!! :-( :-(
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by Lesley on 20 Oct 2011 11:48 : Report Abuse
I do agree, having paid a lot of money to be a yearly platinum member I now have to pay extra to view other census records. Expect next year this will all be included in the membership same scenario as the 1911 census where we were asked to pay, but is now all included. :-( :-(
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by Sarah on 23 Oct 2011 13:54 : Report Abuse
I paid for the access to parish records and could initially access them however for the past 2 days I cannot do so. It is really annoying particularly when I have paid extra for it.
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by PETER on 23 Oct 2011 14:20 : Report Abuse
I too paid extra for the parish records as I wanted to suppliment information I already have only to find that none of the parishs or even counties I need are not available. A waste of money!
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by john on 23 Oct 2011 20:23 : Report Abuse
I am EXTREMELY angry and disappointed because you are charging extra for a service which you should already be supplying. John Rush, October 23.
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by john on 23 Oct 2011 20:28 : Report Abuse
I will not be renewing my membership and will certainly not recommend you to anyone; in fact i will be discouraging friends and acquaintances from approaching you. I am unable to find many relatives in your records when i know for a fact they should be there. JOHN RUSH, October 23
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by Terence on 24 Oct 2011 10:15 : Report Abuse
Please, which Parishes are included in your pre 1837 new lists
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by Mary on 27 Oct 2011 22:53 : Report Abuse
It would be good to know, preferably before paying, what areas are covered by these new records, please. One of the reasons for accessing records on the internet is that I am unable to physically go to where my family were born.
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by Maxine on 28 Oct 2011 17:42 : Report Abuse
It would be very helpful to know which Parishes are included and the dates before paying to access these new records.
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by david on 29 Oct 2011 21:30 : Report Abuse
I am having the same problems and thoughts as a lot of subscibers. :-S
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by Juliaj on 30 Oct 2011 07:43 : Report Abuse
Even more money!!!!! very disappointed we have to any more for parish records! other sites more value for money may be switching very soon! :-(
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by Sally on 30 Oct 2011 20:33 : Report Abuse
I would also like to know which Parishes are available before paying any money. I have tried many of my family, knowing they should be there but not one is available.
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by Mary on 31 Oct 2011 03:55 : Report Abuse
Yes Julia, I agree. My friend gets tons of stuff with another site yet ask for the same info here and you can't find it. :-P
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by David on 31 Oct 2011 11:55 : Report Abuse
I agree with all that has been posted no prior knowlage of parishes is a ripoff
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by DeeTee on 31 Oct 2011 15:15 : Report Abuse
Very disappointed to have to pay more for a service that should already be in the expensive Platinum Membership. What areas are covered? Oxon/Bucks perhaps?? DeeTee. :-| :-|
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by Rachael on 5 Nov 2011 16:28 : Report Abuse
I am very disappointed that you are asking for more money. I will not be subscribing again. :-|
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by Kay on 7 Nov 2011 04:05 : Report Abuse
I'm extremely disappointed, as after paying extra for the Parish records I have been unable to find any of my ancestors and realise that the records are very limited. There should have been a description of parishes available when the extra sub was offered - I feel cheated. :-|
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by Estelle on 9 Nov 2011 16:43 : Report Abuse
Hi everyone, I am sorry to hear of your problems finding your ancestors in our Parish records. If you contact our support team they are always happy to help you search. Sometimes you just need to change your search criteria a little.
As for the records we have, there is a full list on our help pages. If you go to help and then choose the Records section you'll see an FAQ for the Parish records.
We do have to charge money for these records as we have to pay for them. Rather than increasing the cost of Platinum membership we felt that offering packages for each record would be better as you can choose exactly which record set you'd like to view.
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by on 16 Nov 2011 08:52 : Report Abuse
How do we contact the support team? This website is becoming a nightmare.
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by Gillian on 16 Nov 2011 20:08 : Report Abuse
Why do you send me messages that state you have found an ancestor but when I want to open the view I cannot do so - i too am dissappointed in Genes reunited. :-(
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by on 24 Nov 2011 01:46 : Report Abuse
Oh dear, it appears most people are not happy about paying extra for access to parish records - I agree actually. My question is ... Herefordshire records are not listed on the previous list of parishes. Are Herefordshire Parish BDM records included in this package to be paid for?
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by Ronald on 26 Nov 2011 13:07 : Report Abuse
Having read through all the comments the only thing
everybody agrees on is the extra charge which
i think should be included in the original price
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by Brian on 28 Nov 2011 13:07 : Report Abuse
Ditto Ditto to all above From Brian

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by Karen on 6 Dec 2011 19:55 : Report Abuse
i feel the same platinum should cover the church records and there should be no extra charge karen
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by Patricia on 10 Dec 2011 10:35 : Report Abuse
I feel the amount paid for platinum is excessive without asking for more money for Parish Records. Yes I can confirm that the Support Team are a wonderfully helpful group of people but if the records are not there they cannot possibly be super human. Very disapointed, espiecally as I have been a member for a number of years and now that I am retired it is not so easy to find the heavy payments. :-0
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by William on 16 Dec 2011 07:41 : Report Abuse
Same here over I have over a thousand people on my tree but i cant find one parish record its a joke and i too will be switching :-\
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by Snaily on 9 Feb 2012 07:53 : Report Abuse
Unlike many people here I did not really mind paying extra for the new parish records - after all, they were not in the platinum package when I paid for it. Having paid extra for the feature however, I am very unhappy to have found - like everyone else here, that I cannot access a single record for any of my ancestors, even though the county is included in the list of records available. I cannot even find my own records, and there is no doubt about those details. My ancestors lived in the same district, largely in one parish for close to two hundred years. Where are they?? I agree that a complete Parish listing, as opposed to a general counties listing should be available before people are required to pay. Colleen
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by Edwin on 27 Feb 2012 16:41 : Report Abuse
Its not just the parish records that are usless,the whole site has gone to pot.To late now, ive just renewed.Good job it was for 6 mnths only.What to do?Start again on Ancestry from scratch,and spend hours finding your way round another site.I dont think ive got that much life left,not to mention Patients. E.L.FROGLEY
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by Pinder on 13 Apr 2012 17:01 : Report Abuse
Just read all the complaints and wholeheartedly agree with extra payments having to be found. I also find the site very complex to find my way around and have come to the conclusion that all my info which I already new seems to be the only recorded data. Like others when putting known facts down to search the site comes back with not known!!!! S.Lambard :-0 :-|
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by Maureen on 7 May 2012 19:35 : Report Abuse
I haven't tried Parish Records yet but I am also extremely disappointed with the new tree format, since it started I have been unable to do absolutely nothing to further my search & am even unable to open records I have attached or view the matches indicated on a relatives data. I am also seriously considering starting again from scratch on Ancestry, The Support Team have been very helpful but unfortunately none of their suggestions have resolved the problems I am having. M. Wilce :-( :-(
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by Donna on 11 May 2012 15:28 : Report Abuse
why is it not possible to browse the records? the search facility is dreadful.
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by Donna on 18 May 2012 10:13 : Report Abuse
totally underwhelmed, subscription a complete waste of money. lesson learned - i shall not be re-subscribing. EVER.
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by Geraldine on 9 Jun 2012 13:06 : Report Abuse
Well I wont be paying extra for looking up records , Every single 1 i punch in with name dates of birth/marriage/death just does not come up ... just says not found what am i doing wrong !!!!! I'm just wasting my Credits...
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by Geraldine on 9 Jun 2012 13:09 : Report Abuse
PLUS I find that gens team has done something with the look of it for me its very slow also the names are not coming up the same bring back the old way.. :-(
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by Sonya on 12 Jul 2012 23:00 : Report Abuse
I agree..the old site was much easier and faster to manage. Things keep disappearing from my tree and I never see all of it together now. I too need to check a Parish Record..Just one on the Canterbury Diocese Marriage Licences Register...I know it is there...it asks me to press to view. I am not paying £5 to find it is missing !
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by Josephine on 19 Aug 2012 15:06 : Report Abuse
Sorry Genes reunited I just do not like all these new up dates. I haven't been on the site for a few months and just can not get the hang of the changes its too cumbersome to keep going backwards and forwards. The old site was so much easier. I can't help but feel you are changing things for the sake of change and to justify your fee. At the moment I certainly will not be recommending anyone to Genes reunited. Sorry after years of happy surfing. :-( :-( :
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by Elaine on 31 Aug 2012 16:43 : Report Abuse
I :-( :-( :-( :-( feel the same.
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by Richard on 24 Nov 2012 09:08 : Report Abuse
There is no obvious way to contact you if a customer has a problem. As a software Testing Consultant specialising in usability, I would suggest that this site has not been usability tested. Extraordinary!

I have just signed up to Genes Reunited after my previous membership lapsed, and there seems to be no way to recover my family tree, which has been carefully constructed over many years. How do I do this? My email address is [email protected] .

Yours,

Rick Briggs.
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by tanglewood on 29 Nov 2012 12:40 : Report Abuse
I renewed my membership which expires Feb 2013, I have not been working on my tree for quite a while due to the fact that I have lost faith in a hobby I really enjoyed, I have had so many problems ie not being able to access saved documents, relations disappearing, shown on one tree but not the other or even printing my tree,which limited me to researching and using the full facilities I had paid for.All this has been caused over the time it has taken Genes to get their new system up and running, is it running smoothly yet? I first reported not being able to print my tree in May 2012 I still could not print it by August 2012 and today I still cannot print it. I have just stumbled on Estelles Blog re Parish Records,and after reading all the comments was not surprised to find it is an an extra cost and useless to a lot of people,(due to lack of information beforre they purchased). They probably have to make a charge due to the loss of members who have had enough of the frustration they cause. :-D :-D :-D
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by John on 28 Dec 2012 13:54 : Report Abuse
I have spent considerable time looking for parish records that interest me - trying out ones that I know exist. I have found none of them. I appreciate (assume!) the list of those parishes whose records you have completely/partially recorded may be a long one, but it would help to have some indication of current coverage as Free BMD manage.

Do any of the messages left here ever get answered or even read? Your guidelines tell us what you expect of us, but not what we can expect from you!

John Cordwell
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by Astrid on 5 Jan 2013 18:16 : Report Abuse
I too am angry that these records are not FREE. I have paid over £79.96 to become a Platinum member and I don't seem to get any information that I am looking for. Most of my information comes from other members. Can you tell me why we cannot get this information FREE????
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by Frank on 13 Jan 2013 19:25 : Report Abuse
Do you read all these neagtive comments? here's another one, why is it when I've ticked on not to automaticaly renewal I get three renewals! refund immediatly and cancel all contact with this comapny, you had a good service, but i'm off, once I get my money back!
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by kenneth on 21 May 2013 15:03 : Report Abuse
I have just rejoined after a few years lapse I have paid for a year what do I get when my credits have run out.
ken harmsworth
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by Anthony on 20 Jul 2013 15:35 : Report Abuse
Forgive for complaining in this blog but I don't know where else to go to express my displeasure!
Recently I find the following happening:
1. When I file any marriage information on on a relative, press the save button the exit the family tree. When I go back into my tree all the information I've put in regarding the marriage has been deleted. WHY?
2. When I wish to save & attach a document to a relative I press the save & attach button. This now just saves the item but gives no opportunity to attach the item. This require you to root around all saved items. Why can't I attach?
Best regards,
Tony
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by on 22 Jul 2013 15:00 : Report Abuse
Can you please tell me how I can access Parish Records as I can't see them on the Genes Reunited Home Page as I have upgraded to the records

Pam Glenn
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by Rex on 21 Sep 2013 18:51 : Report Abuse
When I renewed our Platinum membership for 12 months I requested the addition of Parish Records. Where are they? There is not a choice of baptism records in the amend search box, only Birth Death or Other.
Regards
Rex Harrison
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by Russell on 14 Nov 2013 13:32 : Report Abuse
The site is very user unfriendly i have been waitng for tree to be delted for 16 hours and it is stillbeing queued for deletion. Also try answering e-mails a bit more quickly, as the support team are not up to the task
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by on 27 Jan 2014 16:20 : Report Abuse
So, Platinum membership cost a fair few dollars, which is fair enough when you get access to a lot on information, but when you pay extra for parish records, and yet don't get access to them because they aren't there, is where I get quite annoyed!! Where are the Parish record please??? It's not too much to ask when you pay for the service, is it?? :-(
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by Geoff on 4 Apr 2014 16:14 : Report Abuse
I have taken out the addition of Parish and Military records but find it extremely annoying when I can't find records of people I know should be found. A couple of quite prominent ancestors can be googled for their life's work but I'm blowed if I can find their BDM's on Genes Reunited! :-(
Extremely frustrated and disappointed!
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by Richard William on 29 Aug 2014 15:55 : Report Abuse
Having just rejoined Genes Reunited and opted for the top rated Platinum programme and included the extra choice of Parish records I could not find any reference to them or how to access them, now having read through numerous complaints from other members I am beginning to think I have paid for a service that is not freely available, this was not clearly indicated in your initial advertising introduction to prospective new members.
Please tell me this is not so,surely you must make good on your advertising info.or clearly state that additional charges will be incurred to view Parish Records.









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by Geoffrey on 23 Sep 2014 18:45 : Report Abuse
Simple question - were do you find the parish records ? Cannot find whether they are automatically included in a Platinum Sub or have to be subscribed to separately.
I have to say that the whole site is sloppily managed eg Spouse Match always shows one of my relatives marrying a man - In the 1800s !!!!!!
Rgds
Geoff DAVIES
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by Robert on 30 Dec 2014 19:19 : Report Abuse
I have just paid to access the Parish records but cannot work out how you get into the system so up till now I have paid and got nothing in return. I would be grateful for an explanation of how I get to see parish records of my family's marriages, baptisms etc.
:-(
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by Robert on 30 Dec 2014 19:26 : Report Abuse
I have just paid to access the Parish records but cannot work out how you get into the system so up till now I have paid and got nothing in return. I would be grateful for an explanation of how I get to see parish records of my family's marriages, baptisms etc.
:-(
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by John on 9 Apr 2015 12:24 : Report Abuse
I have paid the extra to view Parish Records but I can not get them. Could you please explain why.
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by Karen on 10 Jun 2015 13:53 : Report Abuse
I have paid the extra for the Parish Records, only to find that all the parishes I need are not available, so a total waste of money. I can not find anyway of contacting the support team or accessing the information about people on my tree. Very disappointed with the website.
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by on 8 Oct 2015 15:44 : Report Abuse
how do I access that search screen please?
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by Millyimp1322 on 25 Jan 2016 11:40 : Report Abuse

Goodmorning ,
I too am extremely dissapointed.I also paid out an extra £14.95 on top of the amount to become a Platimum Member , in order to access the Parish records.
Being a pensioner it is not easy to pay out extra money for these .But to then find you are unable to access them it simply adding insult to injury.
Reading through all these comments simply proves your after sale service is NOT good enough,with an extreme amount of disgruntled customers,akin to myself.
I was with Genes Re united some years ago, it was good then ..now though having recently left one tree maker to rejoin,leaves me feeling annoyed to say the very least.
Please enlighten exactly where is it that I have to click in order to gain access.
There is nowhere I have found in order to do so. I see a list ,but nowhere else telling me where or what I have to click on
Sincerely
Millyimp1322
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by John on 14 Dec 2016 17:57 : Report Abuse
Estelle.
From the home page where is the parish record link
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by Lesley Alexandra Elisabeth Ann on 2 Aug 2017 14:56 : Report Abuse
Just rejoined and paid to access the Parish record as well but where on the home page is the access button? Also why do you not have an option to ask a question that does not fit into the FAQ's?