Genealogy Chat

I agree I must have assumed as there was 0 in the reference checking box it hadnt worked I have emailed them will see what they say, it should have a figure 1 in the reference box so you know it has accepted it.

Anyway, Valerie, it sounds as though something funny happened when you tried to add the reference check the first time and then again, so it treated it as 2 references, and so charged for the second one. Kate.

Jo jo You got TWO certificates - did you pay £15 each for them, or £15 for two? As for the GRO, there are two places on the form where you can put reference checks - one is free, the other costs £3. It goes like this: Please send me copy of Birth Cert 1b 276 for Joe Bloggs. Father to be Fred Bloggs. If 1b 276 is the bc for Joe Bloggs and the father is Fred Bloggs, you get it for £7. If Joe Bloggs/Fred Bloggs is wrong, you dont get the cert, but you do get charged £3, for their trouble in finding it and looking at it. Further down the form somewhere it says Reference Checking point. This is where you want them to compare two birth certs - you want the one which has Fred Bloggs for the father, but you dont know if that is 1b 276 or 1b 279. So you are asking them to find TWO certs, but only send you the right one. Cost £10 i.e. £7 for the correct one, and £3 for finding and looking at the wrong one. If you had ordered these certs separately, giving the same information for the father as Fred Bloggs, you would have paid the same price, so its as broad as its long. OC

Jo Jo I'm not sure if I've misunderstood but the GRO reference wouldn't help the staff at a local register office as they have different reference numbers. Heather

ordered 3 certs from West brom RO on wednesday about 12.30pm, got a phone call from Graham (yes we are on first names terms) about half hour later to say one of the birth certs had a different mom did I still want it? said yes and collected them at 2pm Excellent service from the people, if only I could order all of mine from there, Just done a mass order on GRO been as waiting time is good only got charged 7 per cert with GRO numbers Linda

Obviously got someone who did not know what they were doing. The office was very busy. I did explain what I wanted and filled the form in with all the information I had. i.e. Full name date and place of birth for both people. They took two weeks to arrive as well and were folded into small envelopes! JoJo

JoJo don't know what happened in your case. Website for Leicester shows the standard fee as being £7. Are you sure they didn't charge you for a specific search - £15 seems incredible. As the registry offices are government owned they all have standard charges - what can differ is whether or not they charge for postage and quite a few of them ask for SAEs. Perhaps it was an error on the assistant registrar's part and they didn't like to own up to it? Shame it's put you off. On the whole local registry offices are better than the GRO although oneor two of them can get a bit shirty and I believe one or two (perhaps London way) don't do it at all. But I still swear by them even if my local one is one of the one's who are shirty (Harrogate office if anyone's looking!).

Hi i also used the local registry office (edmonton) they first checked to make sure they had both certificates then rang me to say they had them they were posted the same day and received them the next day thats service for you they were really helpful to.They ocst me £7.00 each certificate Tracy

It was from Leicester about 2 years ago when I first started. the people were soooo unhelpful. Another reason I would not go back there!! Have used the GRO ever since. JoJo

what office was that and did you ask for it by special post or something, if not go to the GRO in future £7 per full cert.

It was for my Mum and her sister, I had the date and place of birth for both and GRO reference. So have not been back since! JoJo

dont know Jo Jo but it should not be that expensive, did you have the details or did they have to search for the record???

My local registrars office charged me £15 per birth certificate even with all details given and they were hand written copies by the registrar not photocopies of the original!! What did I do wrong? JoJo

yes Joanne I remember you asking about it, hope you were told right, and what is the point of the box being blank how do we know it will be checked. Gloria that isnt right did you have the GRO reference ???

In the last few days I have requested my grandfathers birth cert, nothing else, and have been charged £10.

This is what I had trouble with yesterday. I clicked the reference checking button and gave the refs I wanted checking but when I added it to the basket it said 'No. of ref checks 0' If I added further ref checks it charged me £10 which I didn't want to pay. I rang up the GRO and they said that the screen sometimes says Zero ref checks but as long as I'd typed them in they would be checked. Doing it that was it only cost £7. I'm hoping the lady was right or I will end up with a few wrong certs.

I did the usual and put a reference check but when the order came up there was nothing in the reference checking box, so assumed I had done it incorrectly , put the info in again and when the order came up it had 1 in the reference checking box.Which I would assume to be right.

are you giving two checking references from the gro website Q9. How will I know if I have found the entry I want? If you have done your own searching in the GRO indexes and have found more than one reference to the name you are researching, or are unsure which is the entry you require, we offer reference checking online. The charge is £7 for action on the first entry, which includes the cost of the certificate, and £3 for checking each subsequent reference against the information you have provided. To enable us to do this, you must give us one piece of information that you are sure will appear on the certificate, e.g. the exact date of the event. A certificate will only be issued if the entry we check matches the checking point you give us.

hi yes I wish I could get all mine that way but some dont do them .

More reason than ever to use the local registry offices. Still only £7 AND they will search for nothing AND in most cases their turn round time is much quicker than GRO AND most will scan/photocopy the original entry if you ask them.