Genealogy Chat

I have already replied on a similar thread, there seems to be varied charges, £7.50, £9.50 and £9.95 (which is what I was charged). No prior notification of a price hike - nor that it would be a two-tiered, or even three-tiered price. I am wondering if this is strictly legal? Particularly as it would seem that some people have been told one price and charged more. When I queried the price rise the reply was that the majority of users thought it was a very fair price 'for the many improvements to the site'. How did they reach that conclusion? Kathleen

I had a big fight with GR over this in July. My main problem with them is that they don't tell us before completing the transaction what the price is. (I'd though I was paying £7.50 but found that they'd taken £9.95 when I got my statement.) It is not the amount of money involved but the principle that they should not take money without informing customers first. They even told me that they'd tried to take £7.50 and the mistake was my banks end. I checked with my card supplier and the only contact they'd had was to take £9.95. If you have any doubt about the amount taken do check your statements and keep complaining. Heather

I was promised the price difference charged as a refund but they cocked that up as well. Lost interest in trying to get them to sort it out but will not be renewing again next year. Might only be a small amount but it is the principle that counts.

Hi Hilary I changed the details to what it should have read and it went through okay it did not affect my user name either which I thought was strange

Hi, I too found that my board name was in the card name field, and although I have queried it with GR they do not appear to understand what I am saying. Because of this problem, my continuous membership did nothave any effect as they could not access my account, and it took a while to sort it out. I will watch with interest to see if you find an answer to the problem.

hi I got an email to say thanks for renewing my membership so should you, is it in your account details, if not contact GR and ask them

I also paid £9.50 at the end of July, and that was by the so called continuous membership. Like a few of you, I just can't be both to to querie it, I have been a member for a few years as well, guess they are just trying it on, but having said that, a few certain members after a morning search, found my granny birth place, after I tried for 6 years...and that is only one of many successes, so....who am I to complain, without the £9.50 to access this site, I wouldn't have 'met' all you lovely people that help me and everyone so much......Lilly

I was going to renew my membership last week, it said £7.50, but I couldn`t find my cards ( typical me!) I`ve logged on to renew tonight and it`s gone up to £9.95!! I have e-mailed to GR to ask why the difference.

Mine cost £9.50 online just this minute. Almost wasn't going to renew it.

Mine cost £9.50 and mine renew's all by it's self!

Only since ITV have had GR have they made a surcharge for paying by cheque. I do have continuous membership ticked. I pay by cheque as DD on this site is not reliable enough for me. Ex Bank Employee. However, my friend in the USA pays by cheque and she only paid £7.50. There is more work involved ADMIN sorting DD that go wrong than there ever is presenting a cheque - I know the odd one will bounce but so will a DD. Margaret N

good for you Jennifer let us know how you get on

I am more angry than ever. I remember I paid about a week early because I knew I was going to be away when my membership ran out. I thnk I will contact them to see if I can get a refund. Jennie xx

well I got an email saying my membership was about to run out and to pay the fee by a certain date which I did so I would not call that continuous membership would you ??? otherwise they would email to say we will be taking your fee at the end of such and such a time and if you dont want to continue your membership then please email us or something like that surely.I do know if you pay by cheque its dearer as they charge administration charges.

Reading this got me thinking about the relative value of membership of this site, compared with others. Even at £9.95, for a whole year it seems very inexpensive. I pay that every month to Ancestry (and I know that I could save money by paying 12 months in advance, but each month I convince myself that I have just about finished the intensive phase of my research, and that I'll cancel in a month or so, but that month never comes!) GR costs us less than 3p a day (or less than 2p if you paid £6.95 like me). How much should we expect for that?

I think this is grossly unfair. Once you have paid a years fees you are a member. It shouldn't make any difference whether you have ticked continuous payment or not, if you renew annually on time it is continuous, isn't it! If there has been a price increase then it should be the same for all. They should not penalise the peeps who do not know what will happen to their lives in the year to come and choose to renew annually.

Excellent Maureen, I've just done that and selected continuous membership. When I checked at the 'renew now' link, the price had indeed been reset to £7.50. Just to make sure, I took a screen shot of the £7.50 confirmation page and hovered my mouse over the bottom of my screen so today's date would come up. That is now pasted into a word document and saved in case I get charged £9.95.

Jennie, In your account details there is a box for ticking as to whether you are on continuous membership or not. Maureen

Hi Reg Like Tracey I don't remember having a choice re continuous membership, perhaps it was brought in later. I just got an email saying my membership was running out so I renewed. I still think it's unfair. I can understand price change for new members but not for current ones!! Jennie xx

I can't remember having had the choice of annual or continuous membership, but then I did join several years ago. I've got a month to correspond with GR and sort something out so hopefully I can save myself some money.