Genealogy Chat

My mum took advantage of the "free trial" with Ancestry.com and as we couldn't find anything that we needed on the site, she cancelled it online the same day. A couple of months later she noticed that they were taking money from her account, and when she queried it, they said that she hadn't cancelled the subscription. I know that she had because I was there with her at the time but she had no proof as she hadn't kept a copy! They told her that she was contracted to pay for a whole year, even though she pointed out that she hadn't, and wouldn't use it, and that she was a senior citizen and could ill afford to pay for something she wasn't getting the benefit of. She has now been paying for a whole year. We have not looked at the site ever since that day. Has anyone else had the same trouble, or is it just us? Never likely they have loads of money! ShirleyB

If your mum cancelled the subscription by email, have a look in the sent items box, it may still be there. I had the British ancestry for 3 months and when I cancelled I received a confirmation of the canellation.

A similar thing happended to me, but I only had to pay for a quarter. I think you have to be exrtremely careful that you subscribe through the .com part and not the .co.uk part. Jeannie

I'm sorry to hear of the problems some people have had with cancelling at Ancestry. It is always best to call and cancel then to do it online. That way you get a cancellation number, and the name of the person you are talking to. Should you still get billed, you have some way to verify that you cancelled. Kathie

Thanks for the replies. She paid for it with a card online and cancelled online the same day. She has searched her sent messages but hadn't saved it. I definitely know that she did it because I sat and watched her do it, but because she couldn't find proof at her end, she has had to pay. Its a dire warning for taking "advantage" of a "free" offer online! ShirleyB

I subscribed for the 14 day free trial and cancelled the same day by email as told to do but never got a reply so i cancelled by email 2 more times and still no reply. after 14 days I was charged for a membership I didn't want. I have since been sent emails by Ancestry about names I was looking for so I sent a reply to them and they answered me telling me to contact a different email address but I still havn't had a reply.I am really cross and certainly feel iv'e been 'had'

I have used the trial 3 times ( you can't do this anymore) and each time cancelled it without problem. They have always sent a confirmation - so if you don't receive a reply within a couple of days then always follow it up. Don't just assume that because you sent it , that they received it.

I am very unhappy with Ancestry.com as well. I first tried for a free trial at the beginning of November and completed the registration process including giving my card details. Everything seemed to be loading then my whole system froze. I received an e-mail later in the day informing me that I would receive on-line magazines and other offers Blah Blah.......but got no password or username sent through. When I tried to access Ancestry.com I was denied entry and asked to sign up. I sent them an e-mail to verify whether my card had benn debited and was sent a letter back assuring me that no money had been taken from my account. I left it at that until last week when I really hit a brick wall and thought that maybe the wonderful, all seeing, all knowing Ancestry.com would have the answer. I tried again to get a free trial with 3 different cards including a Platinum business bank card with a ludicrous limit and all three cards were denied. In desperation to get the information I needed I decided to apply for a 3 month subscription and was accepted immediately with the first card I used. I have already posted on GC regarding the tax that is applied that is not mentioned at the onset of registration. My 3 month trial cost in the region of £32 not the £29.99 as advertised. At the end of all this I must say how dissapointed I am with their site. I have found more information on FreeBMD and Family search in one day than I have on Ancestry.com since becoming a member and intend cancelling my membership well before the 3 months are up. As a precaution I will also contact my bank for advice on how to ensure they get their hands on no more of my money. Caveat emptor !!! Pam

Good companies would offer a goodwill gesture even if you have no proof - i.e. they should not charge you for a full year if you have complained that you cancelled your free trial! I'm afraid it does not look good, but perhaps they don't care because they have a monopoly on some of the records. Complain to your credit card company and ask them not to allow Ancestry to take any more money out of your account. If you let them walk all over you, they will have incentive to change.

After reading all your messages regarding Ancestry, I realise I must have been extremely lucky. I took up their free trial about 6 months ago and waited until the 13th day to cancel the membership and it went through fine, received the email from them to say nothing would be debited etc. etc. within a couple of hours. About a month later, I decided to subscribe to the quarterly payment scheme as I wasn't sure how much I would use it, but I have more or less been on there permanently for the last six months! The access to the 1891 census has been invaluable and they are always one of my first ports of call for finding those elusive relatives, so much so that I have just changed my subscription to annually. I just couldn't be without it!! Tracy

I also had problems, although I had received a cancellation confirmation they continued to take payments. I t took several months to rectify the problem, and then only by involving the credit card company who refunded the whole amount debited. David G

Hi Like Tracy, I have been very lucky with Ancestry. I took advantage of the free trial and cancelled with ease. I eventually subscribed and I have found it to be invaluable. Sam

I must have been very lucky then. I took out a quarter's subscription, but just could not find a single name I wanted. I then discovered that hardly any of the UK was indexed. I wrote and complained about this, and they extended my quarter by another quarter free. At the end of this period, they emailed me to say that they had deducted another quarter's payment from my card, I wrote back and said I didn't want it to be continued, that I wanted to wait until more names were indexed before resubscribing. They immediately refunded the money they had deducted from my debit card. I then left it several months and resubscribed, and am very pleased with the results of my searches, not just for my own family but for very many people here on GC. Although I can't really afford to take out another quarter's subscription, I really don't think I will be able to manage without access to Ancestry, so something else will have to be missed instead. Jan.

Does anyone know whether the onus is on the company to prove that a subscription wasn't cancelled or on the customer? My mum has already paid up her year - will she be able to claim anything back? If Ancestry look at their records, they will see that she hasn't used it since she cancelled it a year ago. ShirleyB

Contact your credit card company and tell them the money was taken after you said you wanted to cancel. They should then get in touch withthe co and see if they can get the money refunded, Its in their code of practice. As another word of warning, Time Life are another company you cannot escape from! Back to ancestry, I did the trial but at the time there was nothing indexed for me. When I cancelled they wrote asking why and we wrote a few letters discussing the site and how the changes were coming all the time. When I subscribed this time round I was more than happy as it has furthered my research in leaps and bounds.

Thanks for the tip. I fell for that one. It's damn useless the free trial is only for America and as far as I know I don't have any relatives over there. I will keep an eye on my statements.

Amanda, I think you must have subscribed to the wrong free trial. Ancestry d o t c o d o t u k is the site with all the British records on, Ancestry d o t c o m is the US version. I had the free trial over the summer and could access them all (but only the 1891 England census was useful).

I have asked for a subscription to ancestry for one of my xmas pressies. Would you recommend it or shall I withdraw it from my xmas pressie list. I have heard good and bad comments, so cannot make up my mind.

Siobhan, I personally have had little success using it as most of my family was from Sussex. Pallots birth and marriage registers seem to focus mostly on London. I have found BM & D's on FreeBMD that have not come up on Ancestry. I must admit the 1891 census is handy but not worth the £32+ I paid for 3 months subscription. Try the free trial first maybe? Pam