General Chat

If I were you I'd double check your Membership details.

I am 100% sure I had not activated Auto Renew on my Membership information.

Hey Presto !

Not only has GR not informed that my Membership was up for renewal they have taken £71.00 from my Bank Account.

Needless to say I have asked for a refund........watch this space.

Anyone else had this problem ?

GR will take the view that now you have posted something you have used the new term and are thus no longer entitled to a refund. Read the T&C.

I also wonder if you get a refund now that you have used added a post to this board since the renewal.

I DON'T have auto renewal ticked but I do check my membership details often in particular immediately after I have renewed because I have found in the past that the auto box shows as ticked!! I untick & just keep an eye on it.

Joan..

Like Joan ..............

I've always double checked my account details, since I discovered that Auto Renewal was ticked when I had unticked it.

I make sure to check around the time when my renewal is due that it is still unticked.

Auto renewal is the Default and everytime there is a site update etc if reverts - you have to keep checking especially near renewal time but I have always {so far} had an advance e-mail

This business about auto renew always re-ticking itself as if by magic is something that has persisted after a technical problem a long time back.

It stems from one particular software upgrade several years back which went drastically wrong and some members noticed that certain individual settings personal to them appeared as if they had changed.

GR did put things back as they were but some members went into headless chicken mode and tried to correct things themselves only to find they were inadvertently compounding the problems.

The following is a standard e-mail notification I receive each year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your membership to Genes Reunited is about to come to an end.

You don't need to do anything because you've asked us to continue your membership automatically.

We'll renew your membership for £8.96 on 14th December 2016 using the card you used last time. If we are unable to do this, for example because your card has changed, we'll let you know.

If you do not want to continue your membership, please go to the Genes Reunited My Account page and select My subscription details. You can then alter your membership to 'auto renew off' and save the changes.

If you choose not to continue your membership, you won't be able to contact other members to discover new ancestors. You will still be able to browse the site and access your tree.

Kind regards,

The Genes Reunited Team

I don't understand all of this worry about auto renewal. Mine is always on and I always receive notification beforehand. Following is what I received 7th June to inform me that my account would end 21st. June.

"Your membership to Genes Reunited is about to come to an end.

You don't need to do anything because you've asked us to continue your membership automatically.

We'll renew your membership for £6.75 on 21st June 2016 using the card you used last time. If we are unable to do this, for example because your card has changed, we'll let you know.

If you do not want to continue your membership, please go to the Genes Reunited My Account page and select My subscription details. You can then alter your membership to 'auto renew off' and save the changes.

If you choose not to continue your membership, you won't be able to contact other members to discover new ancestors. You will still be able to browse the site and access your tree.

Kind regards,

The Genes Reunited Team"

p.s. They also let me know beforehand if my card has expired and I send the new details.

But it would seem that for some it doesn't always go right!

The poster Stephen says he didn't get an email to inform / remind him that his membership was due for renewal etc! & he had also thought the renewal box was unticked! but GR have gone ahead & taken money from his account!
£71-00 is rather a lot to have taken IF you haven't accounted for that amount to be in your bank account to cover it!

Stephen isn't the first to have posted similar threads!
I would rather keep an eye on my account details regularly than have the same happen to me as has happened to Stephen!

Joan.

I agree, Joan, £71.00 is an awful amount to be taken from your bank account without your knowledge.

In my case I pay such a paltry amount that it wouldn't really matter if they took the money without my permission but it has never happened.

Just no rhyme or reason to GR! Also the differing amounts that they charge for the same service.

Perhaps the email address that GR have for Stephen is out of date.

Every body I know who has asked for a refund

HAS BEEN GIVEN ONE :-D :-D

Any collection by D/D with a different/higher amount requires prior notice being sent to the customer.

A banking rule, I believe. Any infringement means a refund of the erroneous amount will be promptly made.

Like Joan ............

I was one of the ones who found that Auto Renew automatically changed some years back, sometimes within an hour of me having checked and turned it off. I now prefer to keep my eye on it, even if people like IGP consider me a "headless chicken".

............. a description I do incidentally object to! It's pretty derogatory, and even sexist, as chickens are female :-|


I'm currently waiting for the 2-week warning notice that my sub for FMP to arrive

................. it's up on December 5th

no email yet

but I'm getting all the other bumpf they send, and my email address, which has not changed.

So far, all I've seen is the Subscribe that is suddenly highlighted ........................


just as the highlighted Renew was the first sign on GR about 4 weeks before my sub was up. The GR email arrived about a week before the due date, not 2 weeks!


Same management of course :-(

You were lucky to get an email at all Sylvia. I didn't :-(. I just got the highlighted renew which I might not have noticed except that I keep a note on my calendar of when the sub is due.

Vera .............

that seems to be my experience at the moment with FMP :-(

............... not too happy as this was my first year with a full sub on that site

I've just updated my card details on FMP, let's see what happens next!

If you no longer wish to be a member then just cancel your direct debit.

Have no doubt that the company will soon contact you when they are unable to get your money. ;-) ;-) ;-)

Sylvia, in the UK chicken refers to both sexes. Hen or cock is used if the sex of a chicken is to be defined.

For all and any internet, charity and so on subs rather than using a real bank account I just use a money card which I charge up as needed. This avoids unexpected fees. As a plus if (when?) the company gets hacked losses are restricted to what is (was) on the money card.

A lot of people do the same.

It won't work with PayPal though as it demands actual bank ac details. As a fix I just set up a current account which is only used for PayPal.

https://goo.gl/KG1B7I