Ancestry.co.uk

hoke74

I joined up with the free 14 day trial - paid for one subsequent month and then cancelled online through their website - they do not send out an email confirming you have cancelled!

Thought all was okay - then noticed a couple of months later that they were still taking money from my account.

I went onto the ancestry website to see that my account was still active - so I cancelled again - and again no confirmation for cancelling - just said (sorry it doesn't have to end this way and gives options to choose other subscriptions... but I chose to click the button that says "no please cancel")

Guess what a couple of months later and they are still taking money from my account. I just cancelled again online... then logged back into to see if my account was still active... and yes it was. So I have just called their 0800 number, where a nice lady confirmed my account had NOT cancelled through properly - she cancelled it for me over the phone and gave me a cancellation confirmation number.... the same one which was promptly and automatically emailed to me!

Where do I stand with this? - Anyone had similar problems. I set the account up using my debit card and the bank said the only way of stopping Ancestry continuing to take money was to cancel my card, so I have done that but I should get a refund... has anyone been in the same situation and did they get a refund?

biscit

I was on the monthly subscription but found I had no time to do research, and reduced income, so I decided to cancel. I actually found no option to cancel on-line- only to change to a different package. So phoned the 0800 number. The cancellation went through quickly though.

cheapskate101

The problem with Ancestry is that if you have a complaint... Someone has put erroneous information about you family on the site, no one will help.

The American end will not let you speak to anyone in the Uk. And says the phone number is confidential.


Here it is anyway:
Ancestry Co UK
Waterfront Building
Hammersmith Embankment
Chancellors Road
London
W6 9RW tel [URL="tel:0208%20846%203620"]0208 846 3620[/URL]
[EMAIL="Support@ancestry.co.uk"]Support@ancestry.co.uk[/EMAIL]


Even when you get through to the British phone number, the same person answers more than one option. And the line goes inexplicably dead.


Ask to speak to the legal person - Helen Giddings, she may not be at her desk and apparently does not ring back.


The director is Jonathan Samuel Saverimuttu, who lives in SE10. His address is available on the Internet. If no one from the UK office will help you, you could try sending a registered letter to his home address to see if this produces any sort of response.

pmduk

When signing up recently, I noticed that you are given the option to use a direct debit rather than a recurring card transaction. I'd strongly suggest that any potential subscribers choose that option, but only after checking whether their local library offers free access to the site as an earlier post mentions.

Devil1965

Hi

Just joined today as I feel ancestry.co.uk deserve some credit.

My partner suffered a metabolic brain injury a few years ago and is very forgetful as well as sometime not really being aware of her actions. She signed up for the 14 day trial, not sure she realised what she was doing and then forgot about it. Today her card was debited £107.49. She was obviously upset as she has no income except for her disability and that withdrawal put her in the red.

I phoned ancestry.co.uk on their 0800 number and I have to say, to their credit, the advisor I spoke to called Jason was great. He was very understanding, professional, and more importantly, actually offered to do the right thing by cancelling the account and refunding the payment.

It will probably be up to 10 days before the money gets back into the account but that's fine. I never used the site and to be honest, my partner only looked at it once so can't comment on its usefulness but the customer service was in all honesty second to none.

pimento

cheapskate101 wrote: »

The problem with Ancestry is that if you have a complaint... Someone has put erroneous information about you family on the site, no one will help.

The American end will not let you speak to anyone in the Uk. And says the phone number is confidential.


Even when you get through to the British phone number, the same person answers more than one option. And the line goes inexplicably dead.


Ask to speak to the legal person - Helen Giddings, she may not be at her desk and apparently does not ring back.

It's not against the law to put erroneous information on your ancestors in your family tree so there's nothing that Ancestry can/should/would do.

How do they know that it's not you that has erroneous information in your tree and not the person you're accusing?

Your ancestors do not belong to you.

Sorry, but that's the way it is.

cheapskate101

It's erroneous information if you put someone else's photographs on it as the copyright belongs to them.
It's erroneous if you replicate newspaper cuttings as the copyright belongs to the newspaper.

cheapskate101

Sorry but that's the law... And the way it is.

art_for_arts_sake

My wife signed up to Ancestry.co.uk without taking out a subscription and has never paid a penny. However, they do have some free weekend access occasionally for special events which is when she's gleaned most of her information. I signed up for a rival UK service which I won't reveal here but a lot of their information which was incomplete and even inaccurate was far more readily available on Ancestry. In the end many of the credits I bought for the rival company went unused. Make the most of the free stuff out there, there's more than you'd think.

50Twuncle

I have had a free 6 month "trial" of ancestory (worth £77) included in a Platinum Family Tree Maker Package (which cost £29.99 from PC World) - running since December - still not been charged a penny for it - they tell me that my "trial" expires in December........
I can't fault their customer service either - they always reply to my emails next working day