Forces War Records.co.uk

wealdroam

Shelldean wrote: »

Under the informally resolved case there is the following...
Clever Digit Media Ltd t/a Forces Reunited

Could that be them?

Ah... thanks for that.
I looked down that list and don't know how I missed it.
Perhaps I was expecting something a bit more prominent.

hollydays

Clever digit media limited

Rob_Toon

You pay your £8.50 for nothing you couldn't find on Google. Just links to other services that cost more money, some dubious heraldic stuff and that's it. Don't waste your time or money

BreconTom

I made the mistake of accessing the Forces War Records site and they started bombarding me with emails. They eventually reduced full access to £5 so I took a chance - silly me. Of the three soldiers I searched for (one WW1 & 2 WW2) there was not a trace. I have asked them for my £5 back and have adjusted my profile so they don't take monthly payments but I will make sure I keep an eye on my bank account.
BE WARNED - they have only a tiny database of information gathered from god knows where, certainly not any government department. Your local library computer will provide 100 times more information for nothing.


17.11.2015 - Surprised to receive email promising full refund so maybe they have improved??

iscodun

Being ex-forces, I needed to get details of a member of my unit for the 2016 Somme Commemorations and made the mistake of signing up with Forces War Records in July. While there were very sketchy details on the unit member , I realised when comparing to known family records that the quality of the FWR offering was very poor. As per instructions that they provided, I unchecked the renew subscription checkbox (I do work in IT and I am computer literate...) and assumed that would be the end of it - I would stick to National Archives in the future, and accepted that I would pay the £8.95 for the poor quality July access to their records. I then had a few months of intensive work, when I was not as diligent as I should have been in checking credit card statements, and realised in November that they had been taking additional unauthorised payments of £8.95 off on a monthly basis. I immediately got hold of their administrators to say that they were not authorised to do this, and got hold of my card provider to open a dispute and requested that they place a stop on FWR payments. To my extreme annoyance, FWR succeeded in getting another payment out of my account, submitting this on the same day they were instructed to stop, and seemingly before the provider had put a block on them. The dispute does continue and the extreme annoyance and knowledge that we have been scammed has put a real cloud over the Somme Commemorations

Quite apart from the blatant scam aspect - I am more than certain that I am not the only person who had followed instructions to the letter in "unsubscribing" and still had payments taken - what is particularly nauseating about these people is that they are specifically scamming family members and members of units of people who actually served this country and in many cases died for this country.

Highlandglen

Yes, I too have had similar bad experience with Forces War Records. I discovered they had taken payments monthly, with no reminder from them after the first "free" month. I also discovered that any WW2 records are still in the National Archives anyway, so there is absolutely no point in trying to use Forces War Records for those enquiries. I then cancelled my subscription, but found there is no way to actually delete my profile and account on their webpage. I went back a month or so later to check that I had been deleted, and was furious to find that not only was my account still active, but they still had my credit card details. I sent them a web email of complaint and threatened them with the Information Commissioner. That seemed to generate a reply and deletion of my account. Overall, very disappointed by them; not much use, misleading account management and bombarded by emails I never signed up for. Don't use them!

LooniesMum

This company are still conducting business in the same way and are refusing to refund 5 months of payments that I did not authorise. I believed I had made a one-off payment and their email confirmation states "total payment £8.95" with no mention of ongoing payments and no terms and conditions included in the email. It is not at all obvious from their website that you are signing up to recurring payments and one can only assume this is deliberate on their part.

Any advice on actions I can take - who can I report this to and how can I get my money back?

Thank you.

bruce_shaw

A money making scam web site that probably sits on the back of genuine forces information sites, they take your money by clever subterfuge & should be avoided at all costs. Don't even think about going here for information it will cost you money & not tell you much, they will however urge you to hire a researcher at a cost which is non too cheap & they no doubt will try & get you to spend more money.


A total waste of time do not go here.

johnpr98

Just been caught out myself with auto renew after the £5 offer:mad:,
There is more information on relatives involved with the military in my experience available on Ancestry and Find My Past.

If you are ever tempted to join, please read all the posts on this forum first, i wish I had!

johnpr98

After a scathing review on Trustpilot I have finally had my refund.
Beware of the 28 day cycle when you have a monthly subscription
+ Untick auto renew, even if you haven't found your record if you don't want to end up in a similar position to me and many others.