Biggest rip-off yet

[suttontrust]

I have to report that anger paid off.  They responded at first with what I took to be a form reply, regretting that I was "disappointed".  I replied that I was disgusted rather than disappointed.  They responded with an air of hurt and gave me back the one credit so that I could access the second record.  (I have, and it doesn't tell me where she was born!).  I've thanked them and suggested that they drop the 1 credit charge for the advanced search.
Incidentally, I'm not doing my family history at the moment, but researching a family for a local history project.  This is when you don't want to take out a subscription but are content with paying per record.  And you don't want to be scammed!  It's a free-for-all in records selling now, and I hope it will eventually settle down, with the best outfits driving out the worst.

[willow154]

Difficult situation - no-one likes paying all the time for new resources, but then I have to say I for one am so grateful that more and more is coming online. For people who live far away, or who can't get to the archives for a number of reasons, they are a real blessing! Then when, and if, you do need to make a visit it can be spent digging out more obscure information.
To be fair some online resources are really excellent value for money. eg. a will for £3.50 which can be pages long.
Perhaps the thing to do is to see if can use other sources like www.familysearch.org etc etc to do a preliminary search, before using pay to view resources, in order to minimise search fees.
Like you say hopefully it will all balance out.
Paulene

[tootsiepie]

Hi, Could anyone tell me what kind of information I am likely to find on a 1792 burial record in London.   I found a likely entry using this site,  but wary that it may only say '' John Smith'' was buried!!!

[Bellejazz]

Quick question about http://www.bmdindex.co.uk/

In paying the appropriate fees what do you get from there that you can't get (for free) from http://freebmd.org.uk/  ?

I've only had a very quick glance but it appears to be the same thing, an index which gives you a number so you can order a certificate from the GRO.

thanks,
Belinda.

[Nick29]

Forgive me if there has already been something posted about this, but I'm seething.......

I don't think any of these sites are necessarily rip-offs, but they are big holes for beginners to fall into.  For example, last year I paid for the full world membership of Ancestry (because I have family tree branches in America, Australia, and New Zealand), and (hungry for more data) I began looking for other online places to get it.  I ended up buying a year's subs to the British Origins Network which I don't doubt that some people would find useful, but I have to say that it hasn't helped me at all with any of my research.  The problem with a lot of these sites is that you don't know what you can find, until they've taken your money.

The British Genealogy site looks interesting, and has a £20 voucher offer at the moment if you take out the Personal Premium all-inclusive subscription out at £68.95 per year 

[forthefamily]

Read the fine print. I paid the 5 pounds for three months but what I really got was 50 views and that's it. I guess they think that's enough but I used that up in a couple of days 

mab

[carol8353]

Quick question about http://www.bmdindex.co.uk/

In paying the appropriate fees what do you get from there that you can't get (for free) from http://freebmd.org.uk/  ?

I've only had a very quick glance but it appears to be the same thing, an index which gives you a number so you can order a certificate from the GRO.

thanks,
Belinda.

To answer your question Belinda.

Free BMD is being transcribed by volunteers and is by no means complete.
If you check the coverage page http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/progress.shtml you will see where the gaps are.

It also only goes up to about 1920,with a few exceptions.

The BMD Index is the full and complete index of all the records from 1837 to 2006(2007?)

Both Ancestry and Find My Past have the complete records too.
As do a few other places but they are the ones I've always stuck with 

Of course FreeBMD gives you the chance to find out who else is on the same page with the same ref number,and often you can work out which girl married which chap

Hope that helps

Carol

[Nick29]

Read the fine print. I paid the 5 pounds for three months but what I really got was 50 views and that's it. I guess they think that's enough but I used that up in a couple of days 

mab

I'm not sure if you were replying to my post, but their premium service doesn't use credits.

[forthefamily]

Sorry.....I was talking about this cite...

http://www.bmdindex.co.uk/

mab