Biggest rip-off yet

[macphail]

The search page is better organised and good quality too

http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk is the same site I think

[suttontrust]

We've many times on Rootschat got into the discussion about value for money.  This particular site, which is reached through the National Archives, has some records which are of scarcity value - the noncomformist records.  This does not entitle them to charge, in effect, £5 for viewing one record.  It's done in a very sneaky way; £5, you think, will get you 2 records.  But make the mistake of clicking on advanced search and suddenly you haven't got enough "credits" left for that second record.  Yes, JAP, I have contacted them, but I don't think I was entirely calm at the time, so I doubt I'll get a response.

[JAP]

Hi suttontrust,

Always worth another try from a calmer base attitude 

You might get a good response, who knows ...

I'm a bit grumpy at present because I have 22 non-useable (currently) credits on ScotlandsPeople (ran out of time).  But there we are - a while ago they would have run out much more quickly    And I knew from day one what would happen - my idiocy not to have kept an eye on the use-by date ...  And at least they'll again be able to be used should I buy another set of credits ...

Such is life in this big commercial world 

But it's certainly worth a complaint if the small print wasn't clear.

JAP

[toni*]

it would depend on, of course, how many non conformists are in your ancestry as to whether its worth the money 

quite a good site if your ancestor does not have a commn name

[jillruss]

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I can't see the advantage of using the advanced search. At first, I made the mistake of accepting their advice that it could produce extra names and info but quickly realised that , whether you use the basic search or the advanced search, you end up with the same page to download.

So, I'm thinking that, unless you have a very common surname to search for with not much idea as to timescale, don't use the advanced search and save yourself at least one credit each time.

I lost a couple of credits through the search being interrupted by an error message. I emailed them and - to be fair - they reimbursed me - whilst, of course, denying that there was a problem.

I've also noted that there are usually two entries for each event. Another RChatter says that this is because the event will have been recorded at 2 separate Quaker meetings (a bit like BTs?). I've only looked at one entry per event but am now wondering if I've missed out on those extra names and info we were promised?!

I appreciate that a lot of work has gone into producing this site and was almost certainly not done by volunteers - so they have to be paid, and, of course, a profit must be made (it's all about money these days, isn't it?) but really - as Suttontrust rightly says - £5 for one result (2 results if you don't use the advanced search) is a bit ridiculous and may well be counterproductive for them in that it will put an awful lot of people off.

Jill

[willow154]

Hi,
I used http://www.bmdregisters.co.uk when it first came out as I wanted to have an original copy of an entry for and ancestor from my husband's line, who family were members of the High Pavement Chapel, in Nottingham.
I had visited Nottingham University's Manuscript Libraby a couple of years ago, and gone through of the original registers, copying out all the entries for the surname Richards. To my surprise (having looked on the LDS site) the particular entry I needed  had been changed, and the name of the father changed from William to John.
This piece of information enabled me to contine plotting the family line. On www.familysearch.org the father's name is William, and anybody trying to research that family using their records would have got no further - no marriages, children, anything that matched.
Anyway, because I wanted an original image of the Hig Pavement Chapel entry I paid for £10 worth of credits to get this. The whole of the £10 was eaten up getting this image, and guess what, it wasn't the same as the one in the original register!   So as well as feeling peeved that I'd paid a lot of money, I had the wrong information - AND so will everyone else!
When I was at the WDYTYA show in London I mentioned this to someone from The National Archives, and asked if they'd used the Dr.William's Library records, and the reply (the gentleman didn't know for sure) was that they had probably done a deal with LDS - which has the wrong details!!!!
Thank goddnes I had gone in person to see the original register, otherwise my research would have come to a full stop. I know that William's father definitely was John, as I've since done a lot more research, and wills, etc all confirm this. Some, however, abroad or far away won't, however, be able to do this, sadly.
Paulene

[Cell]

Annual sub is £68.95 compared to Ancestry monthly sub of £25. There are other less pricey options to bmdindex but I went for the Personal Premium for unlimited access.

Pete

Hi Pete, regarding Ancestry's fees  per month being 25 GBP per month that's for the world package that you're quoting.

I  paid in last  November  for my renewal  annual  membership - It was  AU  $176.19  ( which is basically around 80 pounds depending on the exchange rate on the day)   , but  Uk and Ireland records only, not world records .

Clicking on the accounts on "my account" for the  current price in  pounds  for exactly the  same UK subscription that I have - prices are 9.95  a month  and 79.95 annually in pounds.

so compared to bmdindex ( which is I gather is Uk  only too ?)  ancestry uk  membership  annual  subscription  is only 11 pounds more than bmdindex fees .

Kind Regards

[Mean_genie]

Paulene

The registers on BMDregisters are from the series RG4, RG5 and RG6 at TNA.

TNA have registers for the births and baptisms at High Pavement in four registers, with some overlap in the years; 1690-1723, 1723-1777, 1760-1827 and 1811-1837. without looking at the registers it's impossible to tell whether there is any duplication of the entries in the years which are covered by two registers.

When the Registrar General called in the Nonconformist registers in 1837, the orignals should have been sent in, but some ministers or congregations may have made copies first, or even kept the originals and sent the copies. If there are original registers in Nottingham then this is probably what happened in this case, and the mistake was made in a copy.

As for the 'Dr Williams' records, these are quite separate from any church or chapel register, but many children will appear in both series if their parents had them baptized in their own place of worship, and also registered the birth in the Protestant Dissenters' Birth Registry ('Dr Williams') or the Wesleyan Metropolitan Registry of births. The Protestant Dissenters' Birth Registry certificates are in RG5, and the corresponding registers are in RG4, and they should contain identical information.

So if there is a discrepancy between the register in Nottingham and the one in TNA, the person to blame is some long-dead Non-conformist clerk, not the LDS, or BMDregisters - there is plenty of other ammunition you can use for that!

Whatever the 'gentleman' from TNA told you at WDYTYA Live told you makes no sense at all - but then it was hot in that hall so maybe he had sunstroke

Mean_genie

[willow154]

Hi,
Thanks Mean_genie for clarifying that. My main concern is how people are going to find the correct information now that both sources they will probably go to are misleading. Is there a way of changing the information?
When I visited the LDS temple in London, a year or so ago I mentioned it to them, but they said it was unlikely they could change it now on their system.
Anybody now researching this family will find this brickwall, which is such a shame!
Paulene