"Access the Birth, Marriage and Death Index for nothing"

[animet]

Imagine it the other way round. How would you feel if a company offered you free access to BMDs on condition you gave them the details of your credit card (which you did) and there was nothing on the site. Would you feel conned? Would you feel it wrong that they had deceived you?

In my experience, websites constantly offer 'free' information but on closer inspection they give you nothing at all without committment in some form from me, there is always a catch, I have often been the victim of their deceit. Unfortunately companies don't have feelings, so they don't feel conned or deceived, it's just another number to them.

They have lost nothing, because if I feel they are value for money, I will subscribe and give them my business. If their site is not of value to me, I won't and I don't run the risk of my card details being used fraudulently.

[loo]

Personally, I would feel conned if they asked me for my credit card when I wasn't buying anything.  There is no connection between getting your credit card number and buying nothing.  The two just don't go together, as the sole purpose of a credit card is to buy something.
If there isn't a law against this, there ought to be. 
In Canada, for instance, it is illegal to even ask you for your social insurance number (federal ID) unless you have a very legitimate reason for using it (banks and employers are allowed to ask because their payments to you affect income tax).  Many many companies do not like this legilsation, and got into the habit of asking people for their social insurance number when they had no business with it because it is very convenient for them;  over the years most of them have learned that they cannot do this, because it is enforced.
I am not going to bother, because I am not going to use ancestry's site, but I recommend that people phone their credit card companies and get their advice before advancing this information.

[mc8]

I don't actually see why it would be wrong to give an imaginary credit card number, if the whole "transaction" is imaginary.  It's not fraud, in my view, because YOU'RE NOT BUYING ANYTHING. 

In fact, by accepting the free trial, you are entering into a legally binding contract, so providing false details would be a breach. This site explains it rather well
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/products/trialoffers.htm

[julianb]

In fact, by accepting the free trial, you are entering into a legally binding contract, so providing false details would be a breach. This site explains it rather well
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/products/trialoffers.htm

Thanks for that.   There's generally no such thing as a free lunch!

JULIAN

[kiya]

I have to say I'm extremely impressed with the searches on Ancestry.  1837online is quite highly-priced, especially when you don't know exactly what year someone was born/married/died and then when you find it you're paying for the certs.

The searching is flawed, but after looking across a 20 year period for one ancestor, I've found no missing pages.  The searches often will bring up less than 4 results for one year, but the missing quarters can easily be found by reducing the surname from say Smith to Sm, then you can navigate the pages when the first has loaded up to get to the right record.

Transcription-wise, I don't think it's any worse than any other site and often sites use each other's transcriptions which leads to a string of inaccurate records.

I'm just over the moon that I can search for all my ancestors for whom I am unsure as to their dates with relatively little hassle and more importantly, for free. 

[Comosus]

They don't seem to have all the images on there, and I'm not talking about them being mistranscribed.  I was looking for the marriage of my grandfather's brother and even when I went into the H section of each quarter in 1939, there were several pages missing.  I had been searching around earlier and there tend to be around 100 pages, that time there were 30 and the one I needed was missing.  It only took a couple of minutes to find on 1837online, and at least they have them transcribed sensibly.  It seems to me that whoever at Ancestry decided this would be a good idea didn't set any rules for how to transcribe them - Do they put the surname first or last?  I have seen several done the other way around which makes me feel Ancestry has poorly ornganised it.  It seems more like a rushed job to me.

Sorry about the rant about Ancestry, I know it's a great site but there are so many simple things which could make it so much better.

[Guy Etchells]

If you look at the "front page" it says
"England & Wales, BMD Index (Beta)" this means they are testing the site and ironing out such problems.
When they are satisfied all is working correctly they will remove the Beta tag.
Cheers
Guy

[loo]

This is a reference to US law, and Ancestry is a US organization.
Nowhere does it mention the situation of being asked to give your credit card number when you are not buying anything and have not been asked to buy anything (as I understand it - I have not looked into signing on).  It primarily addresses the need to cancel when you have agreed on a default basis to buy something.  Other laws ought to protect against that misuse of personal information and against this kind of condition, and perhaps they do in some jurisdictions, maybe even in the US.
In the example they give of the pantyhose, there is/was a company in Ontario that used to continue to send you pantyhose and bill you for it because you'd agreed to receive one free pair;  you had to pay for them too, and the quality was dreadful!  Their practices have been made illegal within the past year by changes in consumer protection law here.  So, hopefully, consumers are winning, bit by bit.  The only way to make this shady practice go away is to make sure you have adequate consumer protection laws, as there will always be some people who will participate.  In the meanwhile, call your credit card company;  they don't like it when their  numbers are mis-used, and will likely know if there is some remedy under the law. 
I would be very surprised if they bother to check these credit card numbers when you're not buying anything.  What a waste of time that would be! 

I don't actually see why it would be wrong to give an imaginary credit card number, if the whole "transaction" is imaginary.  It's not fraud, in my view, because YOU'RE NOT BUYING ANYTHING. 

In fact, by accepting the free trial, you are entering into a legally binding contract, so providing false details would be a breach. This site explains it rather well
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/products/trialoffers.htm

[UKgirl]

Hello everyone,

Something that none of you have pointed out, is that Ancestry offers one free trial per credit card. Of course there are some people who have more than one credit card, and therefore more than one credit card number, and so they may be able to obtain several free trials. But without the credit card information, how would Ancestry be able to limit their free trials to one per person? How would they identify who has already had a free trial? People would rejoin endlessly under a false name. After all, they are running a business, not a free service. They are generous enough to offer the free trial, which I myself have happily utilized. I certainly have no complaints about that.

I have found their service to be very legitimate. I even received several free months' service from them when I queried an errror that they had overlooked. I also have the experience of joining under a "monthly membership", which is not the same as a monthly payment for their annual membership. I obtained this membership through a direct telephone call to the company in America. Perhaps you cannot join the "monthly membership" over the Internet. It is not widely advertised, and is at a slightly higher rate, but with the convenience of being able to cancel at any moment. Perhaps it is of greatest use to Americans who are only needing to use membership for a short time to track one small family branch. Or maybe some people just feel more comfortable knowing that they can cancel at any moment.

I notice that many of you who seem to attack the company, are only too happy to receive a look-up from those of us who are members. We are happy to help, and not everyone is in the position to join. But surely it is a bit much to then criticize the very company that enables the look-up in the first place.

As for the comment that there is never a free lunch - I would suggest that there is sometimes a free lunch - but you just have to remember to cancel the agreement - is that really asking so much?

But with regard to the Birth, Marriage, Death Index which can be viewed freely now, one can imagine that the ultimate goal of Ancestry is to make the Index fully searchable under both family name AND given name, as the company called "familyrelatives.org" has already provided for the period 1866-1920. As any of you who have used that site know, being able to search for an entry at the click of a button, rather than tediously searching through page after page, is simply wonderful. If Ancestry do that, then no doubt this new service will cease to be free. So, as mnmilt said, we had better all "Make hay while the sun shines".

UKgirl