new price for GRO certs

[richarde1979]

Which just proves the system, in a digital age, is hopelessly outdated and IS the problem, not the pricing. I only assume the people who regard nine pounds as good value for a single certificate have no ancestors outside England and Wales, and this view is the result of a genuine unawareness of the much better, and fantastically cheaper or even free systems in place in many places outside our borders.

As Cell says above you are now getting into assuming what people think and their motives,
as someone who has travelled to the Ukraine, travelled over 200 miles to London a few times,
i have many certificates we started collecting (IN PERSON) from the 80's from various records offices, i like to think i can calculate what in MY OPINION is VFM,
i do a lot of my research online now and yes would be great if EVERYTHING was cheaper, i am pretty sure those years ago for many of these certificates i have the cost was £10 maybe more? so the cost under the new prices delivered is still cheaper,
i just think your assumption because others have a different view and are naive is unfair.

Les  of course you are entitled to make your own mind up, and disagree with my own views until the cows come home, I respect that,  if you think I was making an assumption of naivity that, in yourself at least, was misplaced, well apologise, not my intention there at all.

I do rather think the fact the certs once cost more is a bit misleading though. These prices may have been fair when technology meant the current system or ones predating it were the only option available. But in this day and age when they could digitise every certificate, the overheads of storing and producing copies of the information, could be bought down dramaticaly to virtually nil, and we should be asking serious question why this hasn't happened yet, when it has elsewhere. I know various projects have tried and failed. I think the excuse given in one was unlike Scotland the registers couldn't be scanned properly because of their binding. However Ancestry have plenty of post 1837 marriage registers scanned online for London, Family Search have just put a load on, very good quality for Norfolk. They seemed to manage alright!

I think I'm being misunderstood a fair bit, perhaps my own fault in not making my position clear enough. As an amateur genealogist I'd be totally happy to pay nine pounds a cert if I thought all that money was neccesary to preserve our history and for them to break even or even make a profit. That is not happening now, when they are already what 6 times the price of Scottish certs,   they are losing money hand over fist by the sound of it.  So will hiking the price and hitting the poor consumer help that?

I truly 100% believe they will make FAR more money than they ever do now once they have switched to a Scotlands People type online system, for historical certs at least. They will be happier, we will be happier. Everyones happy. As a Tax Payer, I'm happy to fund that through my taxes, OR If that is not a view shared in the wider community, I'd be equally happy to fund that through paying extra, temporarily for my certs. But lets at least start moving in the right direction.

[poolqwizrd]

Silvi

I am a taxpayer and i dont expect my hobby to be subsedised by it. you are happy at the price, that is your parogative but i would still like to know from anyone how much these open days are to provide and how often. The bottom line is this, they are too much and take too long, and a great point made by Rah, I too normally order about 3 and they come on the same day, a week later may i add in 3 different envelopes, so how much is wasted on post is another great question

[Berlin-Bob]

I too normally oder about 3 and they come on the same day, a wekk later may i add in 3 different envelopes, so how much is wasted on post is another great question

If three different people handle your three requests, at different times within the same day, then it costs more, in time and effort, to ask if there are any other orders for "poolqwizrd" than the cost of three envelopes and three stamps.


Bob

[richarde1979]

I have to add, to your post poolqwizrd, the service I have had from the GRO has similarly been quite poor too, certs not arriving at all, wrong certs coming when the reference was correct. Though the people on the phone are always extremely pleasant and helpful, and it eventually gets sorted, it is a pain all the same. All this does not really suggest a well run and efficient system. I've been suprised just how typical these experiences seem to be reading this and various other web boards. Incurring 6 million pounds in losses  doesn't exactly paint a picture  of a well run and efficient department either.

[poolqwizrd]

That to me seems odd, wouldnt it be better if one set person did one set order for each order and instead of treating them seperate treat them as they are, one order

[KarenM]

I think your service is pretty good.  I can order a certificate and have it here in my hands in Canada within 2 weeks and the cost is extremley reasonable even with the new price.

Now, when I order a certificate from New York State it costs $22.00 USD for a 1 to 3 year search, of course mine are notorious for lying about ages so a 4-10 year search is $42.00 USD and it takes at least 5 MONTHS to get a response.


Karen

[Sloe Gin]

That to me seems odd, wouldnt it be better if one set person did one set order for each order and instead of treating them seperate treat them as they are, one order

I think they have different people working with different sets of registers, so each application goes to the person in the appropriate section.  When you imagine how many books there must be, this does seem a more efficient way.

[richarde1979]

"Now, when I order a certificate from New York State it costs $22.00 USD for a 1 to 3 year search, of course mine are notorious for lying about ages so a 4-10 year search is $42.00 USD and it takes at least 5 MONTHS  to get a response."

5 Months! Blimey...that's long Karen. I accept that our system is not the worse worldwide by a long shot, and can understand how it would appear good value and service if your used to that. Fair point. That said I don't think, from our point of view,  it would neccesarily be the most positive thing to be using as a yardstick to measure our own system the poorer ones in existence. Surely we should aim to have the best and fairest system in place possible, not just settle with the consolation that ours is not the very worse out there.

[davidft]

That to me seems odd, wouldn't it be better if one set person did one set order for each order and instead of treating them separate treat them as they are, one order

That use to bug me too but then one day I spoke to someone at the GRO and she gave me chapter and verse and it really is best that they do it the way they do.

I have had my gripes with the GRO in the past but on the whole I am pleased with the service they provide and all but two people I have spoken to there have been very friendly and helpful