Am i being selfish!

[anne]

I dont know what to think of Ancestry.com.I came across an ad a couple of days ago and it stated that if you enter your family tree into their system they would let you look at so many millions of records free of charge,so i patiently sat for a couple of hours at a time and put my family tree into their files,lo and behold when i tried to get in free as they had stated they wanted a credit card number which they said wouldnt be activated until a 2 week period had lapsed,thats providing of course you remember to cancell it before they use it.I just think its very misleading,they didnt say enter your family tree but we need a credit card number first.So i have deleted the whole tree from their files just out of pure principle.Does anyone have any thoughts or is it just me being a bit spiteful.Anne.

[Boongie Pam]

I don't think you are selfish at all.  Ancestry.com are in affect making money off your family tree.  I'm not totally against people making a business enterprise out of genealogical data but I don't like Ancestry.com's less than honest approach.

It is a common bad practice to demand an upfront credit card, in my opinion,  as companies know they will make money out of the forgetful few who let a payment go through.  

Cheers,
Pam
 

[anne]

Thankyou Pam i totally agree with you,my husband said the same thing,if people like us didnt put the information there in the first place they would have no records to search.I just think its awfull unfair,i think if your putting your tree on a system like theirs they should allow free access even if it just for a couple of hours.Regarding the credit card,i havent got a credit card only because i dont want one i dont want to be lineing someone elses pocket with my hard earned cash,i must sound like a right tight*** i dont mean to be and i'm not.I hate the thought of people being ripped off by malicious companies who end up being millionairs with our money.Anyway Pam sorry i got a bit side tracked there for a moment.Thankyou for agreeing with me.Anne.

[GRACELAND]

    yes i agree as well everyones after money !!!!

[suey]

I am sure you will hear as many good stories as bad with regard to Ancestry.

I'm one of the many who signed up for the 'Free' Trial.  I never did manage to access the site - kept getting very odd error messages.  So tried to cancel before getting charged.  What a nightmare that was, in the end I resorted to phoning them and got them to send me an e.mail confirming that I was definitely cancelled and would not be billed.  Needless to say it put me off trying again.


Suey

[GRACELAND]

    Another bad side  

[Sasha]

Hi,

I signed up for the two weeks free trial and I've got to say I had no problems at all.  I cancelled via email after one week of the free trial (wanted to leave a bit of time in case I had problems) but again I had no problems and received a confirmation email back very quickly.

I can't justify the expense of subscribing to ancestry right now, but I am also very grateful to those who do and who help others (like me) with regard to look-ups.

Sasha.

[anne]

Hi Suey,What i was getting at was the way that Ancestry.com can mislead people as you yourself said as did my husband what if someone signs up like you and then has an awful problem getting out as you nearly did.That must have been a nightmare for you,i think there should be a law against companies like them.Anyway getting sidetracked again sorry Suey.Anne.

[Kazza]

Anne,

As another person who put information into Ancestry before finding they wanted credit card details I totally agree with you.  It is very misleading,  I could not even sign up to the free trial period as I do not have a credit card.  (I would not be safe with one!)  I am now being bombarded with spam from them.  

I hear good reports and bad about Ancestry,  .  They are also very generous sponsors for FreeBMD,  without their support FreeBMD would have trouble continuing.  

However, companies do make money out of people who forget to cancel before the trial period is up.  I feel this is a very cynical marketing ploy and whenever I hear of a company using it I am immediately suspicious.

Kazza.