GRO fees

[MuttleyS]

I'm not sure if this has come up before but I am surprised if it hasn't.

If buying online, you give the index number for a certificate and when it arrives it turns out that you ordered the one for the wrong person, why can't you get a full refund?

Because what you are buying is unseen then surely it should be covered by the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000.

The point of these regulations is to protect the consumer when they buy goods or services online without face-to-face contact with the seller and without the opportunity to inspect the goods before purchase.

Even though you gave the reference details in good faith, with common surnames it is possible that there or two or three possible index references for the person you are looking for, and without seeing the details on the certificate it is impossible to know which is the right one.

You shouldn't have to order two or three certificates just to get the one you want.

There is nothing about this in the GRO terms and conditions, and reading the details of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 it doesn't seem that the GRO are exempt in any way.

Has this ever been tested and does anybody have any thoughts about this?

[stanmapstone]

Following the withdrawal of the reference checking facility I have received confirmation from GRO that if a customer applies for a certificate from GRO and does not have a GRO reference, they are able to supply information to help identify the record. GRO will search in the year they quote together, if necessary, with a year either side. If GRO cannot find the record on this basis, they will refund the fee in full.
http://www.ffhs.org.uk/news/news100412.php

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,459019.msg3199975.html#msg3199975

Stan

[behindthefrogs]

If you have ordered using the reference number and supplied no other information why should you expect a refund?  You will presumably have been sent exactly what you ordered.

[MuttleyS]

Yes stanmapstone I understand that, but I was thinking about the situation where, say for a death, you know someone died within a period of say two or three years (but you don't know the exact year), and you know the location where they died.

When you look up the index, particularly with common names, there may be two or three possibilities.

Without seeing the occupation and/or address (or parents names on other certificates) you can't know which is the right one. AND neither can the GRO however much searching they do. They would have to have more information than is given on their application form surely?

I have to admit that I am very new to all this family history research so I may be missing something.

[MuttleyS]

behindthefrogs - I would expect a refund if, like buying anything else unseen on the internet it turned out to be not what I wanted - even though I ordered what I ordered in good faith.

If I bought some clothes and they turned out to be not exactly the right colour or the wrong size or I just didn't like them when I saw them in the flesh. They were exactly what I ordered but I would still expect - and would get by law - a refund.

I don't see ordering an unseen document from the GRO as any different.

[stanmapstone]

If you know the location where the death was registered, then you would be better ordering the certificate from the local registrars, who are generally more helpful than the GRO 

Stan

[RJ_Paton]

Paragraph 2.12 of the Trading Standards Information Pack for Businesses would appear to give the GRO a get out clause from the DSR's

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf

[stanmapstone]

A death must be registered in the district in which it took place.

Stan

[MuttleyS]

If you know the location where the death was registered, then you would be better ordering the certificate from the local registrars, who are generally more helpful than the GRO 

Stan

That's true but I guess time pressures mean that they may not be more helpful.

I was really thinking about the situation of having ordered the certificate in good faith and only after receiveing it, finding out it is the wrong one. Too late then to go to the local office.