The new Findmypast (Part 3)

[Richview]

Wish I could get my money back I would go straight back to Ancestry

Sue

There are a lot of us I'm sure wouldn't have renewed had we know what they were going to do.
Now they are to busy to take phone calls you must email!!!!
R

[HarryW]

I received a reply to my complaint asking me to specify my issues so that they can assist me.

Now where to start 

[LizzieL]

That's sounding more positive.
I have sent quite a number of complaints and I have always tried to make them as specific as possible and kept to one issue per complaint. At first it seemed that were in denial that there was a problem and were just picking key words e.g "census" or "newspaper" from the complaint text and firing back a reply with links to Help / FAQs for those topics which ranged from a time consuming, cumbersome way to do something which had been easy before to something that didn't actually work.
Then after a bit of a break in replies I got a long email which referenced about three separate ones of mine. There were no real solutions but it did admit they knew there were some difficulties and they were working on them.
I expect after the first onslaught of complaints which they just attacked like a bushfire out of control, they can now actually analyse where the major problems are and start to put them right.   

[JenB]

I complained about the so-called 'reference search' on the 1841 census search page.
I asked why there is a space for a 'schedule number' which doesn't exist in the 1841, but no space for Book Number which is an integral part of the reference.

Their reply was to send me a link to the search page for the 1841 census 

[LizzieL]

If I got something like that (which I did early on), I was right back to them re-explaining the problem in words of half a syllable

[lisalisa]

I just realised that when I've sent a msg via 'contact us', when I clicked send (and thought it went) it takes me to the FAQ page, and I hadn't realised that my msg needed another click to 'really' send it, as it is hidden out of sight and needs more scrolling to find it.

I actually think that tactics like this AND the feedback forum AND voting are just distractions designed to make it look like they are bothered about users' opinions, when they are not.

I tried searching various census years being on the exact year I wanted and there are so many things that don't work, it is beyond belief.
Why for example when I am on a GB census, is the only 'Lydney' birthplace in Australia?? - they must think I meant Sydney.
I think it would take a life time to outline all the rubbish. 

And the household transcription in alphabetical order with the person used for the search taken out - give me strength!!!!

Anyway I sent off another 2 complaints - obviously the 5 I thought I already sent didn't actually get sent.

Lisa

[dawnsh]

Who remembers the 1901 census fiasco? that went belly-up in seconds and was off line for 8 months.

I know we're all seriously frustrated, I'm sure the staff at FindMyPast are dreading their working environment at the moment, but from the feedback I've had from FindMyPast, they know they've got problems and are doing what they can to put them right. And yes, my emails to them have been replied to and my suggestions have been added to their list of things to fix. They know that at the end of the day we would like things back the way they were.

Might I suggest we all take a deep breath and let FindMyPast get on with fixing things. The whole site is not out of action but the search functions don't work quite as we are used to and how we want them to. By the same token, not all the data has gone away, it is still there.

They are no doubt aware they will lose customers because of this. I too want value for money from my subscription. We can take steps to switch off the auto-renew facility, we can hold off on making those renewals, but FindMyPast and the whole of the organisation have too much at stake to keep us off-line and away from our research for too long. I'm sure their partnerships with the National Archives, British Library, the local records offices et al are under scruntiny as well.

Please remember that our hobby is just that, not life and death, and that maybe we should take time away and do something else instead or try out a resource we've not used recently or before.

[Richview]

I would recommend using the contact us page on the National Archives site - I know several subscribers have including myself. Earlier I did have a very informative reply from them in fact it helped more than the waffle I had from FindMyPast.
R
 

[JenB]

Here is a link to the Q & A set up by 'Who Do You Think You Are?'
www.rootschat.com/links/0ytx/

Responses from FindMyPast are as you might have expected.