FindMyPast subscription £10 for year

[smudwhisk]

This thread has certainly advanced at a rate of knots!

I'm not sure about this -

It wasn't advertised as a genuine offer by FindMyPast, it was posted on here, and possibly elsewhere, and then reposted on various other Facebook pages and probably elsewhere.  If you check the first page, someone did ask the OP where they saw it and they didn't respond at that time.  The online voucher sites had obviously picked it up from somewhere and reposted.  The fact they provide a percentage of how many people were successful at using the code does show its unlikely to have been a genuine advertisement placed by FindMyPast.  Most of these sites do seem to repost the offers they see.

The codes have to originate somewhere, and the most likely place is the company where they are to be used - in ths case FindMyPast, and possibly offered in the various publications of D C Thomson.

I didn't say the code didn't originate from them, I said there was no advert that say it was £10 for a year, the code was advertised as a sub for a £1.

There is a big difference to that so please do not misquote me.

[smudwhisk]

I agree with you smudwhisk apart from the fact that a few weeks ago FindMyPast had a totally FREE weekend access to their records so to see this £10 sub I considered it was another offer especially as the code was SANTA !

Grouse I don't disagree about the free weekend, but that wasn't an annual sub discount.  Its the same difference as the fact they've had numerous £1 for 1 month subs this year.

What I said was that they have never had a discount of 90% on an annual sub, only on the month sub.  That is the difference and most likely what they are relying on.

[groom]

Reluctantly, I think you are right, Smudwhisk, the only adverts for the year for £10 offer came from voucher sites and through word of mouth on various forums, not from FindMyPast itself. Where the mistake was made, was in FindMyPast's software allowing the code to be applied to a year's subscription rather than just a month's. This would probably be judged in law to be a genuine mistake and not an attempt to mislead people and I expect that FindMyPast took legal advice before refunding money and cancelling subscriptions.

[msr]

I'm sorry smudwhisk, I thought I quoted you exactly.  Perhaps I misinterpreted your meaning, for which I apologise.

I have not seen the original advert so cannot disagree with you.  I would be very interested is seeing it though if you care to post it.

I'm unsure so won't state it categorically, but my math seems to be on similar lines to that of grouse.
Offering 1 month for £1.00 to those without a sub works out at £12.00 per year (presuming of course that a yearsworth can be obtained), so it is not unreasonable for subscribers to think that a preferential discount of £2.00 applies to them, is it?  Especially as grouse implies, it would be a rather nice Christmas gift.

[jim1]

Warning
I don't know if this has already been mentioned but when I took up the 1 month for £1 offer the first thing I did was untick the renew box.
When I took up the £10 offer which was accepted by them the renewal box was automatically ticked.
Although they cancelled the subscription they didn't cancel the auto renew.

[jim1]

Email to FindMyPast
Nicky Doran
If we the public are to accept this as an error can you confirm that those who unchecked the renewal box previously only to have it auto-checked on taking up this latest offer will be refunded because although you have cancelled the subscription you haven't cancelled the auto-renewal.
In other words do you accept this as an error also & therefore doesn't have to be honoured.

Reply
Every new subscription automatically switches on the auto-renewal option and our customers have control to change that any time via their My Account page.

I note that you have cancelled your own auto-renewal option just a few moments ago.

As detailed in our terms and conditions, all customers who ask for a refund within 14 days of making a payment are entitled to a refund under our 14 day cooling off period (as long as the subscription has not been used).

So that's a no then.

[Parmesan]

As detailed in our terms and conditions, all customers who ask for a refund within 14 days of making a payment are entitled to a refund under our 14 day cooling off period (as long as the subscription has not been used).

So that's a no then.

the absolute GALL of the woman quoting their T&Cs at you 

[Parmesan]

Okay I phoned CAB

CAB say they were in breach of contract  not honouring the sale BUT the recourse to that is to either, reinstate the purchase OR refund.
I queried them refunding without me asking and they said they shouldn't have done that  but its done now. He said it COULD be pursued but advised it would not be worth the effort which reluctantly I agree with 

  Nothing lost, heigh ho.

[smudwhisk]

I'm unsure so won't state it categorically, but my math seems to be on similar lines to that of grouse.
Offering 1 month for £1.00 to those without a sub works out at £12.00 per year (presuming of course that a yearsworth can be obtained), so it is not unreasonable for subscribers to think that a preferential discount of £2.00 applies to them, is it?  Especially as grouse implies, it would be a rather nice Christmas gift.

I actually deliberately avoided mentioning the issue of the £1 per month multiples that the site appears to let people take out, because the issue has been with the annual sub discount.  Unfortunately, as I mentioned, this is still a discount on the monthly sub and not the annual, but I agree it does seem a little unfair that the site has let people use the monthly discount multiple times during one month, rather than them using the code once every month such a discount appears.  I suspect FindMyPast would still argue that the £1 per month offer is more limited, unlike a 90% discount on the annual, even though that also could be used more than once, and make sure they close the multiple use loophole as soon as they can.

As I have said, the number of people who probably have used the monthly discount code is probably lower because those of us with annual subs aren't eligible.  And this will probably be what they would argue in relation to whether it was fair to expect such a large discount.

It also would be interesting to know if anyone who used the month offer more than once is retaining those subscriptions because as far as I can see, they definitely can't use the misprice rules to override this, as its not a mistake in pricing, and also there is nothing to say it can only be used once. 

I think its safe to say their T&Cs will get revised in the not too distant future.