Find a Will Gov UK website problem

[garden genie]

Well I have just checked the Franklins on Ancestry and the volume they have scanned for 1884 does not have folio numbers on it. Surely the whole set can't be short of them or it would be mentioned more often?

[Jebber]

I would search the Probate Calendar on the Government  website when I want to order a will. I only use the one on Ancestry if I just want   to see if there was a Will  and to whom probate was granted. Sometimes Ancestry differs from the Government site.

If you do as I and others  have advised and use the proper Government website, NOT Ancestry,  you will find several Franklins have Folio numbers, as you have already been told Richard’s Folio number is 114 hand written in large numerals.

[Nick_Ips]

Well I have just checked the Franklins on Ancestry and the volume they have scanned for 1884 does not have folio numbers on it. Surely the whole set can't be short of them or it would be mentioned more often?

The Ancestry images have been scanned from a version that doesn't have folio numbers on.  The government website version has the folio numbers.

This does get raised here from time to time.

Searching the Ancestry version is fine... the search is far more flexible than the official one and more likely to produce better results... but when placing an order the government website version should be the only source.

[Carolynxyz]

How helpful people are.  I appreciate everyone's response.  I thought I finally had it cracked.  I used the government site, filled out the order form, including the folio number, and put the order in my basket.  I clicked on my basket and got the following message: "There is a problem.  HTTP/1.1500 returned - please contact your administrator."  Sigh! So where do I go from here, I wonder?!  I'll try it with a different order to see if that yields the same message, I think.
Carolyn

[Carolynxyz]

So I just tried placing an order for a different will.  It's taken my payment, so now I'll have to wait and see if I get the will or a standard form saying the document is not found! Fingers crossed.  Thank you to everyone who has tried to help me with this problem.  It's now a waiting game.
Carolyn

[Carolynxyz]

So, I have had two replies from the help desk, and it's a cautionary tale.  The first one said I had made a mistake with the registry.  It should be Principal Registry, not Worcester, they said.  They sent me a screen shot of my order, which showed that I had stated the Principal Registry!  The second response was a form letter:

Dear Customer.  We are currently experiencing some technical issues with our online ordering service, which are causing some customers to receive an error message when attempting to change their passwords.  Our IT team is currently investigating this problem, and it appears to be a temporary glitch that has affected a limited number of customers.  In the meantime, we recommend ordering a hard copy whilst we are trying to solve the issue.

Of course, as I pointed out to them, I have had this problem since 2022, so it is not a temporary glitch in my case.  Nor am I trying to change my password!   I will not be ordering a hard copy, because I live in Canada and cannot write them the cheque they say is how I must pay.  A banker's draft would make this expensive too.  I am not at all impressed with this service, I'm afraid!

[Andy J2022]

Carolyn, I share your unhappiness with the service. Unfortunately the HMCTS have outsourced the service to Iron Mountain, who being a tech company, you would think would know how to build a reliable website and fulfillment service, but I guess it's all being done on the cheap, with most of the day-to-day stuff handled by automation, (I hesitate to use the dreaded words AI). How can reverting to hard copies be a solution? The mind boggles.