Australian electoral rolls - what a swiz!

[Mary from Italy]

I've been using the Australian electoral rolls and Sands Directories on Ancestry practically non-stop since they came out, and today I find they're no longer accessible unless you have a World subscription :eek:

I don't think I can really justify that as I don't have anyone in the USA, only the UK and Australia.

What a pity, it was a really excellent resource.

[Christine in Herts]

I hadn't realised they were planning to remove them like that - tho' I was surprised that they had been accessible on just a UK sub.

Disappointing!

Christine

[Harrys mum]

It's not fair. There's very little Australian info on Ancestry and most Australians have their roots in UK so get a UK sub. My lot have been here since 1788 and I only have a UK sub. Quite frankly I cannot afford a World sub, and if even if they are moving all the Aussie info there, I still won't get the World one. Neither will I renew my UK sub.

Maybe I'll email Ancestry and see what's going on.

[Christine in Herts]

It would seem reasonable to have an intermediate sub - say UK+, with one or two extra countries. But I suppose people would subscribe to that and then want to switch second countries once they'd "harvested" all they could from the first one they'd subscribed to!

Chrisitne

[Mary from Italy]

Yes, I'm sure an intermediate sub between UK and World would be ideal for a lot of people. As Libby says, the present situation is very unfair on Australians.

You can still partially access the electoral roll and Sands - the names are still there, you just don't get the full details and the image, a bit like the US censuses.

This means it is still useful to a limited extent, at least to find out which State your people were in.

[Ozzie Gert]

Not sure if it would work Mary, but have you tried the AU site. When i had a AU sub a couple of months ago, i could access the UK site for lots of areas.

[Mary from Italy]

No, I've just tried it - unfortunately it doesn't work.

[Ozzie Gert]

Thats a shame, i only took out a months AU sub because it worked out cheaper than the UK one.

Sylvia

[Harrys mum]

What's the point of them having an Australian sub if you can't access Australian records??

[Mary from Italy]

I didn't even know there was one. What's it supposed to include?

[niftynannie]

I will also be sending Ancestry a letter.Totally unfair as there is so little on line for Australia and i do not have any American lines to follow so do not want to subscribe for the world ancestry.

[Mary from Italy]

Just in case anyone's interested they've reduced the price of the World sub for existing subscribers - if I remember rightly it's come down from £199 to £149. I still think it's too much, though.

[vikki brace]

don't know if it will help but they are offering a 14 day free trial to all Ancestry.com.au collections

Genealogy, Family Trees and Family History Records online - Ancestry.com.au (http://www.ancestry.com.au/)

[Ozzie Gert]

I didn't even know there was one. What's it supposed to include?

Sorry Mary, I`ve only just found this again, it gives you the UK heritage collection for $19-95 against about $24 with the exchange rate if you go through the UK site

Sylvia

[Snowdrops in Bloom]

Maybe Ancestry needs to go along the lines of say, Sky.

You get a basic package (such as the English census etc) then you can have any one additional collection for say, £20 per year. Any two additional different collections for £30 and so on.

Then each year you could pick and choose your combination - I'm sure with today's technology it should be feasible to do.

[Mary from Italy]

I wrote to Ancestry about this.

They first replied to say that I'd have to get the World sub if I wanted access to the Australian electoral rolls and Sands as well as the UK censuses. I asked if they couldn't offer an in-between solution that included just the UK and Australian databases, and they've just sent this reply:

I will pass your request onto Marketing regarding the option for membership. When your membership in May is up you can cancel the UK Deluxe and sign up for the Australian Deluxe and that will give you access to both sites.

I've written back to ask them what the Australian Deluxe sub includes, and how much it currently costs. Has anyone else heard of it? I tried logging out and going to ancestry.com.au, but it only offers World Heritage membership.

[KiteRunner]

The £50 off the Annual World Membership is an offer which only lasts until the 28th Feb 2008 (don't know why it's not the 29th!) and doesn't apply to people who already have an annual world membership.

I tried to view an Australian electoral roll entry to see what it would suggest I upgrade to, but confusingly, it asked me to upgrade to UK membership! I had a little panic wondering if my sub had lapsed, but it says it's still running, so I think they may be in a bit of a muddle about the Aussie stuff.

[Mary from Italy]

I tried to view an Australian electoral roll entry to see what it would suggest I upgrade to, but confusingly, it asked me to upgrade to UK membership!

That happened to me as well. I tried 2 or 3 times - sometimes it told me I had to upgrade to World membership, and sometimes to UK, which I already have.

Anyway, Ancestry have now replied, as follows:

The annual cost for the Australian Deluxe (UK Heritage Collection) cost $149.95 Australian Dollars. This gives you access to the AU and UK sites.

That works out at £66.68, which sounds reasonable.

Does anyone else have that subscription, and does it include full access to the electoral rolls and Sands?

[Christine in Herts]

At that price, it's cheaper than basic UK membership!

Christine

[Mary from Italy]

Well, they renewed mine last year for £55, but I know the current UK rate is a good bit more. I wonder if it depends which country you're in? They presumably know I'm not in Australia, though, because they quoted the date when my current subscription expires, so they would have seen that I paid in euros.

[Harrys mum]

I've tried to cantact Ancestry here in Australia since this thread started, with no answers. I've been to Ancestry.com.au and my user name pops up as though I belong to that one. If I try to access the Aus. electoral rolls, I get a pop up saying I have to join World deluxe. It gives me the current price $450 and also tells me I'd get a refund of 34 pounds from my UK sub.

I just think it's rude to take records off. My friend joined the UK Ancestry just for the Australian records and the day after her free trial ended (so the money had been taken out of her account) they took the electoral rolls away.

I'm madly saving every record I can find so that I don't have to stay there after my sub runs out.

[Christine in Herts]

I don't know about rude, but it does seem a bit devious - or less than open - misleading?

I've just tried looking at the NY Passenger Lists and got a "sign up for UK Membership" notice - fine, but that's the membership I already have! I've sent them a message to find out what's going on.

Christine

[Mary from Italy]

I don't know about rude, but it does seem a bit devious - or less than open - misleading?

Yes, I think you're right - they whet your appetite with some really useful records, then force you to pay through the nose for them.

The price they've offered me seems surprisingly reasonable, though - as these are new records, I don't mind paying a bit extra for them, I just don't want to be forced into getting the World sub which is no use to me because I have no US ancestors (apart from a couple who spent a few years there).

I told them when I asked about the Australian records that I was in touch with other Australian researchers on a genealogy forum, and that I'd post their answer so that other people didn't need to contact them separately.

However, as their pricing policy is so "flexible", it looks as though that may be necessary.

In my last message, I asked what it'd cost to upgrade immediately, paying the difference between now and the end of May when my current sub runs out, because I've found those records so incredibly useful - not quite as good as the UK censuses, but certainly the next best thing.

[Mary from Italy]

I've tried to cantact Ancestry here in Australia since this thread started, with no answers.

How did you contact them? I went through Help - Email Ancestry Support. I got the first reply after a couple of days, but the replies to follow-up queries have been quicker.

[Kit]

Mary the $149.95 price is the price offerred to Australians. I just did a search though and it told me to upgrade to World Heritage which is $449.95. So the cheaper price wont get the records you need. It is rude to change it and not announce the change.

[Kit]

I just tried a the other searches on ancestry.com.au and a lot of them require world membership. What a rip off. :(:( Basically only the first, second, third and other fleet info is on the cheaper membership. All other Australian documents are on world membership. :mad: They will not get many aussies with that price. :(

[Harrys mum]

I noticed that Kit. I couldn't find any Australian part of Ancestry that gave you the electoral rolls.

The convicts lists are really available at a lot of other sites, so it's not worth paying for them. My 4 x great grandparents are first and second fleeters and they are not on Ancestry!!! My 3 x great grandfather was also a convict who came in 1797 and he's there, but he's also quite famous so whether that makes a difference??

[Mary from Italy]

This is really strange.

Ancestry just wrote back today, to say:

When you go onto the site Genealogy, Family Trees and Family History Records online - Ancestry.com.au (http://ancestry.com.au) you will find the membership under UK Heritage for the amount of 149.95.

So you're all saying that you already have the UK Heritage sub from the Australian site but it doesn't give you access to the electoral rolls and Sands? If that's the case, I'll ask them to clarify the situation.

[Harrys mum]

Mary...............I've tried that one. Still wants me to pay AU$449.95 to see the records.

[dicole]

Hi

I don't get an upgrade message - I just keep getting "operation aborted" messages - so I have emailed ancestry with a technical assistance query.

When I try to access the Australian Dictionary of Biography, I get a page asking me to upgrade to UK membership, which I already have......



Di

[Mary from Italy]

OK, I'll go back to Ancestry and see if I can get some clarificatoin.

[Kit]

Mary I don't have an ancestry sub at the moment. I just went to .com.au and searched to see where it would tell me to subscribe to. I emailed them and complained and the response was:


The new Astralian membership will give you access to all Australian and U.K records. For more details, please give us a call.

That suggests it should be available for $149.95. I haven't called them to actually subscribe yet.

[Rebs]

Hi

I don't get an upgrade message - I just keep getting "operation aborted" messages - so I have emailed ancestry with a technical assistance query.

When I try to access the Australian Dictionary of Biography, I get a page asking me to upgrade to UK membership, which I already have......



Di

Di, the Australian Dictionary of Biography (http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/adbonline.htm) is available online without Ancestry.

[Mary from Italy]

OK, this is the last message from Ancestry, after I told them that other Australians were having trouble getting access to the electoral rolls:

The UK Heritage Collection which is found on the AU site give them access to information on that site which include the Australian Electoral Rolls, 1901-1936. Like I mention earlier if you have the UK Deluxe membership you do not have this access anymore. If you like you can speak to a customer support agent at 1.800.251.838 from T - Sat 7:00 AM to 1 PM AEST.

Can I suggest that anyone having trouble tries ringing that number?

I can't test out the sub myself yet, because they've told me that I can't change until mine ends in May, and I'll have to use PPV in the meantime (grrr...)

[dicole]

Hi Rebs

Thanks, yes I know the ADB is freely available, and have used it. I want to know from ancestry why I am being asked to take a UK sub for it, when I am already logged in to the UK site !!!

No answer yet !!

[KiteRunner]

So there is a membership called UK Heritage, which is only available on the Australian site, is that right?

[Mary from Italy]

This is what they're saying, yes. But if I go to ancestry . com . au, it only offers me the World Heritage sub. No idea if that's because I'm not actually in Australia.

[Sunny Kate]

Mary, when I go to ancestry.com.au it offers me the 14 day free trial to UK Heritage Collection so that must be limited to Oz.

[Mary from Italy]

I shall be cross if that's the case - what are Australians living abroad supposed to do?

They've already told me I can have it, but I don't know if they checked on my account to see where I'm living.

[Harrys mum]

When I go to ancestry.com.au I get the search page similar to ancetsry.co.uk but it only has Australian records.

When I search anything, I cannot get past the results ...............Up pops the ancestry world deulxe with the sub details.

I have Ancestry.co.uk sub. I have no idea if it's a "heritage" sub or not. It was the only one when I joined (I think) and I just pay each year.

I've tried the email option to contact them and got nothing back.

[Kit]

it shouldn't matter where you are living. I know someone on this site, can't think who, has ancestry.com and live in England and I know aussies who have .co.uk. If you log on to a particular site ie .com or .co.uk or .com.au you should see what they have on offer.

Mary try this link for .com.au:
Enable Cookies - Ancestry.com.au (http://www.ancestry.com.au/subscribe/signup.aspx?offerid=0%3A7858%3A0&SourceId=&TargetId=)

To simplify matters:
ancestry.com.au offers:
UK Heritage for $149.95
World Heritage for $449.95

ancestry.co.uk offers:
UK Membership for 79.95
World Membership for 149.95

[Harrys mum]

Kit.....I only have the UK sub. When I first got it, I thought there was only two ...UK or World. I couldn't afford World and emailed Ancetsry who told me to get the UK one as it had all the Australian records as well. That was two years ago.

I can't even find the difference between the UK and UK Heritage.

[Kit]

Libby I had UK myself but let it cancel as I wasn't using it. (Don't tell OC I was going to give it to her except she got her own the day before. lol) You're right I couldn't tell the difference between the two. Now however it apparently does make a difference. It seems that the aussie version has all of UK and the australian content and UK now only has uk stuff.

As the 2 countries are intertwined it seems silly to me to split it like this. UK Heritage seems to way to go at the moment.

[Harrys mum]

Thanks, Kit. I'll have to think before I pay again in July.

[dicole]

me too, libby I will be re-thinking my sub AND my query I sent on Friday has disappeared so I cannot check on it - will just have to send another one !!.

I just tried to use ancestry.com.au without logging in - if I want to get UK census information I have to upgrade to UK Heritage, if I want the Sands Directory, I have to have World Heritage. The Australian Dictionary of Biography does not show on the home page of Ancestry.com.au, so I don't know which sub I need for it (iknow, its free elswhere, but I wanted to see what would happen !!)


No idea what they are doing and won't be renewing, I think.

Diane

[Harrys mum]

Diane..........from what I can work out...............everyone has different records they can access, or different replies to questions????????????

[Mary from Italy]

Here's the latest reply from Ancestry, which seems to clarify the situation:


The reason you do not see the UK Heritage is because you already have an active annual membership. You are only going to see subscriptions for an upgrade which the UK Heritage is not an upgrade. Yes you can take out the Australian sub when your membership ends in May.

[KiteRunner]

They have a strange definition of upgrade, don't they? I would have thought that if you changed to a sub which allowed you to access more stuff, it would be an upgrade! When I look to see what upgrades are available for me, it usually tells me that the normal UK membership would be an upgrade for me because at the moment I pay quarterly and I could switch to annual payments!

[Kit]

I think upgrades mean more money and that the UK and UK heritage are mean to be equivalent in price. So to them it isn't an upgrade.

[dicole]

Hi

I just received an answer from ancestry about the error messages "operation aborted" - he suggested the page which describes deleting all the temporary internet files and cookies. So I obediently deleted all of them.

Am I surprised it did not change anything ?

Diane

[Mary from Italy]

That's strange - I've never had that message before. Which browser are you using?

[dicole]

Hi Mary

I use IE7, but this is the only time I get this message, in a grey box in the middle of the screen. If I click on OK, it says goes to the usual "Website not found" page. It does not really explain what is happening.

I have another query into with Ancestry, so I should get a response (next week, whenI am away on hols, Murphy's law says)

Diane

[Delightful Dukkie]

Australian records (from inside Australia) are relatilvely easy to access because it was a colony and everything was documented somewhere. NSW was until 1901 all of eastern Australia. Freemantle and Perth were ports in the west with many shipping records. Only south austrtalia is al ittle tricky because it was a free settlers colony.

[dicole]

You should see the bureaucracy of the Colonial Secretary's Dept, the depth of records kept by them is amazing !!

I found letters relating to the employment of OH's g-g-g-grandma and her husband in the Immigration Depot - dates, amount paid, rations allowed. Even where they went after they left the Depot.

The whole place was run by bureaucrats from Day One - they had to keep track of all those pesky convicts. If someone worked for the government, there will be records !!


Diane