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  • To Pay or not to pay

    That is the question I have a the moment a free trial subscription to ancestry.co.uk due to buy FTM when the time is up do I continue or not £79 seems an awful lot of money please advise.

    Marilyn

  • #2
    • £79.95 (£80) covers the whole year - so it's £6.50 / month, roughly.
    • It's very easy to spend £6.50 on a pay-as-you-go site in no time at all.
    • There is a lot of material on Ancestry, and they'll be getting more.
    • Its coverage of Scotland is less good (not much in the way of images which tend to be on ScotlandsPeople).
    • There are other sites with lots of material, and different transcriptions - such as FindMyPast (which offers both PaYG and varied subscription-levels).

    It is rumoured that, if you show signs of not taking up their full-price subscription, they offer a discount. I'm sure someone has the UK contact phone-number.

    I find it hard to imagine that I'd have got anything like as far with my tree research without Ancestry there in the background - especially for censuses and BMD records/images, but also BT phonebooks, and military records.

    Christine
    Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

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    • #3
      I couldn't exist without Ancestry. I must use it nearly every day. It's got all the censuses, bmd indexes, lots of other gems like Pallot's baptism & marriage indexes, world war 1 records, telephone directories etc.

      How many records offices could you visit for £79? Or, would buying 10 certs help your research forward more than a sub?
      ~ with love from Little Nell~
      Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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      • #4
        Thank you all so much for your advice when you put it like that I suppose it is good value.

        Marilyn

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        • #5
          Milly, there are various ways of making it cheaper. First of all, dont sub at the moment - they may well send you an email saying you can sub at a discount.

          Log out of the ancestry site and then go there again, go through the rigamarole to sign up to a sub then before you click to pay go backwards - I think they used to flash up a message, saying dont go, have 20% discount (try anyway)

          If they dont, you cant always register with quidco.com (a cash back co-operative site that lots of us belong to). I believe if you go through the quidco link to ancestry they give you 15% cashback at the mo. Join quidco anyway, you get so much cashback from them that you would probably save the amount of the sub in less than a year

          But even if you didnt get a discount, the amount of info and the 24/7 usage is still a real bargain I reckon.
          Last edited by Heather Positive Thinker; 20-04-08, 16:49.

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          • #6
            Thank you so much Heather for your advice you all seem so knowlegeable about these things as you will guess I am a novice to all this but find it so enjoyable finding out about your past someone told me if you phone ancestry they will offer you a discount but cannot find a number.

            Once again thank you

            Marilyn

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            • #7
              I recently renewed for £63.75 or thereabouts which was more than the £55.33 I paid last year but wasn't as much as they wanted £79.95.

              It's worth haggling - sometimes they won't - so then don't subscribe until they give you a better offer.



              Researching Irish families: FARMER, McBRIDE McQUADE, McQUAID, KIRK, SANDS/SANAHAN (Cork), BARR,

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              • #8
                Well Milly, I think several of us screwed a discount out of them over the phone in the past, but you have to be pretty hard nosed to do it Also they changed ownership earlier this year, so not sure how tough they are now. I think we got it for about £55 when we phoned and haggled.

                I think youd have to have a bit of leverage as in being an old subscriber to really haggle the discount as you can say how long you have been a member and all that stuff - as a brand new subscriber Id be more inclined to go for the old fill in the sub form and then exit from it to see if that message still comes up with the 20% discount offer. Oh and have a google cos now and then they have various discounts going on.

                Oh and we were all newbies once - give it 6 months or a year and you will know what we are all on about Just ask if you dont

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                • #9
                  I seem such a meanie don't I its just that I am at work all week and try and fit this exciting new hobby in at weekends between seeing to the families needs (sound pathetic) so will not be using it a great deal that is why I was asking for advice.

                  Thank you all
                  Marilyn

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by MILLY GIRL View Post
                    I seem such a meanie don't I its just that I am at work all week and try and fit this exciting new hobby in at weekends between seeing to the families needs (sound pathetic) so will not be using it a great deal that is why I was asking for advice.

                    Thank you all
                    Marilyn
                    Marilyn

                    You'll find us a sympathetic lot... just read some of the witty footers, and you'll get a clue as to how good (i.e. not) we are at balancing household chores (will that expression get vetoed on here?! ;) ) with this all-absorbing hobby!

                    Christine
                    Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

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                    • #11
                      Milly

                      I am one of the hard-nosed ones Heather is referring to - I phoned them and haggled them down to either £53 or £54, can't remember now.

                      I have a feeling that they are like Insurance companies - they have a daily quota of sales to make, and if you phone latish in the day and they haven't sold m,any subs, you will get a reduction.

                      When I had the free month, I thrashed the **** out of it, day and night, then phoned and cancelled and sat back for a fortnight. They didn't contact me, so I contacted them!

                      Even with all its wibbles and faults and exasperations, it is still extremely good value for money.

                      OC

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                      • #12
                        Thanks for the advice where on their website do I find a number to call them?
                        Marilyn

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                        • #13
                          "Great Britain & Northern Ireland 0800 404 9723
                          (toll free) Monday - Friday : 9:00 am - 7:00 pm GMT
                          Saturday : 9:00 am - 5:00 pm GMT
                          Sunday : Closed "

                          At the bottom of the home page is a tag "contact us" click on that, then there's some FAQs, I chose the one about cancelling a sub and clicked to open a window here.
                          ~ with love from Little Nell~
                          Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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                          • #14
                            Thank you Little Nell for being so kind. This is a wonderful Forum will certainly be using all the time such a lot of helpful people on here which is a Godsend to a novice will let you all know how I get on.

                            Once again thank you

                            Marilyn

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                            • #15
                              Marilyn

                              We were all novices once!
                              When I started, I had no idea I could do Control + F to find someone easily in a long list, I spent hours scrolling down.

                              I've also managed to unwind microfilm off a spool all over the floor in a records office.

                              I've bought the wrong certs through not thinking - got the wrong one for my grandmother because I sent for an Eliza Annie instead of an Annie Eliza.

                              I could go on, so don't worry about being a newbie. If we can help we will. Before you know it you will be advising others!
                              ~ with love from Little Nell~
                              Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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                              • #16
                                O.C. I think you were the Queen of haggling. I got it down to £55 but you managed to beat me by £1.75 or something! Mind you, that was down to you threatening to read the girl your family tree back to Adam and Eve.

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                                • #17
                                  Heather

                                  She diddled me out of a pound, I remember now - we agreed £53.97 but they billed me for £54.97!!

                                  I sha'n't forget that, for next time.

                                  Millie

                                  A lot depends on how far on you are with your research - if you are still in the recent past then you might as well spend your money on certs and consider an Ancestry sub when you really know you need it.

                                  I managed without Ancestry for years - but it meant a lot of faffing around in the library, looking at the GRO indexes, and whatever census I could lay my hands on by other means. The luxury of sitting at your own pc and having it all in one place is well worth the money for me.

                                  OC

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                                  • #18
                                    O.C. dont forget quidco covers a lot of air flights aswell! Ive put a couple of links on your flouncing about thread on general.

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                                    • #19
                                      This is an interesting topic, I have just subscribed to FMP which I am sure cost me more than £55,

                                      I am also an active Quidco user would there be any benefit to also joining Ancestry? or do you think I should wait for FMP sub to end?

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                                      • #20
                                        I dont know what is on Find my Past now? Have a look at ancestry.co.uk - you can see what they have to offer - there are no units to buy - you pay a sub, you use it 24/7 as much or as little as you want, no extra to pay out.

                                        Includes all census 1901-1841, complete bmd index, WW1 pension records, Pallots marriages and births, court, parish records, family trees for millions of people ......................well have a look

                                        Why dont you just sign up for the 14 days free trial and see what you think.

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