Wow, I have just caught up with the last few days Digests and found this topic and all the associated toing and froing. In particular I found the response by the Wiltshire and Swindon Archives "predictable" in that they chose to compare their £5 fee with Scotland's people not the National Archives who only charge £3.50 for their wills!! Although I guess you can't blame them for selecting statistics that support their case rather than those that don't, we see that all the time in advertising and spindoctoring by our pollies etc. However, I would prefer to see them defend their charge based on their own COSTS, not someone else's CHARGES. >I am sorry you feel the cost is extortionate. >Five pounds was chosen because that is the >minimum charge we were advised we could make for credit card transactions. Given that £3.50 is OK on credit cards for the PCC Wills I think they also need to get better advice on minimum credit card charges or change their bank! It's not the £5 per se it was these two items used to defend the charge that I didn't think was reasonable. But in the end you have to pay whatever you need to get the information - I have happily bought a number of Scottish wills at £5 (~A$11) but choose not to purchase a USA Social Security report at US$27 (~A$41)!! <bg> Graeme Simpson Melbourne Australia

Graeme Simpson wrote: > Given that £3.50 is OK on credit cards for the > PCC Wills I think they also need to get better > advice on minimum credit card charges or change their bank! Many places won't accept credit cards for under £5 and some won't accept them for under £10. Others will accept cards for as little as £1.

Ahhhh Graeme <G> the SS reports are a mine of information and usually HUGE <G> all the places they worked and children and such goodies Well worth the $$$$$ if you have it <G> Eliz On Sat, Jan 31, 2009 at 10:58 PM, Graeme Simpson <[email protected]> wrote: > Wow, I have just caught up with the last few days > Digests and found this topic and all the associated toing and froing. > > In particular I found the response by the > Wiltshire and Swindon Archives "predictable" in > that they chose to compare their £5 fee with > Scotland's people not the National Archives who > only charge £3.50 for their wills!! Although I > guess you can't blame them for selecting > statistics that support their case rather than > those that don't, we see that all the time in > advertising and spindoctoring by our pollies etc. > However, I would prefer to see them defend their > charge based on their own COSTS, not someone else's CHARGES. > >>I am sorry you feel the cost is extortionate. >>Five pounds was chosen because that is the >>minimum charge we were advised we could make for credit card transactions. > Given that £3.50 is OK on credit cards for the > PCC Wills I think they also need to get better > advice on minimum credit card charges or change their bank! > > It's not the £5 per se it was these two items > used to defend the charge that I didn't think was > reasonable. But in the end you have to pay > whatever you need to get the information - I have > happily bought a number of Scottish wills at £5 > (~A$11) but choose not to purchase a USA Social > Security report at US$27 (~A$41)!! <bg> > > Graeme Simpson > Melbourne Australia > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >