Hello to all, Below you will see a message that I received from another person in regard to my circumstance of paying a researcher and getting nothing in return. I followed her advice and filed a complaint.Read on,it is very enlightening. And many thanks to all that sent messages in regard to my dilemma. Denise............Original Message Below X-Message: #17 Date: Sat, 14 May 2005 12:59:06 -0700 (PDT) From: Joy Rich <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Bklyn] Slightly Off-Topic--Paying for a Researcher Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii This kind of situation makes reputable professional genealogists cringe. Professional genealogists have a "trade" organization, the Association of Professional Genealogists. http://www.apgen.org/ APG has over 1500 members. If any of its members are in violation of its Code of Ethics, published at http://www.apgen.org/ethics/CodeofEthicsBrochure.pdf, APG wants to be told about it. Contact information for filing a complaint is at http://apgen.org/contacts/index.html. Denise, if the person you did business with is a member of APG, I encourage you to let APG know. If the person isn't an APG member, I encourage you to notify the Better Business Bureau, as you mentioned. Joy Rich Member, APG [email protected] wrote: Hi All, While not wanting (as they say) to bash anyone I'd like to make a couple of comments in regard to paying someone to do research for you. Recently I had the experience of contacting a person on one of the lists that stated they search the Albany Archives on a regular basis. I inquired of the fee and the costs of certificates. Being on a limited income due to disability I agreed to the amount. The person also agreed to allow me to pay the next month for the second certificate I had asked for. To make this long story short. I got no certificates. They had excuse after excuse. They even had different numbers on the certificate for reference in all of my e-mails. Now I'm mad, leary and embarrassed all at the same time as well as being out $75. Mad as heck because someone took advantage of my trust in people, Leary of ever trying to pay a researcher again and embarrassed that I don't or didn't have the common sense to check out possibly the Better Business Bureau. I have since found a way to check the validity of an address.Zaba Search. Com is great. If I had known sooner I would have seen that this person was listed under their correct name but various middle initials all at the same address.However,they used a post office box in the same zip-code as their regular mailing address. Anyway, be careful. Check out their credentials if possible. By all means, do the legwork yourself if you can.Where I am, the FHC is over an hour away, no buses, no taxis, have to go down the mountain.(I'm not in the states. So, to the people that get pleasure of ripping other people off in our genealogical searches? Shame on you!!! It's people like you that cause much undue grief for others. I'm going to send this to all of the lists that I belong to. If one person is saved the aggravation that I've had then that will make me feel somewhat better. Regards to all from a fellow searcher