Hi, Today I had a LostCousins Newsletter in which it was mentioned that the GRO have a survey on their website which in part sounds similar to below. It took me about 15 mins. to complete and if you tick the main reason why you order certificates as being family history you are then presented with lists of the other prime sites such as Ancestry and FreeBMD to give reasons why you might use them. I think it could be worth taking the time to fill it in as you can include such topics as the cost of certificates and the length of time and ease of obtaining them from the GRO - at least let them know we are not happy with the price increase last year and are seeking alternative ways of gaining the same information. From Merryl Wells of Luton, Beds. E-Mail: [email protected] GOONS Mem. No. 1757 Reg. ONS: Bawtree; Gullick/ock, Moist/Moyst ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Brown" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011 9:58 AM Subject: Re: [SOG-UK] GRO Certificate Ordering (was Principal ProbateRegistryOne Hour Service) > "Diana Bouglas" <[email protected]> wrote : > > >> Geoff Swinfield was invited to attend a small, one-off focus group >> meeting, >with three other users of the certificate ordering system. I >> wonder if this might >have been connected to John's approach by GRO. It >> was hosted by >IPS/GRO representatives on Tuesday (21 Sep). One was from >> Southport >and the others were London-based and weren't so familiar with >> the specifics >of the service. He was by far the heaviest user present >> (about 20 certs a >month). The other three had used the system very >> little. >> >> They seemed to be concerned about why people might not use their online >> >ordering service, eg ordering from local registrars or through >> intermediaries >such as Ancestry and also not ordering at all, perhaps >> using parish register >versions of marriages or just relying on the index >> entries. > > The contact I had was to complete a questionnaire regarding possible > options > for the future supply of certificates. Delivery by e-mail was in there > somewhere and variable pricing with some sort of subscription-type option > also. > > This was around March or April this year and I assumed was a response to a > significant reduction in demand following the huge price rise in April > 2010; > one of the questions did ask for approximate numbers of certificates > bought > in earlier years compared with 2010/11. > >> The one thing they were very definite about was that their digitisation >> >program (DOVE, MAGPIE etc) is now half complete but will not be >> >continuing because of lack of funding. Recent BMD indexes will continue >> to >be produced on fiche but will not be placed online. > > Which, given their apparent concerns about people not using the system, > makes the kind of sense one tends to expect, and despair of, from > government > departments, notwithstanding the current financial constraints. > >>Also discussed were the possibility of obtaining cheaper, uncertified >>copies of >historical records (as with ScotlandsPeople) and also the >>withdrawal of the >checking point option. > > I think that the questionnaire also mentioned what might be called > 'unofficial' certificates for family history purposes, too. > > John B > Leic., Eng > > > ------------------------------- > 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 > > ______________________________________________ > This email has been scanned by Netintelligence > http://www.netintelligence.com/email >

I had this email, too, from Lostcousins. The GRO web survey url is here: https://vault2.secured-url.com/lake/gro/customer_satisfaction.htm I think it might be a good idea to spread this as widely as possible among GRO users. I shall be tweeting about it. Rosemary Rosemary Morgan London Roots Research www.londonrootsresearch.blogspot.com On 25/09/2011 11:07, "Merryl Wells" <[email protected]> wrote: >Hi, Today I had a LostCousins Newsletter in which it was mentioned that >the >GRO have a survey on their website which in part sounds similar to below. >It took me about 15 mins. to complete and if you tick the main reason why >you order certificates as being family history you are then presented >with >lists of the other prime sites such as Ancestry and FreeBMD to give >reasons >why you might use them. I think it could be worth taking the time to >fill >it in as you can include such topics as the cost of certificates and the >length of time and ease of obtaining them from the GRO - at least let >them >know we are not happy with the price increase last year and are seeking >alternative ways of gaining the same information. > >From >Merryl Wells of Luton, Beds. >E-Mail: [email protected] >GOONS Mem. No. 1757 Reg. ONS: Bawtree; Gullick/ock, Moist/Moyst > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "John Brown" <[email protected]> >To: <[email protected]> >Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011 9:58 AM >Subject: Re: [SOG-UK] GRO Certificate Ordering (was Principal >ProbateRegistryOne Hour Service) > > >> "Diana Bouglas" <[email protected]> wrote : >> >> >>> Geoff Swinfield was invited to attend a small, one-off focus group >>> meeting, >with three other users of the certificate ordering system. I >>> wonder if this might >have been connected to John's approach by GRO. It >>> was hosted by >IPS/GRO representatives on Tuesday (21 Sep). One was >>>from >>> Southport >and the others were London-based and weren't so familiar >>>with >>> the specifics >of the service. He was by far the heaviest user present >>> (about 20 certs a >month). The other three had used the system very >>> little. >>> >>> They seemed to be concerned about why people might not use their online >>> >ordering service, eg ordering from local registrars or through >>> intermediaries >such as Ancestry and also not ordering at all, perhaps >>> using parish register >versions of marriages or just relying on the >>>index >>> entries. >> >> The contact I had was to complete a questionnaire regarding possible >> options >> for the future supply of certificates. Delivery by e-mail was in there >> somewhere and variable pricing with some sort of subscription-type >>option >> also. >> >> This was around March or April this year and I assumed was a response >>to a >> significant reduction in demand following the huge price rise in April >> 2010; >> one of the questions did ask for approximate numbers of certificates >> bought >> in earlier years compared with 2010/11. >> >>> The one thing they were very definite about was that their digitisation >>> >program (DOVE, MAGPIE etc) is now half complete but will not be >>> >continuing because of lack of funding. Recent BMD indexes will >>>continue >>> to >be produced on fiche but will not be placed online. >> >> Which, given their apparent concerns about people not using the system, >> makes the kind of sense one tends to expect, and despair of, from >> government >> departments, notwithstanding the current financial constraints. >> >>>Also discussed were the possibility of obtaining cheaper, uncertified >>>copies of >historical records (as with ScotlandsPeople) and also the >>>withdrawal of the >checking point option. >> >> I think that the questionnaire also mentioned what might be called >> 'unofficial' certificates for family history purposes, too. >> >> John B >> Leic., Eng >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> 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 >> >> ______________________________________________ >> This email has been scanned by Netintelligence >> http://www.netintelligence.com/email >> > > >------------------------------- >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