Last week I bought some pay-as-you-go units for £6.95 at Ancestry because I wanted to do some research in their London Parish Records. It is no secret that I am not an Ancestry fan - I always use Findmypast wherever possible - and have repeatedly said I would never take out an Ancestry subscription. However, I buy PAYG units from Ancestry where occasionally necessary. I have been away for a few days and in downloading my e-mails this morning, to my astonishment I found one from Ancestry congratulating me on signing up for their trial annual subscription, starting free. I am 100 per cent certain I did NOT! Moreover, to compound matters the e-mail informed me that my subscription would start on August 17 2012 - the very day the e-mail was dated and on which I bought the PAYG units. I called the freefone number for Ancestry.co.uk and spoke to an American girl (whether she was in this country or in the US I don't know) and told her in no uncertain terms that I had not signed up for a free trial subscription, nor did I want one. She apologised profusely and said that the e-mails had been sent out to pay-as-you-go customers "in error". Obviously, I had to take her word for it. She assured me my name and e-mail address would be removed from the subscription list. What bothers me is that they have my credit card details from my purchase of PAYG units and I will have to check on my next statement that I haven't been charged for an annual subscription. I don't know how many of these "in error" e-mails have gone out but I thought it best to inform the list, as I cannot be the only person to have received it. If others have had such a message and did not wish to start an Ancestry subscription, I advise them to telephone or e-mail Ancestry and demand that things be put right. Now perhaps some listers will understand why I prefer FMP every time! -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Famous family trees blog: http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/roy-stockdill/ "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE

Thank you for this piece of intelligence Roy - very useful to hear of your recent experience in view of the fact that I need to find out more about how Ancestry works in relation to short term subs. I shall try to find that number to have a conversation which I find more satisfactory - usually. Suzanne > From: roy.stockdill@btinternet.com > To: YORKSGEN@rootsweb.com > Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:36:53 +0100 > Subject: [YORKSGEN] Ancestry - a warning! > > Last week I bought some pay-as-you-go units for £6.95 at Ancestry because I wanted to do > some research in their London Parish Records. It is no secret that I am not an Ancestry fan - > I always use Findmypast wherever possible - and have repeatedly said I would never take out > an Ancestry subscription. However, I buy PAYG units from Ancestry where occasionally > necessary. > > I have been away for a few days and in downloading my e-mails this morning, to my > astonishment I found one from Ancestry congratulating me on signing up for their trial annual > subscription, starting free. I am 100 per cent certain I did NOT! Moreover, to compound > matters the e-mail informed me that my subscription would start on August 17 2012 - the very > day the e-mail was dated and on which I bought the PAYG units. > > I called the freefone number for Ancestry.co.uk and spoke to an American girl (whether she > was in this country or in the US I don't know) and told her in no uncertain terms that I had not > signed up for a free trial subscription, nor did I want one. She apologised profusely and said > that the e-mails had been sent out to pay-as-you-go customers "in error". Obviously, I had to > take her word for it. She assured me my name and e-mail address would be removed from > the subscription list. What bothers me is that they have my credit card details from my > purchase of PAYG units and I will have to check on my next statement that I haven't been > charged for an annual subscription. > > I don't know how many of these "in error" e-mails have gone out but I thought it best to inform > the list, as I cannot be the only person to have received it. If others have had such a > message and did not wish to start an Ancestry subscription, I advise them to telephone or > e-mail Ancestry and demand that things be put right. > > Now perhaps some listers will understand why I prefer FMP every time! > > -- > Roy Stockdill > Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer > Famous family trees blog: http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/roy-stockdill/ > > "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, > and that is not being talked about." > OSCAR WILDE > > > > ..... > Ancestors in Yorkshire? http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/index.html; > www.ryedalefamilyhistory.org; www.wharfedalefhg.org.uk; > www.yorkshireparishregisters.com; www.yorkshireroots.org.uk; > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to YORKSGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message