Caution to geneaologists

[CDNSushi]

Hey everyone. I know we have a fair number of amateur genealogists on the forum so I thought I'd throw this out there as a quick warning.

I've had an awful experience with Ancestry.com. In fact, it's gotten to the point that I may be seeking professional legal council to deal with them.

Won't get into too many details, but I was dissatisfied with their services so I tried to close and cancel my account with them. I was not able to do so and I had to send an e-mail to their customer support.

They answered my e-mail but did not heed my request. They did not close my account, they merely removed me from their mailing lists. So I e-mailed them again requesting that they remove my name and personal information from their servers and databases.

No reply for over a week. So I sent them another email.

No reply for yet another week. So I sent them another email, more sharply worded this time.

No reply for three weeks. Finally, an apology for taking so long to respond and thanking me for my business. NO ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HAVING RECEIVED OR ACTIONED MY PREVIOUS REQUESTS.

So I sent them another email, basically saying that they have 48 hours to remove all my personal data from their servers or I will hire a lawyer.

In the mean time, I did some research and found some similar RECENT horror stories in dealing with these yahoos. Including a class action lawsuit.

So please, do yourselves a favour and have NOTHING to do with this sad excuse for a company. Really horrible stuff here.

Oh yeah, one other thing.... Website Gaywallet reports that they do not allow registration of same-sex partnerships in their family trees... You can read about it here; http://www.gaywallet.com/forum/topic...ms-response-to

[Kilted Rogue]

THanks for the info. never used them, and now i think i will stay away a bit longer

[NewEnglander]

I'm sorry to hear you've had such trouble with Ancestry. I've been using the site for several years now and have had no problems, but I haven't tried to do any more than use their incredible resources to work on my family tree. I hope you get things sorted out with them as soon as you can.

[Coinneach]

I recall it did take me a little bit of doing to stop my Ancestry account, but I did get it done using their contact methods. I believe I also stopped the mailings first, but then followed up immediately to stop the subscription in toto.

I'm sorry to hear you're having a hard time with them. If you're on a monthly subscription, of course go to your bank and stop the payments.

[Tobus]

Is there another company that does equal (or better) service that you guys and/or gals would recommend?

[macwilkin]

At least here in the States, many public libraries have free access to ancestry, Heritagequest and other similar genealogical databases. I've never paid for ancestry when I can use the library's subscription in the genealogy department.

T.

[Zardoz]

I just have to say; My wifes' father was adopted, and after getting the records, we used Ancestry.com and Rootsweb to run down her 'blood' family. I'm sure everyone's experiences vary, but we had no issues, and it was certainly a lot easier than the genealogy searches my dad and I did in the 'pre-internet' days.

[skauwt]

Is there another company that does equal (or better) service that you guys and/or gals would recommend?

Ive only ever use genes reunited and scotlandpeople.gov with those two Ive traced over 500 years on my tree on various surnames
i used ancestry once and didn't find it helpful at all if anything i found the site just added more confusion with folk from across the pond trying to claim a link to my Bruce side when i know fine well my ancestors never left the country by the records i found on scotlandspeople .gov

[NewGuise]

I'm told that geni.com is very good. And free.

[English Bloke]

In Britain at least, Ancestry is in cahoots with the National Archives so internet access to all the 10 yearly census info makes it a bit of a one horse race.