General Chat

hi everyone my name is len just a quick message just would like to know and I'm new to this site only joined a few days ago and decided that I would pay for the platinum account which told me I would pay 6 pound 95 per month twitter for fine that's great that sounds too bad not a big chunk of money coming from the bank at once only to get up this morning to find out that if taken the full amount for the bank now I'm single parent and I don't have forms of that extent to say about in my bank account and really wanted to trace my family tree and found it very disappointing really upset and that genes reunited doesn't have a customer services number to come on come to valerie mail which takes 2 to 3 days to reply that's no good for me cuz the money they took out my account is now my kids food for the week and so I just wanted know whether anybody else experienced the same as myself

Welcome to the boards Len

If you read where its says the price of £6.95 it also says it will be taken in one lump sum

I have sent you a personal message with a telephone number you can try

Linda, it does say on the subscription page *

* Prices above expressed monthly.
Actual payment will be taken in one lump
sum for full value of membership.

You will have to contact admin via 'Help' in top menu and see if something can be done to help you.

These are the prices I get

12 month plan £6.67 per month*

6 month plan £8.33 per month*

1 month plan £19.95 per month*

* Prices above expressed monthly.
Actual payment will be taken in one lump
sum for full value of membership.


So if you wanted to pay monthly it would actually cost you £19.95 a month

I have not looked at this but it does sound a bit sneaky.

Under distance selling regulations you have 14 days to pull out and get a full refund.
GRU don't like this and make all sorts of false assertions so as well as notifying them by email/phone send a letter with proof of posting.

That done just get the basic membership where the nice people on here will give you lots of help including all sorts of places where you can info for free. As a basic member you can create your tree on GRU just fine..

You can access full Ancestry at your local library no charge.

That's what I did for ages Rollo until we went on the internet. Paid basic GR membership and accessed both GR and free Ancestry at the library. Good advice for doing it cheaply. :-)

Thanks guys but ive had a email back today saying I cant have a refund of any sort asI have view other members pages. But i had to join to send meassge to other ppl so as soon as I payed I was able to do this I have only sent about 4 meassges but still not able to get hold off a number. I do know my rights and I do have a cooling off period but they think other wise. I would never off give my bank details if I knew this was goibg to happen. Like I say us single mums have to buget for what we can afford and my plea as fell on deaf ears. Seems to me once my money as been taken they aint intrested or maybe is just how am feeling right now :'(

Did you read what I posted above?

I don't think it is GR's fault if you didn't read what you were signing up for.

You can send messages by purchasing credits, but you need a subscription to view trees and post on the boards

Because your membership fees are included in the Platinum membership it give you the right to send messges ,,,,,,and search and view online records through this site ,,,,,,,,,,

DONT VIEW ANY RECORDS, as it does state no refunds will be given if the use that service,,,,,,,

best would be,,,,,

tell GR you understood it to be on a monthly basis as and when,,,,the take all in one go isnt signed posted very well,,,,,,,,if they agree,,,,,,,cancel your membership then rejoin as a standard member,,,,

There is a promotion on with LostCousins and Genes,

use the code details as a voucher,------LCGENES........this will get you 12 months basis/standard membership for £14-95 instead of the usual 6 months,,,,,,,this level of membership entitles to send messages,,,,,no access to online records are included,,,,extra payment will be required....

It is no good GRU stating their terms and conditions on the web site.
They must also send a confirming e-mail stating all their conditions eg use during the 7 day cancellation period. If they have not done this then the contract is void.
Did they?

Hi Len we all make mistakes....I really do hope you can get it sorted :-)

All I have received is a email saying thanks fir the payment and ive sent about 4 emails and they just wont replay to me

You will not get a reply until tomorrow now, they do not work weekends

Hello Linda, I think it's likely that the "thanks for your payment" email was an automated message.

I'm pretty sure that Genes customer service team don't work weekends, they have this for the support team and I think it applies to all of them "The Support Team's working hours are Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm and we will answer all emails within 2 - 3 days."

Hopefully when they come back tomorrow you will get a response.

You will not get anywhere with e-mail.
You must use snail mail with proof-0f-posting.

In order to comply with the distance selling regulations GRU MUST send you an e-mail repeating all the conditions and T&C on their web site.

If they have done this then you are bound by their contract and their use-within-7-days terns. OTOH if they have not then the contract is void. ASK THEM if this e-mail was sent and if so when - aks for a copy including the e-mail header.

If they have not sent the e-mail referred to above ( they will be able to prove it or not, they cannot fake it ex post facto ) then the contract is void and you are due a refund.

I would not count on getting a refund before the end of September even if GRU back down or late in 2013 if they don't.

If you paid by credit card then getting a refund from the issuer is fairly easy.
If you paid from a card linked to a bank account ( bad move ) then if GRU persist in refusing a refund you will have to go to the small claims court. They have a rapid online procedure and you coujld get a decision within a few weeks. However GRU could still refuse to pay and getting a warrant enforced in Scotland would not be very easy except they would probably pay up faced with a warrant of excutuion due to the poor publicity.

Wanring: GRU leave an "auto renew" on your account details which has caught a lot of people. Make sure it is turned off.

Hint:

NEVER link a VISA/MASTERCARD card with an online service such as GRU, eBay and so on. At a pinch a credit card will at least give you a comeback against the card issuer. In the case of a card linked to a bank account anything can happen.

Instead get one of those holiday-cash-cards which are available for a small fee. Then no matter what happens damage is limited to the cash on the card.

Now that last was an excellent piece of advice Rollo.

It was worth reading the thread just for that.

Len try the first number I gave you - plus I have PMd you another one you could try if the first one does not work.

They should offer monthly billing other people manage it even for small amounts eg Last.fm.

Just callous and lazy ... e.g.

the auto-renewal on the account is against good practice and will become illegal

show an ez to find phone number on the site?
no

did they ever fix the problem where is the census return was more than one page you needed use more credits to see the other pages ?

did they ever fix the broken maps ?
no - dumped the feature

did they fix printing ?
no - and now they make a big thing out of "finding" a web site that will print a tree for you ( but no choice )

and so on and on into the sunset