Misled by FindMyPast
I had an email this morning from the Helpdesk at Find My Past regarding my query about the 1911 Census and their Explorer subscription.
Dear Ian
Thank you for your email.
The 1911 census will be coming to findmypast.com under subscription later in the year.
We have at no point claimed that the 1911 census will be available under the Explorer subscription.
Further details entailing what subscription this will be available under will be communicated once these have been determined.
Regards
So while, I agree, they did not specifically state that the 1911 Census would be available under the Explorer subscription, their email offering discounted subscriptions implied it.
Their email advertising the discounted subscriptions contained:
Why join now? 2009 is going to be a big year!
2009 will see us finish our new versions of the last two England & Wales censuses (1851, 1901), add images to the 1881 census, and most importantly, will see us add the brand-new 1911 census later in the year.
We will be the only website to include the 1911 census next year, meaning findmypast.com will be the only place to find the complete censuses 1841-1911.
This implies that a reason to join them will be to get access to the 1911 Census. As it will be available on a separate subscription, this is not a reason to take out a discounted subscription, therefore this is, in my opinion, confirmed false advertising.
Their (newly revised) subscription usage terms still state that “The Explorer subscription entitles you to unlimited access to all records on the findmypast.com website, excluding Living Relatives.”
I have now contacted Consumer Direct with the details and will await their response.
Tags:1911 census,brightsolid,Consumer Direct,FindMyPast,genealogy subscriptions
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April 3rd, 2009 at 8:15 pm
I have had problems with findmypast also.
WHY is on line search dominated by big companys out to grab money now.
Few years ago,there was a lot of “free” info,to show you got right person…not any more.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Thanks for your visit John,
Ah, but now it’s big business. Family Tree research is the thing to do and so you can make good money out of information.
Ancestry.co.uk are good if not cheap. Their search engine is really good and the records are clear.
The majority of the large databases are made available due to the investment of the big companies, so I have to give them credit for improving the information available online.
I must admit, I can’t think of any resources that I have used for free in the past years, that aren’t available now. Maybe I’ve missed an opportunity.
Regards,
Ian
April 28th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Sorry – put this on wrong part of your site.
Hello Ian
I gave them three months before asking last week when the 1911 Census was going to come through the Find my Past Explorer sub. as promised.
I have had exactly the same responses as you. I am glad you have the wording of the original offer because I could not find the pertinent e-mail in my saved files.
I am thinking about approaching my local Trading Standards Office and/or Which.
Have you taken this any further.
Ros Batchelor
April 28th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Hi Ros,
Thanks for visiting and commenting.
The same day I posted this, I received an email from a manager at Find My Past Ltd, who told me that he would take it up my issues regarding the 1911 Census personally with brightsolid management. Despite emailing him twice for an update, I haven’t had any further communication.
I did contact Consumer Direct, who gave the following advice:
“In the first instance, it would be a good idea to check any terms and conditions that the trader has in place. By going ahead with the service, you would legally be regarded as having read and agreed to abide by the terms and conditions. As such, you should check these to find out what obligations you and the trader have in this contract. These terms should clarify exactly what will be included in the subscription; if the 1911 Census requires an additional payment for existing subscribers then by going ahead you may be regarded as having agreed to this.
However, terms and conditions should be presented in clear, intelligible language; if you feel that this is not the case you may be able to argue that you have gone ahead with the subscription on the basis of the information given in the email. In civil law, if there is a dispute regarding the understanding of information stated in the terms and conditions then it is generally regarded that interpretation most favourable to the consumer should apply. In this case, it may be possible for you to argue that the trader is in breach of contract as you have agreed to the service on the basis unclear or misleading pre-contractual information. In the event of a breach of contract, a consumer would be entitled to pursue a suitable remedy; in this situation one suitable remedy may be that you are offered the 1911 Census when it becomes available. Alternately, it may be possible to seek a partial refund as an appropriate discount to account for the fact that you are not receiving the full service that you thought had been agreed.
When you have a complaint for an issue of this nature you should ultimately put your grievance in writing to the trader and follow their complaints procedure. When sending a complaint letter to a trader it is advisable to send the letter recorded delivery giving a full outline of the events to date and the remedy you are seeking. You should state that you are making ‘time of the essence’ and give the trader a time limit within which you expect the matter to be resolved, such as fourteen working days. It is also advisable to obtain proof of postage for any letter you send and retain copies for your records.”
To be honest, I haven’t taken this any further. I was busy trying to resolve another internet order issue at the time and couldn’t face getting sucked into another. They got my money this time, but they’ll never get my business again.
I hope this helps you if you try to pursue it.
Regards,
Ian
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:05 pm
A web-site that promises UK coverage, but does not deliver that, unfortunately cannot be trusted with promises of the 1911 Census.
When they first got up and running, I got sucked in for Welsh searches, not realising that they only have a few English counties. Looking again this evening, that still seems to be the case.
As you say, these companies are just after your money without delivering the goods.
Good Luck!
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Hi Joyce,
Sorry you too got sucked in by their offer. I am very disappointed by their attitude, but at least I can vote with my feet; they won’t get a renewal or future business.
Regards,
Ian
September 15th, 2009 at 10:33 am
I also got conned by FindMyPast. I only took out the explorer subscription because I thought that it included access to the 1911 census.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:18 am
My complaint about Findmypast or Brightsolid, otherwise part of the Scottish National Archives, is that they don’t take any real notice of complaints – all you get is some glib reply and nothing is done. I’ve just subscribed for the first time, and it will be the last time. Their website is one of the most difficult to navigate, with constant “time outs” which they say will happen if no activity is detected for more than 30 minutes, but in reality, it happens within 5 to 10 minutes – very frustrating when you are looking at other records to confirm information, or when entering information into your own genealogical database. This site also can’t cope with simple search requests – requests that one can make on Ancestry.com without any problems. Overall I’m pretty ticked off with the whole experience on Findmypast. I’d NOT recommend anyone to take out a subscription. Brightsolid is only interested in getting their hands on your cash. I know the Scots are canny business people (My grandparents were Scottish) but this is just a rip-off!
November 13th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Findmypast is not a patch on Ancestry. FMP did mislead people by implying they had all the census returns when they hadn’t actually completed putting them on. Also, it did seem that if you joined you could get the 1911 census. You can’t correct name errors which you can do on Ancestry which I feel is much more value for money. There’s much more flexibility when searching the census returns because you can put in minimal info, if that’s all you have, and you will get, let’s say, all the men name Thomas born in Lambeth in 1812, so if you aren’t certain of the surname it’s possible to find it. Ancestry are also keen on squeezing every penny out of your pocket but at least you get a lot more resources to search through.
December 6th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
i also shall not be renewing my subscription in january,i also assumed that the 1911 cesus would be included in the explorer sub , there seem to be less and less sites to use without taking out more subscriptions,
December 8th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
was thinking of joining changed my mind! I1m looking for records pre 1799 therefore parish records all sites suck u in then cannot go back further than 1837. A lot of my family are scottish and scotlands people are not canny they are ‘reevers’! Now I know fmp part of them no thanks. I have no choice but to use scotlands people as they have the monoply.
January 11th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
I have just been taken in my FindMyPast. They were supposed to have the largest collection of parish records, but only have a few parishes listed so the service is rubbish for a lot of people. Even the censuses are incomplete. What a waste of money. Ancestry.com are far better and are at least up front with what they offer.
January 17th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
hi Ian
all i can say is ..they are money grabbers
and thats exactly what i said 4 years ago..fmp was good to use then..lots of free stuff and i found heaps …..but sorry guys i refuse to pay for it when it should be free…the whole b***** lot..
what is wrong with them, an ancestor i will go to great lengths to find but will not pay for a subscription to find a missing ancestor that is rightfully mine and my right to look for in any place or country.. so why are they allowed to continue scabbing money off people…because we are and always will be suckers when it cames to finding our families…… do they have that right to use our census that was complied for us in the first place.. i don’t think so!
but the big question remains… how many of us are willing to give up on the companies that use us and milk us of our money……me im one as i dont have a subscription to ancestry or find my past
i will search somewhere else …thank you very much! and there are lots that are free and are pretty decent..volunteers.. heaps of them around in diffrent countries that are really neat people will do searches for you and are free..watch out for the ones that work for companies that claim they are experience researchers and have been at it for 30 years plus…….bull! keep your money you just might need it to buy a bdm certificate as thats the best way to find any of your ancestors another thing ask if they do printouts instead of full certificates different price with the same amount of info..
good luck…. and keep your money..
cheers!
January 17th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Thanks everyone for your views.
While it would be nice to get things for free, I can understand why we have to pay for the data that the likes of Find My Past and Ancestry provide us. After all they have had to go to the expense of scanning, indexing and hosting the data.
What I objected to was being told a lie in order to get me to subscribe in the first place.
I wonder how many other people didn’t renew. I received a few emails just before my subscription expired reminding me of the discount when renewing and have had 3 emails in the last 3 weeks offering me a 15% discount if I re-subscribe. Hopefully this means that their greed and less than accurate advertising has hit them in the wallet.
Regards,
Ian
January 18th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Hi Everyone
I did not renew with FindmyPast. It is a very limited site, poor in comparison to Ancestry. FMP acted quite scandalously over the 1911 census which ends up costing a fortune as a Pay as you Go facility.
January 18th, 2010 at 11:10 am
I have read the recent posts with interest.
I too was very annoyed by being misled in 2009 about access to the 1911 census and Find My Past subscription.
In the end, I have renewed subs to both Find My Past and Ancestry. They are both useful in different ways, for the research my husband and I want to do into our families.
Being objective, I have to admit that the search facility on Find My Past seems better, and I like the layout of their transcription print-outs. Ancestry is better for searching BMD transcriptions, and has some useful newly added military and London church records.
So here I sit, often with them both open simultaneously! Quite a financial outlay, but better than pay as you go for us, but family history is currently one of my main hobbies.
Ros
January 27th, 2010 at 5:49 am
Hi, not sure if this is the right place to leave a comment but I have tried for over 2 months, and sent 5 emails, to get a response from Find my past, I took out a full subscription including the 1911 census which cost me over $240. Is there some body I can make a fromal complaint to?
thank you Dierdre
January 27th, 2010 at 6:56 am
Hello Dierdre,
Sorry that you are having trouble getting a response from Find My Past. Unfortunately, none of us are anything to do with FindMyPast, which is part of Brightsolid; we are mostly just annoyed ex customers.
I guess if you aren’t getting responses to your emails (which they say they try to reply to in 2 days), you might have to write to them or phone them (ouch – international call).
Their contact details are:
Findmypast.co.uk
38-41 Fourth Floor
Broadgate Court
199 Bishopsgate
London
EC2M 3TY
England
Email: info@findmypast.co.uk
Telephone:
UK: 020 3326 6300
International: +44 20 3326 6300
USA: 1-866-279-4013
Office opening hours:
9:00-18:00 GMT (Monday-Friday)
9:00-17:30 GMT (Saturday)
All the best,
Ian
February 8th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
I have just read through all the comments, and all I can say is that we all have different requirements. I find it best to subscribe to three sites and flit between them. Including the free sites, I have managed to time travel back to 1605, and I think I have had my monies worth.
March 4th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Perhaps this is not the site to ask but would be interested to know where Ros gets her data for 1650 from.
March 4th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Sorry it was Joyce, still interested
March 4th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Hi Peggy,
I’m not sure, but if Joyce has ancestors from a location that the parish records have been put up on someone’s website, that might be it.
Regards,
Ian
March 6th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
I was going to subscribe to find my past, but after reading all these negative comments have decided not to. what are the free sites called that joyce says she uses? please
March 6th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Hi Hazel,
I’m afraid I don’t know the free sites that Joyce uses. Maybe if she’s reading these comments, she could post a couple of them.
Regards,
Ian
March 6th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Thankyou very much Ian, not sure wether it is worth paying for information that should be in the public domain. we will see.
thanks again
Hazel
March 7th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Familysearch is free for the IGI and 1881 census. However, they now offer a facility to search other census records and link you thru to a pay-per-view site.
There’s also FreeCen. FreeReg and UKBMD.
March 7th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Thankyou Wendy for that information it is much appreciated
March 7th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
My pleasure. You should certainly be able to go back a long way on Familysearch and if your family is on there it could be as far back as 1600s. Free BMD is great for searching for BMDs very easily.