The Gripe Line WebLog writes about MyFamily.com/Ancestry.com

Ed Foster writes a column called "The Gripe Line WebLog" that is published on the prestigious InfoWorld web site. As you might surmise from the column's title, Foster finds lots to complain about. His latest column takes aim at the business practices of the largest commercial genealogy web site: MyFamily.com, the owner of Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com and FamilyTreeMaker.com.

Foster writes:

What two things do Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com, Family Tree Maker software and a number of other genealogy-related website and products have in common? One is that they are all happily members of the same corporate family under "parent" company MyFamily.com Inc. The other is that they share a family trait of generating gripes from customers about sneaky credit card charges.

You can read Ed Foster's complete article at http://weblog.infoworld.com/foster/2005/05/06.html

Comments

[Dino (All Dino, All the Time)]

Dick,

Sounds like you should do a little investigation on this matter.
1. Sign up for a free trial and see how easy it is to cancel.
2. Do some investigation into the "seeding" of names referred to in the article
3. Try to find out exactly what historical newspapers you get with a subscription (good luck!)

There was a lot of discussion on that English firm (sorry I can't recall its name now) that affected, really, a very small number of people with credit card fraud. It looks like MyFamily.com affects many, many more people.

I'd like to see you dig into them for a month or so and give us a good report. I've often thought of signing up, but haven't due to my inability to see what I get for my subscription.

[Dick Eastman]

Actually, I have done or seen that:

---> 1. Sign up for a free trial and see how easy it is to cancel.

Several people I know have done exactly that. Cancellation works as one would expect: you contact the company, identify who you are and request a cancellation. However, it certainly is up to the customer to take the first step.

---> 2. Do some investigation into the "seeding" of names referred to in the article

I just read the article again but do not see any reference to "seeding." Can you explain?

---> 3. Try to find out exactly what historical newspapers you get with a subscription (good luck!)

That is easy. I have had a full subscription to Ancestry.com for years and have used those newspapers many times. Drop over to my house sometime and I can demonstrate all of them to you.

- Dick Eastman

[Elliot Sptizer]

Ancestry is one of the slickest group of corporate cheats that I've ever seen. In addition to their years of empty promises ("we'll have all census data on line by the end of the year" -- one year later, not done; two years later, not done; three years later, not done), their hardball tactic of refusing to accept cancellations by email is preposterous. Imagine that; a web-only service where you can do everything on the web except cancel. They're con artists cheating unwitting customers out of their money.

It's also obvious to anyone who wants to look closely enough that Ancestry has been operating as an illegal monopoly for years. They acquired their competitors, including previously free websites, and interestingly, they staggered availability of census data across their businesses. This required people who wanted access to all census records to subscribe to multiple services. The 1900 census was always my favorite example. Not available from one Ancestry sub, but available from the other. Most people had no idea it was the same company. They've also gradually raised their prices as they gained control of the market, just as any good monopoly would. If you doubt their practices and market position constitute a monopoly, do a little web research and you will see. What saves them is their too far under the radar for understaffed federal agencies who regulate these practices.

Also, don't they now charge for access for family tree data that was submitted by non-paying customers when the data they submitted was available to anyone for free? Setting aside the legality of this, the ethics of such a practice speaks for itself.

Now, I will go read the linked article.

[famhntr]

I've been an Ancestry subscriber for 2 years--didn't see the point before that as my computer and internet access were too slow to download the images they provide. ;) I've also been reading the Ancestry bashing that is out there on the web, and while it's interesting reading it's not making me rush out to cancel my subscription. At least now I know when I want to cancel because I've read every census image and newspaper article out there, I better call before my subscription automatically renews. :)

As for finding out what historical newspapers you get with a subscription, that's easy. Go to Ancestry's homepage. Click the Search Records tab. Select the Historical Newspapers Database link. Click on the individual states on the U.S. map to see what newspapers are available for what dates in each state. Granted, you can't see what newspapers your surname appears in without a subscription, but at least you can see what newspapers are available.

Are people still going on about One World Tree?!? Yes, you have to pay for One World Tree. No, you don't have to pay to see family trees submitted freely by individuals over the years! One World Tree is just a tool Ancestry offers to gather all the info from the various trees into one location so you don't have to look through several trees. Personally, I don't subscribe to that feature. I'd rather look through several trees and make my own decisions as to validity! :)

While some of Ancestry's business practices may seem questionable (and I have to wonder who does their census indexing when "Brot Forward" is indexed as a name), it all boils down to that old saying: "buyer beware" and do your research before you spend your money, or sign up for a "free trial." If it doesn't seem like something that you will use, don't sign on!

[Margaret]

It takes a little extra time and trouble to keep up with the credit card charges (automatic renewal is the standard, unless you call ancestry).
And, as you would expect, the company myfamily.com, being a commercial interest, is out to make money and sell their products in a competitive way. Is the service they provide worth it? I keep saying I will cut down my expenses by limiting my subscriptions, but so far, I just keep getting information, so it's worth it to me. Some of the services I like better than the others, but I see constant signs of improvement in the quality and quantity of the records. I guess I'll stay on board until December, then re-evaluate whether I can afford not to have some of ancestry.com's genealogy goodies for the next year. If anything, I'm underutilizing what I've signed up for.

[Elliot Sptizer]

I consider myself a web savvy business executive, I've participated in the gen industry for years, and I've been published in industry periodicals. I've been screwed out of money by Ancestry. The problem isn't that their product is weak; it's not. The problem is the way they treat their departing customers and trial subscribers. The issue isn't whether an astute, perceptive, small-print-savvy customer can, with enough effort, get away cleanly. The issue is how Ancestry treats America's grandparents and other unsuspecting people who came to their service in good faith. Believe me, Ancestry cheats and they know exactly what they're doing. No doubt the founder and CEO is a narcissist who rationalzes that stealing people's money, as long as it's done below the threshold of where people will actually sue you, is somehow for the greater good of Ancestry.com. Narcissists also like to corner markets, like Ancestry has done. Ask yourself who their competitors are. They have none, and ultimately that is bad for the gen industry.

And didn't I hear recently that the CEO was stepping down? If that's the case, I'm not surprised as I'm sure someone on his board is aware that the company is systematically screwing thousands of well-intentioned customers out of their money. It usually takes a few years to catch up to a CEO who debases company goodwill in order to increase short-term profits, but eventually most boards catch on.

[Bob Peterson]

Yes, Ancestry can get expensive, and their charges can slip under the radar. Can anybody remember what it was like to look for people in the census on soundex microfilm? You had to hope you were looking in the right state, get a seperate film for the census, hope the page was where the soundex said it was, and wait for a film printer if one was available. That was if you were at a National Archives location. Otherwise you ordered film.

On Ancestry, it's a nationwide search of the index with wild cards, a direct link to the image, and an immediate print all from the comfort of your home. No travel, film rental, food, etc. Stop complaining already! There's a lot of value to having the information all in one place to search it all simultaneously. All that costs money, and would cease to be available, let alone grow, without the fees we pay.

Oh, the 1900 census. It was next to useless on Genealogy.com because of the poor search ability. Ancestry has brought it over now with their own search capability, and you can actually find something.

The real problem is the pervasive attitude of folks on the net who want things of great value for nothing. I see them all the time on various forums. They want something that does what Photoshop does as freeware.

[Linda Waha]

I have been reading the comments in this blog and had to write to disagree, at least somewhat with others. I have been a subscriber to Ancestry.com for several years. I have ALWAYS been contacted by phone, and or e-mail, as to whether I wished to continue my subscription. Perhaps I have been lucky, but in most things I'm not, so I doubt it. As for being charged by them for things that were submitted to them free, you only get what you pay for in this world, and if you take the time to search, in the right places, you can still find a lot of this stuff for free. And they do spend a lot of time and money compiling info where we can easily find it. As for the promises to have something on line and being slower than promised, that seems to be a common practice in this world in general. Do we always complete our projects on time, as promised?

[Dino (All Dino, All the Time)]

famhntr,

Thanks for the instructions on how to find the newspapers! I only wish that they'd put a list of available newspapers on the pages that have info on their subscriptions.

[Dino (All Dino, All the Time)]

Dick,

My reference to seeding names was from a comment posted to the article, which has since been removed (at least I couldn't find it this morning). That's one of the beauties of the Internet.

Thanks for the invitation to come over and look at the historical newspapers, but famhntr replied with an actual answer to my question.

[famhntr]

Dino,

You're welcome. Happy hunting!

[CM]

I am a professional genealogist. To me, access to ancestry.com is absolutely essential -- I do not believe that I would be adequately researching my client's cases if I did not use it. Obviously, most genealogists are not doing research for a living -- but they should nonetheless strive to perform genealogical research to the best of their ability, or they should get another hobby. As an analogy, a person whose hobby is woodworking needs to have access to a lot of expensive power tools, if he/she hopes to be able to turn a hunk of tree into anything useful or beautiful.

I also find it essential to have access to many other databases, including newenglandancestors.org, heritagequestonline, OCLC Worldcat, America: History and Life, etc. For those who wonder, no, I have never been employed by any database firm.

[Enid]

I was an avid user of Ancestry.com for several years. It provided me with access to a multitude of materials from my home. However, I reached a place where I no longer found new materials that were useful to me, and after considerable thought decided that I would no longer subscribe. I did this via phone as directed, and received a confirmation number. BUT, later my credit card statement showed that Ancestry had billed me for another year's subscription. Needless to say, I immediately called them. The person I talked to said that there was NO record of my cancellation. She was very cooperative, and proceeded to cancel, and said my credit card would be credited with the full amount within a short period, and it was. I also received a confirmation of this via e-mail. Another example that one must ALWAYS check credit card billing carefully.

[Gordon Banks]

Automatically renewing by credit card is a growing practice with a lot of subscriptions, including magazine. The Ancestry people have always been helpful when I've called, but I do consider them over priced for what the provide. Access to the census is the most valuable, and the same thing can be had via Pro Quest from Godfrey Library for $35/yr.

Their rep admitted to me that the "One World Tree" that they charge for is just "Ancestry World Tree" (free) pruned down so only one tree appears instead of many in AWT. I think that is a questionable practice as who decides which information is correct and how?

[Linda Grybos]

I have been a member of Ancestry.com for several years now, and have always received renewal notices from them by mail. I have always renewed my service with them, but did notice that cancellation required a phone call. Free Magazine subscription service was easy to locate. I was a member of Genealogy.com for a couple of years and their cancellation policy was the same. When I cancelled my Genealogy.com subscription, I had no problems with being charged after my request to cancell was received. Ancestry.com has come a long way during the time I have had their service. They have an special email "help" team that stays with you until your complaints are resolved. That is a very nice feature. But, they need to work out a few bugs with their new image downloader, but they even assisted me with getting access to and downloading that new IMAGE downloader. The new IMAGE downloader is faster, and more ledgible than in the past. Genealogy.com is not as good a program anymore due to their difficulty in trying to narrow your search criteria. That is why I discontinued their service. Since they are owned by the same company, it seems logical that the company should incorporate much of the data found on Genealogy.com with that of Ancestry.com to arrive at the perfect Genealogy Program for all of us. We need programs like Ancestry.com and they keep trying to improve their service and products they offer us. So what if we have to call to cancel a subscription. It's the least we can do for the great services they are providing. You get what you pay for.

[Dino (All Dino, All the Time)]

Dick,

It turns out the comment about seeding names was not in a comment, but is in the last paragraph of the article, which I am reproducing below:

Maybe so, and one reader discovered some of the bait is just so much manure. "Before paying for a subscription, I decided to check for data on Ancestry.com's newspaper articles site," she wrote. "Several items appeared each time I entered various uncommon given names in my family. Realizing this was not probable, I decided to try entering (a word meaning canine excrement) as the surname. Sure enough, it brought up half a dozen newspaper articles it said referenced people by that name. I exited out of the website at that point, but not before I had typed in my personal info, so I'm still getting spam from them. Kind of scary."
Excerpt from, and copyright, http://weblog.infoworld.com/foster/2005/05/06.html

[Coralynn]

Your best bet is to join the Godfrey Scholars for a mere 35 dollars a year and get access to census, vital records, family histories, the list goes on endlessly.
For more info, the URL is:

http://www.godfrey.org

Coralynn

[Betty]

I subscribed to Ancestry for a long time, and the last time I renewed was the end of Dec. 2002. In Feb. 2003 my husband became very ill and was in ICU for 14 days and hospital and skilled facility for 45 days.

I called the co. and ask to be able to suspend my subscription until I could work again. I was a full time caretaker. (Cancer)

In April they told me my husband would not live more tha 30 days, and I had just reentered my subscription.

In August/September, I called and ask again to be allowed to not subscribe for a time.

After a fall and Spinal surgery I could not sit more than 20 minutes and the had to walk, and go and rest. When I called it was 2004, and they had done away with the subscription, and I was not allowed to go back and use it.

This was an emergency, and for $169.00 I got little for it.

I had always spoke up for Ancestry but they are getting bad.

Betty

[CM]

I think any genealogist that is more than just a "name collector" needs to, in some way or another, have access to every relevant genealogical database. Thus, instead of it being a choice between ancestry.com and heritagequestonline, I think researchers should insure that they have access to both, among others with information potentially relevant to the type of lineage they have. The only area in which ancestry.com and heritagequestonline.com overlap is in United States census images (and even then, they scanned them differently, so what is hard to see on one database might be easily read on the other; and vice versa). Their census indexes are organized on different principles and use different search engines. Overall, I think ancestry.com has the better-quality images and the better indexes, although heritagequestonline has the better census search engine.

[David]

I have access to Ancestry.com at my local library, and HeritageQuest from home via my library website. There are ways to get access to data without (all) the cost...

[Deb]

I have been a subscriber to Ancestry for a couple of years now and when I renew my subscription I do it by phone. Then I call back a few hours later after the system catches up and I just cancel it as of the new end date the following year. That way, I don't have to think about it and I'm not getting automatically renewed. The downside to this method is that I don't get reminders by email or phone, so I have to keep track of when it will expire, but that information is easily found under account information. I really detest automatic renewals of any service, so I like that I have the control as to whether I want to renew the service each year and I don't have to worry about charges being automatically put on my account.

So far, I've been pleased with using Ancestry, but only have the US records and Census currently as I found way to many false hits in the newspapers so I cancelled that part of it.

[Mary]

I have subscriptions to the census records on both Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com. I have not been able to successfully search the indexes of the 1920 or 1930 censuses on either Ancestry.com or Genealogy.com to find my ancestors. For several of the other census years, all I need to do is enter a name in the search box and all the people in all the states with that name are listed. My searches of the indexes for the 1920 and 1930 censuses don't produce similar results. Are those two decades not indexed in the same way as the earlier decades or am I doing something wrong?

Does heritagequestonline.com provide indexes for all the census districts in all states for the 1920 and 1930 censuses? If so, can one subscribe as an individual to heritagequestonline.com? If so, how does one subscribe and what is the cost?

[Dick Eastman]

Talk about coincidences: the telephone rang a few minutes ago. A gentleman told me that he was calling from Ancestry.com to inform me that my subscription would automatically renew in a few days. We chatted for a bit. Of course, he tried to upsell me on more services. I think I would have been disappointed if he hadn't tried. I asked if I could cancel or downgrade to fewer services at this time and he said, "Certainly." I thought about that for a second but decided that I use those services too much so I kept my subscription at the same level it has been at for the past year.

It was a pleasant call. There was certainly nothing "sneaky" about it.

- Dick Eastman

[Steve]

I recently had almost exactly the same experience as Dick in his last (May 13 01:03) message. They called me before renewal time and were very pleasant about my turning down their offers for additional services. They also have lately seemed interested in my comments and my reasons for not subscribing to some of the services.

[Kay Spencer]

Dick,

You don't suppose someone at Ancestry.com recognized your name? (g) My experience was one of the bad ones. Approximately a year and a half ago I participated in a free trial. Ancestry duplicate shipped some products, which I refused. Because of the errors I decided not to continue the free trial of the service. Surprise, surprise... it was virtually impossible to reach them by phone to cancel... the only way they will accept cancellations. They apparently outsourced their customer service department and cut back their incoming phone lines. Most of the calls would not connect at all. I did manage to get through to be put on hold a couple of times, but the battery on my phone dies after an hour and a half of hold time. I was unable to locate a physical address for the company. Plenty of people at Ancestry.com would "talk" to me via email. They recognized that there was a phone problem, but would do nothing to solve the problem. I finally submitted all my documentation to my credit card company who reversed the charges. A whole year goes by and all the charges show up on the credit card again, but under an affiliated company name. Again I had the charges reversed. Did they contact me ahead of time? No. Someone did call me approximately six weeks later thanking me for my renewal. NOT! I have since obtained the company's legal address and sent them a certified letter return receipt confirming the cancellation. Ancestry is not an ethically run business.