Monday 20 April 2015

The Genealogist

Very disappointing experience with The Genealogist (@thegenealogist) so far.

I have in the recent past used Ancestry and still have a current subscription with Find My Past. Both of which I have used without any problems.

I enjoyed the talk given by The Genealogist at Who Do You Think You Are? Live in Brum on Friday so I decided to take a risk and sign up to their offer of a Diamond subscription for £98.95.

The first worrying sign was having to complete a piece of paper and write down my credit card details.  All this so called fancy technology and yet they can't even process a payment at the NEC?  Then I was told I would get a temporary password (not sure why) on Monday!!!! - four days later so I wouldn't even be able to use the site until then. When I asked why I was told it was because that would be when they are back in the office.  Oh, dear I thought.  How small is this company and are they going to be able to deliver on the promises made in the presentation?

I eagerly waited for today.  Just after 1 pm (whilst out) I received the promised email with the temporary password.  I've just tried to log on and get - Sorry, please check your email and password.

So I look for the contact us details - Lines open Monday to Friday 9-5

It's now just after 6 pm. This is not how to run a business in this day and age.

Update - I decided to take a risk and click the forgotten password link.  The gentleman who did the presentation apparently built the website so I figured if my email address has been registered by their office then technically it should be able to reset my password.  It appears to have worked.

Or maybe it hasn't - looks like I was registered on this site before as my subscription details shows this rather than the Diamond subscription I have apparently purchased.
BMD Records 1837-2005Expired10th December 200510 December 200610th December 2006
Update 2 - I have just read the emails again and have figured out what went wrong.  They have registered my email with the first letter as an i instead of as an l.  I had just assumed that since I received the emails from them the email address was correct.   A paper system works then...

Update 3 - and now apparently I am MALE!!!! Not impressed!.

Update 4 - see comments from Mark @ The Genealogist.

Update 5 - clickable versions of the links provided by Mark in his comments below.

We have a research guide for TreeView available at http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/researchguide/treeview/

We also have some general tutorial videos on using the site here: http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/help/video-tutorials


Issue Resolved - I feel so relieved. I may have had a few teething problems but knowing that someone at The Genealogist is looking out for mentions and taking the time to respond out of office hours and actually fix the problem is really refreshing and re-assuring.  Thank you Mark.

Happy Hunting...