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Archiver > COOK-CO-IL > 2006-07 > 1152634017


From: "mtnspirit" <>
Subject: Re: Ancestry.com
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 12:08:50 -0400
References: <3ad.56e4ffb.31e45e9b@aol.com>


Carol and all,
I too was like you and have had Ancestry from just about the beginning. I
have never had a problem with them using my card without my prior permission
until this year.

This year they called twice while I was in the hospital. They talked with
both my daughter and son who live with me and they both told them I was in
the hospital and that they were not authorized to make that decision for me.
They told them when I was expected out of the hospital and suggested they
could call back. They never did.

I have a credit card which is tied to my checking account. I used it last
time, I specifically have it noted that is it is a one time only charge. But
what did they do but charge my account for the largest package. Because "it
was only a little more than what I was charged last time." (per supervisor).
How did I find out that they had charged my account. I was notified by my
bank that I had bounced 12 checks at $34 a pop for return check charges X2
because they had processed them twice. So do the math $ 68 X 12 = $816 for
the return checks. One of the returned checks happened to be the electric
company payment. They promptly shut off the electricity, and I had to pay a
$45 after hours reconnect fee to get my lights back on. Plus because the
bank took the money that was in the account to pay the bills and applied it
to the $816 tab first. I had to come up with more money to pay the bills
which now would not accept a check so I had to buy money orders which was
another expense.

So needless to say I am no longer a subscriber. Ancestry added insult to
injury by informing me that it was my fault. The supervisor immediately
"refunded" my credit card account but it took 7 business days plus a weekend
for it to clear and be credited back to my account. This happened in March.
It is now July and I am still haggling with the credit card company to be
reimbursed for charges due to an unauthorized use of my card. Hopefully it
will soon be finalized. I also had to close out the credit card and be
reissued another card which took several weeks.

I don't care how reputable Ancestry is supposed to be they flat out violated
my trust and I will never recommend them again. There has never been an
apology. There has never been any follow up except for them to continually
call and email me to resubscribe. I even wrote to them via snail and email,
along with a call to put me on a no contact list. The supervisor even
threatened me when I told them that I hoped their mistake was worth all of
the bad PR I would be giving them by telling my story. She told me the
company was bigger than I ever would be and what I was threatening was
libelous. I told her that it wasn't libelous if it was true and I have the
documents to back me up. She then came the closest to an apology by telling
me she was sorry my misunderstanding their policy (which was my fault) had
caused me a problem, but they had done nothing wrong, and would not be
responsible for any part of a refund except to refund the cost of the
subscription, and then laughed. I finally had my attorney write them a
letter notifying them if I was contacted again we would take them to court.
As per his advice we are working with the credit card company at recouping
the bank charges.

As for the bank. I still have a negative balance, but per an agreement with
them the account is frozen pending the negotiations with the credit card
company. The bank refused to refund any charges, but were kind enough to
send all 12 people and companies the checks bounced to a letter explaining
that there was a dispute which caused overdraft charges to bounce the
checks. They did put in there that I was cooperating to resolve the matter
and was still a "loyal and trusted member of their banking family. "
Personally I think my attorney's call to them prompted their verbiage. I
have since changed banks as well.

My advice is if you chose to subscribe to Ancestry and pay with a credit
card Be very Wary of their business practices. Require they not to keep
your number on record. I don't trust Ancestry one bit any more because of
how they treated me. I am not out to libel them. I can only tell my story. I
do not want another unsuspecting trusting genealogy friend to be hurt as I
have. If I can afford to waste the thousands of dollars it is costing me to
get this mess straighten out. I would prefer to use that money to drive
around the country to research.

Please be careful whenever you deal with any of these companies but now that
Ancestry has a monopoly on genealogy related sites, they have forgotten who
has made them successful. I have a hard time trusting anything anymore,
which is sad because I am a total believer in helping other genealogists in
any way I can. I have done look-ups, photos and research for so many over
the last 30 years. I also believe what goes around comes around, so maybe
Ancestry will learn something from this. For now the wounds are a little too
fresh.

Dara
Ohio




> I've had ancestry.com for 7 or 8 years and they always either e-mail me or
> call me on the telephone about renewal when my sub. is almost up. They
> never
> just bill my credit card without contacting me first. Never have had any
> problems.
>
> When I started they had 125 databases and it was $35.00. I agree it's
> pretty
> expensive now.
>
> Carol
> California


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