Genealogy Chat

Slight delay on Southport waiting times is an underestimate! They are supposed to put certs in the post within 4 days, which normally means delivery withing 6. But I have regularly had to wait over 2 weeks for certs ordered since the beginning of the year. There was a lot of media publicity about 1837 online and family history generally in early Jan and it must have impacted on demand. On the good side, online certificate ordering is still a pilot for GRO and this must surely convince them it is worth continuing with.

Hi Diana i ordered a cert to come which said it would be here by the 4th feb and came on the 7th. so dont worry to much. Theresa.

I've ordered about 12 from GRO and although the despatch date printed on the slip usually ties up with the predicted date, the postmark is sometimes a day later and it takes two days from Southport to Chelmsford on first class post.

Cert arrived today. It wasn't done until 5th and posted out 6th. They obviously have a backlog. In which case they should add a couple of days to the post out date they give when you order.

I have just ordered by phone from southport and was told by the agent that there was a slight delay on the normal delivery times 3-4 days, I hope this is of help to some of you Linda P

I like the ones you get from the GRO as the dtails are scanned in from the original. OK it may not be a great rproduction, but I prefer that to someone else hand copying it - there's always room for further mistakes then! Sioux

I usually order mine over the telephone from the relevent register office and pay by card. I have never waited more than three days and most of my certificates arrive within two days, sometimes the next day. If you are sure of names,dates etc they will contact you by phone if you have oredered the wrong certificate and do not charge a serch fee. Brighton register office is the best one I have dealt with so far and we are now on first name terms! Pam

Thanks Margaret That means it doesn't help me but a friend of mine will be pleased...

Sue You can only order from a local office if thats were the event was registered. If say the birth for example was registered in Birmingham, then the local reg office would be the Birmingham one Margaret

Can you order certs from any RO? We have got a little one in town and wonder if I could order through them?

If I order via post to the Cambridge RO they come back handwritten in two days. That's what I call service. You would think as you are ordering online direct things would be a little quicker!! Probably haven't got the staff to keep up with demand. Pity they can't use some of the 1901 census site money to improve the service.

Hi Deborah, I order mine here from the General records office http://www.statistics.gov(.)uk/registration/default.asp ..... just remove the brackets, this site doesn't seem to like links being posted. Sioux

I ordered from Enfield Register Office by post on Monday and certificate arrived back to me on Thursday.I really do call that first class service. Then again a local letter here on the S.Coast took to 2 weeks to arrive!!!!!!. Peculiar isn't it ?, Elaine

were did u order your cert from what site what address please help

I've just recently ordered my first ones (by post, GRO ref included) - what is the 'average' time they usually take ?

My last cert was late and there is a note on their website saying they've got problems at the moment due to large number of enquiries. I emailed them and cert arrived 2 days later. Up until now they've been really good and certs arrived day after despatch date so hopefully it's just a temporary glitch. Debbie

Sioux Usually they come together. The only time mine didn't I had to ring about the missing one. They couldn't find out why I hadn't received it and sent a replacement. Margaret

Just a quick question..... I've ordered 3, will they arrive together or seperately? It'll kill me if I have to wait for seperates :( Sioux

I ordered one 29 Jan and they said it would be despatched on 4th Feb.I got it this morning.Thats the longest I have had to wait,they usually arrive a week after i have ordered them Anna

Post here (Harwich) hasn't been brilliant, mainly due to postmen delivering to wrong houses! Just had somebody knock with our barclaycard statement. Delivered to his house. Another phone call I think. I'll give it to monday and e mail Southport to see if it's been posted. Just in case it's gone elsewhere.