Genealogy Chat

Hi Elaine, I always have 6 pounds when I go on 1901 which means I can have 8 x 75p or 12 x 50p or combination of both, does that make sense! I always manage to use the last penny anyway! Maggie

Hi All I've used both credit card and voucher methods of payment on this site, and I think the voucher method is much easier. They work in the same way as a mobile phone top-up card. When you want to view something and select the voucher method of payment, you input the voucher number that you have on your card. At the end of the session you just log out. Any credit that you have on your card remains and the next time you log in you can use it again. I actually found a voucher lying around that I must have had for a good few months and out of interest I tried it, there was still £2.50worth of credit on there. Much better than the credit card method I think. Kay

I think they must have made their investment in the site back by now and should let us have it free now, after all the LDS have. After all, look at the amount of mistakes on it. You probably waste a fair amount of time looking for people you know are there but can't find.

I have used this site and set a spending limit of £10. I did the look-ups that I needed, which came to £5.25. That was the total amount that I was charged. Maggy, West Yorkshire

Hi all, We use vouchers and never lose the odd money left. We just activate another £5 voucher and any money left on the account gets carried forward. Sally

Ive just had a reply from census helpdesk... If you set your spending limit to only £5, you will be charged the minimum fee of £5.(To cover the cost of the transaction) regardless of whether you use £5 of chargable services. You can set your spending limit higher than £5, maybe at £6, and beyond the £5 minimum fee. You only get charged for what you view, you do not have to use the full limit you set. hope this helps everyone elaine x

Lesley. Make a note of how much you have spent and the session reference. So say you spend 7.25, mark down the date and amount somewhere. Then when your credit card bill comes double check the full ten pounds was not taken. If it has get on to them! I usually set my session to 20 pounds as you can guarantee there will be something you want to check on just as the amount runs out! I generally save up my research til I have a few names I want to check so I make sure I will spend the five pounds.

Yep that's right, they only take the actual amount that you spend, as long as it's over the fiver. Lynne

Hiya, My understanding was the minimum amount u could spend was £5.00. So if you only spend £4.25 e.g. you will be debited £5.00 from your credit card as that is the minimum! I would have thought if u set yr maximum till £10.00 as stated above, and you spent anything over £5.00 but under £10.00 you should only be debited the amount you spent and no more. Good idea if it does work!! Hope thats clear!! Sarah

You can solve your money left over problems when you pay by credit card.What you need to do is put your credit limit at up to £10, then as long as you have gone over the minimum £5.00 charge you only get charged what you spend.Example, look up 7 items at 75p each=£5.25 when you log off that is all you're charged,and you can't get carried away and spend too much because of your credit limit.I don't know how the vouchers work as I've only ever used the credit card method and have never had a problem with it. Hope that makes sense!!! Lynne

Hi Brian, What on earth is E & OE, SHMBO and TIRC???? And if its blindingly obvious, try not to make it sound like I'm a complete dimwit, but I can't work it out for the life of me and its doing my head in!! Sarah

Doing this from memory so E & OE: Vouchers are on sale at libraries and £5 is the smallest available (can't remember if they do larger, I send SHMBO for them). You still end up losing money unless you can get the right number of 75p and 50p searches in. The vouchers are valid, IIRC, for 6 months, but you have to be careful about logging off or suspending, if you suspend a session and don't go back within 48 hours you lose the remaining credit.

Iv'e had a moan to them on their account queries ( contact us page) Maybe if we all have a moan to them they will realise that people are not happy with their payment system. e x

Hi, I always pay £5 a time on credit card and agree its always frustrating having unused money left. Especially annoying when you try and save up a few searches to get the most of your £5. Can't remember where I read it, but I did read about the voucher system and remember thinking it sounds much better. If I remember rightly, you don't have the 48 hr limit either which is good. Have tried looking on the 1901 site for details about these vouchers but it just appears to tell you how to pay, not what you get. However, am definetely considering getting a voucher next time, mind you I am one of those whose credit card is just about filled up, so any advice on this would be great. I believe you can get them at yr local library and I'm not sure if you can buy less than £5 too. Sarah

Same here Elaine.Does anyone know how the voucher system works?and is it more economical thanusing a credit card? Thanks anna

Ggggggggrrrrr..... Iv'e now been left minus a useless 25p, which will line the pockets of the 1901 site. I had the limit of £5 & I have just been told to(in theory) log out & pay again if I want to continue to view chargable services! In other words... "Pay us more money & maybe you can leave some for us at the end of your session"!! elaine x

I didn't try to add more credit to my account but I do end up losing 25p - whoopee! It was no great loss but it is annoying that the charges are 50p or 75p yet you can only enter exact pounds for the amount you want to spend - 50p works well but the 75p doesn't!!! And of course, you get a lot more for your money with the 75p but you have to use a practically useless 50p sheet just to use your exact money. I wonder.... if you suspend a session when you still have money left (the odd pence) and then open a new session - not resume but open a new - and buy credits - would it then put the two accounts together and thus let you top up your odd pence that you had left?? It's only a thought but if you have tried everything else and you are losing your odd pence anyway, it's maybe worth a try if you are intending to buy more credits. And just for the record - I always use the Adobe format which is the PDF. When all those screens come up asking if you want to save to disk or run from current location - I click on run from current location and then if I find info on the sheet, I just copy it to disk.

Lesley, It's odd you ended up with 45 pence when the charges are either 50 or 75 pence. Was your initial credit an odd amount? Crista

I am very disappointed by the payment system on 1901. I use the vouchers but have lost money by suspending a session and not going back to it within the 48 hours. In fact, I try to avoid the paid part of the site to avoid the chance of losing more. I would make more use of it if the payment system were fairer and easier. In fact, the whole site has the look and feel of having been designed by a committee.

Thank you Anna & Lesley... After a fiddle around, I clicked on applet & got the view of my data I wanted to see. When I did it the first time all I got was a blank page. R.e . money left over, email them & ask them to help. Its a bit of a cheek if you end up with money left over that you can't use! Thanks again Elaine x