Suggestions

Hi folks,
I was wondering if there may of rewarding long term members by giving them credits to databases, after all, our money has helped keep the site going. I do not like the idea on having to pay for access for databases when I am a fully paid up member of GR for many years.


Regards,

Ivor Cogdell

One benefit we do get is that it only costs £9+ for a whole year whereas new members renew every 6months at that price

I think most long term members are subbed to other sites for records so GR credits wouldn't be any use - as was the case when 30 free credits were given when the site was difficult to access over a weekend recently.

Yummy Mummy (of two? :-)) if I were you, I would write to [email protected] and request that your case be reconsidered as the membership has been continuous and a new card does not make it new membership.

I am glad you thought two days extra was a result PP, was it worth the email to recieve something worth less than 6p
Anyway you were robbed everyone else got three days :-D

Yummy Mummy.
Did you tell them in advance that your card had changed or did they notify you that it was no longer valid?
I ask because I am due to renew in mid January & have changed my bank since last year, but can´t find a way to give Genes the new details.

Marion

One thing I've always done is to change my membership from Continuous Membership to Single

I just go into My Account, then Subscription Details, and change to Single Membership.

GR has then sent an email to say my membership is due about 1 month before the actual date. You have until 1 month after the date your sub ends in which to renew at whatever offer they have stated ............ and you have not broken your membership.

I just do not like automatic deductions from my credit cards or bank account.


HOWEVER ..............

I've just checked the sequence of what to do, and notice that it now says Auto Renew On and Auto Renew Off

When I ticked Auto Renew Off, I got the following message:-

By turning off auto renewal your subscription will be left to expire on the 9th June 2012. Also any features purchased with this subscription will also expire on the same date.



This implies that GR will no longer notify, and there is no option to automatic renewal.



PHIL .......................


Please, can you confirm whether or not one can tick Auto Renewal Off, and still get a reminder from GR that your renewal date is coming up, or will there be no notification at all?



sylvia

Two things here i can comment on.
1) bonuses. Personally I like the idea of giving bonuses to someone who retains a continuous service. I get fed up seeing offers for new bank accounts, cable/sat tv, etc. When the discount is only available to new customers. Iknow ceedits has been mentioned, and original membership fee already exists. Any other suggestions?
2) renewals. You should get the letter as normal but i will have to double check tomorrow

Thank you, Phil


A comment on point 1

I count being able to renew at the original rate as a BIG bonus for being long time members. After all, it is half price!!

That to me is worth more than almost anything else you could offer me


(other than free membership maybe :-D )



I don't like the idea of credits, because I honestly do not use the records on here.

I currently have 80 credits showing ................. 30 that I was given a few weeks ago and 50 that have been showing as credits for months. Except that when I clicked on them ........... I had to pay to obtain them.


That didn't make sense then, or now!




sylvia

Phil,

What about if we had an option for credits to either:

FMP
Scotland's people

etc? May be of more use than the GR credits as most people seem to sub to other sites in addition to this one.

I have no idea if I am on a cheaper rate or not, it is a bit hard to tell when your are o/s from the UK! Most likely not I guess :-(

Hi guys,

All of our long standing members who choose to auto renew are charged the original price at which they joined. It is now £14.95 for 6 months standard membership or £19.95 for 12 months, so those of you on £9.00 are getting a deal better than half price!

YummyMummy - If you email [email protected] your email will go directly to Estelle in customer support and she will put you back onto your old membership price. I'm very sorry about this, we do not consider a new card to count as a new membership if you have opted to auto renew, and I shall be investigating this matter further.

Katie - The Genes Team

hmmmm......
I paid £7.50 when I joined and I've been charged £9.75 (or 9.95) for a few years but certainly not £9! I have been a continuous member and I am aware that other UK members are still only paying £7.50.

I think you might have put the cat among the pigeons here Katie!

Katie


you have still not answered my question


Ever since I joined in 2004, I have had my membership showing as Single Membership

Every year, GR has sent me a renewal email, and I have renewed within the time period.

I am considered a continuous member because I have never let my subscription lapse.


My reason for doing that is that I never know which credit card I am going to use, nor whether the bank will replace our credit card within the year, giving us a new number.


That does happen quite frequently over here, usually because of credit card fraud.


I want the control of knowing that I have received the notification, and that I am using the card I want to use at that time



Does this message that appears when I ticked Auto Renew OFF mean what I think it means?


"By turning off auto renewal your subscription will be left to expire on the 9th June 2012. Also any features purchased with this subscription will also expire on the same date."



In plain words, does that message mean that GR WILL NO LONGER BE SENDING EMAILS TO MEMBERS WHO USE THIS FUNCTION TO REMIND THEM THAT THEIR SUBSCRIPTION WILL END AS OF A CERTAIN DATE.


In other words, will you really deny a member renewal, and much more importantly, increase the subscription from the £9.95 per year to $19.95 per year?





Island ............. the cost is £9.95 ........ that is what every long time member I know is paying. Katie got it wrong!




sylvia

Hi Island - There are quite a few differing prices out there, some members are on £7.50, some on £9.95 and a few other prices are in circulation due to special offers and price increases over the years.

Hi Sylvia - Apologies for the confusion. The sentence; "By turning off auto renewal your subscription will be left to expire on the 9th June 2012. Also any features purchased with this subscription will also expire on the same date" does not mean that we will not be sending you an email to remind you of your renewal. We will always remind you that your subscription is coming to an end.

'Features' are a form of mini subscription available to Platinum members. If a Platinum member wants to view Parish records or any other records not included in their Platinum membership they have the ability to add that 'Feature' to their subscription. This is what we mean by features. As you have pointed out it does not make much sense for Standard members, so I will have a think about how I can make this clearer.

Thanks

Katie

See Syvia, every long term member ISN'T paying £9.95!!!

I don't know why you took it upon yourself to chip in where only GR would know the answer.

Katie, I would like to know WHY some members are only being charged £7.50 - I paid £7.50 when I joined, have been a continuous member ever since but somewhere along the line you upped my sub to £9.95.

I would also like to know why some members recieve discounts and when others email to ask why they are told untruths about the deal.

It isn't about the price, that is very good value. It is the inconsistances and random conflicting reasons that you really out to sort out, in my opinion as this makes your set up look amateurish and lets you down.

Island


YOU were querying why Katie said £9 ..... I was attempting to say it was £9.95, and that Katie had got it wrong when she said £9.


I maybe did not phrase it clearly enough for you to understand what I was saying.

But it most certainly did not require your response. which I find offensive..


We can always chip in when we want to.



sylvia

Katie


Thank you for clarifying that ......................



I will get a renewal notice by email from GR if I tick Auto Renewal Off.




Much relieved :-)



sylvia

Perhaps I should for the sake of honesty and full disclosure, say that I have also paid £7.50 for the last 2 years

.............. as a result of a bonus offer from GR each time when my sub was due to be renewed that took a percentage off £9.95, and reduced it to £7.50 so long as I renewed no later than 4 weeks after the end of my sub.

So far as I know, from comments made by other people, that same offer was made at that same period of time not only to me, but to every long-time member renewing then.


There is also the fact that there was an offer from GR for 6 months after BrightSolid officially took over last fall, that also gave that same discount to anyone renewing during those 6 months ........ which covered something like July or August 2010 to February or March 2011.


IMHO, that offer should have been extended for 12 months, because it meant that one group of long-term members got the discount, and one group did not get it. It might be interesting to know which group was larger ...... the ones who did or the ones who did not get it.


I know that it was not the offer I received, because my sub renewal fell outside those months.



I think that long-time members do get a very great bonus in basically getting the Standard sub for half-price .................... and maybe there is also a little added bonus that is added when we renew.



sylvia

Sylvia,

I did wonder if Katie had got the price wrong which was why I questioned it and why I think the GR team should be 'singing from the same songsheet'

The problem with other members chipping in with opinion, especially long ones, and not facts in some cases is that the original query can get lost as so often happens and remains unanswered factually.

I'm afraid you must be very easily offended. :-)

edit "Island ............. the cost is £9.95 ........ that is what every long time member I know is paying. Katie got it wrong!"

Really? Except you, you now add! LOL

caught me out


happy now?