I had been a free memeber of Ancestry.com for about two years. After building some of my tree of family members that I located, I decided to join in order to access and save records. These records are usually U.S. Federal Census Records, military, death, marriages, stories and pictures. It was such a success in locating my family members on my dad's side of the family, that I upgraded from the $200.00 plus subscription to the over $ 300.00 subscription, in order to obtain foreign records of family members on my mother's side. (My mom parents were from Trinidad and Barbados).
Each year that you are a paid member, you have to notify them if you're goig to change or discontinue your membership. If you do nothing, then your credit card will be automatically billed for the subscription price you have on file. Having no luck with foriegn records, I decided to discontinue my membership. I went online to work on my family tree, and view records that I had paid for under my subscription, and saved to each family member, (over 10,000 family members). I was unable to view said records. The record was only showing half of the document.
When I contacted Ancestry.com, they told me that once I cancelled my membership, I was not entitled to view the documents I had saved to my tree, and I should read the Ancestry Agreement. I read the agreement, and no where does it say that you can't view records that you paid for under a subsciption/membership once you cancel your subscription/membership. I contacted Ancestry.com again, still arguing the point that I should be able to see documents that I paid for under the subscription/membership, otherwise, what was the sense in paying for a subscription/membership. I was told that I could rejoin, and save each record to my computer, (there are thousands I would have to save, and the P.C. Couldn't handle it); or I could have my tree exported into a print out design. This is very expensive. This is a rip-off, and I told them I would be reporting it to the Attorney General's Office. Telling you helps even more because the publicity will cause Ancestry members to think twice before giving up those precious dollars. YOUR MEMORIES ARE NOT YOURS TO KEEP!
I think Ancestry.com has great information, but it is free information obtained by them from public records, and public/members submissions. It they are going to charge membership/subscription fees for combining this information so that members can buy the product, then members should own the product, (records) that they saved. It is a rip-off to take back or make unaccesible information that someone has paid for. Your memories are not yours to keep!!
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