A Freebie from Ancestry, 1st to 15th October.

[Currie]

A Freebie from Ancestry, 1st to 15th October. A sort of rolling barrage that gets more powerful as the days go by. It includes a Sweepstakes for people who win things. http://www.ancestry.com/anniversary?o_x ... _sch=Email

So far, day two, it’s been a bit of a fizzer, but may be worthwhile keeping an eye on in case something useful turns up.

All the best,
Alan

[momat]

It won't accept your entry in the sweepstake unless you live in the U S A ,as there are no other countries listed in their drop down box.

[ninatoo]

I just wrote to them about that Momat. I don't think it's fair that we don't have a chance to enter the competition, given that membership funds (including mine) from all over the world make competitions like that possible in the first place.....and I told them so. I asked for an explanation. It will probably say something about international laws, blah blah.

I doubt I will get a reply, but if I do I will let you know what it says.

Nina

[momat]

Hi Nina,
Hope you get a reply .
I gave up on membership with Ancestry as I get very frustrated with their search engine and never find anything that I did not already know.
Cheers ,

[trish1]

Nina

If you want quick replies from Ancestry, ring them during their oz hours (its a 1800 free call). I have had some excellent responses that way - email - they seem to take about a week to get back to you - sometimes the reply makes sense, sometimes not

Trish

[ninatoo]

I received this reply from Ancestry:

"We appreciate your message.

We apologize for the misunderstanding. We've looked at your account and we show that you are signed up for our American
newsletters. If you would like us to correct that so that you will receive the Australian/New Zealand emails, simply reply to this message.

If there is anything else with which we might assist you, please let us know."

Um. So...are they saying I should not know about the lottery competition because I shouldn't even have seen the American newsletters? (I found out about it here, and followed the link, not through any newsletter!)

They still didn't address why people from other countries are ineligible. I did post a comment about this at the facebook ancestry page, and somebody replied that the decision was not made by Ancestry but by the "US Federal Trade Commission". The person who posted this seems to not be an Ancestry.com representative however.

In Australia we also have a Trade Commission - and it has a similar name to the US one, but ours has the word 'Fair' at the beginning

Nina

[Currie]

Hello Nina,

You probably won’t get a sympathetic hearing from Australian Ancestry. They really only want Australians visiting the Australian site rather than be paying up to about 40% less at the US site.

The Australian Ancestry site is currently offering the same 15 daily releases access as the US site but without any sort of Sweepstakes.
http://www.ancestry.com.au/anniversary? ... b+Property

It’s the same with Canada, 15 days rolling release and no sign of a Sweepstakes. http://www.ancestry.ca/15dayfreeaccess? ... b+Property

Ancestry UK aren’t trumpeting it so much but have the same release of material. They’ve spilled the beans about what and when on the blog and presumably that’s the same as the other Ancestry sites. (saw this on Chris Paton’s site) http://blogs.ancestry.com/uk/2011/09/30 ... llections/

According to my calculations these are the annual rates for worldwide membership at the various Ancestry sites. It pays to shop around and it’s best to check my calculations before you do so.

United Kingdom - Worldwide Membership: £155.40
United States - World Explorer Membership: US $179.40 = £116.06
Canada - World Deluxe Membership: CDN $299.40 = £183.99
Australia - World Heritage Package: AU $299.88 = £184.24

If you try to go to a particular Ancestry site you may be redirected to that of your home location. If so, at the bottom right of the Ancestry home page you’ll find a ‘visit our other sites’ box that will take you where you intended to go.

All the best,
Alan

LATER:

Not to forget this National Trust offer, which appears to be still current.
http://www.ancestry.co.uk/nat_trust2010 ... _lid=42796

Alan

[SarahND]

Hi Alan,
Always a good idea to check the exchange rates just before subscribing or renewing. Last year the best deal (in terms of US dollars) was the UK site, with the National Trust discount bringing it down further.


Sarah

[ninatoo]

It's been a while since i subscribed, but I am pretty sure I deliberately subscribed to the US site because it was cheaper. Someone had told me to do it that way, so I did, lol.

[JustJean]

United Kingdom - Worldwide Membership: £155.40
United States - World Explorer Membership: US $179.40 = £116.06
Canada - World Deluxe Membership: CDN $299.40 = £183.99
Australia - World Heritage Package: AU $299.88 = £184.24

Not to forget this National Trust offer, which appears to be still current.
http://www.ancestry.co.uk/nat_trust2010 ... _lid=42796

Alan

Interesting comparison there Alan. I'm curious where the offer of $179.40 US is being advertised.? Is it maybe for new members only? Me being a very long standing card carrying regular gets hit up at $299.40 US and have been for several years. Prior to that I had a sinfully low price of $131.40 for a few years. Go figure!

btw the National Trust offer has this in their fine print: Offer consists of a 25% discount off the first year of an annual membership with Ancestry.co.uk. Offer applies to memberships taken out between 00:00:01 GMT on 1st March 2010 and 23:59:59 GMT on 28th February 2013. Offer is only available to new customers who are National Trust supporters, and is not available for renewal of current memberships. To ensure that you get continuous access to Ancestry.co.uk, your annual membership will be renewed automatically at the at the end of the one-year subscription period and your chosen payment method will be debited at the standard rate applicable at the time. So at £116.55 is about $180 US and the regular UK price of £155.40 is about $240 US. Hmmmmm..........

Best wishes
Jean