General Chat

I just browsed my account details having been made curious about them by that thread on changing names. I have just renewed my membership for the 3rd time, having received an email reminding me my membership was about to expire and inviting me to do so to retain full access. Strangely, my account details now state that I have opted for continuous membership - ie that my membership will be renewed automatically by GR each year after they send me notification by email. Now I'm happy being part of GR but I am not happy that GR seems to have decided that it can take the decision to renew my membership rather than me making a positive decision to do so. Is this something new? I don't recall being given the choice about whether to be a continuous member or not. I have already changed my membership type to one year member now so the choice on renewal is fully mine. Angela

No, its not good, it seems to be following Ancestry's tactics -

I noticed this too rather cheeky I think!! Jacquie

Sally Ancestry's tactics ruin the reputation of what otherwise would be a great site. And I feel its the same with GR. Good sites should not have to resort to sneaky ways to ensure we renew - if they are as good as they should be then everyone will be rushing to renew their membership as soon as they are reminded it is about to expire. I've had huge arguments with Ancestry over this already - and in fact I deliberately refused to renew when my first year ran out on principle because they tried to renew for me when I had already emailed them to cancel and received confirmation of cancellation. Luckily I'd changed my card number since the first time round so they couldn't do it. I did rejoin later but I've again sent a cancellation email and will again leave a gap before rejoining. Angela

Peter Absolutely certain. In fact absolutely, absolutely certain! I've changed it back to annual now but I know I didn't opt to make it continuous. I am so dead against continuous membership of any site on principle that its something I look for and flatly refuse to agree to. Angela

Well if that's the case I might have missed something then. But in my job we aren't allowed to do things like this on an 'opt out' basis - they have to be 'opt in'. Opt outs can be missed and people can find themselves agreeing to something they didn't bargain for. Its a big issue in relation to human rights. Angela

I had the same thing happen & I clicked onto renew expecting to put in my CC details ,NOOO they hold your CC details & I got my subs sent to a card that I had cancelled. Was accepted by my previous CC people who said that I had authorised it my giving someone the details so they were legally obliged to accept!!. Gr changed the layout somewhere it one of there updates without spelling it out to us. I queried it with them & they directed me to my account details & told me to unclick the box for continuous membership to yearly so that next year i can imput diff CC on renewal. I,m not happy they store my CC details for one,& they put me a continuous membership because I,m sure didn t when i joined. Shirley

Shirley I'm with you on this. If there was an opt out box I can't hand on heart say I spotted it - who can. But I am so 'hot' on this continuous membership business that I can't imagine I did. I have never, ever missed small print before. I too don't like them holding card details. In fact there should be an explicit statement to the effect that continuous membership means they will retain card details so you know exactly what you are letting yourself in for. Angela

Just had a look at mine and this is what it says Continuous membership means we will renew your membership for you automatically, but we will email you in advance to notify you. If you choose one year membership, we will let you know when your paid membership expires. June

I was given the option to have one year or continuous membership when I payed my membership fee over a year ago. If you want a single year membership just alter the option in your account and on continuous membership when you have the reminder you can stop the payment.

But I joined about three years ago & always put in my CC when i renewed each year ,so somewhere along the line the box got ticked (not by me) for continuous membership . Still not happy they hold your CC details . Shirley

I renewed my membership today as it runs out tomorrow and I unticked the box for continued membership. Who knows what will happen in the next year I may not what to renew again, but the decision must be mine at the time of renewal. GR must make a fortune with continued membership, with people who no longer use this site, but just think 'oh it's only £7.50 I can't be bothered to argue over it I'll let it go'. The decision must be ours how we spend our money, not GRs. They must make is more obvious that we are opting for continuous membership. Sue

hi, mine is still on the one year only thing... the choice is there though. sue.