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Archiver > APG > 2001-08 > 0998765353


From: "Connie Bradbury" <>
Subject: Re: [APG] A message I sent today to Ancestry.com
Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 10:49:13 -0800
References: <004401c12d78$062b21e0$76ca0ed0@vaio>


Chad:

Good luck!

A genealogy friend purchased some 1870 census index CDs from them. She gave
them to me because she could not get them installed. She thought it was her
computer. I could not get them installed either. And, as you know, the
chances of being able to email them and get an answer is highly unlikely so
I opted to call them - no 800 number either for customer service - only
SALES. I was on the phone for over 20 minutes - the final solution was to
transfer me to someone else and they would send out a new CD! So, I give
the person the information and then I tell them I have three more CDs I need
to check out - if I have a problem should I contact him again to get them
replaced? NO - I have to call customer service first!

Connie


----- Original Message -----
From: "Chad R. Milliner" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2001 7:10 AM
Subject: [APG] A message I sent today to Ancestry.com


> My professional specialization is British Isles genealogy. Thus, when
> ancestry.com e-mailed me saying that they now have for sale, for $699 a
> 26-CD set of British Isles parish register transcriptions, I naturally was
> interested. I went to their website
> http://shops.ancestry.com/product.asp?productid=2497 to learn more about
the
> set. All I found was a list of English and Scottish counties for which at
> least some data is included in the set. No specifics about the names of
> individual parishes included, or even the number of parishes included from
> each county. No details about how the data was gathered, no information
> about any quality control procedures used during the data entry, and no
> information about how the selection of which parishes to include was made,
> or the time periods included. Potentially, this set could be a gold mine
> for my clients. Or it could just be fools gold. I sent an e-mail, the
text
> of which is appended below, to ancestry.com asking for further
information.
> I am not holding my breath waiting for a reply.
>
> Ancestry.com does not allow returns of CD-ROM products unless the CDs
> themselves are defective, in which case they only allow replacements.
Don't
> these companies "get it?" We professional genealogists, while few in
number
> compared to the hordes of hobbiest genealogists, are few in number, but I
> bet we are some of these firms best customers and have great influence in
> the purchasing decisions made by the hobbyist genealogists, such as
through
> the reviews we write for journals, etc. There is no way I am going to
spend
> $700 for a product without knowing what, exactly, I am getting for the
> money. Don't these firms realize that if they just spent a couple of
extra
> hours in compiling ACCURATE AND DETAILED marketing information that the
> increased sales would more than make up for their time? End of sermon.
>
> "Please e-mail to me as a file attachment a list of all of the parishes
(and
> equivalents) that are included in your 26-CD set of British parish
> registers (product #2497). In order for me to determine whether your
> product is worth the
> $700 cost, I must first know how much unique information is included in
the
> set; i.e., information that is not also included in the the International
> Genealogical Index, the Family History Library's separate CD-ROM set of
> British Isles vital records, or products from other suppliers, such as the
> Federation of Family History Societies. If your company is not the
creator
> of this product, but instead merely markets it, then please supply me with
> contact information for the firm that compiled the data. Thanks."
>
>
>
>
> ==== APG Mailing List ====
> The Association of Professional Genealogists
>

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