Genealogical Scams - Family History & Genealogy Message Board

Re: Public Records Pro

cormack196 — 2009-09-22 17:37:03Z

I had a very similar experience. DO NOT PAY THEM ANYTHING! Use the free service that they have. I had to file a complaint with PayPal to get my money back.

Re: SAMPUBCO?

JoMac53 — 2009-09-19 22:23:57Z

I used them to get a digital copy of my ancestors will from 1880. It took a few weeks after paying with Paypal. I know others who have used them, too. I would definitely use them again if they had anything else I wanted. I'm waiting for more coverage in my areas of research and I check back frequently.

I'm sorry you're having this problem but it's not a scam.

Re: SAMPUBCO?

Murlin54 — 2009-09-19 19:35:39Z

I just used them and for $7.00 got a copy of my ancestors will from 1895. It only took about 4 days after I paid with Paypal to get the zip file. I read all the instructions carefully and followed them, and it worked perfectly. I would definately use them again if I was lucky enough to find anything else useful.

Re: Public Records Pro

johnanzevino_1 — 2009-09-13 00:18:43Z

Public Records Pro is a total scam, despite claims that you will receive exclusive access to public records they offer nothing of the sort, all they provide is very limited information that can easily obtained free of cost via Google.

Avoid them like the plauge!

Re: beware OneGreatFamily

dj72green — 2009-09-12 13:39:43Z

A word of advice - do your own research, follow the paper trail, and climb your own tree not someone else's. These sites are money making schemes and nobody can "find your family tree" for you. The instructions for cancelling are below (from their site). Follow them exactly and if they continue to bill you, contact your local consumer affairs advisory.

We hope you want to keep your subscription, but if you don’t you must cancel by clicking on the Contact link in the footer of the homepage and choosing Cancellation Requests as the Subject. You cannot just send an email to us to cancel. You must use the Contact Customer Service form.

If you do become a subscriber, at the end of your plan period if you have not cancelled your subscription your credit card will again be charged the then current rate for the plan you have chosen. This ensures you have continuous access to your OneGreatFamily account.

Re: SAMPUBCO?

chatterchit — 2009-09-07 15:08:45Z

I haven't used them -- I checked on the Better Business Bureau site and they don't have a very good rating. Also, their business registration is currently expired (see Utah Department of Commerce site: https://secure.utah.gov/bes/action) The company's agent is listed there -- perhaps you could contact him?

Also, you may be able to file a complaint. See:
http://www.consumerprotection.utah.gov/complaints/index.html

Re: Public Records Paid websites-Help

needmorechocolate11 — 2009-09-07 08:41:35Z

it sucks i couldn't find the right records . not very accurate for me

Public Records Paid websites-Help

TerriLynnsmith67 — 2009-09-02 20:46:13Z

Hello fellow researchers,

Has anyone signed up and paid for these sites to get other Genealogy Records? Right now I’m a member of Ancestry.com and also Godfrey.org, but I need more information, and I hoping that someone else on my list has been a member of these sites that I have listed below. I was thinking of joining one of them to get more information, and this is also for people who are wanting to join, but want some more information like what I’m looking for. I’m just interested in the first two Thanks.

http://www.publicrecordsreviews.info/

SAMPUBCO?

jim20009 — 2009-09-01 17:52:07Z

Has anyone used Sampubco for wills and other documents? I sent them a check months ago, and tried to follow up with emails, but so far no response.

Have I been scammed?

Re: Public Records Pro

Cat106 — 2009-08-30 01:24:38Z

Googling the search term "Public Records Pro Complaints", here is a sample of what came up:
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Absolutely useless "service." Nothing here you can't find on Google. What a ripoff!
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I sent 35.40 to receive information regarding marriage license that public records said was available. Once I paid and signed onto site, I was transferred to the place where the record was available which happened to be the superior court in California. For a fee of 17.00 I can request the record.
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I signed up for public records.com ($35.40 yearly) to be able to run background checks on prospective employees, and this site provides nothing. It will send you to another site which wants more money. I should've checked this company out more thoroughly before registering. Do not recommend.
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Same as everyone else who has fallen victim to this garbage. provided nothing i didn't already find for free. a complete waste of money.
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Enrolled in public records pro with credit card. Created a password but on second try there is no way to enter again - must pay again for same no sense service. Relays all data retrieval to State vital records with their addresses.
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This co. is a total rip off, they provide nothing! Do not use them and tell everyone you know to stay clear. they don't refund your money either. I will make sure all my clients and patrons know what a load of crap they are!
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Re: Public Records Pro

jeaide — 2009-08-29 22:27:19Z

When you initially run a search on a name it leads you to believe that for $3 a month you can aquire information about said individual from their database. In actuality, their database will provide you with information on where to find public records information on any number of individuals; it merely provides you with a list of resources on where to search - e.g. registrar of deeds, cemetery listings. Public Records Pro is just not a very effective search tool, and not really worth it even for $3/mo. You're better off using a free intelius search or the white pages... All of the resources they provide can be found for free simply by searching...

Re: Public Records Pro

genealchemist — 2009-08-29 22:00:39Z

Please tell us more about why this is misleading. It tells you it finds hundreds of birth certificates for a person, but then wants you to pay $3/month.

Since you paid, what is the service really like? What's behind the hidden door?

Re: beware OneGreatFamily

gratop — 2009-08-23 16:28:21Z

I never joined, I poked around a bit and found little to interest me. It seems to me that it will end up like One World Tree, full of errors, misconnections, and fantasy. So I am curious, those who did manage to get a tree, or part of a tree loaded, are they able to get it removed from OneGreatFamily or will it reside there forever for others to snag?

Re: beware OneGreatFamily

LynneParker553 — 2009-08-19 18:08:03Z

Unfortunately I didn't read this in time and have been billed after I cancelled within 2 hours.

Re: Public Records Pro

Cat106 — 2009-08-19 01:33:23Z

I, too, received a prompt refund. I still believe it is a scam and so do a lot of other people. But, it's one of those gray areas. I feel sorry for people who are new to genealogy and are duped into paying for stuff they can get free online.

Re: Public Records Pro

jeaide — 2009-08-18 17:43:23Z

Yeah, Public Records Pro isn't very informative, but whether or not it qualifies as a scam is debatable. I tried the service and I wasn't happy with it at all. I asked for a refund and they gave me a refund.

Re: Huge family trees

JDTenkey — 2009-08-11 07:24:56Z

Clive I certainly understand how you feel. You no doubt follow the same method of research that I employ where you double, triple check and then check and verify things some more. I think you should do anything you can to attempt a "correction" of that kind of tree. I had a "crazy" person insist we were related and kept emailing and wanting information from me but was so wrong as there was not a remote connection as her research was done poorly. There used to be some sites where you could add a post it type thing (I think that was what they called it) to add or correct information. I think as members of a site where you pay to use it that you should be allowed to log complaint regarding careless posting of work or be allowed to post a notice that there is doubt about the quality of the research. You are not the least bit out of line in your feelings on this subject. If they are posted on a board I will see if there is a monitor for the board and loge a complaint or concern with them. I had a secondary screwy person on a board that sent emails to me and frankly I think that they were just kids playing with their folks computer and the board monitor person eventually went in and removed all the posts from the screwy person. Mean while I would bring it up where ever you can so others can be aware that these bozo people are among us.

Re: Cliff Shaw, dubious owner of Gencircles.com

JDTenkey — 2009-08-11 07:13:01Z

I forgot to mention that all P.O. Boxes are connected to a physical address. This info is taken when you complete application for the box rental. This in turn will come up when you do a background check listing this guys name and the name of the businesses. The info is out there and available for less than $100.

Re: Cliff Shaw, dubious owner of Gencircles.com

JDTenkey — 2009-08-11 07:10:14Z

I see that you all have a common beef with this guy. You might want to try contacting the Boulder police and also the Postmaster of Boulder and see if this is mail fraud. Thankfully, I have not come in contact with this site and glad that some people have spoke up. For all you know this guy could be into some level of identity theft. Bad economic times drive some people to do that kind of stuff. Also google the hell out of him until you find him which I think you can eventually. Go to Board that does random acts of kindness in Boulder and see if they can get the info for you and tell the person to not make any personal contact.

Re: beware OneGreatFamily

JDTenkey — 2009-08-11 06:49:09Z

Folks contact your bank and tell them that you have been cheated on services and do not want this company paid. The bank will usually assist and sometimes get your money back and tell you how to stop them if they can't. Glad you posted the problem here. I have not heard of One Great Family and will steer clear if I see it now.

Re: Beware of Bil Baynton

JDTenkey — 2009-08-11 06:44:50Z

My mother and a couple of her cousins met a similar "cousin". I for one would like to see them loose their membership to Ancestry if they have one. Other than that, I had cautioned share of a lot of info all at once and to Google people who are in position to receive far more info from you than they are going to give. Working family trees is hard work which should be respected. I should add my mother and her cousins met this person via roots web and she had thought that they were on Ancestry and just did not under stand it. We can only hope that someone like that will eventually get boat load of bad info. I wish there is more than can be done. The person my mother dealt with appears to be possibly working on a book and got photos from My mom and cousins. Understand how angry you are on this issue. Do you know of places where he posts regularly? If you do I would post in all capitals, THAT RATHER THAN DO HIS OWN WORK HE CONS OTHERS TO SHARE AND THEN PUBLISHES OR ATTEMPTS TO PUBLISH WITHOUT GIVING PROPER CREDIT OR CITATION OF HIS SOURCES. I know it is like backward hunting but locate where he posts and then drop the truth in. Then hopefully people will ignore his requests. Also, if you find your info posted and credited to him, email the people posting it and let them know what kind of jerk he is and ask that they remove his posted info. I think there are folks that will gladly delete his posts after receiving your explanation and also not help him further in his lazy and fraudulent research methods. This is a really sore subject in our family and one of the reasons I only share with people I check out and prefer to share only on sites where folks are paying to use the site. In other words I share with ancestry members far more completely than others and only in small bits if I don't know them. This gets my blood boiling.

Re: ancestorstuff.com ?

tmorrisnh — 2009-06-16 20:23:27Z

I just started getting these too. They're definitely spam. If you search a little bit further, you'll find messages going back to at least 2004 which indicate that this is standard modus operandi for this web site.

Apparently the owner of the web site believes spam is good business, so anyone who buys from him/her is just going to encourage more spam.

I'm not going to unsubscribe (thus confirming my address), since I never subscribed. Instead when each message arrives, I mark it as spam. If everyone using Gmail (or any other spam reporting aggreggration service) does this, pretty soon they won't be able to spam anyone.

May they burn for all eternity!

Re: ancestorstuff.com ?

frogy|MA518398 — 2009-07-12 04:12:40Z

I just received a spam from them. I did NOT subscribe to their newsletter. They are harvesting genealogists' email addresses. Note that their email is a negative, not positive, confirmation like legitimate businesses. They send their letter unless you UNsubscribe. I forward this spam - with email headers displayed - to their ISP, currently abuse@datapipe.com

Re: Newspaperarchives.com lesson learned scam

katieinohio — 2008-08-12 02:27:16Z

I wondered about this site myself but gave it a try anyways. I did a one month pass and found loads of old newspaper articles on our family members; Traum, Zanzinger, Graffenberger, Otruba and Neugebauer's from Pennsylvania. Although many of my immediate relatives are from Ohio...they did not have any useful "Ohio" newspapers for me yet but I struck gold with the newspapers from Pennsylvania of which they have recorded.

Some of the article that I found on our family members dated back to before 1930! I even found articles showing my Great Grandmother had spent six months visiting in Pennsylvania and my aunt and uncle from Ohio going there to pick her up and take her back to Ohio. Although her name was misspelled in the article it is clear that it is my Great Grandmother and Aunt Ann and Uncle Frank from here in Cleveland!

February 26, 1941
Chester Times, Chester, PA:
Mr. and Mrs. Anton Zanzinger, of Forest Avenue, entertained at a farewell dinner party, in honor of their son-in-law, Lieutenant Robert O'Hara, who left yesterday to join company A of the National Guards in Pottstown. Lieutenant O'Hara has been a member of Company K, of the Chester National Guards for the past five years.
Attending the dinner were Mrs. E. Neugebauer, Anna Neugebauer, Edna Neugebauer, James Neugebauer, Anthony Neugebauer, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ottruba, and children, Joseph, James and Alice, Lt. O'Hara and Mrs. O'Hara, of Milmont Park; Mr. and Mrs. Francis Zanzinger and sons Ronald and Gerald, of Chester Plaza; Mr.and Mrs. Matthew Zanzinger, of Media, Mr. and Mrs. John Buck, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Hartley and children Richard, Charles and Helen, C. O'Hara, Miss Jean O'Hara and William O'Hara, of Glen Riddle; Mr. and Mrs. William McCoy and son William, Mr. and Mrs. John Rumsey, Esther Rumsey, and Esther Ottruba, of Springfield; Mrs. Madeline Graffenberger, Anne Traum and Frank Traum, of Cleveland, Ohio; Edward Dodds and William Dodds, of Sun Village; Hilda Zanzinger, Marie Zanzinger, Kenneth, Anthony and William Zanzinger.
Mrs. Madeline Gruffenberger, who has been the guest of Mrs. E. Neugebauer, of Milmont Park, for the past six months; returned home with her grandchildren, Miss Anne Traum and Frank Traum, who motored here from Cleveland, Ohio, to take their grandmother back with them.

My Great Grandfather was Henry Traum and I was even able to locate his two brother's, Emil and Paul Traum in Pennsylvania!

I found Emil and his wife's death notices and I even found this article describing their daughter, Josephine's birthday party (Look at all the names I am now researching!):

Chester Times, Chester PA Newspaper:
Thursday, August 27, 1931:
RIDLEY TOWNSHIP AND IT'S EVENTS/SURPRISE PARTY FOR MILMONT GIRL:
Miss Josephine Traum was given a birthday party recently by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Emil Traum, of Forest avenue, MImont. Those present included the Misses Helen Goetter, Anna Goetter, Theresa Jerabeck.Katherine Fischer, Marie Duran. Josephine Duran and Sebastian Duran, Jonn Goetter, Frank Kuhn. Joseph Karlovlc, Arthur Weidman, George Goebcl, Eric Haring, Kurt Haring, John Noheimer, Joseph Speck. Mr. and Mrs. L. Probst, Mr. and Mrs. J. Duran, Mr. and Mrs. C. Jerabeck, Mr. and Mrs. V. Haas, of Philadelphia; Mr. and Mrs. S. Horvath and Josephine Horvath of Lawndale; Mr. and Mrs. F. Mikuletzky, Anna, Carl and Frank Mikuletzky of Maple Shade, NJ; and Mrs. J. Porto, of Ridley Park; Stephen and Anthony Geresh. of Parkside; Mr. and Mrs. A. Casey, of West Chester; Mr. and Mrs B. Ferris, of Chester; Mr. and Mrs. Wlliam Warner and Mrs. Grace Warner, of Marcus Hook; Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Renn, of Lester; Alexander Gloner, Joseph Dombay, Emil Traum, Miss Emma Traum, Mr. and Mrs. E. Traum, Gustav Ritzer and Paul Traum. of Milmont. The Philadelphia Zither Club, of which Miss Traum is a member, was also present, and a three-piece orchestra furnished music for the dancing. Miss Traum was the recipient of many beautiful gifts.

Here is another article telling about Josephine Traum's Wedding:

Chester Times, Chester, PA Newspaper Article/Wedding Announcement:
Tuesday, October 15, 1935
WEBER-TRAUM:
Our Lady of Peace Church, Milmont Park, was the scene of an attractive wedding on Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock, when Miss Josephine Traum. daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Emll Traum, of Forrest avenue Milmont Park, became the bride of Joseph Weber, of Philidelphia. The Rev. A. R. Rees, pastor of the church, officiating. The bride, who was given In marriage by her father, was attended by her sister. Miss Emma Traum, as maid of honor; two bridesmaids,Miss Anna Nlkuletzky. of Mapleshade, N. J., and Miss Joan Horvath, of Germantown. Mr. Weber had as his best man Frank Nikuletzky, of Mapleshade and the ushers were Emll R. Traum. of Milmont Park, and Carl Nikuletzky. The bride was attired In a creation of white transparent velvet fashioned on straight lines, with a high straight neck and long puffed sleeves. Her lace-edged veil of tulle was fashioned In cap shape, and trimmed with tiny flowers. Her slippers were of white satin and she carried a shower bouquet of gardenias and lilies of thc valley. The velvet gowns of the attendants, which were of rich autumn shades, were made on the same line fashioned with high cowl neck lines in the front, low in the back, full puff sleeves and held at the waist line by silver cords. Miss Traum wore a rich red hue, Miss Nikuletsky, a royal blue, and Miss Horvath a dark silvery green. All wore matching turbans and other accessories and carried bronze chrysanthemums. Mrs. Traum, the bride's mother, was in cherry red velvet, turban and accessories to match and wore a shoulder corsage of white carnations. More than one hundred persons attended the reception held at the bride's parents. Music was furnished by two string orchestras. The bridal couple left for a tour of the southern states and upon their return will reside at 1511 West Girard Street, Philidelphia.

We could not find any information on Henry and Emil's brother, Paul Traum but after using newspaperarchives.com I was able to see newspaper articles which mention him. I also found out that Paul had fallen and was taken to a hospital in 1930. The article even gave me his address! Here are just two of the articles I found on Paul Traum:

Monday, January 20, 1930
Chester Times, Chester, PA:
Man Hurt in Fall
Late Saturday night, Paul Traum, 616 East Fourth Street, started toward the sidewalk, stumbled and fell, striking his head against a curb. The man was removed to Chester Hospital and after being given treatment for scalp lacerations, was held for observation.

Tuesday, June 9, 1931
Chester Times, Chester, PA:
New Jottings from Ridley
Mr. and Mrs. Emil Traum, of Forrest avenue, Milmont, entertained at dinner on Sunday, when their guests were: Stephen Horvath and family, of Lawndale; Mr. and Mrs. Ludwig Propst and family; Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Duran and family, Arthur Waldman, of Philidelphia, and Paul Traum, of Milmont.

Two articles even shows Emil and his family visiting their family in Germany and on one return trip Emil had a stroke while on board the ship!

May 18, 1934
Chester Times Newspaper, Chester, Pennsylvania:
Mr. and Mrs. Emil Traum and daughters the Misses Josephine and Emma Traum of Forrest avenue and Mrs. Rose Rape, Milmont Park sailed on the steamer Europa from New York on Wednesday for a three months' visit to relatives in Reschitz, Roumania, A party of friends and relatives went to New York with them to see them off for Europe. Among the party were: Emil Traum. Jr., Joseph Weber, Mr. and Mrs. Fritz Mikuletzky and children Carol and Anna; Miss Mary Schmegal, Mrs. Peter Garay and daughter, (Mrs.?) Olga Frances Zanzinger and Miss Katherine Zanzinger

Chester Times, Chester PA Newspaper Article:
Tuesday, October 17, 1939
Mr. and Mrs. Emil Traum and daughter, Miss Emma Traum, of Forest avenue, acompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Weber, of Philadelphia, landed in New York recently on the Italian liner, "Saturnia." While on the boat, three days from New York, Mr. Trum was taken seriously ill with a stroke, and was taken to the Willard Parker Hospital, New York, immediately after the boat docked. Mr. Traum's condition is slightly improved, but he is.still in the hospital, but will be moved to a Philadelphia hospital as soon as his condition warrants. Mrs, Weber is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs, Traum, and both families were returning from a five-month sojourn in Europe, Mr. and Mrs. Weber, spending the entire time in Germany, visiting Mr. Weber's parents, while Mr. and Mrs. Traum and Miss Emma Traum, spent three months in Rumania, visiting relatives and friends and two months in Germany.

Some articles tell of their vacations, travels, parties, births, marriage licenses, wedding, deaths, etc. Even an article telling of Emil and Paul's fishing trip!

Tuesday, August 3, 1926
Chester Times, Chester, PA:
Milmont
Aemel and Paul Traum, brothers, of Forest avenue, spent the weekend on a fishing trip in Maryland.

And after searching everywhere for Paul Traum's death date I found this article:

Tuesday, February 5, 1935
Chester Times, Chester, PA:
Traum - We wish to extend sincere thanks to friends, relatives and neigbors for kindness, floral offerings and use of automobiles at the death of our brother and uncle, Paul Traum. EMIL TRAUM AND FAMILY

My husband and our kids recently took a trip to Pennsylvania and visited Emil (and his family) and Paul Traum's graves at Holy Cross Cemetery. We even found the houses mentioned in the newspaper articles and took pictures of them to share with family. We met a neighbor and he took us down the street to where a Traum was still living!!! We left a letter in his mailbox to contact us. In doing further research I discovered that this living Traum is Emil Traum's son's son!!!

So you see it is well worth the money especially if the newspaper from where you are searching has been recorded to the site. I would highly recommend you give newspaperarchives.com a try! It is not a scam and may prove to be your link to your past!!! Who knows, maybe you will find a pot of gold there like I did!

newspapersarchive.com

ClydellMorgan75 — 2009-04-19 02:46:57Z

I read a comment posted today and I have to comment once more. Since I got suckered into the year's membership, I thought perhaps I could at least search it to see if there could be something I could use. Once more, I was wrong!!!! Sure, the search will show a "hit" because the common Christian names and general surnames call for a "hit". They never tell you that the name Charles is independent and totally different from the surname - and so the search games goes. Oh yes - that is if you can actually find a newspaper searchable within the years and geography that you desire.

newspapersarchive.com

ClydellMorgan75 — 2009-03-16 20:58:06Z

DO NOT JOIN THIS SERVICE!
They advertise that the best savings is to join for a year. I did so thinking that they would have at least one paper that I needed to research - WRONG! So, I rang them to get a cancellation and to my great surprise - THEY WILL NOT REFUND ANY OF THE YEARS SUBSCRIPTION - $71.88. Yes, I know I should have taken 20 minutes and read the terms and conditions - Buddy I will next time. This is a very expensive mistake and I want fellow ancestrysearchers to BE AWARE OF NEWSPAPERSARCHIVE.

Re: newspapersarchive.com

ClydellMorgan75 — 2009-05-18 13:08:22Z

Thank you! I am not an expert either. Since this posting, I have learned more about my ggf - at least about his death.
The difficulty in finding the maternal side of my family is that the BARKER story (owning steamships on the river and being robbed and killed) is difficult to find. I am now searching our state archives. It is a slow process and I get distracted when seeing other potential family names.
Your assistance is welcomed. Please contact me: clydellmorgan@rocketmail.com
thanks!

Beware of Bil Baynton

happygoeslucky — 2009-07-15 20:20:23Z

I have spent decades creating and documneting my family tree. I have spent hundres if not thousands of hlurs scouring over records, tombstones, microfilms, etc. I have travelled from one end of the country to the other and spent many thousands of dollars compiling my research and documenting my sources. All in the name of good genealogy. I made the mistake of assuming people were honest and had integrity (and I still believe most do). Bill Baynton sent a freind of mine an e-mail one day. Her, myself and anotehr lady had been working on our shared lines as a group. We shared between ourtselves willingly and openly and never had a problem. So Bill presented himself nicely, we shared some lines and the three of us shared our information with Bill. I personally shared everythign I had..........and willingly. So why do I write this. Bill decided to take decades of research from three higly competent genealogist's and posted it on damn near every site he could find as his own work. this may sound like sour grapes, and maybe it is, but, DO NOT share anything with him that you do not want posted from hewre to China and back.

Scott Mills

Re: OneGreatFamily.com TRICKERY/SCAM

JNP5053 — 2009-05-10 22:07:24Z

I am glad I found this warning. I was on the Rootsweb Home page where the have a place to type in a search. I decided to google the site and it brought me to this message. Thanks for the warning.

Re: Newspaperarchives.com lesson learned scam

loken409_1 — 2008-10-13 21:07:14Z

If you want to cancel they tell you to go to "my Account" then to "edit info" then to "membership options". Good luck with that. There is no link for "membership options". So now I guess I'll have to pay to fax the request.
Stay away from these people, they have very few newspapers anyway.

Re: OneGreatFamily.com TRICKERY/SCAM

daq455 — 2009-05-05 13:12:42Z

When I had my problems with them last year, I reported them to both their local (Utah) better business bureau and to the SC (my home state) bbb. Utah never did anything but SC got them to give back 75% of my money.

Re: OneGreatFamily.com TRICKERY/SCAM

Dancing_w_Ghosts — 2009-05-09 14:36:24Z

I feel the same way. A well researched tree given to a scam outfit. They do not even pretend to deliver once they have your financial information.

Re: OneGreatFamily.com TRICKERY/SCAM

Dancing_w_Ghosts — 2009-03-03 19:00:27Z

I agree totally with the Onegreatfamily.com Scam. They got me for a whole years membership. The site is not worth a hill of beans. Nothing works, not the ged upload, family dashboard (a joke) or information tracker. They keep sending emails about all the matches they have made for me but when I log on they have not even loaded my family tree. They keep telling me I only have a 8 member tree when I uploaded a 850+ ged. Can not even input information manually, I can not even get the correct mother listed for myself! Too many "conflicts" They have all these blog "testimonials" but try to register or post on those blogs and you cant

Please do not get taken in by them as I did!

Please

Public Records Pro

Cat106 — 2009-08-04 01:22:48Z

A warning. Don't pay for Public Records Pro. I just filed a complaint against them with the FBI Internet Crimes website. They grossly misrepresent their services. I hope to spare someone the money I just lost on a membership.

ancestorstuff.com ?

exevans — 2009-05-13 13:56:59Z

Is anyone else getting spam e-mails from ancestorstuff.com? I do NOT recall giving them my e-mail address. Yet I am receiving e-mails from info@ancestorstuff.com, news5@ancestorstuff.com to several of my e-mail addresses that I use on online message boards, etc.

Just searching for "ancestorstuff" on all Rootsweb message boards, it seems all my "hits" are for legitimate genealogy purposes.

I wonder if someone else has hijacked ancestorstuff's e-mail? Or are they just aggressively marketing, using e-mail addresses posted on other genealogy websites? Have any other websites given them my e-mail address?

Re: newspapersarchive.com

LHSwisher — 2009-04-19 03:35:09Z

It's not just newspaperarchives; this happens on Ancestry, GenealogyBank and others as well. I doubt they are deliberately misleading researchers; rather, the hits come up because that's the way the OCR software works.

Re: BOYCOTT ANCESTRY! - Find out why here....

LM54 — 2008-07-17 23:16:15Z

What you are saying is absolutely NOT TRUE! You are spreading lies about ancestry and you're doing it on an ancestry sponsored board. Doesn't that strike you as a little ridiculous since you're telling everyone to stay away from ancestry like the plague??

Yes, ancestry bought out rootsweb but the USGenWeb sites are going to remain free so you don't need a paid subscription to ancestry to access them. The USGenWeb Project also still maintains it's own web pages apart from rootsweb/ancestry. Unfortunately state and county web site administrators jumped the gun and moved their web pages off of rootsweb because of people spreading misrepresentations like you're doing.

You're complaining about their subscription fees but do you have any idea what it costs to put online all the information that ancestry has on it's web pages?? All the census images, birth records, death records, newspapers, military records and indexes??? Not to mention, all the servers involved to handle the thousands and thousands of records, mailing lists and message boards? They all have to be maintained and upgraded regularly. DO YOU ACTUALLY THINK THAT CAN ALL BE DONE FOR FREE?????

Do you have any idea how time consuming it would be and what the cost in gasoline, food and lodging would be for you to drive to all the state and county courthouses to find the information you're seeking? How about searching in old newspapers in libraries across the country or around the world? How about trips to the nearest branch of the National Archives or the nearest LDS research center?? What if you're searching for relatives overseas? How much would it cost for plane fare, food and lodging to fly overseas and search European records? If you can't afford to fly overseas, do you know what European researchers charge to do your search for you? And yet, you can access thousands of records just by a yearly subscription fee and a click of your mouse right in the comfort of your own home!

RootsWeb was moved onto the Ancestry.com domain in March 2008 but RootsWeb will remain a free online resource. What will be different is that the Web address for all RootsWeb pages will change from www.rootsweb.com to www.rootsweb.ancestry.com.

Re: newspapersarchive.com

BryanMehn — 2009-03-20 15:18:53Z

Well I'm quite happy with the subscription that I got from them. However, I will say that when I first joined I only got the local paper, the one I used the most, and didn't know for a few dollars more I could have had access to a much broader section of newspapers.

Re: newspapersarchive.com

Brucejenstree — 2009-05-18 03:15:15Z

Sharon
I am not an expert but may be able to help
Regards
Bruce Cohen
cbruce9@aol.com

beware OneGreatFamily

JessieOrphey — 2009-07-02 01:34:18Z

I have had the same problems as the previous writers. I have contacted them several times with questions and got nothing but irrelevant "canned answers". My own tree still does not appear but they have me related to every famous person back to Adam.When I asked the relationship calculator to show the relationship between me and my own father they cant even find him.I have been on the sight since Feb. I am thoroughly dismayed .They signed me up for 3 more months without my permission.

WARNING gov-certifcates.co.uk

flaxxman — 2008-11-04 19:44:55Z

I used this organisation to order my Grandfather's birth certificate. They are absolutely hopeless. They told me they could not trace it, despite me supplying them with the index vol and page #'s and his date of birth and district where the birth was registered. They then charged me £21.97 for their troubles.

I went to the General Registry Office with the same information and they supplied me with a birth certificate within a week for £7.

Do not use gov-certificates.co.uk They do not supply any contact phone numbers and their e-mail replies do not answer any queries and all in all their service is very unsatisfactory.

Re: newspapersarchive.com

SharonJamieson59 — 2009-04-18 21:35:10Z

So Bryan what did you actually get for your money? How far back were you able to research? I am at a standstill at present with ancestry and need to find other tools.

Re: Newspaperarchives.com lesson learned scam

SharonMiller5736 — 2008-08-14 03:58:39Z

I also paid for a full year. I have found a wealth of info in obits. I guess it depends if your local papers are include in the archives. I checked them out first, and decided it was worth a try. I am also a member of ancestry and they have only 6 years of our local paper that is searchable. Please do a paper search before buying into this. Just some advice.

Re: Newspaperarchives.com lesson learned scam

SharonMiller5736 — 2008-06-13 11:57:39Z

Your membership will automatically renew on the date listed above. You will be billed at the renewal rate in effect prior to each subscription term. If you wish to cancel prior to the renewal of your membership, please cancel online by logging into "My Account" or faxing your request to 319-390-9442.

4069 21st Ave. S.W.
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404

hope this helps anybody that that got a bad deal. Thankfully I did not and have found 11 obits in as many days. Sharon

Huge family trees

clivearmstrong_1 — 2009-04-03 09:03:04Z

There are a few individuals who add family trees together at random, and present them publicly as fact, whereas they are mostly a figment of a lurid imagination. Other people researching their own ancestry copy this rubbish unknowingly, and so it is propagated throughout the world. Is there a place on Ancestry where these incorrect trees can be listed, or can they be marked in some way to protect the innocent?

Re: beware OneGreatFamily

awayagain4 — 2009-08-01 08:54:36Z

I found exactly the same. I was so disgusted with the site that I attempted to cancel my Free Trial after two days.
I have already been charged for two months and, looking at my account, it seems I am about to be billed for a third month in August.

If any member is thinking of using this site my advice would be DON'T. It almost impossible to cancel you subscription should you change your mind.

Re: OneGreatFamily.com TRICKERY/SCAM

rvolpato169 — 2009-05-05 21:47:06Z

Thanks for you comments actually when I checked out the site given it was Utah based I thought it was part of ancestry.com/familysearch/rootsweb - the Generation Network Company - the service you get from this group is great - they do deliver what they promise unlike 'onegreatfamily' so I presume it isn't part of the Generation Network Co but I suspect they are leveraging off this association and sucker people in the process.

Re: OneGreatFamily.com TRICKERY/SCAM

rvolpato169 — 2009-05-05 11:34:38Z

Wow - I wish I had found these comments before I got sucked in - I thought I was registering for a 7 day trial and found out that I had been charged for 12 months subscription after only checking out the site for three hours. I cancelled but was told I had subscribed so I was charged. Everything everyone has said about the site is correct - the whole concept is about getting matches to your tree but the facility for uploading is useless - it couldn't upload my tree - which is why I cancelled but it was too late - I was suckered!! They send me emails about matches but when I log on there is nothing - this site gives genealogy a bad name. Do not even try this site - its a scam - even if you think you are getting a trial you probably aren't. How come they are allowed to stay in business:

Re: OneGreatFamily.com TRICKERY/SCAM

missjinks — 2009-05-09 09:04:18Z

Awful, Awful, Awful!

Wish I'd seen this too. I took the 'free trial' and was totally baffled by the system. It wouldn't upload my GEDcom and I complained within the first couple of hours (no response). The only tips it would give me were from my own tree which I was no longer privvy to! I cancelled my free trial (which they make as difficult as possible) but they still took a month's subsciption from my account. Luckily, I'd kept all the e mails and eventually got a refund.

I now feel that they have 'stolen' my Gedcom containing 18 months of my hard work.

Avoid at all costs!

American Indian Heritage Foundation- Indians.Org

shellbug41 — 2008-08-14 09:32:17Z

I ordered 2 books from this place. I found their name on the national archives website, so I thought it would be safe. That was 3 months ago. I have not received my books or my money back. I have e-mailed them twice and tried to reach them by phone, which no one answers, just tells you to visit their web site. I to reported them to the BBB found out they've had complaints to. This web site states they are a charity for Native Americans and your money helps to fund different things. They have hand made jewelry that cost over a thousand dollars. This company needs to muster up some professionalism.
You can't even get a response from them. I will visit sites like Ancestry.com next time and ask others before I buy. Buyer beware of this place!