I used the free trial in Nov/Dec 2017, I then cancelled the membership to which they gave me a cancellation date and number. I've recently found out that they have been withdrawing money from my credit card for over 12 months. When I've been in touch with both UK & Australian departments they acknowledge cancellation but want me to ring International to ask me what I have already supplied them by email. This mob are criminals and go out of their way to fob you off. Pay me the $200 you owe me you thieves!
I subscribed to Ancestry.com for a 6-month period for $49.95. I have a few months left and low and behold I was charged $39.95 for Archives.com... something I never signed up. I never checked out their services or their website, yet out of the blue, they hit my paypal account for the charges. Obviously Ancestry.com is linked into Archives.com and shares personal payment information. I will be opting out early from Ancestry and will not renew. Too bad really, they could be on the up-and-up and still make a fortune from people wanting to do research. And yes, I did check the box so that archives.com will get a copy of this review.
I tried the free trial found nothing of use to me.and beware newspaper.com is a sister co. I got stuck with them deducting $74.90 from my bank account needless to say I am not very happy with this company. But hopefully a gentleman by the name of Justin can get this issue resolved.
I had a great experience with archives.com When I wanted to cancel I called them right up and they took good care of me. I use it often and have been doing extensive research into 16 different lineages. I have been able to (with much patience) trace most of my ancestors back for 300 or more years.
I, like Spencer B., do not have the negative experience that seems to be so prevalent in postings here. As a matter of fact, if you research reviews by companies who compare and rate ancestry research sites (including their customer support and knowledge) it is consistently ranked second only to Ancestry, com. I also couldn't help but notice some of you in this string are actually complaining about Ancestry.com and not Archives.com. At any rate, I subscribe to Archives and another family member uses Ancestry and we compile our findings to get a better family tree. Yes, I actually find info on Archives that is not found on Ancestry and the same is true the other way around.
BEWARE CONSUMERS! Archives.com is a company owned by Ancestry.com. Yes it has records you can review when doing genealogy research but you are limited to the amount of records available to you. Once you have reviewed the few records they offer on Archives.com they refer you to Ancestry.com for the thousands of records available. The catch is you have to pay for Ancestry.com as well. So instead of purchasing Archives.com on a monthly basis why not make the purchase to Ancestry.com for basically the same amount of money AND you get access to ALL the records. The owner of Ancestry.com and Archives.com, being the same person, is scamming you to get you to join both. Why? To add to his pocketbook. Consumers please don't fall for this scam.
Don't use - you'll find nothing at all when you search. You have to provide a charge card for your trial period, however you're "assured" if you cancel within 7 days, you won't get charged. I cancelled within 1 hour and not only did they still charge my card, they then charged me the following month as well. Luckily I used my American Express card and it was promptly removed from my account.
I paid $10.00 for a 3 month membership through an online coupon. In my opinion archives.com are deceptive regarding the scope of information they have to offer. After 3 MINUTES I knew I had thrown away my money. Total waste.
I signed up for the "free 10 day trial" Within 10 minutes I realized that I could not find even the simplest most recent records. I cancelled the account. We'll see if I get charged. I emailed them on how to delete my account and here is there answer:
Thank you for contacting Archives.com in regard to deleting your account.
"We apologize for any confusion or frustration in this matter. For auditing and accounting purposes, we are unable to delete accounts from our systems."
They're site is not helpful and I suspect I will have to fight not to get charged for multiple months... STAY AWAY!
For almost two years I have had a paid subscription. I agree that this site is a real scam! Not much info is available and now there's another huge issue. A few months ago I requested that my subscription be cancelled, i. E., not renewed again in May, so I don't know yet if they'll charge me for a renewal. Today when I try to access archives.com and their members.recordsbase.com, there is a message warning that the site's security certificate has EXPIRED! Now what? My subscription has not expired yet!
Very deceptive. Leads you to believe with a click of the mouse you will be able to view documents like birth, marriage and death certificates that may be helpful in working on your family tree for a small monthly fee. In reality most of the information is not documents but rather data that you can get for "free" by just surfing the net.
I signed up for the 7-day trial seeking to verify family information from elderly members. Was unable to find verification and could not find information on myself. Called the phone number for customer service within an hour to cancel and Matt said he would document my cancellation. Then a charge showed on my card. When I emailed the customer service they responded to say they show no record of me calling and I would be charged.
I gave them one star because that was the lowest possible score. It should be a ZERO! Everything everyone has written before me is TRUE! You can cancel if you follow all the confusing instructions but it is not clear or easy. You are led to believe you have indeed cancelled but the charges keep coming. Removing your billing info from the site won't keep them from continuing to bill you.
WHAT A SCAM!
Avoid this website https://www.archives.com/au I signed up for a free trial (14 day) Cancelled after 3 days as it was absolutely useless. They charged my credit card $14.99. The following month I was charged again even though I contacted the admin and requested my account be cancelled. I disputed the transactions on my credit card how ever the bank was unable to stop the debit each month. After 4 months I was advised to cancel my credit card as it was the only way to stop archives from charging my account each month. What a waste of money. Please do not sign up to this web site.
STAY AWAY! Used this service once and found myself going in circles. Did not get even one piece of usable information. Unfortunately, I forgot to cancel... three months later I called and they would not credit even though I'd only used once three months earlier. BEWARE of the unscrupulous practices thus company uses to make their money. They do not provide the service they promise. BTW, it took forever to get through.
Am going to cancel my free trial immediately. I think their records are in very poor disarray, their trees & "my Records" are not user-friendly and furthermore, it is very hard to discontinue. If you do sign up, keep the first email they send you. It has the link to where to go if you want to cancel. They certainly DO try to trick people into unwanted subscriptions. You get what you pay for!
Just realized they have been taking money out of my checking account for months. Shame on me for not being more vigilant. Don't know how they got my account. Something very fishy. Spoke to a rep instead of selecting the number to cancel. Want my money back. May call my bank to claim fraudulent charges.
Completely unscrupulous. I cancelled their service, got a confirmation email, and then they still tried to bill my card for a renewal. If you are somehow in their clutches, I seriously recommend that you cancel your credit card - I don't know another way to be sure.
Sadly this says free but you can get no information at all until you submit a credit card. I here that ancestry.com bought them out so maybe they will improve it and it will be available on the ancestry.com site. I love ANCESTRY.COM it is worth every penny I spend on it each year.
I did take the 7-day trial and cancelled within two days - four months later I am still getting a monthly charge and cannot get a refund. The customer service is horrible and impersonal. If you can find the information some other way - please, please do - it is awful.
Overview
Archives has a rating of 1.1 stars from 158 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with Archives most frequently mention credit card, free trial and customer service. Archives ranks 47th among History sites.
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- Sitejabber has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
- Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members