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Archives Reviews Summary
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 36th among History sites.
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I should've read these reviews first. The previous descriptions are fully accurate. As useful as, but less transparent than every other "free" public records scam out there.
Their 7 day free trial is simply a scheme to get your credit card number. They will charge you immediately anyways. The matches they provide on any search ("We found x vital records on y") turn out to be mostly links to other paysites or links to freely available information. I was lucky enough to use PayPal for the free trial registration (which I was unable to cancel with Archives.com), because I could just file a complaint with PayPal and they agreed it was a scam. Archives.com seems to pay some third party bloggers to refute the scam claim - do not fall for that, either. Archives.com has always been a scam, and needs to be shut down.
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.
It's not bad enough that they fraudulently charge your credit card after promising that they won't and don't allow you to cancel after promising that they will. When you decide to try to use the site, since you were forced to pay for it, it is absolutely useless. These people couldn't find their own mother is she was living next door to them. It's a shame that sites like this don't get shut down!
Came across the clickthrough ad for this website, while working on another similar website. They advertise that a credit card is not needed. I started to join, but did NOT consumate the sales and THEY STILL CHARGED MY CREDIT CARD. When I called them to dispute the charge, they start telling me all sorts of stuff. I had to go to the credit card company to dispute this charge.
Would give ZERO STARS if there was that option. My mistake, should have read others reviews first before I fell for their "free 7 day trial". Had to enter credit card info-another RED FLAG I blindly ignored. My card got charged immediately, the site is horrible, the phone # they provide for customer service is constantly a fast busy signal(even more bogus) and I got bilked out of $ and had to deal with credit card fraud paperwork to ensure they don't take even more$. STAY AWAY...
They are thieves. The 7 day free trial is a scheme. They will charge you no matter what. I'm trying to figure out how to get them arrested for robbery.
I had a suspicion about this site, and almost did the same thing as described above: provide my CC info, check it out, then possibly cancel if it was bogus info.
THANK YOU ALL for taking the time to write about your experiences! I'm sorry you lost money, but I really appreciate you taking the time to warn others like me. :) You saved me money I could not afford to lose.
I had an charge for automatic renewal on my credit card statement. I called the phone number and was told that they sent me an email confirmation that my account was going to be renewed. I told them that I did not receive the email. Automatically I am at fault? They said I should check the way my email is set up. Junk mail, etc. I have been in IT Tech Support for more than 20 years. I think I know how to check email. They never sent any confirmation and even if they did, they should be required to wait for my reply before charging me. I cancelled and will never use their services again. If you take my advice, neither will you.
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 went on for the seven day trial, decided immediately I wanted to cancel but wack hen I tried to find a place to cancel, there was none. Therefore I sent a message to customer support and got no answer. I have never received a registration notice or a cancellation notice, but I have now been billed for annual membership. When I went back on their site today to cancel again and complain, I received a message that the site is down.
Total scam and ripoff... charged $39.95 for reoccuring membership and then $27.83 for a birth certificate that I never received only received forms requesting and additional $22.00 and a copy of my divers license to be faxed. Credit Card Company would not dispute charge and Archives.com told me to f'off. DO NOT USE ARCHIVES.COM or you will have to cancel your credit card to keep them from continuing to charge you a membership fee and never receive promised documents.
It's a scam. After you've given your credit card info, and only after, you can search. I could find one record and if I wanted it, I had to go to an alternate site and pay for it. The annual charge is a total scam. What you reallly want will cost you much much more. I cancelled the following day. Sure enough, they charged my account. When I called I got some guy who was trained at avoidance. It's a scam so save your money..
First, they say FREE. So why does FREE require a credit Card? Next, they TRICK you into going through several steps/screens and then bam: no results unless you give them credit card information to see the results of the FREE query. Simple low class scam by losers who depend on the user not reading the temrs and conditions and failing to CANCE the Service... these folds are depending on ripping off unsuspecting folks...
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- Sitejabber’s sole mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
- Sitejabber has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
- Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members