• Archives

Archives

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Overview

Archives has a rating of 1.09 stars from 158 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about Archives most frequently mention credit card, free trial, and customer service problems. Archives ranks 49th among History sites.

  • Service
    17
  • Value
    15
  • Shipping
    10
  • Returns
    12
  • Quality
    15
Positive reviews (last 12 months): 0%
Positive
0
Neutral
0
Negative
6
7
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What reviewers want you to know

Positive highlights

No positive highlights yet

Critical highlights

  • They count on people not checking their credit card bills so they can keep the subscription for as long as possible.
  • Terrible Company, Terrible Customer Service; no telephone; chat only with a robot; it takes your money and runs.
How would you rate Archives?
Top Positive Review

“Extensive records”

Cynthia D.
3/3/19

I've found records from the 1880's. I've uncovered so much information. Not sure if I want to pay $9.99 a month to keep the access. For now I'm enjoying the information on my family that I have found.

Top Critical Review

“CRIMINALS!”

Lindsey D.
1/31/24

Go straight to the necessary county for what you need, not this criminal source. Or you will be out $$$. We kept getting "reasons" for the delay of receiving the certificate requested. Those "reasons" were to buy Archives time to make it so I was unable to dispute the charge. As mine and your bank has a cut off time. I am out $$$ with no way of getting it back now.

Reviews (158)

Rating

Timeframe

Other

Reviews that mention popular keywords

credit card (34) customer service (20)
Thumbnail of user lindseyd205
1 review
2 helpful votes
January 31st, 2024

Go straight to the necessary county for what you need, not this criminal source. Or you will be out $$$. We kept getting "reasons" for the delay of receiving the certificate requested. Those "reasons" were to buy Archives time to make it so I was unable to dispute the charge. As mine and your bank has a cut off time. I am out $$$ with no way of getting it back now.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user rileyr98
1 review
1 helpful vote
March 19th, 2024

This is a scam, they will give you 7 days, then auto charge your card, you have to call them to cancel no way to do it from your site, I was on the phone for a hour, to get a human. I will never use this again. They NOT REFUND YOU! I canceled in Feb over the phone, and then got charged again in March had to call again.

Products used:
This is a newspaper search, which does not get any results.

Service
Value
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Thumbnail of user yod8
1 review
1 helpful vote
November 13th, 2023

I will have patience and hopefully the mistakes by charging my card will be corrected ASAP! I had no results btw

Thumbnail of user thaism11
1 review
2 helpful votes
July 23rd, 2023

According to the Archives website, I should have all the 4 requested certified documents within 10-15 business days. But after more than a month, I am still waiting for them. What this company is doing is outrageous and completely outside the scope of what they promised for their customers. I paid in advance and when I complained over the phone, they didn't cancel my order or give me any compensation. It is absurd that a company like this continues to operate dealing with certified documents online, which should be a job of great responsibility and reliability, which Archives is far from being.

Tip for consumers:
I want to add that the customer service over the phone was useless, and also that the person who answered the phone started laughing at my complaint. I want to make sure that Archives will be well known as an unreliable company.

Products used:
For now, just one.

Thumbnail of user saramanoff
1 review
1 helpful vote
August 24th, 2023

No way to reach a live person. They take your money and will not cancel the service. DO NOT USE THEM. If I couldngive negative stars, I would. I did find a phone number after a while of searching *******442 is supposedly customer service. Be careful with info you give them please

Tip for consumers:
DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE FOR ANY REASON.

Products used:
Trying to find anything was a joke. Too much info and no real way to narrow it down. No live person to talk to and they just keep billing you. They will not cancel the service.

Thumbnail of user im.roxie2
1 review
1 helpful vote
August 22nd, 2023
Verified purchase

They offer it to you from their site and you think that all you have to do is cancel your ancestry account and your good but you have to go to separate site to cancel. Sign you up from one but require you to logon to separate site to cancel. This company(s) just want you to signup and then forget you have an account so they can slip in on your credit card bill monthly and take your money.

Service
Value
Thumbnail of user kenp498
1 review
3 helpful votes
March 11th, 2022

I signed up one day in February and immediately emailed to cancel subscription as the site had no useful information! They cancelled but in March took £8.95 out of my bank account and told me they could only refund $8.95 dollars and anything lost was currency exchange! It's not currency exchange when they're not even attempting to match the amount they took without permission in the first place!

Tip for consumers:
Get off it asap, don’t sign up and don’t give them your card details!

Products used:
None immediately asked to cancel subscription

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user patriciab3065
1 review
3 helpful votes
January 15th, 2022

Started "trial subscription". Quickly realized poor decision. Tried to CANCEL by email and phone (reached Indian call center). Said they had no record of me. Charged my Paypal act 14 days later. Got paypal to cancel further charges. These folks are liars, scammers and cheats. AVOID them

Tip for consumers:
it is a total scam. it will offer you nothing and rip you off

Products used:
zero none nil nada

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user mikeb3088
1 review
1 helpful vote
February 22nd, 2023

The site seems great, but really they have a very small database of data. If your search does not fall into line with one of their archives you'll get nothing. If you live in California you may have a decent experience, but they are missing so much data from most other states that there is a great chance that you won't get a good result. They give you a 14 day trial because they already know that most people will forget to cancel after 8 days statistically and they will get at least 10 bucks out of every person that visits the site. This adds up to millions in revenue for them and you will get nothing valuable out of it. This is a scam for sure.

Tip for consumers:
Don't use this site. There are other ways to get the information you need for free, but you may have to wait a little bit .

Products used:
Search

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
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Thumbnail of user brittainys
1 review
8 helpful votes
February 10th, 2021

I joined for a free trial. I cancelled my membership because I was never able to find information, looked at my bank statement and they have been pulling money from my account for 2 months. Yeah reached out to them and they used the unfortunately nothing they can do because I knew the terms this and that. Well if I cancelled why was it still active? And why have I been charged. Stole my money.

Tip for consumers:
Double check if you cancel or they will take from you too.

Products used:
NONE

Service
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user sandrag2213
1 review
5 helpful votes
July 14th, 2022

I cancelled my subscription the first day and was still charged. Didn't realized I never recieved a credit back until a month later when I was charged again. I called them and you could hear another representive repeating someones information back to them. Still have not recieved my credit for this charge. I believe that this is not a legitimate company. On the rating stars should be a 5 minus.

Thumbnail of user thomasj120
4 reviews
4 helpful votes
June 5th, 2021

Took my money and won't let me sign in saying I haven't paid. Archives used to be a good site. Called the phone number for them noted on my bank account and they denied that I had paid.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user emils48
1 review
1 helpful vote
April 8th, 2021

I've been waiting for 2 and a half months for four pairs of shoes Air Force 1's, and they have not made it here at all and there is no communication back from the company with all of the emails I've sent to them I would think that I would get something back. But no, nothing. They stole $500 from me and won't answer me about a return or to send me the shoes finally. This place is a scam and they should be locked up for theft, fraud, false advertisement, and for being douche bags. F this store and the people running it. I'm a Sneakerhead and I would've bought almost every shoe design they had there if they would've just sent me the money or the shoes finally. They get no stars from me and a big F-U FROM CANADA

Tip for consumers:
DONT FRIGGIN DO IT ITS A SCAM THRY ROBBED ME OF $500

Products used:
None

Thumbnail of user codym134
3 reviews
0 helpful votes
February 14th, 2022

I have been charged 5 times in one day. I called them and said hey that wasn't me. They then told me it didn't go through and I told them it did go through five times. She said it shows it failed six times on their end. I would recommend and if I could then I'd leave no stars.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user gerritd13
1 review
1 helpful vote
November 30th, 2022

Terrible Company, Terrible Customer Service; no telephone; chat only with a robot; it takes your money and runs. Filed a complaint with the company about a refund and got no response.

Thumbnail of user ianc174
1 review
11 helpful votes
February 19th, 2019

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!

Thumbnail of user lizo82
1 review
2 helpful votes
September 10th, 2021

I went on that site to find something and couldnt find what i was looking for they took and had a way to cancel subscription and thought i did it but was wrong i work so its not easy for me to just sit and make calls when i want when i finally did they say sorry but no refund unless done on same day as charge what hell is that they should refund like all other places do but they just shown that they steal money from everyone dont go on the Archives you just might not get what your looking for and may end up being charged with no refund. I would rate them a zero overall

Tip for consumers:
Dont use Archives they will rob you

Service
Thumbnail of user mikel1021
1 review
6 helpful votes
February 3rd, 2020

Beware the site is very tricky & before you know it your charged fee's you didn't want & they sure wont give any refund. They bait you with possible information that turns out to be useless a great waste of time. Only reason I give them a 1 Star is because Negative Star is not available BUYER BEWARE.

Thumbnail of user sheriseh5
1 review
2 helpful votes
November 7th, 2022

People Don't Bother With This Company! This Company Do Charge You When After You Did Your Membership Cancellation Already!

Thumbnail of user berniek23
3 reviews
34 helpful votes
June 19th, 2017

This Archive.com scam is operated by Ancestry.com. Sir John Rogerson Quay. Dublin Ireland.
What ever they say they are the same conmen/women who operate both companies. I thought I had cancelled my subscription 12 months ago but on going through my statements I discovered to my dismay they are still taking £8.95 monthly payments from my account.
I believe my bank must be partly responsible for allowing this to happen and I will be taking it up with them today.

Thumbnail of user thiria
1 review
5 helpful votes
February 20th, 2020

I would like to rate as zero star. I applied death certificate there which is my biggest mistake ever. They took all of my money and returns nothing. I called them to follow my application and they LAUGHED at me as a looser. It is totally a SCARM and people please stay away from them.

Thumbnail of user paulc833
1 review
6 helpful votes
July 21st, 2020

Typed in fabricated totally non existant name and still came up with records. I suspect that this is to get everybody to sign up even if no records exist.

Thumbnail of user samc350
1 review
6 helpful votes
January 28th, 2020

I ordered a certified divorce certificate for my grandma in September of 2019, it is almost February of 2020 and it never came. After the 60 days or 8 weeks was up I called every two weeks and the lady would give excuses say oh I see, it'll be in in about two weeks!
Or something was wrong with the system. Or I can't give you a refund because we just use your money yesterday! Do NOT GET ANYTHING FROM THIS WEBSITE!

Thumbnail of user brandij32
4 reviews
4 helpful votes
May 7th, 2020

I originally really did want this service and on the first day of the free trial I asked them about what I was trying to do so it took them like a week to message back saying they're sorry but that's not exactly what they do but here's some of their sister sites I guess that maybe can help me. So right then I canceled my subscription they said my free trial would finish and then they would cancel the next month and then here I am with the money taken out of my account so I emailed them it took them over 24 hours to respond but the response said they're taking me off this subscription and taken any content I had off but it didn't say anything about a refund so I called and they said oh well since it took me 24 hours they cant give me a refund how in the hell I mean they could have at least left the month that I paid for on there but no be careful

Thumbnail of user gillianh59
1 review
0 helpful votes
April 12th, 2021

Do not sign up to any ‘free trial'. If like me you thought this was part of Ancestry you have been scammed and it will cost you to cancel

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