findmypast

I have been a faithful subscriber to findmypast since it was called 1837online but the way it is going these days annoys me. When I renewed the British subscription in 2018 the historic newspaper collection had been stripped out. I had used this extensively since it was first included. At the time I judged that I had probably dredged up all the articles about my relatives that were available so I was annoyed but I renewed anyway.

Having just renewed again, I was told that the British subscription is being discontinued. I thought deeply about renewing this time but because of the 30% discount being offered I decided to buy the Pro subscription because it was only a few £ more expensive than the 15% loyalty discount I was offered to renew at the same level. Notably they didn't tell me that I could get a 30% discount and I actually thought that it was only available to new subscribers. It's the old insurance company scam - new customers get lower premiums than long standing loyal customers on renewal.

Many of you on this forum live "abroad" (as I would term it being from England) so the worldwide records on fmp are of interest to you. But my family is dull and unadventurous (or escaped being transported by the skin of their teeth) and no-one that I've discovered so far - apart from the current generations - has ever lived abroad. The basic British subscription suited me perfectly especially while it contained newspapers.

Being forced to upgrade just to get the same level of service that I used to get does not sit well with me. Maybe this time next year I shall be getting rid of fmp and going elsewhere. I feel very grumpy about this company.

I wonder whether anyone else feels the same way?

Tony

 

Does the library version have all the collections, or just the local ones?

 

How Historic do you mean Tony? I was just able to refind a death in 1827 on FMP which ancestry couldn't give me, mind you it took some fiddling to find it- not in 'my records' of past searches. I really needed it as there is such an influx of incorrect info regarding this chap that I was doubting myself. Almost ready to ask the loves on this forum to research him for me to prove I'm not wrong. Wouldn't take long 1809- 1827.

In your case tho' Tony, I'm not the best with newspaper searches but young AnneB seems to rouse out stuff.

 

I like the 'young' bit Wendy

I use the British Newspaper Archives site, which 'belongs' to FMP, and I find it much easier to use. I suspect FMP are trying to get people to have subs to both...... I'm not a great fan of FMP, but it is very useful for military research and does have a lot of Devon stuff, so I stick with it whilst gritting my teeth

 

I have just renewed my 'British' sub (October) and when they changed their packages a few years back they promised us, those who renewed year on year could keep this as long as we wanted to - it looks like they are reneging on it

 

I couldn't quite get to grips with it so didn't sign on again.

 

I, too lost access to newspapers when I renewed. This will be my final year of FMP - then it's down to the library for me. Very sad, as I found many useful snippets about my extended family there.

 

I think I'm in the same situation as MollyMay - I renewed a 'legacy' British sub in October and still have newspaper access. I understood that the British sub has been phased out in the sense that no-one can now start one, but when they changed the options (in 2018?) they did say that anyone who was already on that would be able to renew it indefinitely.

From that I understood that if there was any kind of break in your subscription, even just a day, you'd lose that entitlement. So if you let it lapse in order to start again with a generous new member's discount you'd lose it; I've also tried to avoid the possibility of a hiccup in getting payment authorised at renewal in case that has the same effect.

But to anyone having problems with this, if you definitely haven't had a break and your British sub doesn't now include newspapers, or has been converted to what they say is the nearest current equivalent (Plus), then it is probably worth complaining.

 

Thank you-the newspapers are the best bit. I have found out where some of my wandering relatives were living pre census- which is priceless. Will bookmark your post to remind me to watch out for this when renewal is due.

 

Thanks for all your comments. I renewed on the dot last year but still lost my access to newspapers. I never saw anything suggesting that long-standing subscribers would be entitled to stay on the same subscription level and still get access to the newspapers, so that seems another reason to be p*****d off with FMP.

I'm sure that our library has access but what a fag that would be. I do all my research in the evening, sometimes late at night and I would resent wasting daylight hours in a library with a fiddly, cumbersome and slow internet connection.

It seems to me that both FMP and A.co.uk add very little these days that relates to my part of the world, so maybe it's time to stop subscribing to both and start converting what I've already found into something my sons and grandchildren might be interested in when they get old. I doubt that my main brick wall will ever be demolished anyway - until they invent the time machine and I can go back and ask my ancestors where they come from.

I always promised that I would not turn into a genealogical 'train spotter' i.e. writing down enormous lists of distant relatives, just because I could. It's probably got to that point now. 6 or 7 generations of ag.labs. is not that interesting if I'm honest.

Tony

 

This is a great moan for me I find both FMP and Ancestry are as bad as one another. Genealogy is getting far too expensive. Some areas don't have many records either, yet they both claim to have the most records!

 

Grumpy hug -->
I have found that doing the write-ups is good therapy.

 

I lost my newspapers on FMP, simply because I unclicked 'auto renew'. I was a few hours late hitting the tab for the renewal and they'd gone; my rolling subscription had lapsed. I still hadn't forgiven FMP for doing the dirty on me over the 1939 register. As a rolling monthly subscriber for goodness knows how many years I paid a darn sight more each year than those 'loyal' subscribers rewarded with free access by paying out for a discounted annual sub.

The greediness of the big subscription sites now that family history is such big business does leave a sour taste. If the council hadn't reduced our library's opening hours to only twice a week I would be using their resources instead, but I keep up my subs for convenience. That being the case, whenever I settle down at home to do some work lately I find site pages slow to load and error notices on both of them.

What they forget is that, as 'diehards', once the fad over family history has died down, people are bored with giving dna kits as Christmas presents and the sponsored programmes have also had their day, we'll still be here, doggedly trying to knock down our brick walls.

 

Please will folk clarify for me as I am unsure what is being said above:

[a] If one does not auto-renew and has to renew the long-winded way does one still lose the newspaper access? How so?

Is it better (i.e. more papers to search) to belong the 'proper' newspaper website instead of FMP?

 

Hi Colin

I auto renewed my British subscription last year but still lost access to the newspapers but it seems from the answers above that this did not happen to some others, the suggestion being that if you are a day late renewing that kills the old deal. But if you auto-renew the timing is effectively in the hands of FMP so I feel even more cheated.

The British Newspapers Archive is actually owned by FMP. Had I auto-renewed my former FMP subscription I would have got it for around £102, but without newspapers, with a 15% loyalty discount. However I found out that you could get a 30% discount and was told that this was available on all levels. When I asked FMP why I hadn't been offered this they said that I could only have it if I upgraded to Pro level and since that included newspapers and cost around £107 I decided to swallow my pride for one more year. If I had however stayed at the same level and paid £102 and subscribed separately to the BNA that would have cost me an extra £80.

cheers
Tony

 

I lost the newspapers because I was manually renewing my monthly sub at that point (one of those occasions where I had a lot of bills to pay - car repairs, vet etc) but was still confident that I had time to re-new. Unfortunately the subs tab had changed to 'expired' and the only way of getting newspaper access back was to upgrade to the Pro package for a big hike in subs. In its place on my old subs package I was given 1939 Register access - which I already had on my full Ancestry subs anyway. On principle, I won't pay that increase.

The BNA is certainly worth having, but I can only afford it every now and again. My library has access to a different newspaper archive.

 

So far the newspapers are free here.....so far.

 

I have the 'British' FMP sub, which no longer is offered to new subscribers. It includes the 1939 reg. and newspapers. When they changed their 'packages' there was a promise that as long as you did not let your sub lapse that they would continue to supply/allow access to all the records in the old package. I have auto renewed, yearly, since (I do check they have the correct card details once I get the email advising me of the renewal) and still have access to everything that was in the old British package.

 

Is that Trove? How I love Trove!

 

It’s good when you find your Dads brother in law charged with manslaughter.....
No one knew until my sister and I found it. We kept it to ourselves.