Complete GRO Index non-searchable

[v.wells]

I have been trying to do research on the complete GRO indexes on A* and have not been able to do any for a few days. I finally phoned them and asked what was going on with it. The reply was they were aware of it and the programmers were trying to determine the cause and they didn't know how much longer it would take. (She was very nice though)

Tis not what I pay for and good money at that! The support person said I could let them know and I said I was by talking to her and that if I emailed tech support nothing would happen except for an auto generated message saying nothing. The years I am looking at are beyond 1927 so I am at a standstill at the moment held ransom by A*. |rant|

I could use FMP but then I would be wasting credits and they are not exactly user friendly. Has anyone else experienced difficulties with A*?

[Mary Anne]

Vanessa

I've been using the Drouin Collection a lot in the last week or so, but had no problems (except for their sucky search engine |moon|). But then that's "Ancestry.ca" so it may be on different servers than the *.co.uk version.

You could write to the CEO or whatever and ask for credit amounting to the amount of time their system has been down...you are right, writing to tech support gets you nowhere fast.

Mary Anne

[Barbara Wilkinson]

Vanessa - I have just tried a search for my parents' marriage and my own birth - definitely there - I've seen them before!!! The search is returning "no matches" - I have emailed them, but expect an automated reply!!

[v.wells]

Barbara, I tripled checked my own birth and parents marriage and got "no matches" which is why I phoned them. Expect an automated reply in about a week!:)

[Barbara Wilkinson]

Vanessa - I have used other parts of a** all day today (on and off!) and they were OK; I tried these searches as a test! How long have you been having problems? Maybe they will give you a refund .... or extend your membership if you make a fuss???

[v.wells]

Vanessa

I've been using the Drouin Collection a lot in the last week or so, but had no problems (except for their sucky search engine |moon|). But then that's "Ancestry.ca" so it may be on different servers than the *.co.uk version.

You could write to the CEO or whatever and ask for credit amounting to the amount of time their system has been down...you are right, writing to tech support gets you nowhere fast.

Mary Anne

Mary Anne if I could find mention of a CEO anywhere in the fine lines of their "contact us" info, I would fire off a letter, but I have a strong hunch they do not give any sort of credit. (They would owe me a year's sub)

Just seems every time they add something new, it skews the system and parts of it malfunction - Not too bright those techies:D

[v.wells]

Vanessa - I have used other parts of a** all day today (on and off!) and they were OK; I tried these searches as a test! How long have you been having problems? Maybe they will give you a refund .... or extend your membership if you make a fuss???

I have been on A* all day too and for most of the last week but it has just been the complete GRO that is returning "no matches" probably since the weekend (I can't remember!). Making a fuss doesn't work, not with them.

Hopefully they will pull in an " all-nighter" and get the problems fixed:D

[Barbara Wilkinson]

[quote=v.wells;218415] Making a fuss doesn't work, not with them./quote]
I've never tried - so I'll take your word for it .......!!!

[v.wells]

[quote=v.wells;218415] Making a fuss doesn't work, not with them./quote]
I've never tried - so I'll take your word for it .......!!!

I have done that on occasion :D

[michaelpipe]

Vanessa - I have used other parts of a** all day today (on and off!) and they were OK; I tried these searches as a test! How long have you been having problems? Maybe they will give you a refund .... or extend your membership if you make a fuss???


The problem has been there for a while - I sent them an email yesterday threatening to cancel my subscription as I get better images from other sites - last time I did that there was a rapid reply, and the problem was fixed, but no credit or subscription extension, so don't get your hopes up.

[pottoka]

And I just sat there and cursed my machine! http://freesmileyface.net/smiley/Computer/computer-14.gif (http://freesmileyface.net) I was using the complete births index, looking for anyone with one name born between 1935 and 1940 and kept getting the message that I had asked for an exact search, and it couldn't find a match.

Thank you for the thread; at least I know that it's not me!!

[MarkJ]

Just seems every time they add something new, it skews the system and parts of it malfunction - Not too bright those techies:D

"Not too bright these Big A techies" ;)

The rest of us are OK :)

Mark (a vaguely bright (at least 60W) IT technician) :D

[v.wells]

"Not too bright these Big A techies" ;)

The rest of us are OK :)

Mark (a vaguely bright (at least 60W) IT technician) :D

That is what I meant to have said Mark. B-G techies are a lot smarter than the ones at A* :D

[v.wells]

And I just sat there and cursed my machine! http://freesmileyface.net/smiley/Computer/computer-14.gif (http://freesmileyface.net) I was using the complete births index, looking for anyone with one name born between 1935 and 1940 and kept getting the message that I had asked for an exact search, and it couldn't find a match.

Thank you for the thread; at least I know that it's not me!!

Pottoka - loved your post title and your smiley:D I know I could download them and start working with them but I much prefer to get my cheers from seeing the ones that other people come up with.

So we shall see what tomorrow brings with A*. I may just have to phone again tomorrow and ask to speak to a supervisor if it still isn't working!

I would try it on .ca but they don't have indexes of that type as it is by province and only a few at that, besides they don't have the UK indexes. If I was looking at pre-1925 I would use freebmd.org but I was looking at 1940's bmd's.

[MarkJ]

That is what I meant to have said Mark. B-G techies are a lot smarter than the ones at A* :D

Thanks Vanessa :)

|hug|

[helen57]

Hi all

I too have had 'no matches found' when trying to a search on A* full index

I now use the 'back door' so to speak.

Instead of putting a name in the search box, I now have to scroll down and hit the year I want, then the quarter, then the initial of the surname. Then it's guess work as to what page number to go to.

It's long winded but I get there in the end :D

Helen

[v.wells]

Hi all

I too have had 'no matches found' when trying to a search on A* full index

I now use the 'back door' so to speak.

Instead of putting a name in the search box, I now have to scroll down and hit the year I want, then the quarter, then the initial of the surname. Then it's guess work as to what page number to go to.

It's long winded but I get there in the end :D

Helen

Good tip Helen. Will have to try it if A* not awake today!:)

[jane.harrison.9]

I've been having problems with A for last couple of days. It was down last night and all seems to be well so far today. Fingers x'd

[Nicolina]

thanks for the post. I've been getting "no matches" on Census searches, even with quite common names. I just kept thinking that I'd mis-typed. It's good to know that I wasn't having "senior moments". Yesterday it seemed to be down when I tried, so I just went onto FMP, and no problems.
Don't think I shall bother subscribing to A* in the future, it's not dependable and the number of stupid mis-transcription is ridiculous.

[v.wells]

Well so far so good today. I think they may have solved the problem - it probably has something to do with the amount of server traffic. When I first tried it this morning it was "no matches" again - then I got on the phone and while I was on hold WELL it started working!:D

So I am happy again today! It must have been Michael's email to them threatening sub cancellation that got the job done:D Thanks Michael! |bowdown|

[Barnzzz]

Hello, it didn't work last night but seemed OK just now when I tried it out. :)

[v.wells]

Not working now and FMP is hopeless |soapbox|

[Pam Downes]

I have to access the BMD index 'the long way' (via the year, quarter, guess the page :) ) but can do so at the moment.
Vanessa, did you change over to the 'new search' system that A..y introduced some time ago? Wonder if it's anything to do with that in addition to what seems to be server problems? I'm still on their 'old system'.
Pam

[michaelpipe]

They sent this answer to me:

"We are currently having problems with the 'Birth, Marriage & Death' searches and are working to correct them. The problem with the search happens intermittently so if you continue to click on the 'Search' button, you may get a list of results. I apologise for this inconvenience and thank you for your patience."

[v.wells]

As I always say "The only patient people there are in this world are dead"!

Pam, I don't like the new search feature at A* so I switched back after 1 minute months ago and have kept up the "old way". And doing it "thru the back door" is tedious but better than nothing at the moment!

Glad you got a response Michael - that's a first:D It was an intelligent answer too:D

I will just have to do some other pre-1925 searches for the time-being and re-check all my certs I need to order (a big ticket item just in time for Christmas!)

[Barbara Wilkinson]

They sent this answer to me:

"We are currently having problems with the 'Birth, Marriage & Death' searches and are working to correct them. The problem with the search happens intermittently so if you continue to click on the 'Search' button, you may get a list of results. I apologise for this inconvenience and thank you for your patience."
I got exactly the same answer - so still a stock reply, but at least it acknowledges the problem! I suppose in fairness to them (why, I hear you ask???), if the problem is intermittent, it is much harder to trace ...!!

[pottoka]

I have to access the BMD index 'the long way' (via the year, quarter, guess the page :) ) but can do so at the moment.
Vanessa, did you change over to the 'new search' system that A..y introduced some time ago? Wonder if it's anything to do with that in addition to what seems to be server problems? I'm still on their 'old system'.
Pam

Their new system is AWFUL |banghead| |computer|
Whenever one of the computer whizzes in the family runs a spyware cleanup through the computer, it logs me off A*, and I get the new system when I log on again. So I make the most of it to leave thoroughly disgusted feedback http://freesmileyface.net/smiley/Unhappy/unhappy-057.gif (http://freesmileyface.net) before switching back to the old system. I just hope and pray that they will not, one day, remove the old system altogether. If they do, that will be the last they see of any of my money.

[v.wells]

Pottoka

If it is just us few complaining while others sit back, can you imagine how many others must be effected? There are literally thousand's of researchers who use A* so I imagine they are as p**'d off as their customers. |nopity|

The only shining knights in this, are our own B-G techies who would never allow this sort of thing to happen:D

And WHY can't they announce ALL Technical difficulties (and explain them) on the home page, defies all logic!

[v.wells]

GRO indexes are finally behaving since yesterday|woohoo|

I was really starting to despair of getting anything else done. I hate getting sidetracked!