Buying certificates on line

[Betty Willson]

Can anyone help me please! I have been trying to buy certificates on line. When I try to register, I get a message to say I am already registered and have I forgotten my password. When I go along with this suggestion and ask for a new password, I receive one via e-mail as promised but this proves to be of no use as I still can't get to the required spot to actually order. Again I am told that my password is incorrect. I've tried sending an e-mail by replying to the e-mail sent to me "giving me my new pass word" but my e-mail just gets returned to me. It is almost as though I have been banned and I can't imagine WHY. What do I do now? I am certainly a fool when it comes to computers and tend to get into a pickle whenever I try to do something but I have no idea why I appear to be banned from this government site. Betty Willson

[Betty Willson]

I forgot to add that I live in Australia but that should not be a problem as there is provision on the registration form for different countries. I have successfully bought wills on line. Betty Willson

[Pam Downes]

Hi Betty,

Another computer dimbo here :) but I do know that unless you put GQ in the subject line of any message you send to the GRO then you automatically get sent a copy of your own message.
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/contactus/
and then if you click on 'certificate services section' which seems to be the one you want, you get
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/contactus/Certificate_services_section.asp
which tells you about the GQ bit.
Send a message to 'col.admin' etc but be a bit patient (yeah - what's that?) as it might normally take 24 hours for them to reply, but of course, it's the weekend coming up, and admin staff might not work Saturdays and Sundays.

Pam Downes

[ChristineR]

Hi Betty,
just make sure when you enter your password that you are not writing in upper case letters. It's pretty easy to knock the Caps Lock key and not notice when entering the password, because you can only see the asterisks. I've done it myself. :) Passwords are case sensitive - should be entered exactly as given.
Christine
Australia

[Brian]

Hello Betty
Rather than type it in I always cut and paste so that it is exactly the same.

Brian

[Betty Willson]

Thanks Pam Downes, ChristineR and Brian, I appreciate your help. It is Saturday morning here. I'll wait until after the weekend to try again. I seem to botch everything I try to do on the computer. They have sent me another new password so I will pluck up courage and try again Monday. Life was much simpler when I was young. Betty Willson

[Pam Downes]

. Life was much simpler when I was young.
But researching family history wasn't. :)
Probably the only way you could have found out anything from Australia would have been by employing a researcher in the UK. More expensive, and not half as much fun.

Pam Downes

[Procat]

But researching family history wasn't. :)
Probably the only way you could have found out anything from Australia would have been by employing a researcher in the UK. More expensive, and not half as much fun.

Pam Downes

Very true Pam,

My mother started researching years ago and I well remember her going to the local LDS centre, ordering in films, returning a couple of months later when they arrived and trawling through them in surroundings that were cramped and suffered from temperature extremes - it was a "temporary building" located in the grounds of the church. And of course if you didn't get to the end of the film in the allotted time it was too bad as another researcher needed to use the equipment and as often as not the film had to be returned to the central library as it was on order by someone else.

She had none of the advantages of indexing (and yes I know it is far from perfect) that we can access on the internet. I could not count the numbers of relatives I have been able to track using this method in places I would never have thought to look.

Nor of course did she have the ability of purchasing discs from Archive CD Books at affordable prices to use in the comfort of your own home with a glass or cup of your beverage of choice at arms reach.

[Betty Willson]

No doubt you are correct Pam Downes. I should be grateful and I am, especially for the help given by Forum members. I did try paying a researcher in England when I first started on this line of my family research. With the money I paid him, I could have bought dozens of certificates. The researcher could not help me at all. It was as if I had just dreamed up these people although I have old photos and know where they lived and worked etc. I have come to the conclusion that they just did not have their children baptised. I have found out quite a lot since I started but still have a long way to go. Thanks for your help. Please do not think that I am not grateful. Betty Willson