Warning!!!!! ordering certificates

[custard_pot]

If you are ordering certificates please be carefull. Print out all the information about your order and keep and print out your transaction email that you get.

I ordered a certificate and checked my bank statement a couple of days later and found that they had taken TWO payments instead of ONE.

Just to let everyone know, I emailed ONS as you are told in the transaction email you are sent, with no response.
I phoned GRO who told me they have had a lot of calls with the same problem!!! They gave me a phone number for World Pay which is:

08703661233 and pick option 2 then option 1. You will need the transaction ID that you are given when you order your certificate.

[PatriciaBuckley46]

I've never ordered a certificate online, I assume it's possible(?)
Can someone tell me how it's done, I hope they can take MasterCard from the USA cause that's where I live. Any idea how long it takes and can the certificate be emailed? Is there a difference in price from an "Official" certificate vs a copy of the certificate?

Any other info that could be shared will be appreciated.
Thanks, Tricia

[suzzie]

Thank you for the warning, I have sent for quite a few over the last few weeks, so will keep my eyes open.

[Justme]

Over the last two years, nearly all my family history bmd certificates have been ordered online from GRO, and only once has there been a problem - earlier this year. They charged three times for one certificate.
Problem solved by contacting the credit card company, who immediately re-imbursed me.
The trouble is, the fancy numbers on the World Pay ONS statement do not relate to what you see on your credit card statement (apart from the cost), so you need to be alert to possible problems, and ALWAYS check your credit card statement.
Ess.

[ET in the USA]

RE: Ordering from the USA. No Problem, the mail just takes longer, but they assure me they always send it airmail, not by canoe.

The last one had a dispatch date of APril 26 (Ordered April 1) and it arrived here near Seattle, WA on April 23.

Currently I have one outstanding ordered April 30 - Dispatch May 23.

The length of time between order and dispatch will be the same, no matter where you are when ordering online. The other cool thing about online is that it costs £7 and if you trek all the way to London
(train/gas/food/etc. ain't cheap in the UK) it costs £ 8.50 !
Plus I could only order once a year which would be rather a big bill all at once.

[Mythology]

"if you trek all the way to London ... it costs £ 8.50 !"

It costs £7, the same as ordering online.

The £8.50 fee is if you order from Southport (not London) by phone, post or fax.

Edit:
If it did cost £8.50 ordering in London, rest assured that Scrooge here would order online and put up with the delay.

[ET in the USA]

Yeah, that's right. I ordered on the phone from Somerset 2 years ago before the online thing came in for US residents (believe it started as UK only).

Long wait time on hold, lost mobile minutes AND I paid more for the cert. But it was much cheaper than going to London and perhaps having to spend a night.

3 years ago we went up there and we paid some enormous sum for parking at a hotel near a tube station so we could go to Family History Centre. That was plus the room at the hotel at over 100. The other choice was to leave the hired car in Weston-super-Mare and pay to take a bus or train to London. My husband decided driving was easier because you usually have to change trains at Bristol and the bus makes numerous stops in Bristol and at Gordano Services on the way. This year we skipped London and I hired a researcher to look for wills. He only cost about 30 pounds.

[Mythology]

Not easy when you're visiting, but if you live here you can often travel quite cheaply by (a) keeping an eye out for special offers, most of which involve booking ahead, and (b) being flexible - go whenever the cheapest fare is being offered instead of first deciding when to go and then paying whatever the fare is for what you've planned.

For example, I live on the outskirts of London, and it's about 100 (English) miles to Gloucester. I went to Gloucester Record Office for the day last autumn, had about six hours there, and it only cost me £14 return including the cost of getting from my place into town. If I'd settled for about four hours there instead of six, it would have been even less!

[busyglen]

That's a good deal Myth! If only I didn't live in the back of beyond I would be on the first train/bus to Bucks. to try and sort my lot out. The best I can hope for is to persuade my husband to take me for a mid-week break.

Regarding the certs. although I order online, and sometimes have to wait, I still find this preferable to phoning as an alternative method. I've learnt that a lot of patience is needed in this game, and happily that's something I have plenty of. I just focus on something else for the time being... and then when the cert. arrives, I've forgotten where I was up to!! Perhaps that is why I get into such a muddle sometimes.

Glenys

[Brian Turnbull]

busyglen, So I am not alone in getting confused about where I was up to when the certificate arrives. I thought I was having a "seniors moment".
I have been ordering on line for some time (since it became available from outside UK) and have been happy with the turnaround time. One good thing about it is if you are not 100% certain if the person you are looking for is yours and you add a fathers name, if you have the wrong person you are advised and no certificate provided and a small fee of 4.50 charged. Beats paying the full fee and finding you have the wrong person.
Brian