GRO deadline passed - What was your number?

[aquiss]

So how many certifcates did you manage to get ordered prior to the slightly annoying 30% increase in prices?

Personally i managed to get 11 ordered yesterday morning where I knew my research was 100% spot on, sadly others will have to wait now as it will cost me a fair amount with the new charges to prove the right people.

[Copper]

My mother and I managed 18 between us. Most were death certificates on the "must buy one day" list.

[Dorset Girl]

I wish you hadn't asked that question - I just did a quick count and found we will be on mince for months - 26!!! Mind you - with the way the $ is at present and with the increase it would have cost a lot more if I had left it until later (does that sound a plausible reason for when the bank statement comes in do you think??!!). Hopefully I've got all of them correct - they have sent one so far which is completely wrong but it looks to be their error - nothing matches up to the details I gave them but I now have to wait for them to come back to me. They really must be under pressure - it would be interesting to know the increase in orders since the announcement was made!
Marion

[ET in the USA]

I was working with a handicap - I was in England until April 1 with an unreliable wireless connection - so was afraid to order & have it &%#@ out in the middle. Also, with all the traveling & unpacking, transferring files from the laptop, etc. I rather lost the thread of what I needed - so I only managed to order 10, 8 on the 4th and 2 on the 5th of April. [1 birth -2 deaths -the rest marriages]
ET

[Pam Downes]

I ain't confessing to my total, but I do reckon that I could easily have added another hundred to the total if I'd ordered all the ones I would really really like.

Some of hubby's were put on hold until the price increase, because it's impossible to know if I have the correct Thomas and Mary. Fortunately Thomas a was a whitesmith, so I will be able to apply for a certificate and specify that as his occupation. If my guess for that particular Thomas is wrong then I'll get a full refund, whereas before I would have received only three quid.
Pam

[Pam Downes]

I've already ordered another certificate.
Not through the GRO, but a local office. (And thinking about it, I don't know why I didn't order a lot more through local offices, prior to the price increase. )
I ordered three death certificates through Great Yarmouth last Thursday, and they arrived this morning. On a husband and wife certificates the information has been given by Frank Thomas (plus his surname) who is allegedly the son. Huh? They had only one son according to A*'s online birth indexes, and I thought he'd died young, though I now think I got him confused with another baby who died young.
Some hasty searching the death indexes and then FreeBMD makes it look as if Frank Thomas was born three years before the marriage, so I have of course had to send for the certificate to find out if my guess is correct.
I wonder how many others will succumb to buying further certificates - even at the new price - as a result of the ones they receive?
Pam

[ET in the USA]

I've already ordered another certificate.
Not through the GRO, but a local office. (And thinking about it, I don't know why I didn't order a lot more through local offices, prior to the price increase. )
I ordered three death certificates through Great Yarmouth last Thursday, and they arrived this morning. On a husband and wife certificates the information has been given by Frank Thomas (plus his surname) who is allegedly the son. Huh? They had only one son according to A*'s online birth indexes, and I thought he'd died young, though I now think I got him confused with another baby who died young.
Some hasty searching the death indexes and then FreeBMD makes it look as if Frank Thomas was born three years before the marriage, so I have of course had to send for the certificate to find out if my guess is correct.
I wonder how many others will succumb to buying further certificates - even at the new price - as a result of the ones they receive?
Pam

Pam, I have never ordered through a local office - or at least not since about 199? when I went in person to the Bridgend Registry Office - can this be done online with a credit card like with the GRO?

[Pam Downes]

Pam, I have never ordered through a local office - or at least not since about 199? when I went in person to the Bridgend Registry Office - can this be done online with a credit card like with the GRO?

If I say it varies from office to office, it doesn't sound a very helpful reply, but it's the truth.
I think most of the offices which have put their own indexes online (see ukbmd.co.uk ) have online ordering facilities.
Lincolnshire have a centralised ordering office in Lincoln for the Lincs districts, but you need to check which offices have which registers because some of the 'northern' registration district registers are held by North East Lincolnshire office. (Lincolnshire central office have an online ordering.)
Probably the best place to start for the counties/districts not on UKBMD is the list of registration districts.
Select your district, then scroll to the bottom of its page, and it will give you a link to the current address of the office. (Ooh, you live and learn - just found out that if an office has online indexes then a link is given.) The minimum informatio n you're given is an address and a phone number. Sometimes there's also an email address. I alway forget that sometimes you can get extremely cheap phone calls to the UK so if you can do that you can always ask if (a) they accept credit cards and (b) if you can order over the phone. I know Norwich and Great Yarmouth (both in Norfolk) accept phone orders, but if you want to pay by credit card it's an extra pound. Worth it, as it saves the hassle of filling in forms, sending off an envelope, and enclosing an s.a.e.
Pam

[v.wells]

I have ordered from Exeter RO - they do have online ordering but I usually have to phone and give the credit card details as for some reason don't accept non-residents cards. Generally though, if I have several I just do it through GRO as it is more simplified. I have never sent an s.a.e. as I figure that should be included in the cost (plus they never use the envelopes I've sent in the past).

[ET in the USA]

...I usually have to phone and give the credit card details as for some reason don't accept non-residents cards.

We tried to order a mobile phone from Orange before we went to England in Feb & had the same problem.
< Select your Country - USA
< Enter card No. Etc.
< enter postal code
< INVALID POSTAL CODE !!!
[Well of course it is you %$#@ - it is in the USA as stated at the beginning of the order

We finally gave up & bought one when we got there. We even tried putting a local UK postal code, but then the error message was "Billing address not the same as the Shipping address".

Elaine