Ed Foster's Gripelog || Bad Bloodlines

» All 33 InfoWorld Newsletters Technology & Business Daily

INFOWORLD GRIPE LINE BY ED FOSTER

Bookmark this page

Bad Bloodlines

By Ed Foster, Section Columns
Posted on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 08:52:05 AM PDT

It looks like tracing lineage of any sort can be a perilous thing on the Internet. Just a few weeks after pet pedigree software was the runaway winner in our poll for worst EULA terms, we learn that genealogy website Ancestry.com has a few skeletons in its closet.

Readers have had a number of complaints about Ancestry.com over the last few months concerning automatic renewals of subscriptions to their various on-line genealogy databases. Some were similar to the automatic renewals we've seen earlier with McAfee and Backup.com in that the customers had found their annual subscriptions renewed for another full year without their knowledge. Of course, the reason they didn't know about it was because they hadn't read Ancestry.com's fine print.

But Ancestry.com seems to have taken sneakwrap to a whole new level by quietly, and apparently retroactively, turning their monthly subscriptions into annual commitments. "I chose a monthly subscription for $29.95 over a quarterly or annual plan, because I was only going to need it a few months," wrote one reader. "When I called to cancel, Ancestry.com said no can do. They expect me to pay $30 every month for 12 months! ... Come on, the annual subscription is $199 -- I'm not so stupid I'm going to sign up to pay $360. What a scam."

Another Ancestry.com customer who's tracked complaints on the company's message board says there was no indication on the website until just recently that the monthly subscription represented an annual commitment. "Prior to April 29th, there was no mention of any yearly commitment anywhere on their website, including the terms and conditions," the reader wrote. "As near as I can tell, it was about six months ago they started telling people who were canceling monthly subscription that they had a year's commitment. And, out of the goodness of their heart, they would let them cancel for a fee of $50. This was at least five months before there was anything on their web site about the year's commitment. There is still nothing anywhere about a $50 cancellation fee."

Even as of yesterday, a new customer signing up at Ancestry.com could easily be misled about the nature of the monthly subscription. Mary-Kay Evans, Director of Public Relations for MyFamily.com -- Ancestry.com's parent company -- walked me through the sign-up process and showed me one page where it now does say that the monthly prices "represent an annual commitment with payments in monthly installments." But other ways of navigating through the website lead to pages that still just offer the customer the choice of monthly or annual payment plans.

When I got to the order page for credit card information, Evans expected I would see big red letters warning me I was signing up for a monthly commitment. There was no such warning. In fact, with the billing order showing unit and total price as $29.95, it certainly appeared that was all I would be committing to pay. Plus the terms and conditions linked from the order page strongly suggested that monthly subscriptions, while they would be automatically renewed, could be cancelled on a monthly basis as well.

"There is a definite problem here," Evans agreed. After checking with Ancestry.com's website personnel, she found out that at least two different order pages are being served to those signing up for monthly subscriptions, and at least one without a warning about the annual commitment. "The sign-up process is different depending on how you came to the site and the special promotions you may have been responding to. Unfortunately, we don't have a way of telling who signed up on the wrong page and who didn't."

As the company acknowledges that there's been confusion in the marketplace in any case, Evans says Ancestry.com's call center staff is being instructed to allow all those who previously signed up for a monthly subscription to cancel on a monthly basis. "Anyone who we can signed up for a monthly subscription before this will be allowed to convert it to a true monthly subscription," she says. The company hopes to have its webpages all serving the same message by tonight, she added.

I think that it's only fair that Ancestry.com lets those who signed up for a monthly subscription in the past cancel be allowed to cancel monthly. After all, should not the customers of Ancestry.com and the whole happy family of MyFamily.com sites (which, by the way, includes FamilyTreeMaker.com, Genealogy.com and RootsWeb.com) be able to trust the history of their own transactions with the company? I'd suggest Ancestry.com think of it as a grandfather clause.

--------------------

Post your comments about this column below or write me directly at Foster@gripe2ed.com. To receive this column every week in my free e-mail newsletter, please go to my subscription page and follow the instructions to opt-in for the EdFoster mailing list.

< Reader Voices: Terms of Abuse | Used News: Ridiculous Patents, Biometric DRM >

Bad Bloodlines | 25 comments (25 topical) | Post A Comment

I will comment first on this one.[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#1)
by John Tamburo from MBFS on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 10:16:34 AM PDT

I have dealt with this. My card was charged for an annual when I signed up for the monthly. It took three telephone calls to get them to undo this. After my monthly membership was later dropped, they called my home no less than fifteen times to try to get me to sign up.

Geneaology.com is just as bad. You have to watch out with these places. Their overhead is high and they hardsell everyone.

Thanks,
John

[ Reply to This ]

Ancestry.com ripoff[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#20)
by Anonymous User on Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 02:20:51 PM PDT

They're terrible! They make you call them and talk to them in person before you can cancel. This is so they can put a hard sell on you and it's very disturbing. I just found out that there have been TWO accounts in my name and I've been getting double billed. They won't do a thing about it, but I'll keep calling until they decide I'm too much trouble not to help!

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Fraud[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#23)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 12:14:19 AM PDT

Hey they have caught me too. Who did you ring to speak to. Would appreciate your help. Wren

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Bad Bloodlines[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#2)
by eljefe99 on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 10:27:57 AM PDT

If was obvious from ed's article that the lady he talked to A) didn't know that there was a problem and B) fixed it. So he did us a public service and deserves the thanks of those who were affected by this error. A follow-up to confirm that the changes are now in place and a footnote to that effect would have been appropriate. If a company is no longer on your sh*t list, Ed, you should say so.

[ Reply to This ]

Re: Bad Bloodlines[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#3)
by Ed Foster on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 11:39:13 AM PDT

Yes, I believe Evans was unaware of the problem and she has done what she could to fix it. It remains to be seen though what the company's long term policy regarding monthly subscriptions is going to be.

I am also not fond of automatic renewal clauses hidden in the fine print -- I think websites like this should get an explicit re-up from the cusstomer when their subscription period is about to expire, at least for annual subscriptions.

Ed Foster

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

bad bloodlines[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#4)
by Anonymous User on Sun Jun 06, 2004 at 07:52:37 PM PDT

I have a hard time believing Evans did not know about what is going on. I believe their subscription policies including the $50 cancellation fee and the auto renewal subscriptios with the requirement to call an 800 number (which at times has been extremely hard to get through) come from the top. Jim

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Auto renewal clauses[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#5)
by tscoff on Mon Jun 07, 2004 at 04:12:04 AM PDT

I have no problems with automatic renewal clauses if the clause is presented to the customer as an option and the customer has the option of having their service automatically renewed or not and the customer has the option of changing their automatic renewal easily at any time.

That's true customer service. Give the customer the choice of dealing with you however the customer wants to and make it easy for the customer no matter which choice they go with.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Auto renewal clauses[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#6)
by Anonymous User on Mon Jun 07, 2004 at 05:59:06 PM PDT

If the auto renew is an option I would not have have a problem with that. Unfortunately if MFI has such an option I have never found it or seen where it is presented that way to the customer and I would like to know where the option not to auto renew is. In fact under "Terms and Conditions" it states "2.1 Continuous Service Membership. Subscription membership in the Service is on a continuous service basis. This means that once you have become a subscribing member, your subscription will be automatically renewed and your credit card will be charged based on the subscription program (annual, quarterly, monthly, etc.) you have chosen." I guess they also are in no hurry to fix the pages Ed talked about in his article. The pages have not changed. Jim

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Bypass auto renewals[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#7)
by Anonymous User on Tue Jun 08, 2004 at 12:24:41 PM PDT

I suggest anyone having a concern about a particular site's renewal policy, and surprise changes in terms, use a "one-time" credit card. Most major card providers have them now, specifically to combat online fraud. Some of the corporate behavior listed here sure strays awfully close to fraud in my book.

[ Reply to This ]

Bad Bloodlines[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#8)
by Vlaidislav on Tue Jun 08, 2004 at 08:12:24 PM PDT

This sounds like classic bait and switch. I think that several state and local consumer agencies would be very interested in their sleazy, unethical behavior. Give 'em hell!

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

The power behind MFI[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#9)
by Anonymous User on Wed Jun 09, 2004 at 05:47:14 AM PDT

http://www.myfamilyinc.com/about_us/xbios.htm#stockham > http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2002/jan/jan07a_02.html > http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2002/01/07/daily5.html

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

SoulSeek[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#22)
by Anonymous User on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 06:41:06 AM PDT

what a useless site,take your money,give you no programs, no access, no replies to customer service,(claim24 hours) try 3 days. refund requested a.s.a.p. will post update if the do anything right for first time, a site to avoid at all costs(�16.95) actualy

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Bad Bloodlines[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#10)
by Anonymous User on Wed Jun 09, 2004 at 01:01:43 PM PDT

Ancestry.com also uses the following marketing ploy. I called AOL at 11:00 at night for help with my new modem. After easily solving my problem the tech transferred me over to another person who identified himself as being from ancestry.com with a special offer for me. I should have hung up immediately but I happen to do genealogy research, I have used the Family Tree Maker software for years and I have been to the ancestry.com site. I was actually interested in what they had to offer. The man offered a one month subscription to ancestry.com for one dollar. I was interested but the timing was not good for me as I was leaving on vacation. The man then offered a two month trial period for two dollars and I accepted. The two months flew by and I had time to access their site only once. Then I received my credit card bill in the mail and found a charge for $99 from ancestry.com. I immediately called to cancel whatever the charge was for. The customer service person told me that I was supposed to cancel my membership (which I didn't even know I had) within the two months and since I didn't, I had agreed to the $99 charge for a one year membership. No amount of explaining persuaded him to reverse the charge. I contacted my credit card company to report the fraud and after investigating, I lost due to the fact that I had agreed to the $2 offer and didn't read all the fine print to find the hidden catch. What a way to run a business. I will never use ancestry.com or their software again. I canceled the credit card I used. I also sent a letter to AOL complaining about this tactic and if I don't here back from them soon, I will change my internet service as well.

[ Reply to This ]

Bad Bloodlines[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#11)
by Anonymous User on Wed Jun 09, 2004 at 07:46:37 PM PDT

I would also get me a different credit card company. I am not a lawyer and not sure but I heard somewhere that these Auto-renew subscriptions can't be enforced. Here is a link that seems to fit your case that might be helpful: http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff88458.htm Here are more links: The 1st link is where you can file a complaint with the Federal trade commission. The second link is where you can file a complaint with the BBB. You can find a list of all the state attorney generals including Utah, the home state of My family.Com, the owner of Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com and Rootsweb at the third link. The 4th link is the Internet Fraud Complaint Center. https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01 http://complaints.bbb.org/Welcome.asp http://www.consumeraction.gov/state.shtml http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Thank you[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#16)
by Anonymous User on Fri Jun 11, 2004 at 10:19:46 AM PDT

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I am just mad enough to spend the evening letting others know what happened to me.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

They are getting more common[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#12)
by Anonymous User on Wed Jun 09, 2004 at 11:48:00 PM PDT

The New York Times instituted automatic renewals for thier news tracker service. The service e-mails you when articles match custom searches you set up, and also go back 90 days in the archives.

When I signed up a year ago (when it bacame a paid service) I don't recall seeing any mention of this. I'm pretty sure I never got an announcement of it. They do get some credit: it is mentioned on your account info page with the expiration date. And they sent an e-mail a week before expiration that I would be automatically renewed unless I cancelled. (Since the credit card they had was no longer valid I let it lapse.)

But whenever I buy something online that seems like a subscription I use a one time number. Alas, American Express has discontinued thiers. All the more business for my citibank card. (Which lets you limit the amount charged also - handy.)

[ Reply to This ]

AmEx[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#13)
by sconeu on Thu Jun 10, 2004 at 07:09:06 AM PDT

Yeah... I used to love my Amex Private Payments! I got a notice that they cancelled it... Anybody know why?

--
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the United States of America.
[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Consumer Reports[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#14)
by byelen on Thu Jun 10, 2004 at 08:42:32 AM PDT

Consumer Reports also has auto-renewing on their online access subscriptions. However, if you go to their subscription page: http://www.consumerreports.org/main/commerce/agreement.jsp?bmUID=1086881883724 , you'll see that they make it very clear that it's auto-renewing.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Consumer Rpt Auto renew vs MFI's Nothing Similar[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#15)
by Anonymous User on Thu Jun 10, 2004 at 04:07:05 PM PDT

Not only does Consumer Reports put the auto renew in plain site but if you cancel you get a partial refund: "If you purchase an annual site subscription to access the Fee-Based Services and cancel at any time during that subscription year, CU will refund the remainder of your subscription on a pro-rata basis that will cover the unused months of your subscription (partial months will not be refunded)." Also it appears very easy to cancel at their web site as follows: "Click the My Account link. Click the "ConsumerReports.org" link, then login with your Username & Password. (If you are already logged into the site, you will not be prompted to Login). Under the 'Manage my Subscriptions' section, click the "Cancel my Subscription" link. (If you do not have an active subscription to cancel, this link will not appear.)" There is no requirement to call an 800 number and press #4. That process makes it very easy (possibly with the aid caller ID?) for abuse to occur. Fat chance you will ever see anything like this from MFI. Jim

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Consumer Reports Refund Rip Off[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#24)
by Anonymous User on Fri Sep 21, 2007 at 07:32:13 AM PDT

Consumer reports does NOT refund any portion of the monthly auto-renewing subscription. I signed up for a single month subscription to look up ratings on a big purchase. I was disappointed to find the information about the product I was looking up to be out-of-date on the site. I did not see anything about the bill being auto-renewing when I signed up. The next month, I got another bill for $5.95. When I contacted customer service, they refused to do anything about it even though I have not used their service since then. They claimed the reason the monthly charge is auto renewing is because "most customers want it that way." I find that hard to believe since it would be stupid to have an on-going monthly bill when I could have a full year's subscription for basically 4-months worth of subscriptions.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

I'm getting charged and I never signed up![ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#17)
by Anonymous User on Thu Dec 22, 2005 at 08:28:30 AM PDT

Forget all the static about automatic renewals - I've been hit with over $800 in charges from MFI/Ancestry.com/whoever they really are in the last three days! And, I've never talked to anyone or been to their site! Of course, this puts my checking account into the negative, I've cancelled my check card, and I've opened up a claim with my bank to recover the funds (Bank of America at least has a no-fault plan so I won't get hit with overdraft fees). They've also recommended I file a police report. These folks are BAD NEWS - even if I were interested in geneological research, I'd NEVER use them now!

[ Reply to This ]

ANCESTRY.COM RIP-OFF SCAM[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#18)
by Anonymous User on Wed Feb 01, 2006 at 08:36:05 AM PDT

I agreed to try Ancestry.com 14 day FREE trial offer. On day 13 I called the 800 # to cancel my free trial and was told by the rep that there was a technical glitch in the system and that my FREE subscription had been extended for an additional month. I was amazed, "sounded too good to be true." Within 3 days of this conversation the monthly charge of $23.95 showed up in my checking account and I am now in the process of getting the charge reversed from my checking account and filing complaints to all concerned agencies. The bank isn't very helpful but I will not relent or take no for an answer.

[ Reply to This ]

Ancestory.Com Ripe Off[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#19)
by Anonymous User on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 04:48:44 PM PDT

I'm so happy and lucky to have found Ed Foster and everyone who has taken the time to share their misfortunes because if it were not for "you" I would have been scammed by Ancestory.com 5 minutes ago! Whew Thanks Keep up the good work - Also thank Google and INFO WORLD! I Googled Ancestory.com complaints and Bingo! "Someone stop these bad folks scamming those of us trying to find our ancestors"

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Me too[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#21)
by Anonymous User on Thu Jul 13, 2006 at 06:30:48 PM PDT

i would not have been able to pay rent or my utility bill, let alone food and medicine which comes after those expenses. i am on a fixed income and almost did the two weeks free thing. Somehow this SUBJECT came up while researching all the choices. I am forever grateful for this information. It would never have occured to me this would happen. i sure would have liked to have been able to try it and ask for the subscription as a gift from my children. These people are thieves as far as i am concerned!

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

power leveling[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#25)
by Anonymous User on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 08:09:50 AM PDT

wow gold cheap wow gold buy wow gold world of warcraft gold wow world of warcraft wow gold WoW Warrior WoW Hunter WoW Rogue WoW Paladin WoW Shaman WoW Priest WoW Mage WoW Druid WoW Warlock power leveling powerleveling wow power leveling wow powerleveling wow guides wow tips google�� google�� google�� ٶ��ƹ� �ٶ�� վ�ƹ� ��ҵ�� LED�� ״� Ⱦ�� Ʊ�� Ϸ�� ħ�޲�� Բ�� Բ�� powerlin518 logo design website design web design �̱��

[ Reply to This ]

Bad Bloodlines | 25 comments (25 topical) | Post A Comment

Recent Entries

Suing Sony
3 comments

Apple Leaves Hawaiian Investor in the Cold
2 comments

Riding the Autorenewal Express
8 comments

Comcast Gets Nominated for Worst ToS
4 comments

Taxing Software Experiences
12 comments

Terms of Ridicule
8 comments

More The Gripelog...

�Submit a gripe
�About the Author
�Email Ed Foster

Help Ed and his readers build these projects:
The Gripewiki
The EULA Library

Login

Make a new account

Username:

Password:

Live Gripes

Has AOL Changed Their Ways?
4 comments

A Nestle SweeTarts Conspiracy
15 comments

AT&T Kills "Bad" Username
12 comments

DESPERATE! AOL HAS TAKEN OVER MY COMPUTER
28 comments

parkingticket.com SCAM on refunds
30 comments

Don't let Net Enforcers Ruin Your Day.
16 comments

More Live Gripes...

Sign up for my newsletter

To have my column automatically e-mailed to you, submit your email address in the form below. Of course, I will not turn your address over to any other party or send you any unrequested e-mail.

Infoworld Blogs

• Jon Udell
• Kevin Railsback
• Paul Venezia
• Bob Lewis
• Tom Yager
• Ed Foster
• Enterprise Mac
• The Storage Network
• Database Underground
• Open Sources
• Zero Day
• InfoWorld Daily
• Grid Meter
• Real World SOA
• SMB IT
• IT Troubleshooter

Recomended Sites

The AFFECT Coalition
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Free Software Foundation
HearUsNow.org
Public Knowledge
StopBadware.org

Jeff Angus
Ben Edelman
Dan Gillmor
Bob Lewis
Brian Livingston
Freedom to Tinker
Lawmeme
PC World's Techlog
SunBeltSoftware Blog
Troubleshootsers.com

Rss Feeds

How this works
• Top News
• Columnists
• Tech Watch
• Test Center Reviews
• Applications
• App Development
• E-Business Solutions & Strategies
• End-user Hardware
• Networking
• Operating Systems
• Platforms
• Security
• Standards & Protocols
• Storage
• Telecommunications
• Wireless
• Web Services

create account | faq | search