Ancestry

I have been on Ancestry for several years now. Sometimes I have spent hours on it, poring over elusive hints and leads, sometimes frustratingly so, and at other times, I have barely visited the site for weeks, even months. Once I get into one of my more active phases, it does become quite addictive and hours go by in a flash. Choice between doing the hoovering and popping over to Ancestry? No contest, the housework wins every time - not!
Luckily, Dad had a good collection of family photos and the death certificates of his parents and I was also contacted by a lady called Lola in America, who is researching on behalf of her husband, so we have been able to exchange quite a bit of information and ponder together on various scenarios. Our common ancestors, my great, great grandparents on Dad's side, upped sticks and emigrated to America, settling in Kansas, where Lola and her husband live today, but the unusual thing is that they were in their mid fifties when they did it. These days, they probably wouldn't even be accepted at that age.
However, the problem that is causing me some grief at present is that, all of a sudden, I am unable to see any images, whether photos or documents on Ancestry when I use Chrome or Safari on my Macbook. As it happens, Keith has set up a Windows desktop upstairs for me to use and using Chrome on that causes no problems at all. Looking at various online forums, I see that Ancestry say they do not actively support Safari. In other words, 'if things go wrong, we don't want to know', which is not what you want to hear when you are bunging a hefty subscription their way.
They do have a 'support site', which is not as straightforward as you might expect, since you have to register on that separately, with a different password to that which you use on the main site. Undaunted, I tried to register. I typed in my email address, to be greeted by the command, 'Now go and check your emails for the password we have sent you.'
I did. Nothing.
"Oh, if you are having difficulty with that, please contact us on our support site.'
That would be the support site I have tried to register with but you haven't sent me the password, then?
I gave up then and had we had a cat, I might have been strongly tempted to kick it.
Ancestry seems to be by far the best resourced site but looking at online feedback, there are a lot of unhappy people out there wondering where their subscriptions are going.
You need to get your act together, Ancestry!

9 comments:

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Didn't The Kinks sing about someone called Lola? I believe Lola was actually a transvestite. Do they have transvestites in Kansas? Perhaps Ancestry will provide the answer... eventually.

Graham Edwards said...

I use Safari, Firefox (for all my blogging), Chrome, Epic and Opera as browsers on my Macbook. I've discovered that when one fails all rarely fail.

Dale said...

I've thought of subscribing to Ancestry, but I've always put it off. Now I have a valid reason. :)

Unknown said...

Hello Jenny. Sorry to contact you like this but I can't work out another way of doing it! I was investigating the family tree of my wife. My mother-in-law is your 2nd cousin and I have quite a bit of information on the Perkins line going back to c. 1770. If you are interested in sharing, etc. please send me an email - normanburton@btinternet.com

Best regards

Norman

Jennytc said...

It just seems odd to me that a) a large organisation like Ancestry would not support Safari and b) that it works on Chrome for Windows but not Chrome for Mac. It even works on IOS on my ipad, both the app and accessing the site through Chrome. One of those mysteries! ;)

Jennytc said...

Oh brilliant! Thanks, Norman, I will.

Jennytc said...

Tut, tut, YP. Been at the home brew again? ;)

Jennytc said...

Indeed, Dale. I have found it very addictive. Just the thing for a retired gent like yourself. ;)

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Hic!

Plaster board and dust

So, we're still no further forward on the British Gas smart meter front and I've given up making non-existent appointments with them...