Genealogy Chat

they emailed me at last and said they have never been so busy are getting 40,000 orders a week and are behind with them, so expect a looooong wait

I think thats due to Ancestry BMD Beta free search Jeanette

So £280,000 in their coffers a week, not a bad business, eh?

not bad eh ,they should spend some taking on more staff then???

this what it says on the site Service Announcement This is our busiest time of year (January to April) and our service to customers is currently being affected by exceptionally high levels of demand. Although we are working hard to ensure certificates are despatched as soon as possible we expect these problems to continue until after Easter. Jeanette

Perhaps this would ease off a bit if ancestry put the 1841 census on?

do you think so it could of course go the other way and make it even busier , either way they could employ more staff I wish I lived nearer I would love to work there must be fascinating.

Valerie, I was thinking that getting census images from ancestry would keep people busy for the moment and reduce the load on GRO :) Roger

Well, you probably find they get a lot of temporary staff Ann, students and the like. I guess you wouldnt really have time to read much, I imagine them having a lot of people just getting down the right files. Another lot photocopying them Another lot replacing them and then a post room bunging them in envelopes. Probably gets a bit boring after a while.

I was thinking the delays are largely due to so much media coverage on the subject of genealogy at the moment - that, coupled with the fact that the BMDs are free to search, has just ballooned into this huge thing. Just about everyone I talk to these days has started researching their ancestry due to the TV progs inspiring them to do so. They must be making so much profit at the GRO they should be able to take on extra staff, shouldn't they? Yeah, wish I could work there too! Leah

A lot of peoples interest is short lived, so things will get easier when they realise its not like WDYTYA and actually takes a lot of work.

trouble is Roger if they are like me as soon as I find someone I must have their cert even if I cannot really afford it I just love to see the details one them.

Just seen an advert that they are having something on GMTV all next week about tracing your family tree so its only gonna get worse

I ordered a cert 2 days ago with a dispatch date of the 4th of March. Good job I'm not in too much of a hurry. I have been doing this for 4 years. My daughter asks me what I am doing but she looks at me like I'm mad, and she always says why you always on this site. catherine

I just ordered a certificate 10 minutes ago and the estimated despatch date was 13 March. Then I have to wait the extra time for delivery to the US. I'm thinking I'll see it sometime at the end of next month, as long as it doesn't get lost like the last one. Lol! Emma

Hi , I ordered yesterday, despatch date 10th March, so it is getting worse! Amanda