I received an email from Ancestry.ca offering a 6-month membership at 40% discount. For the complete, World Deluxe 6-month membership the offer was $77.99 Cdn SAVE 40% off $129.99,
I’d provide the link but I’ve been trapped before mentioning an email offer only to find out it was exclusive to the addressee!
Interestingly the offer at Ancestry.ca is $129.99 Cdn, SAVE $50.
You can often get a good price by calling and negotiating. It’s part of the game. You play better if you know what’s been offered to others.
Another part of the game is the terminology. Are you a member or a subscriber?
Member: one of the individuals composing a group
Subscriber: a person who pays to receive or access a service.
Do you feel the relationship with Ancestry is best described as a member or a subscriber?
Most people know to never let a membership/subscription renew automatically. Delete the credit card linked and soon after the expiration, you’ll get a renewal offer. Sometimes if you wait a few extra days you’ll get an even better offer. That’s not just a game Ancestry plays. Companies know it costs a lot less to get a previous subscriber back than to get a new one.
Why can you not find the real cost of an ancestry subscription? Mine was up for renewal at just under $300 per year for the world version. I’d gotten 20% discount codes for several years at the OGS conference but was getting concerned after hearing other genealogists talk of games they needed to play. Ancestry renews at the price you originally paid, in my case in 2012. I called to request a CAA discount of 30% and they readily agreed and no GST as I renewed before July 1. But if the annual cost should be $260 or less before any discount and you were offered the equivalent of about $160 per year, then I’m still overpaying. How do you get straight info from ancestry?
I am definitely a subscriber, not a member. I was once asked by another genealogist whether I belonged to Ancestry. I replied that Ancestry didn’t own me.
Good bargaining…..Hope you’re OK ! Take good care and Be Safe !
Judy H
thank you for this article — I have put my membership with Ancestry.ca on hold for 2 months rather than subscribe. Several of the blogs from Ontario Ancestors newsletters have shown offers for the US, none for us. I am interested to know this renewal business is a game. Now if you could tell me how to cancel successfully from My Heritage I would be appreciative Susan
Hi John,
I don’t see my reply from the other day here, so I’ll send again. I don’t think you can delete your credit card information from your Ancestry account. I can only edit and that allows me to add a new card #, not delete the old one. I think you have to call them and ask them to remove it
Also, I’ve heard that even if you receive a new card with a new expiry date, your bank may transfer the charge to the new card. I recently received a new VISA debit with a new expiry date. I called a vendor who had my card on file to give them the new date and they already had it.