Terms and Conditions

  1. General

1.1 By commissioning research from me, the client agrees to these terms and conditions.

1.2 I will begin research when deposit payment has been received and funds cleared.

1.3 The completed research will be sent to the client once the balance of payment has been received and cleared. Payment is due within 30 days of request. If the client wishes to extend the budget, then payment for the work conducted so far and a new deposit for the continued work will be required.

 

  1. Genealogical Research

2.1 Genealogy often involves examining original, transcripts or images of historic documents. These sources may be unclear, misleading, or even incorrect. I accept no liability for any loss, damage or inconvenience that may arise from any information extracted from sources, any errors in transcripts from these sources or conclusions derived from them.

2.2 Fees are payable as agreed with the client regardless of if the desired information is found or not. No guarantee is made that any research assignment will lead to positive results. Old documents that contain required information may not have survived or may never have existed. In the event of a negative search, my research report will detail sources that have been consulted.

 

  1. Pricing

3.1 Fixed price packages are based on an amount of research time as well as the cost of obtaining certain documents (generally birth, death and marriage certificates or images from censuses or parish records) and producing reports and charts.

3.2 Fixed price packages obtain an overview of your ancestors. It is therefore unlikely that every detail of a particular ancestor’s life, or every document in which they appear will be used.

3.3 For bespoke packages, research will be undertaken at an agreed hourly rate. Costs considered within this hourly rate include: a) Research time b) Analysing information c) Responding to correspondence with the client d) Time spent obtaining certificates/documents e) Time spent compiling the research report and family chart f) Travel time and costs.   Fees for copies of certificates/documents are charged at an additional cost.

3.4 Before starting research for a bespoke package, a budget will be agreed. This budget will not be exceeded without the permission of the client.

3.5 The research information supplied is what is possible within the budget given.  However, results will vary depending on various factors including how common the ancestors’ names were and survival of relevant records.

3.6 On rare occasions, it may not be possible to complete research goals (see section 2.2). If this becomes apparent in the first hour of research, and before any costs have been accrued in obtaining documents, I will generally offer a full refund. If this occurs after significant research has taken place I will contact you and make a decision on whether to offer a part refund or concentrate research on another area of the family.

  1. Documents

4.1 I suggest that photocopies or digital copies of documents are sent to me. I accept no liability for damage or loss of items whilst in transit to me, during storage by me or when returning them to the client.

 

  1. Data Protection

5.1 I hold personal information provided by the client for the following purposes:  a) To process payment for research b) For communication with the client about the research c) For the purposes of family history research.

5.2 Information will be held on a computer secured with a password and in paper form.

5.3 This information will be held for as long as necessary to complete the research. It will be deleted on request by the client or after a period of 5 years whichever is the lesser.

5.4 Data provided by the client, or generated during my research, will not be passed on to any third party unless instructed to do so by the client.

5.5 I am ICO registered.

 

  1. Gift Certificates

6.1 Gift certificates can only be redeemed against the fixed priced research packages.

6.2 Gift certificates must be redeemed within 6 months of purchase. The expiry date is shown on the gift certificate. Completed paperwork must be received by me no later than this date. There will be no refund if the certificate expires.

6.3 Gift certificates are non-refundable. In the rare case that I am unable to trace the recipient’s family (see section 2.2), I may refund monies paid to the original purchaser of the gift certificate.

6.4 The recipient may extend the research by paying the additional fees if they so wish.

 

  1. Cancellation

7.1 If the client decided to cancel after research has started, there will be no refund of the deposit paid. A calculation will be made for the time spent on research so far which will be payable by the client. In addition, the client will be charged for any documents obtained in the course of the research. No research report will be completed.

7.2 I reserve the right to cancel research for a client at any time, and refund any monies paid less fees accrued.

 

  1. Errors or Omissions

8.1 I take great pride in my research; however, if there is an error or omission that is my fault, I will do my best to rectify it free of charge.

Last Updated 19th September 2016