World Vital Records Reviews

(based on 7 reviews)

195 of 410 people found this review helpful

Zero stars!!! If you sign up with this site for a promotional trial, you will be fooled into small print obscure charges and they will automatically apply without warning. You will never get your money back because of terms you don't know you agreed to without combing the site. I used a $60 promotion through FtDNA in 2012, and was automatically charged $119 dollars a year later. They will not give me my money back since it is, in their terms, my responsibility to cancel before the renewal date -- as if I am calendaring that into my life schedule. It was an overdue notice from my credit card that alerted me to the charge. To top it off it's a piece of crap site too, has data you can get at the public library. Don't get bent by World Vital Records. They are a fraud.

In summary, I would not recommend World Vital Records to a friend.

257 of 470 people found this review helpful

When Legacy teamed with World Vital Records, I jumped on it. I was to get a year subscription with 2 months free. My first problem was I couldn't get logged in on any of my 3 Windows 7 PC's, all running IE 9. I could, however, access it at work, running Windows XP and IE 8. World Vital Records support hours suck for working people like me. I sent an email and thier response was simply to try a different browser. Ok, I tried Chrome and Firefox. Still wasn't letting me log in. After messing around with this for 2 weeks, I requested they cancel my subscription and they agreed. 2 months later, there is still no credit on my credit card. My card company tells me I should contact them again before submitting a dispute. I still desperately wanted access to newspaper articles so, foolish me, sends another email requesting my subscription be restarted since they haven't given my money back and I will just do my searches from work during my lunch. They agreed, of course. This time, however, I can log in and I can... (Read the full review)

In summary, I would not recommend World Vital Records to a friend.

280 of 525 people found this review helpful

What a waste of money! I've tried a number of searches since I signed up for a subscription (I should have taken advantage of the free trial and saved myself some money), and I have not had one positive result, even for people I know whose records are available on other sites. As a genealogical tool, this site is useless.

In summary, I would not recommend World Vital Records to a friend.

304 of 546 people found this review helpful

Joined world vital records on Feb 15 specifically for the Newspaper archive. On Feb 18-19 the search engine wouldn't work on the archive. Worked ok on the 20th so I figured they had a glitch on the weekend and thing would be fine - then on Feb 21 again, you could not access any newspaper in the archive, so I called tech support (which is not avaialable on the weekends) and was told that they were aware of the problem and it would be down a couple of hours and then back up) No problem - right. Well now it's the 22nd and I still can't access the archive, so I call tech support and now I'm told that it will be a couple of days since they are NOW updating the archive to give me more newspapers - RIGHT - I can't access what they currently have now - so I asked for my subscription to be cancelled and my money refunded per their guarantee. The customer service rep responded that all she could do was cancel the auto renewal!! Yeah right, I told her that I wanted the full refund that was guaranteed per their... (Read the full review)

In summary, I would not recommend World Vital Records to a friend.

279 of 492 people found this review helpful

I tried the free trial (you can get three days free).

I found no information I wanted at all, got really irrelevant information from using the search, and became frustrated quickly.

So I went to cancel the subscription, so I wouldn't get tied into this rubbish or charged, and realized YOU CAN'T CANCEL ONLINE - it's not easy to find out how to cancel. So the free trial is a waste of time. I advise people to use ancestry.com. At least if you get annoyed with it you can cancel with ease!

In summary, I would not recommend World Vital Records to a friend.

290 of 503 people found this review helpful

I was excited when the invitation and 'great deal' for Family Heritage members came to me. My mistake was ordering the link without waiting and looking at it in detail. So far the experience has been bad. No matter how detailed the submitted data is, the results come back as 'Zero Results'. No matter which catagory is chosen the same results come back.

I used my father for a test...Exact name, birth, town, newspaper, death, and it comes back as Zero Results! His father owned a well known business in the city, prominent in business and organizations and still ZERO. I used myself looking for birth info in the newspaper...knew the name, birthdate, hospital, everyting possible and ZERO.

What a waste of time and money.

The hype made it sound like a genealogists dream for ferreting out detail info but so far it is pure frustration and I am not happy. I do not enjoy spending money for products that do not live up to expectation.

I had high hopes for being able to fill in some information gaps as well as find documentaion for facts but alas my family while having lived in the same area since... (Read the full review)

In summary, I would not recommend World Vital Records to a friend.

250 of 470 people found this review helpful

While it's obvious this company has more archives it's seach engine is horrible. Now if you have hours and hours to kill then have at it but I myself, when I already know a specific area and time frame and input that information I expect to see only whats in those parameters.Their search can't seem to control that and gives way to many options to wade through.

I purchased this membership with the sales pitch being I would get more than other similar sites. I purchased a two year plan in good faith and it was a very expensive gamble as I've gotten very few results for my time and effort compared to Ancestry.

CAUTION!!! This membership is basically like most you join today. You are promised the world and get nothing but frustration. If you try and back out before the 30 day money back quarentee they will go out of their way to assist you with your search and once your past the 30 days, GUESS WHAT, kiss your money gooby as you will not get a prorated refund. This is the 3rd. company I've been burned by in three years.

Overall Ancestry whom I've been with for over 10... (Read the full review)

In summary, I would not recommend World Vital Records to a friend.