Questions| Your Welsh Ancestors| Wales| UK|

Frequently Asked Questions from family history research clients

Here are some of the most common questions asked by clients when they are considering purchasing a research package from Your Welsh Ancestors. The following also make up our Terms & Conditions. If you have any additional queries please contact us direct via our Contact page.

01

Do you provide cost estimates and advice?

We carry out initial free e-mail or telephone consultations of up to half an hour which allow us to gauge if the research is viable.
Telephone consultations of up to half and hour are free. N.B. Consultations of over half an hour are charged at our normal hourly rate.
Face-to-face consultations and advice sessions are charged at our normal hourly rate and can form part of the overall costs if you decide to commission a research project.
The information supplied by you will confirm whether the research is viable in the geographic area we cover and in the timescale required by you.
The research work will start upon receipt of payment and after a seven day cooling off period.
Full terms and conditions will be sent to you after the initial consultation and before you have placed your order.

02

What information do you need before you start researching?

We will need enough information from you beforehand to help make the project viable, for example:

Your parents' names and birth dates.
Grandparents' names and birth dates (or approximate year of birth).
Town, parish or county where your parents and/or grandparents were born.

All required information will be discussed during the free consultation.

03

How do I pay?

Once we have discussed your project, we will confirm how much the research will cost and the relevant deposit.

We accept payment via internet bank transfer, our secure PayPal account or, for UK-based customers, we also accept cheques. PayPal is the preferred method of payment for international clients. Full details of the payment options will be sent to you during the booking process.

For international clients who do not have access to the internet, we can also accept payment via MoneyGram (www.moneygram.com – international money transfer) which you can arrange through a local agent (we can advise you on your nearest agent).

04

Do the package costs include postage?

Yes, for all UK mainland destinations (Royal Mail 'Signed For' delivery).
For an extra charge we can send a package via the 'Special Delivery Next Day' option (UK only).
Please note that additional postal charges will apply for overseas customers, please contact us for details before placing your order.

05

How long will the research take?

The following provides you with a guideline on how long the reserch can take, but please note – the research can take longer during busy periods and with some families whose history is slightly more complicated:

Outline Package: around one month.
Level One Package: around 8 weeks.
Level Two Package: around 12 weeks.
Premium package: around 16 weeks.
The amount of time needed to complete tailored packages will vary from project to project and will depend on the type and range of information needed.
We will keep you informed of progress with updates at specific stages of the research.
Please note however that at certain busy periods, or with more complex projects, the research will take a little longer than this. Additional requests made during the research period could add to the timescale and may also incur additional costs.
If you need the package for a specific date, then please inform us during the consultation period, so that a relevant schedule can be put in place.

The research will start on receipt of payment/deposit and after a seven day cooling off period.

06

Can you guarantee results?

Due to the nature of historical research, results cannot be guaranteed. All commissions involve a specified amount of research time and the expertise of a professional researcher. Actual results will depend on the quality of information supplied at the start of the research, the circumstances relating to the family or individual in question, the availability of the resources and the content and condition of surviving sources. In some circumstances research can have inconclusive outcomes, and when this is the case, the research findings are set out in detail in the report.

07

Can I cancel?

You have a seven day cooling off period from the time of purchase, during which time you can cancel your order. If you cancel in writing within this time and before we have started on the research, then you will receive a full refund.

If you cancel after this period then your payment will be re-imbursed minus any costs incurred, such as research time, travel and copies of any documents which may have been purchased.

08

What is your privacy policy?

The information you supply to us via phone, letter, form, e-mail or in person when making queries or during a research project will only be handled by us for the following purposes:

To respond to your queries
To provide you with information about our services
To provide you with an estimate for one of our services
To carry out the research requested by you – i.e. we may need to hold some personal data in order to carry out the research and therefore to meet our contractual obligations
To manage and administer our relationship with you including issuing communications and information to you
To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us
To administer the project commissioned by you
To administer your account with us (invoicing etc)

We will only hold your data on our systems for as long as is necessary during the period of the commission. With your consent, we shall securely keep a copy of the research prepared for you for a specified period which will be available should you wish additional copies at a later date. By law, we are also required to retain certain information for a prescribed period of time for accounting purposes. We review our retention periods for personal data on a regular basis. From time to time we may send newsletters, but we will require your consent before we place your name on a relevant database.

We will not sell your information to third parties
We will not give your information to third parties (such as solicitors with whom we may work) without your consent
We will not share the findings of any research commissioned by you to third parties unless you request us to do so or give your consent
We will share your details with debt recovery services if you fail to pay for the services commissioned by you

You have the right to know what information we retain on you and to ask for your information to be deleted. More information on these rights can be found here on the Information Commissioner's website:

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/

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