GRO certificates
I was very interested to read the item in the
last issue of the journal about the possibility
of ordering GRO certificates by email and I have
today received three that I ordered by this means
on June 5. I was somewhat taken aback, however,
to find that I was charged £24 instead of the £19.50
which I would have paid at the Family Records
Centre, despite the fact that I supplied the
correct index reference in each case. On taking
this up with the GRO I was told that the charge
of £8.00 for a certificate was correct for QR
applications (when you are supplying the index
reference) and £11.00 for STD cases (applications
when you are not supplying the GRO index
reference). I find this additional charge
inexplicable as I would have thought that email
applications were more efficient and worth
encouraging.
Admittedly there is a saving in the cost of
travel to London, but then it is possible to
combine a visit to the FRC with visits to other
research centres.
May I also point out that the telephone number
of the GRO is 0870 243 7788. When I tried the
number given in the journal I discovered that you
had omitted the digit 4.
May I apologise for this error. I received
this information from the Federation of Family
History Societies and should have checked the
number before putting it into the journal. (Ed.)
