Read the comments posted on this blog post about the initial difficulty current Ancestry subscribers experienced when they called customer service and my comment toward the bottom about how the customer service reps eventually figured out how to extend our subscriptions, using the 40% discount.
Unfortunately, as of noon Saturday, it appears the offer is no longer available to current subscribers. Only new and past subscribers seem to be eligible for this nice perk.
If you are not currently a subscriber, use the links below to register online.
Until Sunday, February 26, 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, new and current members can save 40 percent on a 12-month Ancestry.ca membership. (Lesley Anderson confirmed with customer service you don’t have to be a new member to take advantage.)
The 12-month Canada Discovery subscription is $72 (regular $120). Join here.
The 12-month World Deluxe membership is $180 (regular $300). Join here.
Fellow blogger John D. Reid called the toll-free number, but the customer service rep who answered was not aware of this offer. I would suggest you gently persist or call back.
You must sign up online through the links provided in this blog post, and this will work well for new and lapsed members.
Those of us who are already members cannot extend our membership online. We need to call the toll-free number 1-800-958-9073 and hope the person we reach knows about the offer.
These special offer prices are valid for the first 12-month period of membership only. Your membership will automatically renew at the end of each 12-month period and your chosen method of payment will be charged $119.88 for Canada Discovery or $299.88 for World Deluxe at that time, unless you are notified otherwise. If you don’t want to renew, cancel at least two days before your renewal date by visiting the My Account section or contacting Ancestry.
As someone who is a long-time Ancestry member, I know this is a really good offer.
Thank you Gail for the great information! That is an amazing deal.
Hi Gail, I was refused the offer as I was told I did not receive this email, so I did not qualify for the special rate!? I will call back later and hopefully talk to someone who knows what’s going on.
Ancestry’s Canadian rep Lesley Anderson called customer service and was advised this offer is good for everyone, not just those who received the email. I have asked her for further help.
Call again. Perhaps tomorrow? I was successful at extending my current subscription, without any prodding — just friendly conversation.
I did it online off the link Gayle sent !
Just a note, I just tried to upgrade, but the offer was not available. 🙁
As a long-time subscriber, I also tried to extend my subscription online, but could not do so. I intend to call, but I am not hopeful they will do anything. If that is the case, I may no longer promote these offers. They seem complicated and frustrating.
I wonder if not renewing for a while would make it easier to take advantage of these discounts. Sometimes, I’m tempted…
Just tried to renew on line didn’t work so I phone. I took out a one month subscription two days ago. I can’t get the deal they said.
I would call back and hope you get someone else. My customer services rep assured me there was no problem. Told me three times what I would be billed… because I asked him to confirm him three times. 🙂 Customer services is open today and throughout the weekend until 11 p.m. Eastern time.
I called to extend my existing World Deluxe subscription another 12 months with the special offer. He assured me three times I will receive it. The call centre is open tonight and through the weekend until 11 p.m. Eastern time.
I just called and got a wonderful rep named Maren who went looking and found the info 🙂 So I got the deal – on my renewal day! So happy! For anyone who was refused, I’d call back and hope you get Maren!!
I was successful too! I consider myself lucky after what others were told.
Thank you, Gail. You’re always so helpful. I pay monthly for the Delux. I wonder how that will work if I try to do it on line? Any thoughts? Thanks! Again, I love your newsletters and blog. Take care!
As an 11-year subscriber, I was successful in receiving the discounted World Deluxe price when I called this afternoon. I kept the call very friendly, and he assured me I will be charged the 40% off price.
Hi Gail,
When I called, they said I could get the 40% off the price for the World Deluxe, but no credit for the 10 months left in my Canada subscription. I guess I have to decide if the 40% is worth throwing away the 10 months.
Thanks for posting these, always worth checking out.
I just tried to obtain the offer but was told by “Lori” (after being put on hold for 15 minutes while she checked with her support staff) that because I’m an existing subscriber, I’m not eligible. But I’ll try again.
I just called, and Ancestry extended my subscription another 12 months. The call centre rep assured me three times I would be billed the special discounted amount for the World Deluxe subscription. Keeping my fingers crossed he’s right.
Thanks for this. I phoned the 1-800 phone number and was told that I needed to have received an email invitation to receive this offer.
I just called and received the offer. My card will be billed for the discounted amount in two months when my current subscription expires. Poor guy. I asked him to repeat two or three times that I would receive the special offer. I kept it friendly and mentioned at the beginning of the call that Ancestry’s Canadian rep Lesley Anderson had called customer service yesterday and they confirmed the discount was for both new and current subscribers.
The toll free number is open until 11 p.m. tonight and from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on the weekend.
Thanks for this, Gail. I called again and mentioned Leslie. This time I was told that there’s a promotion, but they wouldn’t extend my subscription (which expires in May). I was told I’d have to cancel my subscription and start another. I think I’ll try again this weekend- maybe third time’s a charm!
The phone operator was very pleasant and helpful and seemed to spend a good amount of time looking into the offer, to their credit.
Glad that you got the renewal in any case and hope that others do as well. Appreciate that you posted the offer.
This is what happened with me, but it wasn’t a problem. Apparently I got really lucky!!
I got the same reply for my first phone call but I phoned back after reading Gail’s reply to someone else about telling them the Canadian rep for Ancestry.ca had assured Gail that this would work and this time it worked.
For those of you still trying, there is hope. After being on the phone with a friendly rep for a long time, Ancestry subscriber Tyler advises: “Just tell the rep you’re speaking with to go ahead and input it and it (should go through).”
Margaret wrote on the Genealogy à la carte Facebook group: “New sub has gone through effective May 1st 2017 for 12 mo at $179.88. The system instantly processed at May 1, while the humans were insisting that they had to cancel my current sub.”
Margaret says to tell your Ancestry customer service rep: “Just put the order in the system and it apparently makes it effective when your current sub expires.”
It seems the process for the reps may be different and easier than previously. The problem is the process appears to be new to them. Good luck!
Thanks SO much Gail!! It only took me about 20 minutes to get the deal.
The man insisted that this offer was only for those who received an email from Ancestry with this offer.
I would call back, Patricia, citing the examples I provided in a comment above. It appears everyone is now successful.
Phoned back and it worked! She did insist on cancelling my current subscription but since it was a monthly subscription I just let her! Yay!
Glad to learn you persisted, and it worked.
I called ancestry yesterday and renewed with no problems. My renewal was March. I received two confirmation emails. Thanks Gail for letting us know about this great offer.
I was refused the offer by a Supervisor at Ancestry. She indicted the deal was limited only to those who received the email offer.
Well, that’s very disappointing, since many of us have now extended our subscription. Read the comments, especially mine toward the bottom where I share how Margaret and Tyler managed to get their subscription extended. Perhaps you could call again and end up with a different rep.
My World Deluxe membership expires in May. I just got off the phone with Gerry or Jerry at Ancestry. He was very pleasant, and he seemed to try a couple of things, but no success thus far! He said that he’d been told there was a blog circulating in Canada about the discount, but that it wasn’t an official Ancestry blog. He also suggested that we seem to have a very active network in Canada, and I suggested that that was a good thing! Gerry’s major obstacle seemed to be that my subscription still has two months to go. He said that the end of the current offer is still to be determined and that it might still be available in May. He suggested that I call back then and ask about it. He said that he’d put a note on my account saying that I’d already called and asked for the discount. He wanted me to respond to a survey and to send an e-mail about my concerns to support@ancestry.ca, but I suggested that I’d already spent enough time on this today 🙂 We’ll see what happens in May!
See my comment above about what Margaret and Tyler said their reps did. Apparently, it is easier to extend our memberships than the reps realize. My subscription was set to expire May 1, and my rep extended it for another 12 months. I was billed immediately for the charge, which was fine by me.
I was also refused the offer this morning. She left several times to talk to a supervisor or look into something, but said I had to have received a specific email offer. She added my snail mail address, so that I can receive any offers sent that way. I discussed dropping my subscription twice, but that didn’t help. Think I will try again this afternoon.
Just called and renewed at the discount rate with no difficulty. My subscription was to end in March. I have just received the confirmation email. Thanks for letting us know about this. Helen
No luck! Called twice. Spoke to a Lori and a Mike. Both are claiming that this is not a legitimate offer and said they could not renew at this price. I mentioned Lesley Anderson several times and Mike still insisted that the offer was not legitimate. I read Gail’s comments to him – still no luck.
Disappointing to read that the response from the customer service reps varies greatly.
I was also unsuccessful in my attempt to obtain the discount. The discount offer would have had to come direct from Ancestry I was told. I have 3 months left in my subscription and a even renewal for a year from today was not possible at the discount price was not available.
Called Ancestry & was put right through with no waiting. The service rep, Tee?, was polite but couldn’t offer me the promotion. I have been a monthly World Deluxe subscriber & wanted to move to an annual World Deluxe subscription. My file indicated that I had not received an email with this promotion so she couldn’t process it. Will try again tomorrow.
I just called and spoke with Sandra. I received the $179.88 offer. My subscription was to expire on Mar 14th, so the new offer is taking effect on that date.
I had just renewed my subscription and saw this offer. So I cancelled within the same day. I have tried 5 times to sign up again, but due to the weather I keep getting the computer error that the connection has timed out. I wonder if this is Ancestry’s way of not accepting my renewal. Sure hope that I get through and can get my existing trees to be on with this renewal.
I got up this morning and was able to sign up no problem. Now to start working on my trees. I have not had a subscription for a few years but kept the trees on the free access so am looking forward to working on them. Thanks for the heads up about this bargain.
Great news!
I tried to renew my world subscription over the phone, which expires in April, but to no avail. The rep, Rhonda, was unable to find the offer even for new or lapsed subscribers. All she could do was offer me 20% off, the standard discount. I gave her info from others who have posted above, and she said if she entered a renewal now, as mentioned by Tyler Margaret, it would renew now and expire next Feb., not April. I was obviously disappointed, as I even mentioned Lesley’s name. As in the past, I will let my subscription lapse in April if I am unable to get a deal.
That’s unfortunate. I suspect if she entered your renewal, as you suggested, it would have renewed in April next year. It was, however, nice of her to offer you 20% off.
Today, my husband has tried two times with no luck obtaining the 40 percent discount.
Both reps said they couldn’t find the code needed for the 40 percent discount.
He did mention the Canadian rep Leslie name.
However there is a discount if you buy a DNA kit or you can buy 3 months membership and the 4th month is free.
Does anyone know the code for the 40 percent discount?
Read my comment about Margaret and Tyler’s experience. The rep simply input the info — and it worked. But that was two days ago. Now, the offer seems to be available only to new subscribers and “fickle” subscribers, i.e., my friends who only subscribe every couple of years.
My subscription doesn’t renew until June or July 2020. Can I get the 40% discount to start at that time?