Forces War Records Reviews 

Over the last few weeks every service number I have had belonging to airmen in bomber command has come back with no hits, why.... These service numbers are legitimate but no records coming up... Example 1461487, should be Gray W J ... nothing shows up what am I paying for?

I've been trying to access Forces War Records all week, with no results. Doesn't matter what I'm searching for, I put in details and it just goes back to the input screen, even Smith bring's no results, I can't access the help page as I need a subject from the drop down list, and that's not working either, can someone please tell me what is going on???

Documents that i have copies of already are not found and unable to find anyone actually on the database who should be there. I used the 7 free D-Day offer and i wouldn't waste a penny using this site.

Desperately poor, wanted to join this service to research war medals I have. However when I tried to pay the subscription fee my card was declined even though there was more than enough funds to cover the transaction. I tried a different card and the same thing happened. Got in touch with CS and was told this is a known issue and they were working on it. Needless to say a few days later and still the same and no resolution. Got back in touch with CS and was told there was no timeline as to when this problem would be resolved........REALLY??? are you for real!!! how do you expect to make money if people cannot pay? I asked if there was an alternative way to pay or if they could give me temporary free access while they sorted out the issue and was told no, I would just have to wait until the problem was resolved. Pathetic response, any decent company would be breaking their backs to resolve payment issues right?? Sort yourselves out, total shambles.

Disappointing, paid for Premium Membership and this site doesn't help at all. Try somewhere else. At least it's easy to cancel.

Really disappointed. I use ancestry to research my family tree so thought this would be a great addition. Every person I search comes up with either nothing or things that are totally irrelevant to the filters I’ve used. I tried to search for my great grandfather as I’d already found a lot of info about him on ancestry. To start with it listed several others with the same name but completely different birth years, but no mention of the one I was looking for. I only managed to trace him because I’d actually got his service number. Sadly I can’t find anything at all for my husbands father, even though he was part of a really important mission during the war! Needless to say I’ve cancelled my subscription within an hour of starting it. The month I have available to me will be more than enough to find (or not) everything I hope to!
In respect of their response which I can't reply to, I don't want to pay an 'expert' when I can do it myself and, based on other reviews, this service is awful. Also, I can't search by regiment number if i don't have it. I am talking about ancestors who served over 100 years ago so unlikely to have their service details. Names, dates and location should be more than adequate to give good results, but clearly not!

I do not recommend this organisation. My experience-paid £10 deposit to hire researcher, leaving balance of £190.00 to pay. Receipt issued. Hugh was appointed. He instructed me to contact MOD before he could carry out his research. This took many months because of Covid. Meanwhile informed that “Hugh had retired due to ill health, another will be appointed” but it never happened. Messages all ignored, even phoned the UK phone no. (it’s in the USA!) no response at all. Records disappeared during recent changes, though WFR obviously know I’m here because my subscription was renewed, (without any reminder), just notified after money was taken! Very disappointing and frustrating.

I subscribe to both ancestry and FWR. Since the ancestry take over of FWR I see very little advantage in continuing with FWR which now seems to deliver what I can learn on Ancestry. I don’t need a personal researcher. Why should I continue with both resources?

I paid a deposit to Forces War Records to hire a professional researcher over fifteen months ago. I left it a few months before asking how the work was progressing and they said that the research will be with me by Christmas. When it wasn't here in January they said it would be finished by the end of the month, then it just needed checking and would be here by the end of the week. Several weeks later I am still waiting.

I've had a subscription for many years now and use to find it to be very good. However every since their new design it has been nothing but terrible and I've notice many records I use to look for are gone now.

I would not recommend dealing with this company. I upgraded my basic subscription to a monthly premium a week ago. I received written confirmation but have since been unable to access any records, with my account still showing a basic membership. I have contacted the support department many times providing screenshot evidence to support my claim, but my account has still not been upgraded. I have asked for a full refund but have heard nothing, so will be contacting my bank next and then cancelling my monthly subscription.

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These lot love their auto-renew subscription business model to catch everyone out on paying a 2nd fee. Seems to be a common theme in these reviews too! I unticked the option when joining but it seems to get turned back on somehow. I'll be speaking with my bank. As for the search info, it's pretty poor. I'd highly recommend you go elsewhere.

I am disappointed with the scope of search capabilities using the website. Maybe a limitation aimed at encouraging members to pay for additional professional help from their experts? Everyone taking up membership has to accept their 'auto renewal' terms, something I have never liked, and in this case I only accepted having checked that the 'auto renewal' condition could be easily cancelled. However, when I did decide to cancel auto renewal I found that in order to do so you have to select one of 3 options set as your reason for doing - non of which is that you are unhappy with the quality of their online service. Cynic that I am, I suspect this is done so that they can maintain a positive feedback in their own customer reviews.

Force War Records can sometime present an awful lot of items to look through to find the one you want. If you have details of your relative other than just name it will help in your search.

Horace George pinches served in the Boer war in the RAMC. We have his medals. But the War Office seem to have no record of this

Receiving names not in the RN or connected to ww2, many have no connection to the information I supplied. I am now in direct contact with RN achieves and will use the $ elsewhere.

F865FC8D
Excellent site, but beware, it's addictive. You can get hooked as there are so much you didn't know about your family history and the site just keeps on giving more details. I've learnt so much and keep coming back for more

Great search engine with lots of useful information