Comments compliments and complaints

This is a summary of your comments, compliments and complaints about our service from October 2009 to March 2010 inclusive.  

Numerous one word compliments such as 'helpful' are not listed here. This section is devoted to detailed feedback.

Service in general—Total: 15

•  What a prompt and full reply, thank you. When archivists got their jobs, they were quite reconciled to the tedious job of cataloguing but this enormous job of putting stuff online must be a bind…but so useful to geriatric amateur historians who can’t get to Record Offices and wouldn’t know of so many sources if it weren’t for A2A
• Got the CD yesterday – absolutely thrilled. Thank you so much for helping me put together some past history. I have thoroughly enjoyed making the journey but without your help it would not have been possible to put a face to Alexander. [We] have been searching for years for photos – so you can say you have performed a miracle. I, for one, cannot thank you enough.
• Post-it note on cheque: many thanks for your excellent service and help.
• [by e-mail; researcher visited office briefly on 28^th October trying to identify grave of his father’s fiancé who died while he was away serving in WWII; father frail, they had visited churchyard but had left uncertain whether they’d been in the right place. BAM felt he’d missed something when searching so checked another source after he’d left and sent an e-mail with information]  Thank you so much for your e-mail… I travelled on to the cemetery at Potton, but found no sign of Ida’s grave; however I spoke to a man who was mowing the grass…On contacting his associate I was informed that Ida was indeed buried with Frederick. The gravestone, as you rightly say, is not marked with Ida’s name but ‘Beatrice’. I left a rose and message at the site but was still unconvinced. Now you have confirmed it! I cannot tell you how pleased I am, so again thank you for your diligence. It was a remarkable day. I am awaiting the appropriate time to tell my father about yesterday’s little adventure. He will, I’m sure, be delighted and very moved.
• Your service is second to none and I say this having had dealings with very many councils and archive centres over the last year.
• [by e-mail; searching for whereabouts of disposal of cremated remains] Just to say a very big thank you for your efforts, time and ideas, I really appreciate it. I know I am looking for ashes amongst a whole world of dust!... Doing this research has been very rewarding so thanks again.
• I just wanted to say a big thank you to you and to the staff that helped me last Wednesday afternoon when I came over to view some photos. They couldn’t have been more helpful, especially the archivist who was on duty that afternoon.
• Thank you so much for all the enthusiastic help and advice given to us last Friday. It was exciting to have access to such a rich source of material and our knowledge of our family history has been considerably enhanced. We look forward to spending more time exploring your archive treasures next year.
• We were in the Archives from 10 am until they closed, where they provided us with wonderful finds – but, in particular, I would like to mention Trevor, who – whilst also looking after the needs of other visitors – burrowed away all day and coming up with more and more discoveries by the hour and forwarding us copies. (Extract from letter to the Mayor)
• That’s fantastic, I only expected a short reply like a yes or no but that’s fantastic and has confirmed my fear that I have indeed mixed up families so thanks for the clarification.
• Comments by Australian user on new version of database and gaol database. Thank you so much for your kind help in assisting with the tracing of my mother’s early years. For so long I have wondered about that anxious time in her life. The maps and pictures of where she lived and worked gave me such pleasure. 
• Just wanted to say a big thank you to staff at the Archives/Record office for help with my family history research trip yesterday. All of the staff in the research room, at reception and the security guard at the door were most helpful and welcoming and it made a very successful day even better.
• I would like to thank you for your excellent service! I e-mailed my query last Friday and have today received the photocopies I requested. In all my years of dealing with Record Offices around the country I have never had such rapid service.
• I would first like to thank you for forwarding me a copy of the parish record for the marriage [it proved to give the correct surname, unlike the GRO certificate]. So may I take this opportunity to write and tell you what a prompt and excellent service the Archives provides for people like myself who live many miles away from the county they were born in. So a big thank you to you.
• I would like to thank all the staff at the Beds. County Archives for their invaluable help in researching my family history. We were given every assistance we requested with directions and help with parking right through the whole process of which section to look in and how to narrow a search down. We made a significant amount of progress and I am sure that on a future visit thanks to the help we received we will make even more. In today’s society it is so easy to complain when things do not go the way we want so I feel it is important to thank people when they have made the effort to be polite and helpful. Once again my thanks.

On-line/Access—Total: 4

Complaints and Suggestions

Total - 2

• Visit by regular searcher (25 years +) with special needs who started baiting staff when he could not be assisted immediately as assistant on a telephone call. Required to leave and banned until behaviour improved. Written complaint made by him, and submitted corporately, that he had been shouted at.

  Service head Keith Simmons, and Customer team framed letter apologising for upset caused, warning him over conduct, and inviting him back. Returned, mutual apologies took place; conduct has improved since.

• Detailed critique of our online database

If you would like to comment on our service, please contact us.