Registration Of Births Deaths & Marriages Arvostelua 

Totally useless. Took them a month to post it then they sent it to the wrong address. They now tell me to order again using their priority service for £54!

I have ordered probably hundreds of certificates in my voluntary work as a genealogist. I honestly don’t know why this antiquated system is still being allowed to continue. It costs £12.50 to order a standard certificate, when to be honest, a PDF or scan would be perfectly fine in the majority of cases. It then takes weeks and weeks – I cannot fathom why it should take so long – to be sent out, and then they send it by second-class post. Well, you may as well put it on the back of a donkey and send the donkey off in the opposite direction. Royal Mail have forgotten that second-class post exists,and the chances are you will never receive the certificate. Often, by the time it arrives, if it arrives, I’ve actually forgotten why I ordered certificate in the first place.
If you wanted it actually delivered to you in a reasonable amount of time, you have to pay £38.50 for first class post. How much is the difference between the first and the second class stamp? I don’t think it’s £25, do you? I’ve written to The numerous times suggesting that they do an interim cost – adding a bit more on for the first class upgrade, but somehow they never reply.
Then, when the moment has passed (quite often I have located the family member without needing the certificate because this takes so long) they will email and rather than refund you, they decide to then send the certificate out using first class post. What a shambles.
Frustrating and unprofessional, every single time.

Dreadful. Ordering a birth certificate for me: 1972 is missing from the drop down for years. I contacted GRO for advice and never heard back. Why not just had a free text box?

The website is clunky: it's like going back to the '90s.

Confusing, unhelpful. And, no doubt, they pay no attention to the reviews.

I had to order 2 documents from France: both easy and arrived within a week, no charge. I had to order one document from Scotland: so easy to find and order and arrived within a week.

I ordered a replacement marriage certificate, their website page stated for a premium fee (£41) next day delivery if ordered before 4pm. I placed the order at 1445 and paid the fee. The item did not arrive as stated and is still showing as awaiting dispatch. I emailed asking why this was the case and this department could not be bothered to respond with an answer. My advice, do not waste your money on the premium service, they do not deliver as stated.

The worst experience I've ever dealt with. I ordered my birth certificate on December the 18th and it still hadn't arrived on the 30th of January. I ordered a new one with priority now I have to keep calling up everyday asking for the tracking number this is appalling. Your staff have no idea what they are doing and yet they when I called up the guy on the other end of the phone was too busy talking about where he had to park. Why I am saying hello hello and just got ignored.

Completely incompetent, dreadful, expensive service and rude, condescending agents who ought to be trained in better customer service or sacked asap.

I'm not going to explain because it will make me more angry, typical government related office taking money for a job not completed.

Useless.about as much good as a bus without an engine. Hard to use. Doesnt make it easy to use. How google recommends this site as best to find out my needs is beyond me.

Had to order a birth certificate for a job application. The certificate was sent to the wrong address (an old address they had on file not the one included in the order i payed for) after paying £50 for the service. Not only did this result in a confidential document being sent to a building i no longer had access to, i also could not produce the documents i was requested to the job i was applying for. When i complained to the office i was told that the fault was my own and i would have to pay a second time to have the documents sent out again!!! When i asked them to produce a print out of the online form i filled out to prove that i was at fault (like i dont know my own bloody address!) they were unable to do so but we're still adamant they were not at fault and i must pay a second time. All this resulted in causing me much worry, losing the job i was applying for and being out of pocket for over £70 simply to receive one certificate. I appealed to their online complaints procedure, and was send a document with my wrong address cut and pasted to the top. That bared no resemblance to any of the forms i filled out online as proof that i indeed do not know my own address and the fault was anyone's but theirs. An absolute bloody disgrace.

A disappointing experience of utilising a public service. A simple request was impossible to process for reasons the GRO could not adequately explain.

Moreover, the manner of correspondence was curt. A little humanity and kindness is always appreciated and is never inappropriate.

I cannot express enough just how hands-on GRO staff is to the public. Extremely efficient, super patient with clearing up confusion about documents, calls you and does follow-calls, responds to emails promptly. I'm just so relieved and satisfied with how my concerns were dealt with. Thank you Jack, Malay, Debbie, Debi, Suzanne and all the staff. Stay safe always. God bless you all. Carmen Warner 153663

Awful, awful awful. Very frustrating to even start to use this so called Public Service. A complete contradiction in terms. Theres no public service about it. I wanted to access information about a relatives death. But it's less than fifty years ago! The criteria they set is terrible in terms of any person wanting to get relatively recent information, unless you are prepared to buy so called credits.

Awful, completely unhelpful

This has to be one of the most inefficient, incompetent and unhelpful of all government departments . You just know when you phone up and hear a recorded message informing callers that verbal abuse will not be tolerated that there have been many desperate people driven to despair by apathy, inefficiency and poor customer service that would be incompatible with business in the private sector. I recently waited four weeks for a copy of my parents marriage certificate. I wrote several emails to which I did not even receive an acknowledgement leave alone a reply. Contacting the GRO by telephone is a complete waste of time. I suspect they work from home and if they can fob you off then they will. In the event that you genuinely have an issue or concern, then they will ask you to send email to which you will never receive a reply.

Sadly, if you require the services of GRO, there is no alternative such as taking your custom elsewhere.

I have been using the GRO for over 25 years for family history research and I have found that, if I provide the correct references, the certificates come in the expected time.
Like many government departments they will have been cut back and cut back but I have found them very reliable

The worst service ever. I had to order three new birth certificates for my children and was told up to five days delivery time. Sixteen days later I have recieved only two certificates and I even expressed concern when only one certificate first arrived, not the three I ordered. Emails are supposed to be a form of contact you can use but they refer you to their website. Response time was three days. Telephone call was unsuccessful.

Useless website and wait times on the phone are ridiculous. When I finally got through to speak with someone they informed me that the certificate i need can only be ordered online and that they cannot hear me very well so they need me to call back.