Terms and Conditions

1. About the service

Aha! Ancestry provides family-history and genealogical research services. Each project is considered individually, and the research to be carried out will be discussed and agreed with you before work begins.

The agreed scope and price will be confirmed before you are asked to make payment.

2. Research and results

Genealogical research depends on the survival, availability and accuracy of historical records. Although every reasonable effort will be made to investigate the agreed research questions, a particular result or discovery cannot be guaranteed.

You are paying for the research work undertaken, rather than for a guaranteed result.

Research will be carried out with reasonable care and skill. Historical records can contain mistakes, omissions, conflicting information, spelling variations and other inaccuracies. Conclusions in your report will therefore be based on the evidence available and will make clear where something is uncertain.

3. Price and payment

Unless otherwise agreed, a 50% deposit is required before research begins.

Once the agreed research has been completed, you will be notified and the remaining 50% balance will become payable.

Your completed research report and associated final materials will be supplied once the outstanding balance has been received.

Completion of the research does not depend upon the discovery of a particular answer. Where the agreed research has been properly carried out but the available records do not provide the answer hoped for, the remaining balance will still be payable.

4. Additional research and expenses

Research outside the originally agreed scope will not be undertaken and charged for without discussing it with you first.

Some research may benefit from purchasing certificates, record copies or accessing other paid sources. No additional paid expense will be incurred without your prior agreement.

5. Timescales

An estimated completion timeframe will be discussed with you before or when the research begins.

Genealogy projects can vary considerably depending on the records involved, their availability and what is discovered during the research. If circumstances arise that are likely to cause a significant delay, you will be informed.

Where no specific completion time has been agreed, the service will be carried out within a reasonable time.

6. Information you provide

Please provide as much relevant information as you reasonably can when the project begins.

Where you are uncertain about a name, date, relationship or other fact, please say so. This helps avoid assumptions being treated as established facts during the research.

Aha! Ancestry cannot be responsible for research being affected by materially incorrect or incomplete information supplied by the customer.

7. Unexpected or sensitive discoveries

Family-history research can sometimes uncover unexpected or sensitive information. This could include previously unknown family relationships, adoption, parentage, criminal matters, institutional records or other personal family circumstances.

By commissioning genealogical research, you acknowledge that discoveries of this nature are possible.

Where relevant to the agreed research, findings will be reported factually and sensitively, based on the available evidence.

8. If further research becomes impractical

Occasionally, research may reach a point where I believe further work is unlikely to be productive or cannot reasonably be completed.

If this happens, I may recommend ending the research rather than continuing to use your research budget unnecessarily.

Any amount retained will reflect work already undertaken and any additional costs you previously approved. Where the amount already paid exceeds the appropriate charge for work and approved costs incurred, the remaining balance will be refunded.

This means the 50% deposit is not automatically forfeited, but a full deposit refund should not be expected where substantial research has already been carried out.

9. Your right to cancel

If you are a UK consumer entering into the agreement at a distance - for example through Facebook, email or another online method - you will normally have 14 days from the day the contract is entered into to cancel it.

You do not need to give a reason for cancelling.

If you ask Aha! Ancestry to begin research during that 14-day period and subsequently cancel before the research has been completed, you may be required to pay an amount proportionate to the work supplied up to the point at which you cancel.

If the service is fully completed during the cancellation period after you have expressly requested an early start and acknowledged that your cancellation right will be lost once the service has been fully performed, the statutory cancellation right can end at that point.

Nothing in these terms affects your statutory consumer rights.

10. Cancelling after the statutory cancellation period

If you wish to end a research project after any applicable statutory cancellation period has expired, please contact Aha! Ancestry as soon as possible.

You will be responsible for the reasonable value of research already undertaken and any additional expenses you previously approved and which have already been incurred.

Any appropriate unused balance will be refunded.

11. Ending a project by Aha! Ancestry

Aha! Ancestry may end a project where there is a reasonable reason to do so, including where the research cannot reasonably proceed, essential information cannot be obtained, or continuing the research would no longer be productive.

You will be informed of the reason and provided with the findings produced up to that point where appropriate.

Charges will reflect the work actually undertaken and approved costs incurred. Any appropriate remaining balance of money already paid will be refunded.

12. Your consumer rights

These terms do not exclude or restrict any rights you have under applicable consumer law.

In particular, services supplied to consumers must be performed with reasonable care and skill, and statutory consumer protections cannot be excluded by these terms.

Legal basis note

This document has been drafted with reference to the Consumer Rights Act 2015, including reasonable care and skill and reasonable time, and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, including the 14-day cancellation period and early-start rules for services. This is a practical business template and is not a substitute for individual legal advice.