ScotlandsPeople Reviews 

I was researching my Maternal Grandfather's dad & grandad. Paid to view a record for the name I was looking for. The record I got was for an illegitimate child registered in the father's name, NOT the surname I was researching. They won't refund the credits I lost because they cross reference the child under the mother's name too, she had the surname I was researching. I know that since the 1800s for a child to be registered in the father's name, he must be present to sign the register. I am truly disgusted by the attitude of SP. It's not a member of the public's fault SP decided to cross reference a child in both names. So be aware they will take your money and provide you with the wrong information. 😡

Ordered a copy of my mums wedding certificate for probate on 22nd June, paid extra for quick delivery, £31 is still pending in my PayPal, chased it up end of June, auto response said they would respond in 3 working days, it's now the 14th July, no response whatsoever and no certificate, luckily we have found the original one. Absolutely useless. I cant cancel the PayPal but apparently it will get cancelled or returned after 30 days if the order is not fulfilled. What's the point of paying for a quick turnaround.

I don't know my mother's maiden name. Therefore cannot continue

Where is the 0 star option? It seriously shoudn't be this difficult nor should it take so long to recieve an order. Right now, i am still waiting for this to be delivered and there are no guarantees that this will even arrive.

This is a crucial document which is required for my passport application and the fact that I have no guarantees that I will recieve this is a massive red flag. Thanks for messing up my timelines, I have basically paid a lot of money to be frustrated!

If I could give zero I would. Please don't waste your time using this company. I ordered a death certificate on the 23rd of march and I still don't have it. Sent 4 emails and received one reply saying it had been sent and must be a royal mail issue. I don't think they have sent it at all as I receive all my other mail via royal mail with no issues but it's very convenient that I have an issue now. No one I now responding to my emails even after asking for it to be emailed to me as I've already paid for it.

I contacted on the 25th of April after receiving my birth certificate that had a spelling error and I have not had a response yet.
I need this for a new ID, and I should not have to pay again to get another.
I have tried contacting twice already and my emails have been getting ignored.

very poor site put in exact name and date of death but no result costs a lot of money to search census as there could be twenty people with same name but as no clue to street given so it means you have to pay to view each one this is just a money making site very disappointing

Too easily triggered into detecting some malevolent login, so locks you out very easily. Was able to find my parent's marriage cert, but the website cannot load the payment page. No matter how many times you 'try again later', it never works. Cookies erased, details checked, all guidance followed to the letter - no dice. To top it all off, the function to contact them for help doesn't work either - it will not send the message. I'd hate to live in Scotland and need to rely on this website which is apparently an approved subsidiary of the National Records of Scotland website... how do you poor people apply for anything that requires these crucial certificates!!?? My heart goes out to you. As it is, my Irish Passport application is now on hold, indefinitely, thanks to Scotland's People's atrocious website. YIKES!

Don’t expect certificates in a hurry! This is what happens when you force postage restrictions (for profiteering) on docs that could be emailed in 5 minutes.

Took my money, and extra for 1st class recorded delivery 15 days ago (14th Nov) and the document is still not here (28th). Terrible, rude customer service “We have 15 working days to process an complete an order, so in your case we have a target date of 05/12/25.“ (sic)

Yet I could cancel, pay more and get it posted next day. Absolute joke. Most people need certs for disclosure and there’s a 14 day window for application.

Went to webpage and registered as it was posted as free. As soon as I needed to see an entry I had to buy credits. How is that free?

total scam. they charged me 20 gbp to buy credits , and on the first record they said i had to pay 12 gbp to view it

When I lived in Edinburgh I could pay £15 to look through as many records as I needed. This was cost effective when relatives in the NE all had the same surname - the Stephens of Peterhead for example, marrying Stephens and their Stephen kids marrying Stephens. I no longer live within 2 hours of a centre so have to pay extortionate prices to, again and again, view the wrong record.

Come on Scotland's People - do something for the people of Scotland and provide a subscription service so we can trace our Scottish relatives without taking out a second mortgage.

staff very friendly and helpful on the phone. i found what i wanted on the website and have completed my search for the family archive .you read or hear about sxcottish friendliness and hospitality- well these people are the living proof .cannot recommend them highly enough

Ordered a certificate and weeks later still not received.

At the bottom of the page before you order the certificate it does say 15 days for processing. I would think this needs to be near the payment page as well just to make sure. I was in a hurry and do not want to read multiple pages to get my order.

This site is appalling.
It is the only way to search census records for Scotland but even if you have a plethora of information you could still be offered 3 or 4 (Or more) options and you are unable to view the record, you have to buy a copy of the certificate only to find out it wasn't the one you were actually looking for.
I'm sure they could have an option that would let you view the details before you made a purchase.
Feel very ripped off with this site

Had to call after I made an error and the staff couldn’t have been any nicer or more helpful! genuinely such a pleasant experience. One of those moments that make you remember the world still is good at times!

The search engine is truly hopeless. The options are absurdly limited. For example, it is not possible to search a Census by address. Why not? The narrowest search by location is at District level. For city centres, this generates tens of thousands of results listed alphabetically by name. What use is that?

Pay per view is also inappropriate for accessing public domain information which should be free.

Absolutely appalling "revamp", an easy to use, well laid out resource has been turned into an absolute mess.

Ridiculous that this is seen by the administrators of this site regard this as some kind of improvement. Whatever happened to the adage, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" ?

Have now been left with 54 units I have no enthusiasm to go and use.

I have been on Scotlands People for over 20years,always found it very easy to use,UNTIL NOW ,Sept 2024.They have changed the way it used to work to something that is hard to follow,does not come up with 'login'you have to go through a load of palaver to find it,i got it at long last,but now i cannot 'SIGN OUT'.Why change when all was ok??

I find Scotlands people an excellent search place for all ancestors.