National Archives, Eire, and their payment options

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 6:07 pm

Hi all
I'm stuck.

I wish to order and pay for two wills from the National Archives in Dublin.
http://www.nationalarchives.ie
I have serched their catalogue, the wills exist. I have filled in the two forms. I have addressed my envelopes and bought my stamps (it is not UK postal rate, as it is Eire, not UK)

http://www.nationalarchives.ie/services ... opies.html

Orders for copies of records may be ordered in person or by post but cannot be accepted over the phone or by email – orders are processed only when payment has been received.

Fair enough.

1. All fees must be paid in full before copies will be dispatched and Court Fee Payment slips and/or cash attached to orders are not accepted.
2. Cheques, bankdrafts or money orders should be made payable to the "National Archives".
3. Orders from abroad must be paid in euro and payment should accompany initial enquiries.

Then I'm stuck...they only accept payment in Euros - I need to give them €5.08. They only accept Postal Orders in Euros, Cheques in Euros, International Money orders. They do not accept Sterling - so the cheque & postal order options are not possible.
They do not accept credit cards or cash (I have a credit card and I have euros in the house - hey, I'd even be willing to round it up to €10!).

I queued for over 20 minutes in the (new improved, allegedly

) post office today only to be told that they do not deal with international money orders - they sent me to the bank. The bank tells me that the two kinds of transfer they can do will cost me either £12 or over £20 to process, which makes these wills stupidly expensive. I don't have any friends in Eire who could pay for it on my behalf, and although I have friends in Italy, who could possibly send the required amount in the correct currency, the thought of attempting to explain all of this in Italian has pushed this option pretty far down my list of possible solutions....

I do, thankfully, have another option as I'll be in Dublin at the end of the month, so if all else fails, I'll go personally and get them...but I'm not often in Dublin, I was hoping not to have to spend half a day in archives (although I'd love to...) as my "other half" will probably complain that that is all I ever do....can't we go anywhere without it involving graveyards or libraries? ...And I feel sure this must be a problem others have perhaps encountered and come up with a solution. Anyone not in a country where Euros are not the local currency is in the same boat.
Any thoughts?

Best wishes
Lesley

Post by **paddyscar** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:57 pm

Hi Lesley:

Can you open an account in Britain with a foreign currency?

In Canada, you can open an account in US dollars, with all transactions being done in US dollars. Although, you'd have to have additional cheques, so that could prove too expensive as well.

Just a thought,
Frances

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:07 pm

Hi Frances

Can you open an account in Britain with a foreign currency?

I wish....It is difficult enough opening an account in UK as it is.

You have no idea the hoops you have to jump through to prove that you are who you say you are. I suspect that even hinting that you might wish to deal at some point in "foreign" currencies would be enough to halt your account application!

Seems the lady in the Post Office needs to go on a wee training course...I guess they spent so much "downsizing" to the new PO arrangements that training was out of the question. (oh, you can tell I've had a good day, huh?:roll: )
http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/c ... d=19700176
However, there is no way I'm paying £12 to send €5.08 to Ireland, but hey it only costs £4.99 to send the same amount of money to:

India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan Carribbean, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda & Sierra Leone, Albania, Romania, Turkey, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Poland.

Cross? Moi?

...oooh, I can feel a letter coming on......
(I've already sent off a letter of complaint yesterday to GRO at Dublin for sending a letter to me addressed as "Scotland, England" - did I write that on the form I sent in? No, of course I didn't. Is Eire IN Northern Ireland? - no, of course it's not...I think I'd better slope off to the ranting corner soon before I fall out with anyone else.....

)

Best wishes
Lesley

Post by **paddyscar** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:53 pm

OK, Lesley

Breathe - in through the nose, out through the mouth, AGAIN! - in through the nose, out through the mouth - There, that's better!

I speak and write English, so if the queue at the Archives is too long, I can get a money order for you here and send it

Best wishes,
Frances

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:12 am

Hi Frances
I'm breathing, I'm breathing...just hopping mad is all...and thanks for the offer. I'll let you know about the queue at the archives at the beginning of August, provided I manage to get there...which, of course, I will, if that proves to be the only way to get the info.

And heck, I've paid for the bl**dy stamps to send the envelope, so if I can't send off my will request forms with any hope of a response, the whotsits will be getting a letter. End of.

Yeah, yeah, I'm off to the corner.....

Best wishes
Lesley

Post by **SarahND** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:56 am

Hi Lesley,
I can write you a cheque in euros, if they are happy with French euros. However, just try to cash a check in Belgium with a FRENCH checkbook and sorry, tisn't the same currency

If Ireland is more enlightened, I would be happy to write a cheque for you.
Cheers,
Sarah

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:14 am

Hello Lesley,

It sounds like the National Archives in Dublin is running a 19th century business. Try barter, send a parcel of groceries of the equivalent value. That might work.

We have those new improved Post Offices. They call them Post Shops. You have to fight your way through all this merchandise to get to the counter. Last Saturday morning I thought I would go to the Post Shop to get something or other but they were closed. They were just kidding about being a Post Shop, they were still a Post Office.

Alan

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:06 am

Hi Sarah,
Thanks for your very kind offer: hey, they don't mention NOT taking French Euros!

Cash-wise I've spend Irish Euros in Italy and Italian Euros in Ireland and that does not seem to cause any hitches - anyway I thought that was the whole point of the Euro... apart from in Belgium?

I may take you up on your kind offer if I do not make it to their doorstep at the end of the month.

Alan - ah, you are familiar with the new fangled post offices.

They call them Post Shops. You have to fight your way through all this merchandise to get to the counter.

The very thing. Add a few charming folks who quite innocently join the queue in the middle, cos others in the queue have considerately left gaps so that the shoppers can still walk around the shop and the picture is just about complete.

Still gently simmering.

Best wishes
Lesley

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 1:28 pm

HA! I think I may have found a way round the problem.

Because the people I am interested in died in a northern county prior to 1918, copies of the wills are held at BOTH the "National Archives" in Dublin AND at Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) in Belfast...who, of course, being part of UK, deal in £££ Sterling.
$\:D/$

Things are looking up. OK, its a wee bit more expensive, at £5.35 per will, but a lot cheaper than the international money order option.
I'll keep you posted.

Best wishes
Lesley

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:18 pm

oops