The Names Database

Hi folks, looking for a bit of advice please! Does anyone have any experience with the Names Database?
Someone signed me up a few years ago (or maybe I signed up myself and don't remember) and I get regular e-mail updates, which list people I was in school with (full names, year we finished, school's name etc). To date I've ignored these as no one I'm interested in re-uniting with has cropped up until now. In a mail I just received, the name of an old friend who moved abroad after the LC and with whom I lost touch with a few years ago,was listed. Heres the catch - You have to pay with a credit card to "unlock" the database and access the persons e-mail address. I would happily pay to get back in touch with this person but I'm wary that this is a scam and don't want to learn an expensive lesson. Would really appreciate views or experiences as I'd love to get in touch with the person if I could do so without being ripped off!
Thanks,
AFE

To just answer your bare question, charging for unlocking contact details is how those sites make their money, so on the face of it its doesnt sound like a scam. How much are they charging? Id say no more then 20e is about right.

See friendsreunited.co.uk for another example of the same sort of thing, they let you browse and even leave a note but not contact details unless you pay money, (sshhh you can leave contact details in the note).

Thanks for that - the charge is something really low like $1 a month (not sure what that is in €!!!) so its not the initial cost that bothers me.

Of course, if they're that good a friend, they'll see your name, make the payment, and make contact with you instead

1$/month sounds just about right. see if you can sign up for a year in a once off payment rather then signing for a 1$ per month thing.
if you want extra piece of mind about handing out your visa number, and you have an AIB visa card, you can generate a once off visa card number (linked back to your own) for payment . See their site for details on ocard.

Of course, if they're that good a friend, they'll see your name, make the payment, and make contact with you instead

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or take their details off if theyre not...

ronan_d_john said:

Of course, if they're that good a friend, they'll see your name, make the payment, and make contact with you instead

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Cheapskate

ronan_d_john said:

Of course, if they're that good a friend, they'll see your name, make the payment, and make contact with you instead

Click to expand...

Don't think I hadn't thought of it - think I'll leave it a week just in case

What if your mate is a Cheapskate too?

Well it seems he is as I've yet to hear from him through that site! However, I found a similar site today, which is free to use and only for those who went to school in Ireland (which makes it simple to search for people). Anyway, I've registered with it and luckily both the person I originally wanted to contact and another old friend were already registered so I've sent messages to both. If I don't hear back I'll take the hint

The site is [broken link removed] if anyone is interested.

And I'm not a cheapskate - just protective of my credit card details.

I started getting emails from them after a friend of mine entered my name into their website as a friend or something..

I had a good read of their terms and conditions and basically they can do whatever they want with your email, including selling it onto 3rd parties which lead me to believe they were just a harvesting ground for spammers..

I stayed away, but thats just me.. i tend to assume the worst when reading terms and conditions like that.

A person I know put my name into the database also...I am not one bit happy that my name is on this database..Surely there is some way to have your name removed without paying money...