NEWS:

If you have PAID for certificates before the update on the weekend 8-10 June and not received them, please Contact VAFHO using our Contact Us form and include details of your order: payment date, payment method, certificate type, name(s), registration number, year – details will be forwarded to the Registry.

This issue has now been fixed and people who have contacted VAFHO should have all received their certificates.

Below is the communication issued by the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria to those who requested an update – it is being provided here for all users of BDMs Vic.

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Dear family history stakeholder,

As you know, BDM updated its online services in February 2019. The previous system had been in place since 1990 and was at end of life.

While this change has delivered important benefits to many of our customers and stakeholders, we acknowledge that many of our family history/genealogy stakeholders have faced issues in accessing our services.

We apologise for the inconvenience and distress caused.

Your feedback has helped us identify issues requiring rectification. Many have already been addressed, and others will continue to be addressed into the future.

Issues with downloading certificates

Unfortunately, some of our customers have not received correspondence containing their certificate download links after purchasing certificates. We have resolved the issue going forward and, where necessary, are reissuing certificates.

Additionally, shortly after go-live, the URL links for downloading certificates were not visible in some correspondence, making it difficult for our customers to identify and use the download links. This issue has been rectified.

Accessing family history search

Some customers are having difficulty accessing the family history search function online and this is under investigation. In the meantime, you may find taking one or more of the following actions assists:

• clicking the BDM logo on the top left of screen
• bookmarking and using the link https://my.rio.bdm.vic.gov.au/efamily-history/-
• navigating again to the search page from www.bdm.vic.gov.au.

Issues that have been addressed

• Father’s family name can now be searched.
• Viewed results are now shaded upon return to search results screen.
• The results screen has been expanded to show more results.
• It is now possible to search by registration number and year without also entering a name.

Birth certificates

• Mother’s given and family names now appears in birth certificate search results.

Death certificates

• Age of deceased is now showing in search results
• Place of birth is now showing until 1880 and from 1936 (work continues to provide this data for other years)
• Name of spouse is now showing for death search results (where this data is available, mainly in 1870’s and 1880’s).
• Variations of given names are now searchable/visible. As many of you will be aware, the Victorian Association of Family History Organisations (VAHFO) has published a useful list of abbreviations.

Payment for certificates

• The expiry period of download links has been extended to 60 days (where these are provided, noting the issue with payment links above).
• PayPal is now available as a payment method.

Acknowledgement and thank you – VAFHO

BDM would like to acknowledge and thank VAFHO for its positive collaboration in identifying issues and communicating updates to its stakeholders.

Contacting BDM

If you wish to contact us by email or online, please use the following addresses.

Address	Query type
Visit www.bdm.vic.gov.au and select ‘Contact us’	General enquiries, including relating to completed transactions and payments.
support@bdm.vic.gov.au	For technical issues (including validation errors, how to navigate the system etc.)

If you wish to contact us by phone, please use the relevant number below:

 

Phone number	Query type
1300 369 367	General enquiries, including relating to completed transactions and payments.
1300 017 575	For technical issues (including validation errors, how to navigate the system etc.)

We are aware that customers and stakeholders may have experienced difficulties getting through to us, including receiving an engaged signal when calling us due to heavy call loads.

We have directed additional resources to our call centre and online enquiries teams to help address this heavy demand on our services. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Why you have received this email

You have been added to this list as you have contacted BDM about family history services. If you do not wish to hear from us in the future, please select ‘unsubscribe’ at the footer of this email.

Thank you for your patience and continued engagement. We look forward to working with you as we continue to improve our online services.

Warm regards,
BDM Team