Ancestry.com / poor product service received

Hi everyone. I have been writing a family history of our family, going back to England in the 1700s, but got stuck at that point.I purchsed the then latest version of Family Tree Maker, (At the time FTM 2012 Deluxe). The program recommended the use of Ancestry.com for research, so I joined up and paid a subscription. I suspect one of these companies owns the other.
I have foundAncestry.com useless for my purposes so far. They are very efficient at billing, (The money goes out on the day but no receipt is issued), but when I log in to search for information and look like getting somewhere, I run up against roadblocks. I get told I need to upgrade my membership, or I need to go to Ancestry.com.au or uk or somewhere else. When I go to these recommended sites, I am asked to upgrade membership status or rejoin that particular branch. When I click on a link, it takes me to some archive that requires extra payment. So far, i have not been able to download any useful information. Does anyone else have these problems? Can you recommend a genuine better research group that is user friendly and will really give me access to the information i need to finish my book in the few years left where I still possess all of my marbles? This outfit wth their offers of free trial membership and redirections to other payable sites within their organisation are rapidly driving me nuts!
HELP PLEASE!