AncestryReviews 637

I have been using Ancestry for a few months now, so I have some experience with all of its features.
On the positive side, Ancestry.com provides nice family tree navigation tools and access to many historic public records - which definitely give it value.
My big complaint with Ancestry.com is it's just a huge waste of time! Ancestry.com is designed to be subscription-based puzzle game for building family trees - not a family tree tool. There's no technical reason why each subscriber must waste dozens (for some people hundreds) of hours rebuilding family trees, which were already built by dozens of people before them. I personally don't have the time, nor interest, in spending hundreds of hours recreating the wheel. There is only one family tree, which we all belong, there is absolutely no reason there are thousands of trees scattered across Ancestry.com. It's simply a revenue model they feel locks people into long-term subscriptions - which may be fine for people interested in researching and puzzle solving - but Ancestry should offer pricing which allows individuals to simply leverage work done by others. I have canceled my subscription, perhaps if new management wakes up in the future I will return to enjoy a view my family tree option - instead of playing your silly puzzle game.

I ordered and paid for a DNA test from them well over a year ago. Since then I've been peppered with emails pushing other products from them. I never responded to any of it and ordered nothing more ever. 2 weeks ago I get a $99 charge on my credit card. The card co investigated and sent me a letter stating that it has been 'resolved' but they are awaiting documents from Ancestry before they can close the case. They were unable or unwilling to give me info as to who was responsible. I later called Ancestry and they stated that my only purchase was the original DNA test and that this latest bogus charge has been wiped out (apparently they already heard from the credit card co). They also would not give out any further info. Bottom line: Keep a long-term eye on these guys. Beware.

I had half of my ancestry back for over 8 generations about a year ago. Now I paid for another 6 months to finish the other side of my family.

I was going to finish the side of my family that I thought would be easier since I know those people and lived with them. I can't even find my grandmother's parents. When I was trying to find my mom's family it wouldn't even show her siblings. When I looked at my mother, my brother didn't exist. One of my aunts was put as dead. I called another aunt and asked if she died and she said. "No. She lives just a mile a way."

So I decided to just reinforce the family tree that I already had researched.

Everything I knew before is not there now. Ancestors that I knew all of their profile, Birth, spouse, death, parents and children is all gone. Now I cannot go back three generations and nothing makes sense.

I can only give up and just keep what I have and not be able to confirm any of my previous information.

My family tree with all of my ancestors is gone. What gives?

I feel sorry for any beginners.

Being interested in my family history I signed up for a premium version of this site. Big mistake. It is almost impossible to clearly search for an ancestor. Even when you set for an exact search, most of the time nothing shows up even though if you broaden the search suddenly your ancestor shows up.

Or, as in one case I traced an ancestor to central Indiana in 1936. It is known she was in California in 1967, but cannot be found.

And other cases, two great uncles, brothers, an entry by someone not in the family failed to include their youngest sister, who happened to be my grand mother. And a first cousin once removed was listed as have only one daughter, born in 1947. The other, born in 1951 and a high school classmate fails to show. And the original poster do not correct the date when pointed out the them.

If the annual fee was $25.00 this site might be worth the price. However $198.00 a year it robbery.

I did cancel my account before being charged.

I am very disappointed with this company not only because of its customer service but also because it seems to train its representatives to lie. After ordering a DNA kit, I called to request some sort of a receipt that does not invlude pricing which I can print and bring as a gift to a bday party. After waiting a substantial amount of time, Melanie said she can't help. Fair enough, this service is standard from 23andme so I assumed it is industry standard. This meant for me that I could bring nothing to the party and a kit will be traveling over to the bday boy but I'll be going empty handed to the party. I asked to cancel the order and Melanie lied that it has already shipped. I had ordered it 2 hours prior so it wasn't likely and I later confirmed from my online account that it hasn't shipped. It is ridiculous that this company not only cannot accommodate a very simple request but also has to lie to you in order to avoid refunding. Pathetic, 23andme seems to be totally worth the extra couple bucks!

DNA test on Ancestry.com is inaccurate.

My DNA was Swedish/Norwegian

Then 1 week later ancestry.com forcibly changed my DNA test result to Scottish.

Ancestry.com cousin matches are a lie and not true. I'm Norwegian/Swedish by DNA and ancestry.com said I have South Carolina cousins. Excuse me? Ancestry.com of USA does not provide Norway and Sweden cousins.

This webpage ancestry.com gives the United States a bad reputation on science.

If I'm 100% Jew should my cousins be American Muslims? If your missing a mom, dad or uncle. Do not use Ancestry.com, I recommend not using it.

Do not use ancestry.com! It will anger you! Serious adult researchers should avoid ancestry.com

They want you to pay $100 dollars plus taxes
And provide you with South Carolina cousins Oh my God for $100 dollars I can't afford and I got American lies?

Ancestry.com is not even worth 50 cents! Someone should demand refunds! I want a refund!

Every one has secrets. I woke up to finding out my mother who owns her own "pedestal" the one she so proudly sat on and dictated to us 3 kids and how to be perfect every single day of our lives, is actually a big whore. 3 kids, 3 different Dads, and she had her husband for 50 years convinced he was the father. She made him pay child support after the divorce, she reminded us daily on how bad of a father he was, he "beat" her, he was "jealous", he was selfish, he was this he was that. She forgot to leave out she was a cheating lying whore and was having affairs with his best friends.

You may know who your parents are, but there are dirty secrets everywhere. While you think your DNA test may be harmless it may kill another. I have 20+ families members who have not ate, have not slept, who spilled more tears in a week then in 30 years. Grandma is not Grandma, Dad is not Dad, uncles, aunts cousins. My birth certificate is lie, my life is lie. I haven't worked in 4 days, my sister is contemplating suicide ready to go back to the nut ward. The man that raised me, my father is crushed. I have never seen him cry so much. There is so much agony. I wish this on NO ONE.

First of all, Ancestry.com lets everybody make their own family tree, so looking for the profile of an ancestor is confusing because there will be about 1000 or more profiles for one person, often all with conflicting information. Stupid. Also, it does not require you to PROVE with real documentation the links between relations, so over the past 20 years "clickophiles," as real geneologists like to call them, have made up the worst, most convoluted, mixed up family trees. Example: Say your 3rd great-grandfather was named "John Sitejabber" and he was born in Tennessee in 1836. Well, Turns out, there are 500 other "John Sitejabbers" with the same info, but over time the "clickophiles" have listed yours with 7 wives and 23 children. You know good and well your family stayed in Tennessee and didn't join the false prophecy cult of mormonism, so now you're confused AF. Oh look! He had three daughters named Elizabeth born in 1856, 1860, and one born in 1922! My goodness! Four sons named John boorn in 1839! Two of his wives had children when they were just 6 years old! Another when she was 80!

Seriously. Ancestry.com is F***** up. If you really want to know who your ancestors were, you are going to have to comb every record available for each one to prove relationships to others. DO NOT JOIN ANCESTRY! DO NOT TRUST ANCESTRY!
Besides, if you join, you'll be paying money to the mormon cult. They want to wait until you die and "offer" you (and your ancestors) up to the mormon gods or something. Lol. Oh and don't give them your DNA. FFS do not give ancestry.com your DNA.

Wikitree is where it's at. Don't forget to prove relations.

Do not do not waste your money

What I received as results was 50% Baltic 50% Eastern European
Now that stretches over a very large stretch of The world

The advertisements and commercials make you feel that you're going to zero in on something that is unusual or something you did not know

They wouldn't even answer the phone when I called them but Amazon was outstanding and refunded my money

Again do not waste your time and money doing this

Very dissatisfied customer Delaware

I've had a lot of problems since signing up for a subscription, but nothing like what others have experienced. I did the Free 2-week Trial, but called about half way through to see if they had any promotional offers. I was told there was going to be a special offer Memorial Day Weekend for 1-month of All Access for $31, and all I had to do was wait for the email. Well, an email never came so the day I was told the offer would expire I called. One of the few times I got someone who was actually nice, and helpful. It turned out the offer was actually 6-months of All Access for $99, and a better deal! So I told the woman to sign me up. It wasn't until my free trial was cancelled that it was discovered I didn't qualify, and the remaining time on my trial couldn't be added back. So I asked if a supervisor could put the offer through since I had been told I qualified, and before I knew it a supervisor did just that.

Unfortunately, from that day forward I experienced constant website issues. At that time ThruLines hadn't worked since day one, and my tree met all requirements. But everyday was a new problem which they of course started blaming my computer, browser and/or internet. I admit I got nasty with them on more than one occasion because I was fed up with their lies, and making excuses. Things now seem to be in working order, at least for the moment. I was given a total of 7-months additional All Access to make up for the hassles, and the half of my subscription which was wasted due to their website issues.

In the end they are a company you have to stay on top of constantly, and more often than not you will have to argue with them. I know at least half the people I talked to didn't even have basic knowledge of how the website worked, and definitely should not have been hired for their positions.

The best way to describe this company is to say they are thieves.

My wife bought a DNA sample test kit from these guys back in July 2018. The goods came to NZ, I sent the test away and it took some time to return with the results.

To cut to the point. Exactly $797.34 has been stolen from our account by this company over an 11 month period. The bank details made to purchase the initial DNA test was used to deduct further transactions. To make matters worse there was no paper trail whatsoever. Nothing telling us this money had been coming out. Moreover in our account the transactions appeared as a eftpos transaction and didn't list their company name.

This came as a shock to us as we were on holiday when we noticed a lump sum come out. We emailed back and forth. They completely dodged all the questions and responsibility. The first email even said "I'm sorry these transactions were not from us, perhaps it was a third party"

We managed to get back 1 payment they stole, however there is still over 500 dollars outstanding that they say we will not be refunded.

I would not recommend this company to anyone. The sheer dishonest practice is disgusting. I wish that we had never supported this outfit.
There are many other companies to chose from and these guys will not be your only option.

This brings me to the conclusion,
If you are signing up to this ancestry test outfit, you may be buying this as a gift for your friend or family. Be wary, they are not a trustworthy company.