AncestryReviews 637

I have been a Worldwide member of Ancestry since 2007. I recently attempted to get a DNA test for my 90 year old mother. As is the case with many 90 year-old people, Mom is not computer literate. Therefore, I thought I could just manage her DNA test for her. I would send her the test, she would take it and mail it in and I would do the computer stuff. Unfortunately, Ancestry requires that every person taking a DNA test have an email and an Ancestry account. I could not use Mom's information with my account. I don't want to other accounts in Mom's name and explaining all of this to her would just make her nervous. I can't be the first person with an elderly relative who is skittish about computers. I don't understand the need for these separate accounts and question the "protection" they afford since they could easily be faked. I don't see how Mom would be more protected by this system. I will say Ancestry is refunding my money, but this was disappointing and really a hassle. This was supposed to be fun. It wasn't.

Furthermore, Ancestry currently seems more interested in getting people to take DNA tests than people interested in genealogical research. In fact, Ancestry is flooded with the results of people who have no genealogical research connections to their DNA results. Without this research, all an Ancestry DNA test will give you is a few cultural percentages and probable immigration patterns. It may suggest a few cousins to you, but without additional research you will have no way of knowing how or if you are connected to these people.

BTW-- I've been a Worldwide member of Ancestry since 2007. I wish there was another service I could use besides Ancestry. The direction the company has taken in the past couple of years has not been positive.

I've used ancestry for 5 years. In the past, it was easy to go on-line and cancel my subscription (when I got busy in life and wasn't working on my genealogy). I would then resubscribe and use it again when I had time. Well, I have a 6 month subscription that was scheduled to renew Dec 16 but decided to take a break for a while. Went in to cancel subscription on the website and it literally just took me back to the home page - the website has clearly been changed to not allow users access to the cancellation screen. After hunting around on the website, I found a customer service number. It said press 2 to cancel. I did so. I entered my account info, twice, and the automated voice told me it could not find my account (I was staring at my active account info on their website, so obviously, they have deactivated the ability to cancel by phone. I called back, and pressed 1, the line for people who want to upgrade their subscriptions and got a live human named Veronica. She claims that she cancelled my subscription and gave me a cancellation number. But based on the experience where they made it almost impossible to cancel, and the complaints on people on this board where their credit cards keep getting charged, I am going to also call my credit card company and put a fraud complaint in place so they don't charge my card. UNETHICAL. VERY DISAPPOINTED IN ANCESTRY. You used to be honest and had a good site. NO MORE. WILL NEVER USE YOU AGAIN>

SCAM ALERT! I purchased three kits recently, one for me and two for some friends. Turns out that my friends already used AncestryDNA, with no new discoveries by the way. I called customer support to return 2 of the kits, the customer service rep stated they charge a $25 partial refund fee for each kit. This is an UNETHICAL scam, knowing very well people won't return the item with such a large fee. DO NOT BOTHER WITH ANCESTRY.COM, take a look at all the other negative feedback online.

To the Ancestry.com customer service agent, please don't bother responding with your pre-written responses that have no true resolution. They make your company look worse then it already is. No, I don't want to re-gift this product to anyone.

Took the DNA test in December 2017. Results were different than I expected. Six months later I got different results which I felt were more accurate. I was strongly encouraged to submit my family tree. I have over 900 people in the tree. Some of it was done by professional genealogists. I decided on a public posting so others could gain more information and I could, hopefully, gain more information. It is now October, 2018 and my family tree has not been posted to the ancestry.com family trees. I am the only one who can see my tree, although I already know what's on it. I have made several calls asking about this. I get different answers, but no help and no change. It was a waste of time to post.

I had a friend coming to visit so we ordered kits to take when she arrived. To make sure they would be here I paid $37.90 in express shipping for 2 kits to make sure they arrived on time. I received a confirming email that they would be here, then a second email they would arrive in 10-11 days (too late). Twice I replied to that email asking them to confirm express shipping. No reply either time. When they didn't arrive as scheduled I called and was advised they were shown as in my city and out for delivery - for 2 days. They escalated the case. That person said they could only log into UPS website but could not provide any additional information. I asked what she could do and she read me every box on the UPS screen. I advised that didn't help so she read the same boxes again. I asked if she could contact UPS and find out what is going on and that if they are in my city I would go pick them up. She advised she could not make outgoing calls. I suggested to her that she should provide me with the US tracking and phone numbers so I could call. UPS was able to confirm the package is lost. They have a tracer and won't resolve for 8 days. I asked them to at least let Ancestry know the package was lost so I could be refunded. I called Ancestry back the next day to make sure UPS had time to document the package was lost. I advised Ancestry I wanted a refund on the shipping. Ancestry says they have no control over the shipping company. I agree, but since they contracted the shipping and paid they shipping it is up to them to get that back from UPS, UPS is not refunding it to me. She had to refer it to a supervisor and Ancestry cannot refund the shipping. I suggested she discount the cost of my kit to offset half of the shipping to meet me halfway. Again they cannot do that. So I advised I would be cancelling the order and expecting a full refund and that I would go on no less than 6 sites to write a poor review. After all of that, she asked me to hold the line to take their survey. I asked if she was kidding because I would not give a good review. She said that was fine they are required to ask which means she was more concerned with them listening to her call and scoring her on asking the customer to provide a review than actually providing customer service.

Overall, Ancestry is supposed to have the best database if you want to find relatives - but it is not free (she did offer me a free month which I did not want). Other sites are less expensive, faster turnaround time to get your results and in some areas you can pick up the kits locally. Other sites also send information about your genetic health markers in addition to your heritage. I am trying them out today. I recommend everyone choose one of the others. I found a great website that does a comparison of various DNA companies. I cannot put the link in a review but do a quick search and see what the others have to offer - more for less with service!

Elizabeth C

I purchased a DNA test for my son as my other son and myself had done this and we wanted to see how it compared. I purchased it as a surprise birthday gift, but upon receipt, he wasn't comfortable. He called to return, was told I was the purchaser and would have to call, which I did. I was told he would have to call, which he did for the second time and again, was told, I'd have to call, I spent over half hour on the phone with someone who kept giving me different advice! She also stated that there was a charge for shipping, handling and $25 to be deducted from the refund. Shipping I can see, but 25 for a box and tube? So out of the $69 I paid, would be getting less than 30 back! And I was also told I could not give to another person to use, as was in his name. So, BUYER BEWARE!

Does not give you specific DNA ancestry location as it advertises in it's commercials. I got a DNA match as 100% Asia East, this area is so large and encompasses so many countries in Asia, it did not tell anything I already knew. Unless you pay more money to join ancestry.com's other subscriptions, this is pretty much what you only get for your initial purchase.

My wife did 23 and me, and you get a lot more bang for your buck, more DNA background of your ancestry, and more information period than ancestry.com. So, don't waste your money on ancestry.com, go with 23 and me.

This is probably the stupidest thing I ever purchased. The commercials are so deceiving; total lies. The only thing I got for $70 was stuff I already knew. It was basically a stinking pie chart of what percentages i was of each nationality. No personal details AT ALL Never ever buy this, not at any price. You can't even contact anyone to complain or get an explanation.

For over 6 months Ancestry has had continual problems with access to their Searches and DNA results. It has been going on for far too long. I expect to be able to access EVERY part of my account that I have paid for, not continually getting error messages and notes that say "feature unavailable" come back later. This is getting to the point where I may cancel my account and go elsewhere for genealogy research. I certainly will not recommend it at this point. Apparently they are more interesting in selling more memberships than making sure they have the capacity to serve the current ones.

Im a long time Ancestry customer/member. My wife and I have done the DNA testing as well as researched our ancestry, its been so much fun, really enjoyed it. However I decided to take a break for a while so I closely watched for when my subscription was come to an end ( July 2) because their site will automatically renew, and if there is a way not to have that happen, I am not aware of it, and it certainly isnt obvious. So I canceled my membership on June 30 but you for some reason they renewed my membership and charged my credit card! Thats not nice. So I canceled again, and again and again explaining each time why. Obviously no one actually reads the comments. So I had to get a hold of my Credit card company and disclaim the charge. I shouldnt have to do this. Ancestry should be better than this. They have a great company, but stuff like this makes them look like shysters. I hope they will address this issue.