AncestryReviews 637

This definitely started with the DNA kit which I paid $100 for and never used due to not being able to set up the account it told me I had to setup to send in my kit.

In all the flurry of trying to get my DNA account set up, I started a subscription. Couldn't find the cancel button, which according to the site says if you don't have a cancel button... then you don't have an account.

Fast forward to this past week, my bank issued me a new card and emailed me a list of companies I was on auto pay with so I could update accounts.

Ancestry.com was there, today I have called now 4x in an attempt to get a refund. Each time being hung up on. Once even by a manager named Debbie.

Calling for time #5 now. At this point it's the principle more than anything. I also find my time to be valuable so I've earned the $149 as I'm on hold for now 8 minutes for call #5

I used my Grandmother last name because I already know the history of the name and many facts.The name is Elser which is of German origin.It started from Germans born on the elster river and was also the surname of Georg Elser who bombed the burgerbrau kellior where Hitler gave an annual speech on the anniversary of his failed beer hall putsch. Many Nazi's were killed but Hitler left 5 minutes before the massive bomb exploded. Georg was arrested in 1939 2 weeks aftyer the bombing and kept alive by Hitler, but killed days before the prison he was kept in was over runby the allies.Ancestor.com knew none of this.It's sup[osed facts were garbage and ridiculous.In fact I could have merely googled elser and got better information

They messed up my first specimen, which I mailed in to them on 2/6/17, but of course they did not accept responsibility. On 4/26/17 they advised me that the sample was no good and they would send me another kit "free of charge"! WOW, so generous! I tried on 4 occasions to contact them while I waited for the results of the first test. They replied each time advising of an "incident #'", actually 4 "Incident #'s" in total, but never responded further than that. I sent in the second kit completed on May 5,2017, with a long detailed letter of complaint and to date have not had the courtesy of a response and heaven knows where my kit is laying this time around. There is no customer service from Ancestry. I wish I had never had any dealings with them. I gave them 1 star, but they definitely do not deserve that.

It takes 35-40 minutes, as their recording warns you, to get through to a rep. Most reps Not conversant with the formats/can't help you with problems. I signed up for All Access as it was on "sale." Found out Newspapers.com, owned by Ancestry, (as is Fold 3), won't allow you access to many newspaper articles, even ones from the 1930-50's, without paying for yet another newspaper subscription! Newspapers and Fold 3 both tedious to navigate. Will never be suckered into that waste of money again.

I bought or an explanationa DNA test for my wife for 99.00 dollars. That was fine A couple months later they billed me for 2 more kits and I could not get a refund or an explanation so I gave them as Christmas presents. Now they have billed me again and I cant do anything about it because their service is terrible. I only wanted 1 and now I am up to 400.00 in charges. PLEASE DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY, They will take your money without permission. I have to change banks to keep them out of my money. I wish I had never heard of them.

I did my 14 free day trial and cancelled it and still got charge I called to speak to representative to get money back omg more than 30 min on phone not even update on calls like other websites that they would call you back so you won't lose turn it's ridiculous I hung up 3xs already and still more than 30 min to speak to someone I guess I got screw on my money and over draft fee in bank account never again and will tell family members to be careful on free trial they still your money very angry and dissapointed

I started a free trial and found it EXTREMELY difficult to find any of my ancestors (even the ones that I new of!) After that, I wasn't able to find anyone that I may not know because the site expected me to know the names of my ancestors.

The most frustrating part of my experience was when I tried to cancel. I wen to the cancellation page on the website and chose to cancel my membership and the page WOULD NOT LOAD. I tried to find support to send an email or chat, because making phone calls is more difficult, but the only way to get a hold of anyone is through calling a phone number. When I called the phone number, they had extremely high wait times and I was unable to speak with anyone on the phone.

Not only is the site bad, but the customer service is even worse. STAY AWAY.

I received the DNA kit for Christmas and was very interested in what that would reveal. I signed up for an account and mailed in sample in first week of Feb then received results in 2nd week of April. Nothing groundbreaking. Western European. What did interest me was who my family tree is connected to and getting in touch with other members that could be potential relatives. Can't do any of that unless you want to buy their upgrades. Basically, I can view the family tree I created for myself and see other peoples names that could be a connection. This site is a scam. Their commercials show people finding old relatives and such,-- only if you want to fork out more money. You can do almost nothing without the upgrades. I think that at a minimum, you should be able to see and message other members. The trees that you create is your own work, Ancestry did none/little of that work. I want other people to be able to see my tree and contact me for *FREE*. Almost everything you click on in the site takes you to a upgrade page. I don't want to become a genealogist, I just want to see folks that might be related to me.

November 2016 I renewed my subscription to ancestry.com data base. Everything worked well for a week or two then I was demoted to registered guest. No more data merging. Called them and they blamed it on the new owners of Family Tree Maker. Went to the Ancestry website and followed their instruction for resolving "registered guest" issues. Still nada. Tried to cancel subscription because I do not want to be charged again for no service. Could not do it since they claim I have no subscription. Last penny they get from me!

Ancestry used to be my favorite genealogy website. However, it has gradually decreased in quality, starting from when they revised the look of the website. The hint system is a disaster. It started giving me hints that weren't there. For example, it would tell me I had 2 photo hints when there were none. It even once told me I had negative 6 hints when there were none, which I guess might be true, but I don't need to know what is NOT there! Now, to make it worse, it gives me hints for hints that are no longer available. It used to be an enjoyable experience to spend time doing research there. Now it is just annoying, with the hints actually interfering with my ability to do research. Seek out a different site, especially if you do frequent research.

Received a DNA kit from Ancestry as a Christmas gift and am still awaiting the results. I called them yesterday to see what the expected timing would be and was told that they were overwhelmed due to a sale. Not my issue. The timeframe that was given has now passed and still no results. Magically after the phone call my status was changed from "received" to "being processed." The rep advised that I would still have at least another 3-4 weeks, in addition to the 9 weeks that have already passed. After reading other reviews, I'm finding out that these results are extremely vague. Huge waste.