AncestryReviews 635

I'm EXTREMELY dissappointed in ancestry.com
I had no luck with the site or finding any information on past family members. I was told that I had a free trial that would not expire till Feb 22. I then noticed I was charged $34.99 back at the end of January. Called to talk to a customer service representative to try and get a refund and explain that I had been told about having a 30 day FREE trial, and all she could tell me was that she didn't have any proof that I was told that and I was outside the refund date policy. All I wanted was my refund. Why would I make this stuff up?
Like I said, I'm very disappointed in my experience with ancestry.com and will not be using it again or recommending it.

They have substandard offerings and beware the free trial which turns into a nightmare to cancel and you rack up months of fees. Hopefully Zeta, who was unsympathetic has actually cancelled my "service"

I gave my credit card details thinking I was securing a free two week trial but was charged immediately. When I telephone to check with ancestry they said I had a trial back in 2011and so had been charged this time, but they had given me no indication that this was the case online when I booked the trial. I also found the site had little information of use unless you wished to purchase extra certificates and papers. I cancelled membership just seven days later. The supervisor at ancestry told me they have a no money back policy. I wouldn't advise using this site at all.

This site is Bogus. IT says free trial, then they ask you for a credit card number. TOTAL SCAM. It never lets you even look at your parents history. WTF? Stay away from this site, it is garbage.

I did the DNA test 2 years ago and started tracking matches to make sense. I'm adopted and I thought this would help. They just redid the test and things are a mess. I do a surname search and not all matches show up. Kind of getting hard to trust them.

This is insane, I signed up for the 14-day free trail not knowing that every month after the free trial they charge you $16.50, it took me 3 months to discover the funds being leaked out of my Paypal account. I sent ancestry.com a email asking them for a refund explaining my situation. Of course, they denied me a refund so I canceled my subscription with them only to be charged a $10 early cancellation fee. By this time I'm about to go insane, I sever all ties they had to my Paypal hoping that I wont lose any more money. The total loss: $59.50 Just thrown in the trash, thanks ancestry.com. (I don't want to give them a star, far too overrating)

Wonderful range of records available - but don't expect much help from the tech team for anything beyond simple issues. They recommended recently that I go to the Ancestry Facebook page and private message them for technical help. After 5 days, they had still not resolved the problem, which they said was something to do with a change that Time Warner Cable had made affecting only the northeast, so that the search page on Ancestry would not work in Google Chrome anymore. Tech support at Ancestry did not tell me to call Time Warner Cable which is a shame as it could have been fixed the same day - after 5 days, out of frustration I did call TWC and the issue was resolved in about 10 minutes. Instead, Ancestry told me their support people were working with TWC to resolve the issue but since it was only affecting a "small number of people" [their words] it apparently was not a high priority to them. You cannot post something like this complaint or problem on the Ancestry Facebook page - they remove complaints. Very poor satisfaction with the tech support at Ancestry.

They suck you in with a sneak preview for ninety five cents but what they do not tell (unless you read pages and pages of small print) is that you just signed up for a monthly subscription and they pay visa card to get your new info(expiration date and three code numbers on back of card) when your card is renewed(they do not tell that either). It is a very dirty way to do business(aided by lawyers I am sure) and supported by the credit card company!

I used their free trial for a few weeks and found the site confusing with nothing of intrest regarding my family. I could not find any place their web site to cancel so I called and canceled. They assured me my credit card would not be charged. It turns out that they never canceled my account and have been charging me for the past 10 months. When I called they agreed to refund only 3 months. I'm contacting my credit card to see if they can get back my unauthorized charges. I'll call the BBB as well. I can't believe all the negative reviews!

Ancestry DNA kit packaging disappointment
I order an Ancestry DNA kit heres my review.

Pros: The ordering process was simple and experience no problems. Kit instructions are simple and easy to follow. Return kit mailing is also simple and easy.

Cons: Packaging is terrible if you prefer some privacy or confidentiality. The kit comes in a simple not designed for shipping Ancestry DNA box. It seems Ancestry is more concerned about marketing then confidentiality or privacy. After speaking with customer service, I was told I would have to order 1000 kits in order to get discreet packing. WOW Really! That was their answer.

Beware of the check boxes on your online profile to insure you dont open up your results to the public world if thats not your intentions.

No order shipment tracking, only information a product has been shipped.

Joined in 04 at 99$ per year. They then sneakily doubled the amount a year later without notification. Then, they kept "upgrading and improving" until navigation became extremely difficult. They used to hide their phone number until they got rid of e-mail and live chat. They censor your comments to other users and if you complain they delete your comments and your ability to comment. The records are good, but not this company. Census records are public domain and I can't believe that they charge for access. They charge big bucks for internet convenience. My advice? Find a pen pal in your research area who will help you for FREE without these pieces of crud making book off of your hobby. Or, make the trip to the library.

What a useless, costly experience... Signed up for the trial, after playing with it for a few hours and not really finding anything of substance, I cancelled my trial. Two months later after reviewing my credit card statements, I see monthly charges from them. Called customer support to remove them, but they could only could cancel my subscription. Ask for a supervisor and they hang up on you! (okay, it puts you through their feedback questions which then hangs up on you).

It is not inexpensive to join or maintain your membership, I did it for over two years and found that information isn't great unless you invest in research and that means real research off site
There are plenty of flaws, misunderstandings and rude people along the way, there is also the hopeful and desperate to find their family and where they belong. So here is the rub, when you no longer belong to ancestry they do not tell your DNA matches, they send emails of members to you but you cannot help them, cannot say I am no longer with ancestry. Its very unfair to the person who sends their message to a second cousin they have found but that person doesn't answer because they cannot. Nor will ancestry even attempt to resolve the misunderstanding by telling that person your no longer there. Its sadly a poor business decision, unkind to the humans involved. I think its money not the families finding each other that drives this site, they have lost their mission.

Ancestry is great for taking your money but giving you poor customer service. They have no cyber-bullying policy and refuse to do anything about it. They refuse to accept any responsibility and are more protective of the bully than the victim. In this instance, the victim did all that Ancestry asked them to do but the bully did not. Yet the bully still has control of the family message board and strictly controls who can see what. The bully has gone so far as to claim that a state issued birth certificate is not sufficient evidence to acknowledge a person. You can talk to people at corporate but they choose to protect the bully. I guess its going to have to get to a level where people are hurt before Ancestry steps up and realizes that their policies are not even worth the paper its printed on, if printed, or the zeros and ones on your computer screen. They only care about getting their money each month from you. Their customer service reps can't even follow a supposide standardized company policy. Often times the CSR's take it upon themselves to try to resolve an issue that is all ready at the corporate level. I do not recommend Ancestry.com anymore.

I already had most of the ground work in hard paper copy I collected over 20 years of searching. THEN I used Ancestry/Archives at the local library. ALL was fine. Decided to get the 6month work deluxe for 149.00. ALL was fine. UNTIL, I started getting into information leading around Historic people/Events. I found TWICE a connector link had gone missing after I logged onto Ancestry. Oh, it left the kid, but without the parents, of that kid. Ya don't have a kid. Which is what/who was the connecter person leading to the next link of the tree. I Back tracked on my information. And it IS correct. So. I input it again. NOW, I don't know what the problem is on this kind of sites. BUT. I think its scam. A swindle... IM not renewing my subscription. Mid next month. Im done... AND since. Church of Latter Day Saints. Information has slowly vanished as well. Or refer ya to ancestry to view the item. And/or. Let you view after creating a "free" account and signing in. ONLY to not be able to sign in again. As the sign in and passwords. Dont work after the 1st time. I have tried everything. And still can't gain entry on that either now...
Bottom line. Ancestry is fine. TILL you get so far. After that. They block, pull, delete, info you had in your tree. Suggest ya keep a hard paper copy, a disk back up too..

I purchased the Family Tree Maker Program 1 when it first came out. Did what I could with it, then when Ancestry linked to FTM I bought it and have had it since, the full World Subscription. Have had a lot of success until 6 1/2 months ago. In trying to research a certain family connection, I ended up with over ******* people in my "tree" and the program started to work funny. Contacted Ancestry. The nice Man/Rep said I had problems because the program was not set up for that vast a number of people. Suggestions: I had 2 trees going, All My Family & Searching for Adam and Eve. Searching etc was the large collection. He suggested that I create a new tree, Searching for Adam and Eve, move over only the people I wanted to keep and then he helped me "delete" the Big Searching etc & All My family. Since that time I started to get hints/leaves on more than 50% of my people. When activating the hint it referred to my one or two Old trees, ie Searching etc and/or All My Family, sometimes one sometimes both. The message I got was that the tree was not available... please recheck later. So that continued until Jan. I called Ancestry many times, and never could get help. Just try this try that, which had already been done, then "I'm emailing you a link for you to try." Nothing ever changed until Jan 2014. I continued to get the same hints, but now they did not reference my old trees, they just said this tree is not available... try again later. Calls since then have been wasted. I keep getting told that things would change with the next update. Spent 2 hours with s lady 2 weeks ago, she said it was my computer. That cannot be, because I have a "cousin" that shares much of the same family with me. We can go thru her leaves and they are the same as mine with the same message, which she too has been getting since October. I even put a complaint on Facebook, I got a reply to contact them thru FB message, not on the home page. I did this and have "chatted" back and forth several times, no help, then they just started ignoring me. Last info I got form that was that they did an update late March... nothing has changed. Again I have to say, I have been paying the $300 something for the World Subscription for several years. You would think someone there would think I am worth something. I want to add that I spoke to one man for over an hour, he said he would have a programmer call me, right that never happened. Folks I talk to at ancestry keep saying they are not seeing the leaves I see. I went thru all my people with last name of A, I have 220 names, 60 of them had the bad hint. On the "B" people I have 493 and 227 have the bad hints. I have explained this to them, and have gotten not response other then that they have so many files that it takes time to update, be patient. Don't you thaink 6 1/2 months is patient enough?

I strongly recommend against using this service, including signing up for free short term membership, which I did.

Without my knowledge, they began charging $7.95 per month. When I began looking at my bank statement carefully, I asked them to cancel and give me a refund. They refused.

This unwholesome transaction was actually with a subsidiary of Ancestry.com, which is called Archives.com, which has a rating on SiteJabber of 1.2. My guess that this company uses Archives.com as sort of a test ground to see what they can get away with; then they adapt the biggest income generating ideas that cause the least outrage on the mother site, Archives.com.

It does have loads of records, but DO NOT use hints from other peoples trees. They are generally incorrect. Do your own research from the available records. I did the DNA test as did my brother, who also uses the site. Amazingly, he was NOT listed as a relative when the results came in although he also did the DNA test! We are twins! I had my DNA done by a different lab, as well as ancestry, and the results were totally different! I have no idea who to believe, although the other lab also does DNA for court trials, so I think they probably have the best equipment. It's an OK site, but be careful. I think everyone is related to Catherine the Great, King Arthur and the Queen of Sheba... according to this site!:-)

It is good, and they have a lot of data, but it is really expensive and once you get to the point where your ancestors are overseas it gets even more expensive. My recommendation, buy 3 or 6 month memberships and watch your emails for free weekends of the overseas data. Also, if you have an iPad and use their app, you'll be able to add some records even after you cancel your membership. Overall, they are good but they cost way too much.

Oh, I never had any problems with cancellation and they did stop billing after we cancelled.