Ancestry has a rating of 1.6 stars from 635 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with Ancestry most frequently mention customer service, free trial and credit card. Ancestry ranks 4th among Genealogy sites.
How come when I sign in as a member of Ancestry.com, by the time I write down the name of the person I am querying, my Ancestry.com page is replaced by My Heritage.com page. I did not want My Heritage, I wanted Ancestry!
I've been using this site for years. There is something to be said about learning where you come from. I appreciate the newest updates and the ability to utilize outside sites to collaborate on findings. You are able to easily search for new people and edit ones you've already added.
Ancestry.com is a scam. My wife and I used them for their DNA review. We signed up for the service just for that and paid for everything with my card. After using the service I cancelled the account to prevent future charges since we only wanted the DNA review. Ancestry sent me confirmation of the cancellation. A month later they charge me again for the service $79.95. I called to clear it up and they said even though I cancelled Ancestry needed cancellation confirmation from my wife separately. And since they didn't here from here they would continue to charge my card. I've filed claims with my bank and the BBB, but I just wanted to alert others about their scam when it comes to unauthorized renewals and charges.
This company is great if you want to create and 'view' your family tree. But beware that you CANNOT print the tree for yourself. You must send your information to another company (sponsored by ancestry) to compose posters, book, etc. for a nominal fee. Very disappointed.
They start your 3 months immediately so you can enter your family tree and tell them everything you know. I don't know my family tree and am waiting, and waiting, and waiting for my dna to come back... all while the time is ticking away. Been 2 months already and I still have not received my results and all they can say is some dna takes longer to process than others. I paid for 2 full kits so my daughter could see if she could find her half siblings... but hers is only a guest account so she can see nothing and respond to noone. It is a scam! Don't waste your money! Wish I had seen these reviews first!
Fake site. Puts an important part of your relative on then takes it off making a fool of you. Site has no idea of what it's doing. Has a person who is my father then it's gone. WTF?!
The results are too generic and inaccurate. If you're French they'll call you English. If you're Swiss they'll call you German or English. If you're from a Slavic region of Europe they don't even bother they just up your percentage of English or German and call it a day.
Love the product. Hate the customer service. Had workers yell at me and tell I'm stupid because I wanted to make a payment for my subscription. If I could go to any other program for my genealogy research and tree I totally would. Just be prepared for rude customer service workers.
I'm a disabled Veteran and my wife is getting chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer. EXPENSIVE. I contacted Ancestry during the St. Patrick's Day sale of 2022. Explained my situation and requested to buy the Full Access for one year at a price of $113.00 each. They refused, saying it's only good for one six-month renewal. It didn't matter that I've been a customer since 2012 or about my situation. They are just out for money!
Ancestry is a scam! They matched my daughter to the wrong father, and I have hard core evidence of this! They are also way off on the regions! Don't waste your money!
You all think this is a game to be played with peoples emotions when in fact it's more in important than you realize to peoples mental stability and get somewhat of a closer to a chapter in one's life that needs to be understood fully so they can some what get closer work through it and let it go i have heard from people who do this the that they all way's felt that there was a part of themselves were missing and the never fit in anywhere so doing a dna test to get a better understanding of there life and you all think it's some kind of game all a joke at other my expense other peoples amusement in all reality it's people trying to get a piece of mind
Had a family member pass and when I tried to find family from a current list of names and addresses the program was unable to find anyone. Did better searching google. Waste of money and time
I canceled my subscription after free trial, a three part process, but was charged for another 10 months. Rep said they would only cancel subscription and refund this months charge, credit card would need to file to refute charges. Not only did my cc say that they couldn't submit a refute, that I would to go back to Ancestry to get a refund. When I called back to ancestry I learned that the first rep did NOT process the cancellation or even the one month refund. She had hung up on me when I asked to speak to a supervisor. I only learned this when I called back. The next rep gave as a reason the cancellation and ref because "the call was disconnected" despite having been told it was canceled. This company has a 250 million dollar class action suit against them for just this practice. This company is unscrupulous. Join the class action suit.
I found a reoccurring charge from Ancestry.com on my account in March of 2022. In contacting Ancestry.com, I was informed that I signed up for a "free membership" in October 2021 that I did not cancel. Even if I had signed up for a free membership (and forgot to cancel), I would have immediately cancelled if I had been informed or the automatic monthly charges on my credit card. I received zero communication from Ancestry.com that wasn't an advertisement. I do not have a confirmation that I signed up for any membership nor that money was being deducted each month - not even any emails asking me how I am enjoying my membership (the one I didn't know I had). I do not know if this was fraud or just a bad business practice on the company's part; however, Ancestry would not refund me the $125 (5 months of charges). The only thing they would do is to provide me with 5 months for free so I could at least try to use the membership I already paid for. It is better than nothing - however, I am still out $125.
I am writing this review to warn anyone thinking about signing up for Ancestry - check your credit card statements.
Use to have messages, gone, use to see 3-4.5-6 relative's cant find, where my family came from, gone, but wanting you try other things for$$ on the app pops up every time you click. Don't waist your money.
My husband and I did the DNA testing from Ancestry. The results were vague and unhelpful. My husband is of Asian descent and his results basically were like, surprise! You're Asian! No more specific info than that. My friend did her results through 23 and Me and they traced her origins to specific PARTS of Asia in specific generations and showed migratory patterns. Her info was much more specific.
And they ding you with those renewal fees! Watch out for those! The "genealogy" information you get for the price of a subscription is not worth a single penny. I would NEVER recommend someone do their DNA testing through Ancestry.
There are other DNA testing companies that offer way better bang for your buck.
I started with parents and I found wrong information. When I looked myself up. They have wrong High School, Grad year, along with several other wrong information. There doesn't seem to be anyway to correct the information. I have tried for several years with no luck. Apparently they like to keep wrong information up on their site. The more I have looked backed at my family tree. The more mistakes I found. Anything you find about your past on this site. I would take with little trust and accuracy. If you don't know about your history look to other sites to verify as well as any relatives you can talk to that have know what they are talking about.
They bombard you with upselling. You have to keep paying every month. Expensive. I paid for ancestry AND health. They stopped health so I never had it included and still paid for and expected it. Bad customer service.
I tried 23andme.
Health and ancestry together excellent! 23ANDME update frequently with new info. Very happy with 23andme
Extremely dissapointed and ticked off at Ancestry dna. Rip off
As I look on Ancestry at the "hints" for my relatives what I find are the photos I've uploaded and the extensive genealogy research I've done for 20 years (from books and digging through courthouse records and microfiche - not the internet) and uploaded to Ancestry. I am lucky if I find one new thing a year. It upsets me that Ancestry charges a huge monthly fee and makes money on my research! And I don't get anything out of it. I'm to the point that I am going to delete all my research from Ancestry and upload it to Familysearch.org.
Don't believe the TV commercials. Ancestry is a good source and you can find info. But the changes they have made in the past years have not been helpful. You get a lot of hints but it is its the same info over and over. They do not pay any attention to what the people who have been members for years and years. Myself since 2001 want and have asked for.
Answer: I agree... so many current complaints yet they seem to be more concerned with signing up new, younger members who are more deeply engaged in technology. It is business to these folks and they have to get younger people joining to make more money long term. Baby boomers though are their natural market and as more boomers retire and have more time and discretionary income they will be the ones who will be likely to join over the next few years.
Answer: Hi Joan, I see Karen above has answered your question regarding the old site. Full that box in Joan, tell them why you are leaving, give it to them straight. Write what you have put above, and more if so inclined. I have told them exactly what I think of their new so called experience! I think they have got a nerve inflicting this on us without even asking. They have made so many errors on the profiles, I know I shall have to check through every person on my tree, the mistakes they have put on are unbelievable, maps have been added that have nothing to do with the person. But the whole new set up is not enjoyable to use at all, the background colour is very hard on the eyes. I hate this new site with a passion! They should give us the choice of the format. From feedback I have seen, most of their long term customers much prefer the old site, Ancestry don't seem to realise what a great unique format they had, it was really classy, I loved working on it for hours and hours. They should listen to their customers, because they are going to be leaving their site in droves when the old ancestry is not available anymore. I shall use the old site as long as possible, then look for somewhere else to do my researching
Answer: Go to the right side of the page up at top where you sign in, and in the pull down menu there will be a place to go back to the old, classic ancestry, you know however, soon they are pulling the plug
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