Ancestry
Reviews and Complaints

Embark on a journey of discovery with Ancestry.com, a platform that offers a vast collection of historical records and tools to trace your roots. While some users have praised the platform for its extensive database and helpful features, others have expressed concerns about customer service and billing issues. Despite occasional challenges, Ancestry.com remains a valuable resource for those eager to uncover their family heritage. Dive into your past, connect with distant relatives, and piece together the puzzle of your ancestry with Ancestry.com.

I have found the Ancestry DNA to be helpful in identifying cousins. Most of the time people will either not respond or respond that we are not related even though we are highly likely a match. I have met 3 close relatives; one I correspond with, one that is of another race that says we are not related and one that pretended to be intetested. Bottom line is if DNA matches you, you are related. I find most matches want to see the ancestor chart and not interested in the genealogy. You can always tell those by them having not signed in in over a year. Then there are those that hide their tree. If you want to meet cousins you need to be able to match people. It is frustrating but I love genealogy research. Kudos to Ancestry.com, but there is nothing like visiting cemeteries, libraries, and clerk-of-court offices!

Lets start out by saying that I have had my DNA checked by 3 companies. I have extensively checked my ancestry background by papers files, birth certificates etc.
There were some dead ends (adoptions) so I used this company to help out. They provided a comprehensive and detailed look at my DNA that mirrored in many respects what I already knew. But they showed when and from where my family immigrated which was exactly the information I had but with some surprises too. For example they added other details like that I had some German ancestry that was greater than I thought and were specific about locations. A point that I would like to make is that if you have less than 1% of anything, that is what they call DNA noise, disregard as you can only go back 7 generations. Altogether I highly recommend this site. 5 stars plus!

Have you ever heard the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it? I guess you haven't as you have totally destroyed it by this new format you claim is much simpler. I also have a nice bridge I can sell you in San Francisco? How 'bout it?
The new format takes 3 pages to read, when the old had 1 page and everything was on that page that contained all the information. Even the new format doesn't have as much info as the old one. Also, who gave them permission to add their idea of what went on in those days by adding pictures they have chosen to my personal pages.? Also, they stole pictures from my personal pictures file and put them on the wrong pages. I am seriously thinking about finding another ancestry web site that isn't so intrusive You are going to lose a lot of customers if you don't go back to the old format. Including me!

I got hooked when I signed up for the DNA. Suddenly, I found that I have absolutely no Scottish heritage but rather Irish. Now, I know for a fact that my mother's side comes directly from Scotland and goes back hundreds of years! I fell for Ancestry.com and signed up for the basic, but could not get anything from Scotland/England, so signed up for that also. Well, as someone said in their comments, even though you give exact information, you get over hundreds of people that do not have anything to do with the exact information. So, after about three months, I canceled. That was okay. No problem with that. BUT! I paid for my DNA and I paid for the information on my family and now that I have canceled I cannot access any of this information. If I paid for this information, I should be able to access it. I don't expect to get new information, with computers today, I can be locked out of searches, but I SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE THE INFORMATION THAT I DID PAY FOR!

I started searching my family history 35 years ago in 1978. I have researched the Orlando Library (which has a remarkable family history center), the Miami Library, most importantly the DAR Library. Two family history libraries, one here in Winter Park, Florida and one in Washington DC. I stopped in Jacksonville to visit there library when I came out my passenger side window was smashed and $250 was stolen from my purse. So, you can see I was very serious about my mission.

I aplaud Ancestry.com. If you have any common sense and have a knowledge of American History, seek confirmation through the Internet or your family stories that have been passed down, they will provide you the information. It is up to you to verify information through many sources. I have been a member for many years, and they have provided links and historical information in one place that would have taken me years to uncover, most likely never. Yes, there is much miss-information, people eager to add names. But if you approach this will intelligence and and do some research, you will gather a family tree that is most likely accurate.

My whole family has done the Ancestry DNA test, with stunningly accurate results. The key to using this test, and being satisfied, is understanding the basics of DNA and genetics. I see all these negative reviews, and they can all be broken down into 3 categories. 1)" I don't like what it showed me." This can be avoided by entering into the test knowing that you have history that you don't know of, and may not like. You might discover that someone had a baby with the (eh-hem) milk man. Or that your family origins are not quite as pure as you would like them to be. 2)" This test sucks because I couldn't spit" It's a spit test, if you can't spit, don't order this test. 3) " My test failed" Well yes, your test failed because you either didnt provide enough sample or you allowed other people to handle your sample and smear their DNA on your sample. Follow the instructions and your test won't fail.
All in all, this is a good test, and a good company. Like any other test, it does require that you follow the instructions, and you have to be prepared to see things you may not like or things that surprise you. So, if you are determined to believe that you are a " full blooded Italian" you may wanna skip this one.

I've had a membership off and on with Ancestry for over 10 years. And I've been very happy with them. They've helped me build a tree of over 2000. Their data base is far larger then any other family search site and with less useless gimmicks. My only complaint is how many ancestry members just copy other member's trees without doing the research. Any mistakes in those trees are then repeated over and over again. So be sure to back any info you may find on other member's trees with a reliable source.
As for the high cost of a subscription; well, Ancestry is a tool. Use it if you want your money's worth. As the volume of data in your tree grows, the quality of your hints and your search results will improve. That said however, it will eventually get harder and harder to find new available sources of info. There is only so much out there on your family. That's when it maybe time to take a break and cancel your subscription for awhile. Cancelations will cost you $25 unless you wait to cancel at the end of your subscription. Then it will cost you nothing. If you take the 2 week trial and want to cancel, be sure to do it prior to 2 days before the end of the trial. Otherwise you'll be charged the $25 cancelation fee and the 1st month's membership. That's in the terms of agreements.

I had the $199.00 membership. It automatically renews. I wasn't expecting it to auto renew and called the company and with their help, put my account on pause, so no new charges would go through upon renewal time. Well, they did it anyway and charged me $199.00 again on a paused account. This was NOT suppose to happen. I immediately called and spoke to them, they agreed it was fraudulent and agreed to refund my money 3 to 5 business days. Meanwhile I called my bank and had to cancel my bank card attached to that ancestry.com account to ensure they don't do this to me a 3rd time. Be wary of memberships. They cost me -fees from the overdraft, which my bank said they will remove once my refund comes. I'm surper frustrated.

I did a 30-day trial membership with Ancestry.com and cancelled online a few days before the end of the trial period. Ancestry billed me $16.50 anyhow for another month. When I called them to get that reversed, the guy said a) I should have called them rather than using their online cancellation, and b) they don’t have any way of reversing charges of any kind even if it’s because of a problem they created, and c) they would charge me another $10 for early termination if I cancelled then. ”. Also, when I asked to speak to a supervisor, he said they don’t have a next-level of customer service and he has no ability to correct anything so it was a deadend. The combination of all those bad-business practices seemed like a scam to me. Fortunately, I was having Ancestry bill me via PayPal and so filed a dispute. PayPal issued a provisional credit and, ten days later, said they agreed and reversed the Ancestry charge.

I've been a member on and off since 2016. For the most part I've been happy with their site. However, be aware of the site changing your No renewal to renewal and your card expiration date! June 4th I received email stating my account expired on 5/29/21, and that my account couldn't be renewed due to problem with my card. I knew my card expiration date had expired in March 2021 and knew that's why it didn't renew. I didn't want it to renew so I didn't bother with updating my card in their site. Well today I was checking my bank account online and saw that Ancestry charged my account yesterday (June 9th) for 6 month membership. I tried cancelling it online, but it wouldn't cancel until November 2021. I then tried using chat feature and it was useless. I called and was told that she would cancel my account and it would not renew. She kept saying she totally understood what I was saying. I then asked if the refund would be for the full 6 month or would they basically pro-rate it. She advised that they couldn't refund current membership. I advised I did not renew and that my card was expired. So how could they use my card? She said she understood how I felt but couldn't refund my money. I advised that I would contact my bank and have them get the refund. Which is exactly what I did. Very upsetting that Ancestry was able to update my card info without my knowledge. My card isn't the usual 2-3 years, so it took them several days to figure out the date.

Ancestry has done terrific marketing and has the customer volume to show for it. However their technical system/ server etc. does not appear to have the capacity to adequately handle the volume. When working in the database reviewing hints there are frequent messages saying that document or page is not available right now, please try later. Now I am working in my DNAMatches. If I search for a name in the matches I usually get a message saying the backend is over taxed, they can’t provide all my matches and to try back later. One day this happened all day long. If I search for shared matches the same thing happens. I have called Ancestry three times about this issue. Their answer is usually “clear your cache, log out, are you using Chrome? I got off the phone and after logging out and closing the browser, the search worked correctly one time. The next search brought the same error message. The next said there were no matches, while the previous search showed some matches and the error message. I tried logging out and closing browser again, but still got error messages. I am sure Ancestry is not intending to send error messages instead of information, but the real result is a systematic failure to provide the promised service. I have been a subscriber for many years and this problem has become worse and worse in the past year or so. I feel Ancestry should put a moratorium on enrolling new members until they prove they can adequately serve the members they already have.

Risking sounding like a Karen, I just had a frustrating experience over the phone with an Ancestry representative. When I received my stimulus check, I splurged and did my DNA, plus paid for a newspapers.com option as well. A week ago I received a note saying I was going to be charged 199.00 again. I decided I wanted to keep my membership, however go monthly. I went on the website then found no options for a downgrade. It was either keep the membership as is, pay $389 for a full year use, or cancel. I called the number provided on the website, then talked to a representative named Sylvester. He tried to look me up by my email, then said the email didn't exist in the system. He then said he would look me up with my user name. That worked, then he tried to gaslight me and say "You're already on the monthly system." I told him I was looking at the website and it said I was on the six month plan and I was going to be charged $199.00 on the 15th. He said again that I was on the monthly plan. He kept talking over me and I finally summoned my inner Kamala Harris and said "Excuse me, unless I'm dreaming, I refreshed the website twice and they still have it as six months. I just want an option that I can go monthly on All Access." He insisted again I was paying All Access. I asked for a confirmation/receipt. He said it would be emailed to me. I asked why was it I couldn't do it online. He said that option wasn't available online to downgrade. Life happens. A company should realize that and give people a choice to downgrade if they want to keep their information. Am planning on canceling membership, then start all over again with a monthly membership. Big fail, Ancestry. Big fail.

The information found is great; however, the process to cancel the service is some of the worst I've ever experiences. I had tried to cancel my subscription 3 times. The first time I just let it go because I thought I would continue to use it. However, after doing what I thought was cancelling my service I continued to be charged. When you click to cancel your subscription the wording that pops up on the next screen seems like you have canceled because it states something like we hate to see you go, if you would like to reactivate your account click on this link. Well... unless you scroll down down down down (after all of the advertisements) you see that you have actually not cancelled your subscription and that you need to keep clicking. Not one more click, but I think it was close to 6 clicks to actually cancel your subscription. Then customer service chat could not issue a credit, so I would have to call at a later time. Well when you read the cancellation/refund policy it seems like you would automatically receive a refund if cancelled within 30 days. Well I waited almost 10 days and no refund. When I called customer service I was told they cannot refund me, but I would have access from April - Oct to the service. Guess what... I DON'T WANT the access which is why i have been trying to cancel. I explained that I have been trying to cancel this for sometime. The lady was sweet and said she would talk to her supervisor, but the supervisor said no to my refund. I then got very upset and used a told the lady that I will be filing a complaint to the BBB (as there are already 977 complaints) because this is ridiculous. She offered to speak with her manager again and it was agreed that they would cancel my subscription immediately (which I already cancelled, but they kept it active until Oct) and would refund my money as a 1 time exception. I was sure to apologize to the service lady that I was not upset at her, but that I am just so upset with this situation. Again, I think the service is great if you can use it, but the process of cancelling a subscription is the worst I have ever experienced.

I am taking this route because there is no way to email Ancestry on their site. When I called the support number, I was routed to an offshore call center and I'm not certain the operator understood my request. My subscription was renewed without notification that the payment would be debited. This caused an overdraft. I cannot receive a refund . My request is that a notice of debit be sent so that I can ensure the amount can be covered. If not, I can cancel or delay payment. Also, the ability to email you on your site would be helpful. Chatbots are not okay in these situations. When I connected to a live operator in chat, of course I got an error. Your terms are not clear about refund eligibility. Clarifying that would be helpful, too.

The process of testing and setting up is fairly simple. However, the real issue arises when you have to go through the questions and choose what you want to participate in. So far, it's been good. But then comes the problem with the results. I was informed that, despite extensive testing and "other testing they did," they couldn't provide me with results up to their standards. As a result, they asked me to reorder or submit another sample. I tried to find information related to my question on their website, but it only kept taking me in circles and asking if their information was helpful. Absolutely not! I couldn't even ask my simple question. Why couldn't they just send me the results they already had? I'm confident I could have understood them since I know my history better. I plan on canceling my participation in this so-called "DNA Information" and leaving it as it is. They didn't mention whether I would have to pay again for another test or for shipping, and I have a feeling they would charge me for that. Some people may have the patience to wait and go through the whole process again, but I expect a business to know what they are doing and fulfill their end of the bargain for a service I paid for. My advice is to be cautious and read about all the negative experiences and comments, as well as how they resolved them, before wasting your money.

I have been an ancestry member for 9 years and have 11,000 profiles. I am happy with their services and dna data. I am not happy however with their policies for purchasing DNA kits. I upgraded my existing DNA kit to a health dna. It didn't say anything before upgrading with checkout. My husband and I share an ancestry account, joint DNA shared within one tree system. After I paid, I was told I couldn't activate the upgrade because it's two people within one account. Yet, somehow I have 3 people with DNA in my account and they can't make it work now? I get that, things change. However, I had to hunt and spend 4 hrs on the phone on hold talking with 4 different reps to get to the issue not resolved. I am not going to create a seperate paid account to upgrade and not have it within my DNA and my account. That's a whole new email, and account that's paid for. That's just a rip off! After I decided I wanted a refund, which mind you, there was no kit mailed to me to restock. It was within 2-4 hrs of purchase, the time I was on the phone. They told me there is no refunds once you checkout. Their website however states I am entitled to a full refund after I hunted for their information on refund policies specific to DNA. It's clearly outlined a full refund within window period. The rep told me no they wouldn't do it. I argued with her and asked for a manager. I was on hold even longer, yet somehow she was suddenly able to offer me only half a refund. I told her no, their policies are written and displayed, I didn't need to restock some kit, it's just a refund. She then redacted the refund and told me she wouldn't do it. So, I will be cancelling my membership after 9 yrs, my tree will stay the same and I can't access what I need without paying more. I will be filing a chargeback with the credit card company. If you don't receive the product you purchase, you are entitled to a refund. If I had a kit, I'd understand a restocking fee, nothing to restock. No apology for the wait time, no we will try to resolve the issue so others don't run into it after checking out instead of agreeing to terms. I think I'd be very careful about going forward with them. Poor customer service all around with all 4 reps I spoke with.

I think that everyone should know that Ancestry obligates subscribing customers to auto-renewal, which is definitely something I consider to be a "slimy" retention tactic that has fallen out of the upright business practices for good reason. "Unless otherwise noted in the terms of your offer, subscriptions automatically renew, except for gift and pay-per-view subscriptions." https://www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/renewal-cancellation-terms Being that Ancestry.com does not even allow you to opt-out of auto-renewal, they are setting-up their customers for the irritation of letting their subscriptions ride or having to cancel them after the fact. For their more-expensive subscriptions, this is a lot of money for me (and actually I got absolutely nothing out of Fold3 or Newspaper... not even 1 article from either "qualified" under my so-called "All Access Membership." Per the website (link above), I was perfectly qualified for a Full Refund when I cancelled 6 days after the auto-renewal. But, that did NOT stop the online support agent from telling me "You cancelled April 1st but it has already renewed March 24th, the system follows the terms and conditions that defaults to the end of the billing period." and then "Thanks for waiting, I can only offer a partial refund on this, the system doesn't allow for full refund as it has been cancelled a month ago." Well, I did not contact support until May because firstly: I'm busy and secondly the FAQ states very clearly "All refunds will be credited to the billing method associated with your account." I am not very happy that the failure of Ancestry's refund system is being used as an additionally disreputable retention tactic. Upon my quoting the refund policy directly from the FAQ page, this support person goes-on to invent additional stipulations (as if there aren't enough in the actual documentation) "That is actually applicable for first renewals." I took business management classes in school and I thought it was common knowledge that treating your customers as whipping posts is not a winning marketing strategy! I thought it was very common knowledge that treating loyal/repeating customers well (maybe even better than courting new customers) was definitely in your company's long- (and short-) term interest. AT&T and Bank of America only get away with treating customers like garbage because they only have controlled competition. I don't know exactly if it was the support person or the management who determined that this was not going their way, but they finally relented and gave me a "courtesy refund of $199 to the account that was billed originally." There was no courtesy really, I met all of the stated conditions very clearly. I'm giving them 3-stars because I didn't have to go to court, but I can't say I'm very happy with the disreputable processes that led to all of this frustration! For goodness sakes: some customers enjoy auto-renewal, so keep it, but I would highly suggest making it a question at sign-up with a default of OFF and also making it a full-time option within the settings. I understand that companies want to keep retention up, but it should NEVER force auto-renewal OR require customers to cancel in order to stop auto-renewal. Just bad business practice.

Customer service reps need more training to help with technical issues. However after speaking with a representative from the executive office, my issue was fixed. Overall ancestry has a vast data base that is very useful. But like all companies, they have their flaws.

I like most of ancestry, However the last time I joined I also paid extra for Newspaper.com and the Fold thing. I did not care about later but really wanted the Newpaper.com. However, what a waste of money. I am so disappointed that I was led to believe I would have access to all newspapers. I will certainly be letting everyone know about this. Almost every time I want to see a newspaper article it tells me I need to get Publishers Extra which costs more money! Plus, I cannot find a way to let ancestry know how upset I am by this flagrant lie! It is a shame that they have let this happen in what had been a very useful site. Thank you.

3 months ago I sent my samples, a month later got an email there was an error in the samples, sent another sample it has been over 8 weeks and still no results. The due date for the results has passed and nothing has changed in my kit status as were promised. What kinda company is this ? 23nMe is way better and quicker than this without any issue. I made a mistake wasting my money on this company. Either give me my money back or give me my result as soon as possible, this is rediculus.

Gordon Abbott,

I purchased a monthly premium account on the 25 March, I can not get access to it.

I have tried all your recommendations without success.

I paid through PayPal. my name is Gordon Abbott, I used the account on the 25th but nothing now.

Whenever I log in, I get the free membership but I can not access my tree.

My email is: [protected]@gmail.com

Regards

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I have a hard time believing that a professional genealogist finds ancestry.com up to snuff. It's not. It beats the old style; travel, legwork, letters, phone calls, begging, all that. Even w/ minimal expectations for a modern system I would think a professional would find it violates too many elements necessary to provide an effective, efficient, accurate, and current genealogical tool. Yes, it is an exciting concept; that everyone can share a little of the picture and all could paint the whole with a leg up from the country's many vital records... It seems to have a 'critical mass' of participants. Offers media, photo's and the like, that wouldn't otherwise be available, some bells and whistles. It is cheap storage, and not entirely inept. It will build a tree. Those prefabbed plug ins that other people have worked hard to get right, such as search engines generally work OK as long as one doesn't expect it too much, and it does search connections to a surprising quantity of databases. Even so, when I am in a pickle for info, I know of several harder working engines for particular tasks. But if it appears 'in house' or dedicated, the programming, and other peoples' use of it, is going to leave you frustrated. From my perspective, Ancestry.com is a belief system. If you believe your Granny married herself, beget herself, and her in-laws, then that is what you will confront everyone else in the system with (Or when your kid gets hold of your password, etc. When errors are introduced, they have the tendency to snowball into fact.). This isn't an unusual example. There's not to be done but carve, carve, carve; and even w/ that attitude, after dogging through days and buckets of information that one would expect a computer to do what it does to, process, (they really can't compile 20 city directories of some one living at the same address, I have to slog through them individually or selectively dump the info!?) you will spend 25% or more of your time either making a tree out of other sources of info, or correcting the flood of mistakes that will inevitably end up on your plate no matter how diligent you are. Your choice. You'll also spend time and effort trying to hit their miniature targets with your mouse (it adds up), or miss the one they put right next to it that will take you off to no-man's-land. I ended up w/ tendonitis. My in-laws have informed me that they shared the same complaints that I now have w/ ancestry some ten or fifteen years ago. They gave up. Ancestry's choice seems to be to gussy up the template, update the color palate, make minor patches that in the end tend to slow down demand from me on its processing time, is what I see, as a likely choice when confronted w/ gutting the program and starting over which I suspect is what it would take. In my opinion, Ancestry simply could not have less commitment to their product, and spends substantial amounts of my time they could be investing in operational programming on apologizing for their failures (an example, "Thank you Sir, oh thank you for not yelling at me for things I can't fix or change." or waiting who knows how long before admitting they had a systemic issue w/ Firefox, and I had a well butchered tree. "Use Safari" they told me, but they don't support Safari and I ended up logging in every 'hint', then abandoning the project until they patched their browser issue), and leaving me in disbelief. It is an incredible time hog, and will require of you endless days to process what should properly, at this point in time, be compiled by a computer in a second. (Its comparable to say that Henry Ford has delivered to you a Model T in verdant green, which beats walking, then told you to go to the jungle to gather rubber sap from which you might make some tires because wooden wheels don't do so well on the freeway.) My impression is that they honestly believe that social graces are a sufficient and acceptable answer for a program that is so dysfunctional it would do no good to list all its issues, major, or minor. Woof. When thoroughly fed up w/ this state, they will then tell you they have a fix, in the form of the Family Tree Maker program. My suggestion is to read the fine print before you drop the extra $75. This is simply no place to be, having invested the time and effort into creating a tree that spans what seems like eons now; to be vested in this questionable program, not have any answers on how to actually make it perform as sold (and not merely as disclaimed in the fines), or even protect what information I have gathered from its supposed cure, FTM, which malfunctioned, and took a month to replace. I just want this experience over. I'll likely take what I can get out of it (I am still not clear on exactly what I will be able to take w/ me w/o ancestry's platform but I am still hoping) and leave ancestry.com in the past. I now wish I had investigated this a little more thoroughly. I'm now in the position to ask, would I give these characters my DNA?

I was very new to family research in 2014, and pleasantly surprised at the vast amount of records available at Ancestry. These official records from Government agencies, parish records + more seemed to back up what I knew, and some records corrected family misinformation.

I even had a very heart warminmg success when my hairdresser casually told me about a relative who had been killed age 24 and she had brought up his little girl, now an adult. With just his name and city of birth I was able to trace his family, and she has now found her grandmother (who never knew about her granddaughter). Tough to argue with those kind of results.

And very positive results in tracing cousins ancestry. Of especial interest has been the Departure/Arrival information from National Archives, showing overseas travel. I located a 2nd cousin of my late father and he never knew we existed. I visited him just in time, he passed away 3 months after that. I wouldn't have found him without this information. Other family relatives are excited to see journeys that their parents made with themselves as infants

However, Other members public trees were a very different picture. I found other trees that had very incorrect information about my family. Some even had cousins that didn't exist (they were children of other couples who had same surnames, not even same first name). Many other public trees has wrong dates (off by years). I even went to the trouble of acquiring their birth certificates and putting that family in my tree (but disconnected from my family) so others could find it and see the errors. There needs to be a way to dispute incorrect information in other public trees, or a way to only allow validated portions of trees to be public.,

There is value is seeing other peoples trees, but there needs to be some sort of "rating" system to indicate relative quality/accuracy before other people just copy rubbish and make more rubbish.

This is very much a feature of today's world: "DisInformation". It really is troublesome to see so much rubbish, and makes it extremely hard to filter the good from the bad. I know feel the need to completely review all of my tree information that has been gleaned from other trees. Colour coding to separate an official record from a public tree would be useful (as some competitive tools allow). Be very careful with public trees. I now consider them almost 100% speculation. Just last week I was researching an ancestor from teh 1700'as and found a large group of people with the same info. Hmm. 'Strength in numbers?" NO. "fools never differ". They were all from another country, and had all keyed on someone who has exact same name but very different parts pf the country. There was a lone person who like me, just has a little bit of info. So the 2 of us (

I recently purchased a health report From Ancestry.com and it was not at all to what it was advertised to me as. In its initial advertisement last fall/winter, and more recent site, it touted the Health aspect of the site as something that would provide "deeper insight" into your genetically inherited medical pre-dispositions as well as a myriad of "detailed health reports" by "actual physicians". It offered two choices the "basic" and an ongoing one that got continual updates and "health reports" from these "actual physicians". It advertised itself as something that was totally different and better than any of the other genealogy website's Health products. In reality, it was nothing at all like advertised as I saw it advertised last fall/winter, and very dissimilar to what it is currently being advertised and claiming to be. As a person with health issues and no blood family to question about family medical history this really appealed to me. However, these "deeper genetic insights" were just a list of three very rare defects that I didn't have, nor the majority of the general public would have and that was all at first. It said my "health reports" would be coming soon. When I received the "detailed health reports" they were not reports at all, but what all other genealogy websites refer to as "traits". These traits are even offered for FREE on many geneology websites. First off there was no "detail" to these "health reports" to begin with, for example of the few even offered at the time, it just said something similar too you have 0% chance of having an abnormal vitamin E issue. It went on to say the same for the rest, such as B12 and Vitamin D, which I have PROFOUND deficiencies in which shows me that these "health reports" aren't even accurate. The other sites also picked up these deficiencies so its not a just fluke. Calling them "health reports" in the first place is not even an accurate statement since they are based mostly off of DNA submiters answering questionnaires like "You have Gene X. People with Gene X tend to be fast runners. Are you also a fast runner?" What is even more frustrating is that Ancestry.com THEMSELVES offer a "traits" pack, that I opted into and purchased when purchasing my original DNA kit, complete with a ton of questionnaires that included questions like the one above. If i had any idea that this is what I would receive I would have NEVER spent it. I would have been better off lighting my money on fire and throwing it into the wind. The way this was initially advertised to me and how it was advertised when I purchased it were not true to the product nor do the previous advertisements that I saw match up with the current advertising/backtracking they seem to be doing now. They also have no way to contact them other by telephone, which I cannot currently access.

I'm a subscriber of Ancestry for many years, I've paid for four (4) family members to do there DNA with Ancestry so we call find some of our relatives. Basically to know our history of where we come from. Now this is my issue with concern. I logged into Ancestry through my Account that is associated with the address I posted to you. That account is my Uncles the only living relative of my mother and child of my grand mother. I'm in his account and I click DNA Summary, once there it opens to my Uncle view all DNA Matches. Good I'm ok with this information I see to be factual. The first four individuals are all 1st cousins - our Uncle is the brother to one of our parents. We all have the same Grand Mother. In DNA Matches I have an option to view the list or MAP. Since the list is already present I'm interested in the MAP. I find this too very helpful in narrowing down what I may or may not be looking for. When the map loads up i am presented with a MAP of USA and Abroad. I'm interested in USA to the left of the screen I am in of the MAP. I see 2nd, 3rd, 4th cousins relative all over the place great. Also how many are located in a given area in the USA. Great now I need to narrow this down I click on the filter button on the far left of the screen with drops down the range I'm able to filter. This is where my problem begins I click You I see my picture cool. I more interest in the 1st 2nd cousins when i click on these filters it only show me as a first cousin ummmm there is no option for 2nd cousin but for third it show individuals i don't know but they are close. Why do this map not show all 4 of his nieces an nephews? Yet this happens in all other accounts to. All have active paid DNA done in Ancestry which I PAID FOR... I call because I'm confused. When I get a rep on the phone for questions regarding DNA and I explain they walk me around all sort of computer reason they think this could happen... and I really don't think they know. So the first rep I just hung up incompetent. Outsourcing I understand but when you do it where you could hear the whole room in the background talking and the rep still can't understand the question or have an answer. I would have understood if they said I don't no may I have a supervisor call you back instead of let me get a supervisor who to me was worse. This shouldn't be that difficult one (1) wow. I realize at a time like this with the Covid on high for the country having a large of amount of people working from home is ok. I just don't get this even when there wasn't an epidemic Outsourcing is the cheep way company do so not to pay working Americans a decent wage but by a less salary to another country. With that said all want is to speak to someone who can shed some light on my question why my closest relatives don't appear in the dna map. Its show close 2nd 3rd but not my BLOOD Line. I hate sending these issues to BBB just to get one person to answer a relatively simple question. Not I send you this to read and that to read or assuming and be wrong. That's my problem as a paying subscriber to Ancestry not one dna but 4 to me that should could as something. Meaning I Love working in Ancestry researching , learning an developing understanding of others thru my search. I pray someone can answer this tired an just have one question.

I signed up for a trial of Ancestory.com in March 2020. According to their terms, you need to provide your credit card information, but if you cancel within 14 days, you won't be charged. I used the site for a day or two and decided it wasn't for me. I went into my account and canceled it (or so I thought). In September, I noticed a charge from Ancestry.com on my credit card statement. They had been charging me around $25 per month since my trial, so by September, I had paid about $175 for an account I believed I had canceled well within the trial period. I checked the site and found that I still had an active account. I went into my account settings and canceled it again. A few days later, I was charged again. I went back into my account and started the cancellation process again. I realized that I was probably not doing it correctly. So, I paid very close attention and took screenshots. I can't upload images here, so I will describe what I saw. The reason this is important is that it's clear that the cancellation process is designed to be difficult to complete and to mislead users into thinking they have completed it when they have not. I have seen many complaints and reviews about this issue. However, I believe the manipulative design of the process is the main reason. To cancel, the user goes to a menu and selects "My Account" and then chooses to cancel. They are then taken to a screen where they need to select that they want to cancel and provide a reason. After doing so, they select "Next" and are taken to a new screen that says "We're sorry..." and provides some information about the reason for cancellation. There are no obvious next actions and the way the page is presented makes it seem like a summary or post-cancellation page. I think this is where I thought I was done and left in my first two attempts to cancel. However, while looking for a catch, I noticed a button that was partially hidden at the top of the screen (the other buttons were at the bottom). I couldn't see the text of the button without scrolling up as the screen was positioned to hide it. When I scrolled up to the button, it said "Continue to Cancel." Clicking this button took me to another screen with a text line that looked like a page header and again didn't show any obvious actions. It said "Before you go..." which could easily be interpreted as a goodbye or last page message. In smaller text, it provided information about what I would miss by canceling and showed a grid image of the free and paid account options. If users trying to cancel happen to find the first hidden button and reach this screen, they might assume that this is the final screen. However, to truly cancel, they must guess that it is not and scroll to the bottom of the screen (below the grid image, which requires some scrolling) to find another button that they must click to actually cancel. This is why I thought I had canceled twice. This is also why there are so many complaints about canceling and still being charged. The flow of the design is intentionally poor and misleading, and it couldn't be accidental. Even a junior web app designer could explain why this design would make it nearly impossible for users to know they hadn't completed the process. I contacted Ancestry.com via Facebook Messenger and requested a refund. I explained the situation and provided screenshots of their process, highlighting how it was misleading. Below is their response, which I have copied and pasted: "Thank you for your response, ***. We appreciate your feedback on our cancellation process and have forwarded it to the relevant department. While we typically do not refund monthly subscriptions, as a gesture of goodwill, we have made a one-time exception and immediately canceled your subscription. We have also issued a refund of $24.99 to your original payment method. Depending on your financial institution, it may take 3-5 business days for the amount to be credited back to your account. Your cancellation number is ***."

I have a activation # J7U-4O6L-5K6G-8Y6L . I keep getting a response that this code is not accurate. I paid $108.00 for the DNA test I never received the results

I have spent the last two days (17 & 18 January 2024) trying to reach someone on the Ancestry Australia contact number of [protected] but to no avail. The number is constantly engaged. I wish to discuss my password and another matter regarding a contact made from a person who may be related in the United States of America.

I believe I have been a member of Ancestry for at least 15 years so this is very frustrating.

My number is [protected]. I would appreciate a call from someone in Sydney to help resolve these issues.

Yours sincerely

Kenneth Penaluna

DNA test kit ordered 19/12/23 at 13.59.

Order confirmation [protected] j.[protected]@btinternet.com

Paid £19.99 for expedited 1-2 business day delivery as Xmas present.

Advised 20/12/23 at 04.14 am that kit had been shipped.

Tried to track on DHL site several times but no news until03/01/24 when package shown as arrived from Ireland to Sierra Leone.

Advised by text from DHL ref [protected] on 04/01/24 at 15.53 that parcel due for delivery estimated Tues 09/01/24.

Then advised 05/01/24 that parcel would be delivered that day.

It arrived at 11.56.

This was hardly 1-2 days expedited delivery paid for.

Please re fund.

my account [protected]/mackinnon has been inactive for years for the most part. I received a link a while ago from someone and a bunch of the information has been changed on it with out my permission. At this point delete my account, the e-mail address that I had attached to the account has been closed or at least I've stopped using it and someone else has been with out my knowledge. If you need too send me an email directly

[protected]@google.com

Thanks

Paul MacKinnon

I am thoroughly disgusted with this ancestry two-step verification thing! I did not want it and did not ask for it. I want to opt-out. I do not need another hoop to jump through and want someone to take it off my account now! I want the same access to my dna and matches that I am accustomed to and with your foolishness! No two-step veification! I also am appalled that there is no phone number for corporate and want to speak with a corporate executive asap. My name is barbara foster, I have been an ancestry user for many years, however, this will be my last year, in fact, my last day of ancestry as my trees and my dna will be deleted unless I hear from someone in control of ancestry policy. My phone number is [protected] and I expect a phone call asap in order to resolve my issues. Thank you, barbara foster, 12 lakeview dr. Holden, maine. O4429 the email address used for my ancestry account is, [protected]@hotmail.com

I am becoming increasingly frustrated and annoyed by the numbers of participants on Ancestry who have borrowed/stolen much of my gallery and tree info and inserted inappropriately in their own due to their ignorance or thoughtlessness. I kept too much open to the public apparently, not presuming that many others would be so careless and stoopid, frankly. Continually getting "hints" only to find fairly gross negligence is kind of insulting. There is no way to remedy this, is there? Is the only good answer to quit Ancestry altogether? I have connected wonderfully with some formerly unknown relatives and DID want to share info for that reason, but it has become absurd.

November 6, 2023

Ancestry.com does not provide either an email address or phone number for support. This is genuinely poor policy and it makes me wonder if the company is viable. It also makes me export my data frequently, in case they go belly-up. I have no reason to believe they're in trouble financially, but a company with a support policy like this is making truly bad decisions, which worries me.

Once I reached them via phone (thanks to this web site) the support person was very straightforward about my request for help. She confirmed there's no way to easily expand a tree view, alas - and she said she would document my complaints about that, as well as my complaint about their not including an email address for support.

As for the tree view, the support person said the "tree view" screen supports a certain maximum, which is the reason I cannot see my entire tree. This is silly, to say the least.

Purchased the kit at the beginning of July 2023. Ended up buying two kits as their web site gave no indication I had purchased the first one. I tried to contact them and tell them not to send the second kit. I was completely ignored. I bought the kit for my girlfriend and she completed it and sent it back on 24th July. It is impossible to contact them and we have never received the results. Their bot is painful and they block any other email addresses that they use to communicate. I tried phoning the number does not work. I am only in this country for another week so I would rather just have the money back.

cancelled my membership and it automatically clears your monthly payment details. nearly two months later get an email saying fill in payment method went on site and had to re cancel my membership, a second time, two things come to mind if you join they ask for card details, so how it is impossible for account to have re open, is this a con or some sort of scam by ancestry

Paul Stowell=Smith 36 Prescot street New Brighton. Merseyside Ch459JW uk

On 8/9/2023 I received an email informing me that my Ancestry account would be updated, and I would be charged. Unfortunately, I receive many emails, some of which are fraudulent. So, I ignored this one, principally because the body of it said "To You" instead of my name. In the moment I thought it was a proposal instead of an automatic renewal.

I formerly found Ancestry.com useful. But once I learned the basics of my genealogy, I found that I was no longer interested. I would have specifically cancelled if I had read the email correctly.

Because of my error my bank account was debited $229.00 on 9/12/2023.

I am requesting either:

1. A full refund of the $229.00, or

2. A partial refund prorated to subtract a reasonably small amount for the short time I had a renewal.