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1.6 33 Reviews 173 Complaints
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Ancestry Complaints 173

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A
8:50 am EDT

Ancestry refund

I purchased a dna test for a friend, it was on sale for 69 dollars +shipping, on 10/18/18 in the afternoon, on 10/19/2018, I need to refund it, my friend said does not want to do it, so I call to refund, after a while this sweet lady tells me I have tp pay a 25 dollar fee, are you kidding its not 24 hours, its not shipped, or anything and you are charging 25 dollars, this unreal, people do not cancel I am sure, i bought a kit for my husband, they do help people the kit is 69 dollars or you see it for 59 now a Halloween special, bad cs, here confirm no of transaction is [protected] check it out and see if this is fair not even 24 hours, it would have been sooner but your phones do not open up till 9am, i, m up at 5am fla time, how do you sleep at nite

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5:18 pm EDT
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Ancestry ancestry.com membership

I recently purchase an all access 6 month membership from Ancestry for $139.00. That was on 6/26. I went to log in today and I show as no membership. I called customer service and was told that I cancelled my membership on 7/11. (I did not.) I asked if I had cancelled my membership, shouldn't I have received a full refund as it had not been 30 days. The CS was not very knowledgeable and basically told me sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. She put me on hold and came back to tell me she could refund the $139.00 and I could resubscribe at the $199.00 fee. I told her that wasn't really fair as I didn't cancel my service to begin with. I asked if she could just reup me for 6 months and not refund. She put me on hold again and came back and said the same thing - refund $139 and resubscribe for $199. I just told her ok - give me the refund. I won't be resubscribing.

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8:13 am EDT
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Ancestry automatic renewal

I am now on hold while a representative cancels the automatic renewal -- something I neither authorized or wanted -- of my six-month subscription. And apparently there is no way to have a subscription without this. This is a terrible policy -- a scam really. I have bought subscriptions occasionally in the past, but now I will rethink whether I ever want to use ancestry again. You should be ashamed. And now the customer "support" person has returned to tell me that due to some kind of problem in ythe ancsetry system, he cannot refund my money and that I should call back and go through this same process later today. Terrible policy. Terrible support.

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PDCla
Bowling Green, US
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Jun 03, 2022 2:12 pm EDT
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I was charged $99 thru Pay Pal for an automatic renewal, Ancestry. I had canceled but charged anyway. I filed a complaint against Ancestry thru Pay Pal, and my $99 was returned after Pay Pal determined I had a legitimate complaint.

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Brenda Hefferon
US
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Jan 24, 2019 5:34 am EST

They renewed my membership without telling me. Sent 3 emails and no response. I don’t have time to sit on hold. Horrible company. No customer service to speak of. I’m a member of 23 and me. No issues. One payment for life membership. Free genealogy sites and government sites have the same information plus more than ancestry. If you’re reading this before joining, don’t join. Trust me it’s a huge waste of money and you won’t have good customer service, if you have any at all.

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W
7:28 am EDT

Ancestry ancestry records

Sick of seeing "can't access records. Try back later" what the hell is going on with them. Ancestry has been consistently deteriorating for quite a while and now appears to have self destructed!
Regarding searches. If you add/change an item in a current search they remove exact/years/location etc. Causing you to retrace your steps, look at the search again and see what they changed! I'm fed up and dumping them.

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2:40 am EDT
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Ancestry auto renewal of subscription - no warning that the auto renewal has taken place

I signed up for 6 months with Ancestry.com.au - worldwide access. Instead of my subscription expiring in February 2018 as expected I have just found that it automatically renewed

I did not see any indication that this auto renewal would take place - and I have not used the Ancestry site since February so was unaware that my subscription had renewed until I received yet another unwanted email from Ancestry and I checked my account

Needless to say it seems that they will not refund as I left it too late to cancel my subscription...leaves a bad taste when they can renew without telling me - but I can't get a refund despite not using their service

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6:07 pm EDT

Ancestry rude customer service

Have been a member since 2006 and am a Full Access member. Ordered an additional DNA kit for my mother & was charged full price. Six days later I called to see if I could get a partial refund due to the fact that the DNA kit is now $59. Rep was extremely short and said "no way" and hung up. Six days & she refused to even discuss it with me. Thanks a lot Ancestry.com - you suck!

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11:34 am EST

Ancestry rude customer service

Hello,
I purchased a DNA kit for my daughter. she got the results and lost the email and can't access her results. I called customer service just now and the lady I spoke with was extremely rude and unwilling to help me. She said "well we can't help it if our customers choose to delete their accounts." She did not delete her account she simply cleared her cookies on her computer. The lady I spoke with was extremely rude. I asked her if the test results can be tracked by the registration number and she was so rude. She was condescending and was very snotty and insulting. I am extremely upset that I spent $100 on this test and customer service was no help at all. The call didnt even start out nice. the woman was very snotty and crabby right off the bat. I have a paid account and have also ordered a test for another family member. If this is the way I'm going to be treated I'll take my business elsewhere. I'd appreciate someone who is at least willing to try helping resolve this and who is not a rude witch. I apologize for the harsh language but I am extremely upset by the way I've been treated. I want access to the test results or I want a refund and possibly an apology for how I was spoken to. Thank you
Cindy L. Barton

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5:38 pm EST

Ancestry full access membership

I recently upgraded to the Full Access Membership so that I would have access to articles in Newspapers.com and Fold3. The first person that I was researching had many articles in Newspapers.com however it does not give you access to view the articles. You have to then purchase another membership with Newspapers.com. This to me is wrong. I paid extra to include those articles that were available and now I can't even see them! Very frustrating. All it really is, is a tactic to get more people to register and pay directly to Newspapers.com.

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6:14 am EST

Ancestry wrong written about dalal (jat) surname

Wrong written about dalal(Jat) surname
.they have wrote wrong about dalal surname.Fix it

'' occupational name for a broker, from Arabic dallal ‘auctioneer'.''
Please remove this line Early.
Otherwise, Hardest action will be taken against this website
Edit this Line see below
  Dalal (दलाल)is gotra of Jats found in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan[4] and Delhi.This Gotra has a glorious History, Dalal Jat clan is found in Afghanistan.[5].

Tell me your Gmail I'd
Contact me Now .
My Contact no.:[protected]

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6:02 pm EST
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Ancestry online and customer service

Your website is crashing and won't take a perfectly good credit card so i called, then i waited for over 17 minutes only to be hung up on. So the $59 rate was good but id rather pay more to get real customer service from 23 and me because at least they won't freaking hang up on you for trying to buy their products.

I just wanted the special rate to buy Christmas gifts but because you make a product that you can't electronically handle the volume of, the consumer gets treated like crap and hung up on.

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3:28 pm EDT

Ancestry ancestry dna

My leafs are disappearing...why? My linked circles have disappeared...why. What is this about? why would I have 4 leaves one day the log on and only 3 leaves appear? Why am I linked to circles one day then the next they are gone. Why pay so much for this service and rely on its capability to connect family together via DNA, to no have it function properly or give you information. This needs to be looked into and someone at Ancestry needs to fix it, pay to much money for the service.

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jimeverhart
US
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Jan 18, 2018 5:08 am EST

Feel lucky, It has happened to me twice in the last year. They came back and then after a couple of months gone again. it has been over 6 months with no visible circles just blank white pages. 6 months ago I had 63 circles on 6 pages of results, now 3 circles on 1 blank page. Customer service says they know of the problem and they know what caused it to happen. For the last 3 months I have been told they are re-indexing their files and in a few days they should be visible again please be patient. A few days I can be patient but over 6 months that is not acceptable! Circles I know I was a part of no longer show me. If I go to New Ancestor Discoveries I can see the Circles for those people some of which I used to be shown in now do not list me. . I have been over patient now I am on a campaign make sure others hear about this shoddy service. It makes no difference paid member or not, Ancestry Customer Service Reprehensive, nobody can do anything but say their sorry and please be patient. [protected] is the number I will be calling daily to get their attention. I encourage everyone else with this problem, call them daily. After dozens of calls only 3 times over the last 6 months they have entered a problem report, Did the rest of the people just think it will simply fix its self? If you make a customer mad they will tell 5 times more people about how badly they were treated and if they were treated well less than 2 times the other people.. Till it happens to someone high up at Ancestry, they only seem to be able to redesign the DNA webpage and tell people with problems DNA Circles are still in Beta. As a beta tester for a couple of Software Programs they really need to work on that answer and address their beta programs success and worry less about spending so much TV time and print media touting their great results that only partially work.

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12:54 am EDT
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Ancestry $99 six-month subscription paid in may, 2017, being billed $19.99 monthly

I signed up for a special $99 "deal" for a six-month subscription to Ancestry.com which I paid at the time I signed up. I recently noticed that they've been billing me $19.99 monthly...! Their "Customer Service" consists only of a disorganized string of FAQs, there is no chat or email capability. I'm hoping that their phone support (Ancestry Support [protected]; Monday - Friday: 9:00 am - 11:00 pm Eastern; Saturday - Sunday: 9:00 am - 11:00 pm Eastern) will prove helpful, but as it is currently closed, I have no way to tell. I will call them first thing in the morning tomorrow to report this THEFT, and try and force them to reimburse me for the DOUBLE PAYMENT. What a blatant rip-off!
I'm in the process of copying all of the images and documents associated with my family tree, and then will be cancelling my subscription. I just hope my cancellation is honored - and that these monthly charges stop. Errr! So irritating.

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Rubyroots
US
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Nov 11, 2017 11:33 am EST

Just reviewed my payment history to find I purchased a six month membership at $99 in 2014, then 7 days later Ancestry started billing me monthly for the same membership. Ive been the n hold now for half an hour. May just send a letter to Provo via USPS.

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7:09 pm EDT
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Ancestry connecting to ancestry.com on my pc

I have been unable to connect to Ancestry.com for the past week. I am in the area that was affected by Hurricane Harvey. My AT&T land line and internet service went down for about 4 days. Since it came back, I am unable to connect. The message I get is ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT. I have tried all of the suggestions sent to me by the customer service representative with no success. We have two computers using the same wi-fi network and neither of these computers will connect. Is there a solution to this problem?

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2:32 pm EDT

Ancestry product renewal not recognized; locked out

I renewed my 6 month subscription in June 2017. I have subscribed for years. The website still shows me as a "guest" without access to my files. I have called 4 times and will hold for as long as 22 minutes, but no one ever answers the damn phone.

Order Number [protected]
U.S. Discovery Membership $99.00
Tax $0.00
Total $99.00
Billing Address
9 Isabel Circle
Montpelier Vermont 05602
United States of America

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Update by bbowen
Aug 18, 2017 2:33 pm EDT

I have verified the renewal through my bank records.

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10:32 pm EDT

Ancestry unauthorized debit card charges

I signed in for a 14 day free trial but before the time was even up, I was charged a huge fee of 131.00 on my debit card, meanwhile, it was supposed to be only 28 a month if I kept it. I have requested a refund and still not received my refund even the they said I would be refunded and gave me a confirmation number. I am quite dissatisfied with the service

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5:37 pm EDT
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Ancestry dna results

Ancestry.com sent my results to someone other than myself and now refuses to provide them to me. They say the only way I can view them is to contact that person and ask them their sign in information. Giving it to me would be a violation of their rights. What about violating my rights by giving my DNA to someone else? They claim I asked them to do that but I can assure you I DID NOT!

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4:52 pm EDT
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Ancestry dna testing.

I paid my money and did an Ancestry.com DNA test. The results were 74% Great Britain, 12 % Ireland and 14% other. My mother was full blood Choctaw American Indian and my father had some American Indian blood. The only way for these results is if I were adopted. I'm not, as I have my birth certificate. So, do they just take your money and make it up or is it a scam.

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11:07 pm EDT

Ancestry membership free trial

My name is Maria Volante and you have deducted money from my card without any notice or email, I would like a refund . you deducted 563.67 aed (145 usd) [protected]) on 27th July 2017 . They must give prior warning as it emptied my debit card. I would like to cancel the membership and have a full refund please. They said 14 day free trial but in fact not pre warning email or contact.

I will be monitoring this situation and if i dont get a reply will most surely give my reviews on other media.

with thanks

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12:11 pm EDT

Ancestry basic subscription renewal

I canceled my subscription online in June. Then, the following month they billed me again. I tried to call to get them to fix the problem, but I got an automated menu of options that wasn't helpful and then I was disconnected by the automated system. I could find no way to email them about the problem on their website.

I want to have the money refunded that was charged after I had canceled online.

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Angela284
US
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Sep 11, 2017 2:54 pm EDT

I have the same exact problem. I canceled the end of July via online. I was never charged for August so I figured that it was canceled. I received a notice from the bank that I was charged again for the month of September. I tried calling and I waited 1 hour for someone to pick up. I sent an email to them and I plan on calling again. I am very upset about this.

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A
9:13 am EDT

Ancestry subscription charges

I purchased the World Explorer pack and when i went to go checkout it said an error had occurred. The subscription was not showing up on my ancestry profile and when i checked my bank account the transaction went through. I called ancestry about 10 times and they said that they couldn't cancel it because it was not in their system. I went forward to file a dispute with my bank and they haven't even responded to my bank. It's a shame because I was looking forward to this subscription but now i can't even use it.

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About Ancestry

Screenshot Ancestry
Ancestry is a leading genealogy and family history website that provides users with access to a vast collection of historical records, documents, and other resources to help them trace their family tree. The website has been in operation since 1996 and has since grown to become one of the most popular genealogy websites in the world, with over 3 million subscribers.

Ancestry's database contains over 20 billion historical records, including census records, birth, marriage, and death certificates, military records, immigration records, and more. These records are sourced from various archives, libraries, and other institutions from around the world, and are constantly being updated and expanded.

One of the key features of Ancestry is its DNA testing service, which allows users to discover their ethnic origins and connect with distant relatives. The DNA test analyzes a user's DNA sample and compares it to a database of over 18 million DNA profiles to identify potential matches. Users can then connect with these matches and explore their family history together.

Ancestry also offers a range of tools and resources to help users build their family tree, including a family tree builder, a research center, and a community forum where users can connect with other genealogy enthusiasts. The website also provides access to a range of educational resources, including webinars, tutorials, and articles on genealogy research.

Overall, Ancestry is a valuable resource for anyone interested in tracing their family history and discovering their roots. With its vast database of historical records, DNA testing service, and range of tools and resources, Ancestry provides users with the tools they need to uncover their family history and connect with their past.
How to file a complaint about Ancestry?

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2. Navigating to the complaint form:
- Locate and click on the 'File a Complaint' button on the ComplaintsBoard.com website. You can find this button at the top right corner of the website.

3. Writing the title:
- Summarize the main issue you have with Ancestry in the 'Complaint Title' section.

4. Detailing the experience:
- Provide detailed information about your experience with Ancestry. Mention key areas of concern, any relevant transactions, steps taken to resolve the issue, the nature of the problem, and the personal impact.

5. Attaching supporting documents:
- Attach any additional supporting documents that can strengthen your complaint. Avoid including sensitive personal data.

6. Filing optional fields:
- Use the 'Claimed Loss' field to state any financial losses and the 'Desired Outcome' field to specify the resolution you are seeking.

7. Review before submission:
- Review your complaint for clarity, accuracy, and completeness before submitting it.

8. Submission process:
- Click the 'Submit' button to submit your complaint.

9. Post-Submission Actions:
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Ensure you follow these steps to effectively file a complaint against Ancestry on ComplaintsBoard.com.

Overview of Ancestry complaint handling

Ancestry reviews first appeared on Complaints Board on Nov 8, 2006. The latest review No results 3 months later. was posted on Jul 22, 2024. The latest complaint Charging credit card after cancellation was resolved on Dec 07, 2014. Ancestry has an average consumer rating of 1 stars from 206 reviews. Ancestry has resolved 17 complaints.
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  1. Ancestry Contacts

  2. Ancestry phone numbers
    +1 (800) 262-3787
    +1 (800) 262-3787
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    +1 (800) 507-4612
    +1 (800) 507-4612
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    +1 (800) 958-9095
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  3. Ancestry emails
  4. Ancestry address
    360 W 4800 N, Provo, Utah, 84604, United States
  5. Ancestry social media
  6. Jenny
    Checked and verified by Jenny This contact information is personally checked and verified by the ComplaintsBoard representative. Learn more
    Nov 12, 2024
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