Ancestry has a rating of 1.4 stars from 631 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about Ancestry most frequently mention customer service, free trial, and credit card problems. Ancestry ranks 61st among Genealogy sites.
Back in the days we didn't have such technologies, mark my words. Today we can explore the genealogy just using the mobile application which gives you insightful information about your origin. I ain't believe it's 100% correct, nevertheless it's way cheaper than applying to special labs or companies which are specialized in gathering your DNA and running comprehensive tests. Moreover it's more time-consuming than just using mobile application. So I pretty much favor them for this app.
I cancelled membership 1 day prior to a repeated monthly charge due date but was charged 2 days later. Customer service states there is no record of my cancellation. They did cancel this renewal and promised to refund this charge. I will update this review accordingly but this should not have happened to begin with. I am skeptical of this companies business tactics.
I cancelled membership 1 day prior to a repeated monthly charge due date but was charged 2 days later. Customer service states there is no record of my cancellation. They did cancel this renewal and promised to refund this charge. I will update this review accordingly but this should not have happened to begin with. I am skeptical of this companies business tactics.
Products used:
MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION.
I had Ancestry for a while and thought the results were fun and the site was decent. However I got a got bored of it and cancelled my membership to be the free basic package. Ancestry decided to charge me £49.99 every Quarter anyway, for at least a year. My membership still showed as being the basic package but I got charged regardless. Finally got through to Customer Service who told me there were 2 accounts attributed to my email address. How did that happen? No answer?
"Don't worry though we are refunding you £49.99. Aye no bother, ripped me for £200 but you've given me £50 back. The Customer Service were really rude, I asked for a complaints department email/number to be told there wasn't one.
My recommendation is, do not use! They will do what they can to take your money despite there being no Service given.
Tip for consumers:
Do not use
Ancestry provides organized public information on family histories, a decent service that will go on to bleed you monthly as numerous offers on DNA, family, International family ties, origins are made. After years of membership should you chose to cancel - have greater patience as canceling membership is a herculean effort. The number of wrong, false misleading leads to family history is a frustrating warm up party to canceling your membership! I cannot recommend this service
Shame on you Ancestry.com for shady business practices! I had a 14 day free trial and cancelled it online the day before it ended but this did not go through. When I got charged for the 1st month I went in and cancelled again and found there are 3-4 pages of upselling and clicking cancel before they knock off trying to hang onto me. 2 days later I got charged an early termination fee of $25. I've searched Ancestry.com and cannot find a reference to this anywhere! Called Support and then was told of this term. Fee until I firmly said "bull$#*!'. I said I would file a complaint with my credit card and then she gave in and said fee would be refunded. I still have a paid month so will try to use it.
Back in the days we didn't have such technologies, mark my words. Today we can explore the genealogy just using the mobile application which gives you insightful information about your origin.
I ain't believe it's 100% correct, nevertheless it's way cheaper than applying to special labs or companies which are specialized in gathering your DNA and running comprehensive tests. Moreover it's more time-consuming than just using mobile application.
So I pretty much favor them for this app.
Free trial is impossible to end without calling customer service. Highly deceptive offers claim you can cancel online. You cannot. Then customer service tries to upsell you on keeping your subscription despite being firm about cancelling. This is unethical, illegal and breach of trust. I would never use this service again and recommend nobody ever gives them credit card info.
Tip for consumers:
Free trial is impossible to end without calling customer service. Highly deceptive offers claim you can cancel online. You cannot. Then customer service tries to upsell you on keeping your subscription despite being firm about cancelling. This is unethical, illegal and breach of trust. I would never use this service again and recommend nobody ever gives them credit card info.
Products used:
Family History.
Be careful on Ancestry, you may put hours into building you tree only to have the app crash and lose whole lines of data and connections. I have also gone to the trouble of adding photos etc, only to have it disappear. It's too expensive to have this keep happening. I'm going to cut my loses now.
It has been 2 years since this started. They keep asking for another sample saying the sample is no good but can't tell me why. We are on sample #4 now! My subscription that came with purchase is long expired so even if I get a test results I cannot connect my tree to others without paying heavily
Products used:
dna test
I paid more money to subscribe to Ancestry as opposed to other genealogical research sites, as their claim and other online reviews stated they have the greatest depth of information. I soon found out they have a lot of information, but the data may not be true. When you accept their hints, even though the sight lists if you are researching the same person, it often creates a duplicate. This causes chaos in your tree. I have tried to reach their support on multiple occasions, and they have no answers and will not escalate. Don't bother with this site, just do your own internet research.
I have been a member since 2020 and was happy enough with the site, however realised today that I have been overcharged for the last 6 months and when I queried it I was advised "no refund policy"! But it's an error! I've been charged to use the US site ( which means converted to Aussie dollars I'm paying almost double!) And when I threatened to cancel my subscription after 3 years they were more than happy to cancel and get rid of me! Terrible consumer service and a refund policy that serves only their company bottom line.
Products used:
Monthly membership on direct debit
Horrible site. I had all my photos set to private as well as my trees and someone was able to use them. What really has me upset they used my info to create a tree that has my deceased father and sister as another women's husband and child. Horrifying! Stay away or use code names for everyone in your tree. I have requested the removal of at least the pictures of my family members from that users tree (several times) and it's fallen on deaf ears.
Ancestry does what you'd expect. It finds the location(s) in the world that your previous generations come from and lived. My siblings match me so it is accurate. It only goes back 3-4 generations or so but it is supposed to get better as more people search.
Records were poor 100+ years ago so it's difficult to be specific.
Bad service been trying to get a refund for the shipping and ancestry didn't do anything saying wait til tomorrow …. And what if it comes your not gonna refund me when I could have just did the regular shipping
Products used:
Still waiting to see if they will give me my money for the shipping back even tho they should already do it for it being late
I use to love ancestry.com and have been a subscriber for many years but this is my last subscription renewal. Since the last OS update on Safari, I have been unable to open records that I access through the leaf clue on Family Tree Maker. I have contacted Ancestry.com and they told me to use Google Chrome. It is a lot more trouble research that way so I will not renew. I guess Ancestry does not care if they lose subscribers. The picture below shows what happens when I click on a document e.g. census record.
Tip for consumers:
Don't subscribe if you have Family Tree Maker and a Mac computer.
Products used:
Ancestry.com
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.
Tip for consumers:
Take the 14 day trial. Be sure to set a timer otherwise you will loose track of time!
Products used:
Full service plan
My wife has been using ancestry.com for almost two years now. Recently a lot of the data she has entered just starts disappearing. She has reached out to their support and has gotten no help whatsoever. They don't reply to her emails, her phone calls, nada. I want to personally thank ancestry.com for being on the receiving end of this madness. I guess they won't mind losing that membership money. My advice is to stay away from them.
Tip for consumers:
no
Products used:
ancestry program
I looked at the site under the free trial option but did not want to subscribe. I have used the site until i saw on my credit card statement that I had been charge £13.99 for a premium I never signed up to. I tried to cancel my membership online but there was no cancel button - I was a classified as a guest member. After phone the help line I am getting half of my payments refunded as a special consideration! I am very unhappy with this process.Attached is a photo of my so-called,transactions'
Horrible customer service, the service itself is not even close to worth 40$ a month. It's a ridiculous setup hard to navigate and the hints after the first one are mostly the exact same material from different places I don't need to know the same thing 20 times. Not user friendly, and the free trial has no notification so don't expect to be warned other then in reviews.
Tip for consumers:
Get the free trail and spend as much time during the two weeks of free use setting up your tree after that you can read and access what you've done later don't sit reading through everything wait till your done going as far back as possible
Products used:
One month of service with Ancestry.com
Revived my first DNA kit 2/2/2023 waited and waited what seamed like months just to receive a message that my sample was not good! Sent another kit same thing "sample no good! Sent another kit! This time I waited for over a hour after get out of bed! No water! No coffee! Absolutely nothing! Just received a message that that test was also no good! Can someone explain to me how the cops can get DNA off a coffee cup or cigarette butt and ancestry can't get it from three tubes of saliva! This will be my fourth try!
I was going to try a membership and had all set up but cancelled the same day due to them not resolving an issue of someone posting my mothers incorrect obituary that the funeral home corrected and they threw me to four different people and resolved nothing so I cancelled and have contacted a lawyer! Don't waste your money or time they are lawless and have horrible, incompetent, arrogant, and dumb workers!
Tip for consumers:
No, just don’t do business with or trust them!!
Products used:
None, after I saw how they don’t resolve problems! I don’t waste my time and energy on poorly run businesses like this one and you can bet the government is backing them and getting all of the publics data from them and that they are both using and selling everyone’s personal data they get!! Blackstone owns them and is connected to BlackRock which is who all government employee and the military have all of their ill gotten gains invested with, they are all a bunch of deceitful, dishonest,lawless, crooks who should all be in jail!!
First of all you are making it impossible for me to work on their tree with all your daily scheduled maintenances you are basically not letting use what I am paying for and its quite a bit. I feel like I am wasting my time and money now. Second my DNA says I get my Scottish from both Parents. My Dads DNA says he has no Scottish. Seems like you are guessing. I have been using Ancestry for 25 years and WAS pretty happy, now I am very upset. It is very stressful to use you site. I hope you fix your issues soon.
Money. Money. Money.
I signed up for a free trial, then life got in the way: pandemic, family, etc. Two months pass and I forgot to cancel my subscription! Oops, no worries, or so I thought, they charge $25 to cancel. That's right $25. Cha-Ching!
So my sample got lost in the mail, there is an issue at the local usps, and now theyre making me wait until the very last minute of the 20 day return shipping time frame to send a replacement even though tracking was never scanned but the sample was received.so now it might be several months before i get any results from them. Thats why im going elsewhere next week to do the paternal one from amazon that takes two days.
Tip for consumers:
might be better off shipping it yourself via fedex or going elsewhere like me...
Products used:
dna test kit
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"
Tip for consumers:
Stay away
Mormons own this site and because of their religious beliefs (and completely ignorant to yours) they proxy baptize the dead (e.g. Your relatives). My parents know people who get paid to act as stand ins to be baptized. Hope you like your Protestant aunt or Jewish uncle having Mormon rites metaphorically performed on them.
I hate when the religious take over sites/businesses and make it all about what THEY do. Seriously, I'm an atheist and don't want any of their mumbo jumbo around my relatives.
Discover your family history and start your family tree. Try free and access billions of genealogy records including Census, SSDI & Military records.
Is this your business?
Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and manage your listing.