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1.4 177 Reviews

Ancestry Complaints Summary

17 Resolved
149 Unresolved
Our verdict: With Ancestry's very poor resolution rate, careful consideration is needed. Research their service comprehensively, and read up on how they handle customer disputes. If you face issues, be prepared for potential challenges in obtaining resolutions and explore other service providers as backups.
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Ancestry reviews & complaints 177

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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
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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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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7:11 pm EDT

Ancestry web site

Been a member 10 years for lack of an alternative, and for the last few years at highest level. But they have

1) Never fixed relationship calculation errors that I have alerted them to multiple times. Are not fixing foundational issues chasing bells & whistles.

2) Their servers seem to crash regularly, making parts of tips or trees unavailable. I suspect they have oversold relative to capacity.

3) Charge your payment method without authorization. Make it difficult to avoid auto renewal by not taking checks or prepaid cards. And say they remove payment method but do not if making a one time authorization. I have had this happen several times, & I gather I am not alone.

4) They don't moderate trolls, so one basically has to shut off contact internally from everyone. To avoid those outraged by trees that contradict their info. Or those having done little or no work on their own tree who believe they are entitled to full access of your years of research. PS. This after I stated clearly in my profile that I am happy to answer specific questions but don't share my tree.

5) Early adopter on DNA test, but underwhelmed re level of detail. Feels like it doesn't go very far back either.

6) Long waits for customer service which ineffectual & no real follow-up .

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2:09 am EDT

Ancestry ancestry.com / ancestry subscription cancellation.

I set up a trial account to like around and look at some old family records. Cancelled, or so I though, immediately, only to find a month later I had a 45 dollar charge on my card for the service... that I had cancelled. I later went back and cancelled, this time for good, and discovered along the way that they possessed no refund policy and that their cancellation process is intentionally misleading.

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10:30 pm EDT
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Ancestry ancestry.com dna test/ results

Ancestry.com goes to great lengths advertising their abilities to find out what your roots are, in particular the latest tv commercials where an individual starts by say "all my life I thought I was — , but when I took the ancestry dna test I found out I am italian serbian this and this there are at least 4 of these kinds of commercials on tv which deceive the public by actually lying as the test results are not that specific so ancestry.com is actually making false and deceptive claims and lying to consumers
After waiting 2 months and paying over $100 I finally got notice via email my dna test results were ready I raced home from work to find nothing but an evasive test result with a pie showing I am 81% western european which encompasses belgium france germany switerland lichtenstein on and on and a small percentage of this and that the test results are so wide spread
I am so irritated that I fell for this lark this is nothing but a money making scheme
I want a refund as this company ancestry.com is deceptive in making false claims

Patricia berrisch
[protected]@gmail.com
[protected]

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7:24 pm EDT

Ancestry dna testing

As a family project, my children and I purchased DNA test kits from Ancestry.com. I am fortunate enough to know my genealogy and detailed records recording where my family is from; however, I went along with the testing so we could create a family tree and research possible relatives using the company's app. When the test results were returned, it showed my children were all related, but I was not. Having carried them all during pregnancy and birthing all three, I am confident we are related. We all had a good laugh at my results and knew they were clearly wrong. I contacted Ancestry.com to tell them about the error, but instead of offering to do a new test, the representative on the phone argued with me and told me the results were correct and the lab never makes an error. When I asked how it was possible for my children not to be related, she indicated we were not doing something correctly in the system. The customer service is terrible and It seems like this whole thing is a scam; simply a way to rip people off. There are no checks on accuracy within the lab, so I am not sure any of the results are trustworthy.

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6:10 pm EDT

Ancestry Trial period.. Than charged..28.71

Hello I have found it extremely difficult to cancel my subscription with you. I am unemployed and although I used your service to find out a few details I have not used your site or service e for over 6 weeks and was under the impression that i was not going to be charged.
please credit my account t to the sum of 28.71 as I have not asked for further subscription and have tried to cancel but find your site very user unfriendly. I am unhappy with this service as Igot nowhete beyond what I already knew. .Ps i cannot afford to be in the red as I get further charges.
thank you.

Suzie Lindesay

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6:04 pm EST

Ancestry Ancestry. com kept charging after cancellation

I cancelled, out at least believed I had cancelled my subscription at least 3 months ago. Found out today that I have been getting charged $19.99 every single month. And of course since I didn't write down a cancellation number or keep an email, I'm now out at least $60. When I called in and waited for around a half hour to talk to someone. I'm told that they will cancel my subscription, but can't refund me my money. I told the customer service guy that he could even look up the last time I logged in and that's the date that I thought I had cancelled my subscription. But he wouldn't even do that! This is complete and total crap. How is it OK to basically steal money from people? And not even want to try to make it right with the people your company stole the money from? As soon as I submit this, I shall be filling a complaint with the BBB also. Hopefully other people read this and do not get scammed the same as I did!

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Dot williams
Savannah, US
Mar 26, 2020 11:57 am EDT
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Call your credit card company. They'll take care of this mess!

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8:01 am EDT
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Ancestry Trial membership

Signed up for a free 2-week trial membership, which I cancelled one week into the trial. The woman I spoke to on phone last week told me it was already cancelled. She confirmed it was, and assured me nothing further was needed. This morning I discovered Ancestry charged my account for a month service w/taxes anyway. I called to complain. The man cancelled my subscription again, and told me if I wanted to complain I would need to write to Orem, Utah. He couldn't take it over the phone.

I also didn't care for the service - it was difficult to use, and after one week of inputting my family tree, it became wiped out through nothing I did. It also didn't link my ancestral lines like some other genealogy sites do.

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11:05 am EDT
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Ancestry Unauthorized credit card charges

My card was charged $9.99 without my knowledge, called company @ [protected] to ask question why was my card charged it was stated I don't have a file with them so I have the fellow why was my card charged if there's no file on the question was asked and info was provided that's when I was told to contact [protected]@ancestry.com

August 31, 2016
Card Charged without permission
Request a Refund

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5:30 pm EDT

Ancestry Ancestry search of surname

There ought to be a law
Well here is my story.
I became interested in my family tree about 15 years ago so I started with Family tree Maker but that program was limited so I moved to Ancestry.com. I hired the genealogy staff to trace my surname back as far as possible. I was quoted a fee of $3000.00 for 25 hours of work. Three months later the research was wrapped up. I received a binder which was sparsely filled but I do have a small family so I moved on.
During the research a separate tree was created (ProGen Tree) this tree contained the result of the research for my surname, documentation and the individual family members.
This information was informative and resolved some mysteries of my surname. I now wanted to copy this information along with the documents to my tree. I was given a four step process which did not work. I wrote to the account manager and got this response “Hi, I am not sure why the locations would not match. I wish I could help. That is very strange. Please call our Tech Support Line at [protected] & they will be able to assist you. “Called tech support three times they were unable to copy the documents to my tree. Contacted the account manager again he sent the same procedure, contacted Tech Support again they think my status as a guest on the ProGen Tree is the problem. So I contacted the account manager to have my status changed so I can copy. The account manager responded “. I'm sorry, but it is ProGen's policy not to make anyone an editor of a ProGen tree as it could compromise the integrity of the data if someone uploaded faulty information. You will have to transfer it all individually to your own tree. My sincere apologies, but that is the company policy we all have to follow.”
The result of my experience with Ancestry.com was negative, unacceptable and unprofessional.

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Dot williams
Savannah, US
Mar 26, 2020 12:07 pm EDT
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I paid Legacy Tree $2, 350 because Ancestry gets paid by Legacy Tree to advertise on their page. I knew nothing about anything and Legacy Tree lied and told me they were connected with Ancestry. LIARS! Legacy Tree is the worst. They got both of my grandparents parents incorrect. All this money I spent for 20 hours of work. How do you know they work? I think they sit on their duff and pick their noses. Then they wanted $3, 000 for 20 hours of more work. This whole DNA stuff is a SCAM! Plus, I have to listen to filipinos speak that I can't understand. Give Americans JOBS! NOT FILIPINOS!

Customer service is extremely RUDE!

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12:48 pm EST
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Ancestry Ancestry.com access

I have paid over $3000 for nothing. Every time I tried to access the ancestry website it told me I had to pay, I already had an account that I have been paying monthly for $19.99. Apparently, Ancestry entered in the wrong user ID for me which caused me not to have access to the website. I have not been able to access the website since I joined. This was their fault not mine but I am being punished for their negligence. I have tried to cancel and contact them for months. When I finally got ahold of someone they said they were sorry but there was nothing they could do to give me any of my money back but they could cancel my account. I have lost thousands of dollars and they are sorry, what a scam. They should lose their license to operate when they fraudulently take money out of your account and you get no service. They don't even care that this happened.

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7:27 am EST

Ancestry I paid $3000 and got absolutely nothing!

I have some information about my family and wanted to complete my family tree. So I joined this website looking up for more information. I decided to use their professional genealogy services and paid over $3000! I sent them my family tree that had been handwritten by my grandfather, my parents and me. I was told it might take a while but they would try to find my ancestors. Well, recently I received a message that my tree was complete. I was so excited! But then I received my booklet and realized there was no new information. There was absolutely no additional information! I contacted ancestry.com ad was told they need to verify some information. I gave them everything I had, so what do they need to verify? I paid $3000 and got absolutely nothing!

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5:16 pm EST

Ancestry Site Upgrade

They forcefully rolled out their new site today. Don't get me wrong, I love change - really I do. These changes, however, were not for the better - not even close. What were they thinking? What a disaster. It's UGLY, jumbled with useless crap I don't need to see constantly. It's MUCH harder to navigate, sources are placed in a way that it is difficult to copy/share, it's almost impossible to add a new person without jumping through hoops. I used to be able to edit a person with one click, now it takes 4-5 depending on what page I'm on. That is not a time saver. And I see that the same old garbage "hints" are still around. Like the one showing that my grandmother who was born in 1912 miraculously had 4 children born in [protected] or the hint that shows my Uncle Ray (who is still alive and I just spoke with) and his wife (who died in 2013) as having died on the same day in 1963 (on the day their only son was born). Instead of completely revamping the look of the site, ancestry.com needs to focus on the information they are providing. If they want to be the best, they need to offer the best. And that ain't happening. They've made it quite clear they DO NOT CARE about their customers. While they do excel at, and continue to be, the greediest of all genealogy sites by buying up companies and databases, they don't have all of them yet. You can sign up for *several* other services for the same price of an Ancestry account. Don't waste your money on Ancestry.

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Jan To
, US
Feb 03, 2016 5:07 am EST

I am in complete agreement . I cannot believe nearly TWENTY YEARS of work corrupted by useless information I don't need applied to my tree. With this new look roll out my entire tree is a mess of relationship names linked incorrectly, dates added and information missing, information that I painstakingly did due diligence and provence on, now distorted with a myriad of mistakes.. Ancestry showed a complete disregard for factual data personally created by the genealogist/ family historian.ME.! My family tree is no longer a relevant testimony to the years and years of work and yes monies paid by me. I too understand change but am utterly dismayed at the totally irrelevant crap that you have forced into my family lines. I cannot now share with family members because data is shown incorrectly. I will now do my best to remove my tree. Ancestry is no longer useful for the serious researcher with the changes happening without concern for factual SUBMITTED information now ending up as a mangled mess.OH and you pay for that privilege.. DONT.

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5:21 am EST

Ancestry They provided only some general details

I recently used the website www.AncestrybyDNA.com and was disappointed that I wasted money. I paid and hoped to get real report about my ancestors. But the website provided some general details and it wasn’t what I really needed. I asked to return $120, which I have paid for the report, but the company hasn’t even reacted to my email. Don’t waste money for some general details, which you can find in the Internet.

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12:47 pm EST

Ancestry DNA Test Results

Purchased 9/23/2015. Paid in full with credit card, via Amazon.com. Cannot file complaint with either company, due to computer hacker. Ancestry will not release the results or send email notification of findings. Require hard copy of the results, or full refund, including shipping cost. Packing slip not provided by either merchant.

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Steve Clemons
, US
Mar 01, 2016 2:30 pm EST

We submitted three kits for analysis at the end of January 2016. Today, March 1st, is the first time I received any information from Ancestry.com as to when the results will be ready, which they say will be in another 3-5 weeks. In their marketing/promotional materials, there is no disclosure that it will take up to three months to get a turn-around in the results. The materials lead the consumer to think that the results may be delivered within a couple of weeks. This is very poor customer service and I definitely could not recommend this service.

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7:52 pm EDT

Ancestry False/Misleading Free 14-day membership trial

I signed up for what I thought was a 14-day free trial on Ancestry.com. The company then deducted several hundred dollars on my credit card account, and claimed I signed up for a full annual account. There is no way I did this since I only intended to use the website for a couple days before a family reunion (during the 14 day trial). I feel as though they are committing blatant theft of unsuspecting customers! When I called to say I never signed up for this annual membership, they insisted this is what I selected (which I never would have done--if I'd been forced to choose, I would have chosen the least expensive option). I believe their website is fraudulent and auto-populates an annual membership without making it clear to people who think they are innocently signing up for a free 14-day trial. Customer service was TERRIBLE and the SUPERVISOR was surprisingly rude. Wouldn't even offer a partial refund. I'm completely disturbed by this company's business practices and customer service. Shame on them.

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utka
, US
Jun 06, 2016 4:36 pm EDT
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Ancestry is SCAM! Please do not repeat my mistake, do not open any account.This is fraud!

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3:19 pm EDT
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Ancestry Ancestry website

This company is a total rip off. I took out what I thought to be a one month subscription in March 2015. It has came to light that they have continued to take money from my credit card every month for the past five months. I had been unaware of this and was shocked to see they had been doing this I rang the company and demanded my money back as they could check out that I had not used their service any time since the March. They have ref}used to refund me except for the last payment that came out as {a good will gesture}! I think that the advertising is totally misleading and I made the stupid mistake of not reading the terms and conditions. They are clearly hoping there are more fools like me who subscribe not realising the consequences.

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Ancestry Customer Reviews Overview

Ancestry.com is a popular genealogy website that allows users to trace their family history and build their family tree. The website has received numerous positive reviews from users who have found it to be a valuable resource for discovering their ancestry.

One of the most praised aspects of Ancestry.com is its extensive database of records, which includes census records, birth and death certificates, military records, and more. Users have found that this database makes it easy to find information about their ancestors and build a comprehensive family tree.

Another positive aspect of Ancestry.com is its user-friendly interface. The website is easy to navigate, and users can quickly search for records and add information to their family tree. Additionally, Ancestry.com offers a variety of tools and resources to help users with their research, including tutorials and webinars.

Many users have also praised Ancestry.com's customer service, noting that the company is responsive and helpful when users have questions or issues with the website. The website also offers a variety of subscription options to fit different budgets and needs.

Overall, Ancestry.com has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from users who have found it to be a valuable resource for discovering their family history. With its extensive database, user-friendly interface, and helpful customer service, Ancestry.com is a top choice for anyone interested in tracing their ancestry.

Ancestry In-depth Review

Website Design and User Experience: The website design of Ancestry.com is clean and user-friendly, making it easy to navigate and find the information you need. The layout is intuitive, with clear menus and search options, ensuring a smooth user experience.

Database Size and Coverage: Ancestry.com boasts an extensive database with billions of records, covering a wide range of geographical locations and time periods. Whether you're searching for ancestors from Europe, Asia, or the Americas, you're likely to find valuable information to help you uncover your family history.

Research Tools and Features: Ancestry.com offers a plethora of research tools and features to assist users in their genealogical research. From advanced search filters to record hints and DNA matching, these tools provide valuable insights and help users make connections with their ancestors.

Membership Options and Pricing: Ancestry.com offers various membership options to suit different needs and budgets. From monthly subscriptions to annual plans, users can choose the option that best fits their requirements. While the pricing may seem a bit steep for some, the wealth of resources and features provided make it worth the investment for serious genealogists.

Customer Support and Assistance: Ancestry.com provides excellent customer support and assistance. Their support team is responsive and knowledgeable, ready to help users with any issues or questions they may have. Additionally, the website offers extensive FAQs, tutorials, and community forums where users can find answers and connect with fellow researchers.

Privacy and Security Measures: Ancestry.com takes privacy and security seriously. They have robust measures in place to protect user data and ensure the confidentiality of personal information. Users can feel confident that their sensitive data is safe and secure while using the platform.

Accuracy and Reliability of Results: Ancestry.com strives for accuracy and reliability in their results. While no genealogy website can guarantee 100% accuracy, Ancestry.com employs rigorous data verification processes and collaborates with reputable sources to provide users with reliable information. However, it's always recommended to cross-reference and verify findings through additional sources.

Community and Collaboration Features: Ancestry.com offers a vibrant community and collaboration features that allow users to connect with others who share their genealogical interests. Users can collaborate on family trees, share research findings, and even connect with distant relatives, enhancing the overall research experience.

Additional Resources and Educational Materials: Ancestry.com provides a wealth of additional resources and educational materials to help users in their genealogical journey. From informative articles and webinars to online courses and expert advice, users can expand their knowledge and improve their research skills.

Overall Rating and Recommendation: Ancestry.com is a highly recommended genealogy website that offers a comprehensive platform for researching family history. With its user-friendly design, vast database, powerful research tools, and supportive community, it provides an excellent experience for both beginners and experienced genealogists. While the pricing may be a consideration for some, the wealth of resources and features make it a worthwhile investment for those serious about uncovering their ancestral roots.

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