Ancestory a scam?

[Brightlittlecanary]

Hi

does anyone have any insight into ancestory please? I am starting to think it’s a scam, I paid for urgent delivery which was two days, it took 11, when I asked for a refund in the shipping they ignored me, no response to date. I mailed my sample in nearly five weeks ago, with priority processing and it’s not even marked as received.

I am going to contact my credit card company as they don’t respond to emails, have just taken my money and done nothing except standard mail a sample bottle, which I’ve paid it seems a hundred pounds for.

the whole thing feels a massive waste of my time so I need to do a charge back, has anyone else found them to be just a scam organisation?

I've used it for years...they are a legit company

Thanks I just don’t understand why it’s so so bad. I don’t think I’ve ever received such complete and utter failure to provide the service they took the money for. If they don’t respond by tomorrow I need to do a charge back, I really do feel like I’ve been scammed.

It took over 6 weeks for me to get the results back as it was sent to the US. I used regular shipping though.

What date did you order it, and what date was it delivered?

By the way, if things are going to and fro between the UK and the USA at the moment, it will take far longer than usual as not only do they still have a Christmas backlog, they have also changed all their customs regulations.

It takes weeks. I think mine was 5 weeks after posting before I got the results back. Theyre being posted from and.bavk to the states. Log onto your account and it'll show you the status.

They are legit, though obviously things can go missing. I think you can ask for a new test to be delivered if too much time passes - ie they accept it has been lost in transit - but I'm not sure what the time frame is. But do bear in mind that this is their busiest time of year, with the Black Friday and Christmas sales, and that stuff takes an eternity to cross the Atlantic. They probably have a massive backlog. Any matches I'm getting atm are mostly US users, whose samples from recent sales are probably processed first as the transit times are shorter.

how did you contact them?

i had the same problem as you and apparently the only way through is phone or online chat. hence my multiple emails went unanswered. i became frustrated. so i did the online chat and got a replacement kit sent. i’d recommend you do that too.

ive not returned it yet as the post has been backlogged. so i dont know how long itll take.

I posted the sample back in 8th December, so a month, the account has no update, I’m in the uk and the sample came from Ireland I think Shannon. I ordered about 2 weeks before this, with priority delivery and processing and sent it back the day after I got it. I complained to them it was 11 to deliver, and I had paid for priority mail which was supposed to be two, and no one responded.

I then emailed on Monday, said it’s been a month, it’s not even updated as received , got an automated email, nothing since. I also paid for priority processing.

i also keep getting spam emails from them offering be discounts.

ivr sent them one last email and said I’m contacting my card supplier

Ok will chat them tomorrow, it’s a really poor service, I’ve been emailing them, getting an automated response then nothing.

This is all I see.

The Ancestry site states that results normally take six to eights weeks from posting and can be longer at busier times of the year.

You just wait. We did ours together my DP’s took about 6 weeks mine a lot longer I think over 2 months. I assume mine was checked as some unusual dna markers.

I missed that you paid for priority service. Five weeks does seem quite long so I would chase it up with the online chat.

Where on the site does it say you can fast track it in two days? I can't see it.

Priority mail when you order.

Definitely use the chat function to contact them as friends have said emails are never replied to but that chat is.

Can’t help on the rest, but if you unsubscribe from the emails that will help on that front. Even though they should abide by UK rules when selling into the UK, and make email marketing opt-in, most US companies still have it as opt-out, or overuse the ‘legitimate business’ allowance in the GDPR and PECR.

I’d have expected it to even say received though,,and maybe I didn’t understand when paying for priority delivery and priority processing that it was just a waste of money, but I’d expect some form of communication, I mean it’s been 7 weeks since I was emailing about the postage, now I’m emailing about it not being received, last one Monday, nothing back, on any of my emails. No sample received, just radio silence. I will chat or call tomorrow.

Ok shall co that, thank you,

The dna thing takes ages. Mine took about 3 months from memory & that wasn’t over Christmas post

Maybe my expectations were off then…

Hmm, I personally wouldn't put my DNA out there, but if I did want this service I would not use somewhere based thousands of miles away

They are the biggest company, and therefore have the biggest database of possible relatives to match you with.

I've found them to be very good.

I was very sceptical. However my husband was matched with his nephew. Neither knew the other was doing it and they don’t share a surname.

I signed up for what was a fairly basic Ancestry sub and ever since I've had emails from them saying "we've found an exciting new ancestor/addition for your family tree,Tarty. Please sign in to view it.
So I sign in and they tell me they have found my great uncle's second cousin twice removed and I can view all the details by upgrading my subscription.
So far I have managed to contain my excitement. (I am definitely not paying any more to view details of someone I have never heard of. )