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Ancestry.com

Is This Your Business?
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574 User Reviews

Author: Kalicia Bateman

LAST UPDATED: February 10th, 2022

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The Good

  • Records
  • Mobile app
  • Publishing options
Ancestry.com is perhaps the biggest name in genealogy work and for good reason. Some highlights include:
    • Billions of records available to search from
    • Ability to upload images, documents and attach them to family trees
    • Mobile app works on all platforms
    • Relevant blog articles giving up-to-date information
    • Social Media presence with helpful tips and useful research information: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr
    • Instructional YouTube videos for beginners as well as more advanced research tips to more seasoned genealogists
    • Community message boards and opportunities to collaborate with others sharing common ancestors
    • Comprehensive learning center
    • Differing levels of membership based upon your individual needs
    • Customer service representatives available 7 days per week from 9AM-11PM Eastern Time
    • Publishing options for your findings
    • Software and books available
    • Industry-leading software which is easy to use
    • Ancestry.com DNA tests are cutting edge and link members to their ethnic backgrounds, but to relatives also taking the tests. Adopted individuals have flocked to take these tests and many have found their birth families through Ancestry.com DNA matching.
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The Bad

  • Pricing
  • Load time
Ancestry.com is expensive and their pricing may be out of reach for some. The most comprehensive membership option has a hefty price tag of $199/annually. Pages can be slow to load, depending on the traffic on the site. Additionally, there are regular late-night upgrades to the service which make the site inaccessible at those times. (The times and dates for updates are published on the site as a bar across the top of pages.)
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The Bottom Line

For those able to afford an Ancestry.com membership, the quantity and quality of what is available surpasses the records by the for-profit competition in the field. Ancestry.com is a solid company with the resources to back up their claims and is constantly looking for new ways to innovate and stay on top of the competition. We recommend Ancestry.com and are confident they will help with your genealogy needs. When purchasing a membership and setting up an account, setting privacy options can be tricky. One should explore the privacy policies very carefully and determine which settings are appropriate for their needs. Maintaining more private settings make collaboration more challenging (even impossible in some cases), so this information should be carefully considered.
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User Reviews

Star Rating

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4.2

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574 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

55%

4 grade

25%

3 grade

6%

2 grade

5%

1 grade

9%

Sentiment Criteria

Value

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Quality

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Service

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Trustworthiness

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Chris P Katy, TX

They just want my money. I did the DNA test and then 1 year of membership. At that point I spent $424. I accidentally let it auto-renew for 6 months of "all access" (the most expensive). I called them 3 weeks after my $211 PREPAID 6 months and begged for a refund or at least prorated refund. Nothing, no help, did not care. The agent just kept repeating "we're sorry sir, the process won't allow a refund". I asked to speak to his supervisor. Same answer. Their Customer Service won't even help me a little bit. I'm so bummed and now feel cheated and taken advantage of. I wanted to like Ancestry but they act like a massive organization that won't work with me.

5 years ago

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lrs Philippi, WV

I just started ancestry.com and so far completely disappointed. The search engine is awful. I put in my exact grandmother's name, exact dates for birth and death, and even the exact address where she lived. I made sure I selected "female." I kept getting results for male names and female names, way out of date range. So I then made sure the dates were exact, you would expect a few people pop up, but no - I got an error saying "no information available." Then, when you try to go to different websites on your own through ancestry.com, like find a grave - you are asked to subscribe and pay another subscription fee. They also boast of DNA testing. All the DNA test tells you is what ethnicity you are - well it really isn't that complicated for my family (German and Irish) - and there is no help for formulating your family tree. If you want help, you have to click "Hire and Expert." The starting price? $2,500!!!! That's STARTING. The search engine does not give you the tools you need to do this on your own. It is almost like they have to force you to hire the expert to get your lineage.

7 years ago

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divan Chino, CA

I ordered a DNA kit to be sent to a cousin in Washington however the kit was sent to me instead (at the billing address). The order status info on Ancestry and my confirmation email clearly states the correct shipping address. I spoke with Kimberly at Ancestry who stated this has happened in the past. She apologized but stated if I wanted my cousin to receive the kit, I'd have to send it to her. I asked to have a shipping label sent to me, but was told they don't provide those. Really? Ancestry ships a DNA kit to the wrong address and it's the consumer's responsibility to forward it to the correct address??? I'd already been charged $9.95 by Ancestry to ship the test, but now they expect me to pay additional shipping fees? I asked Kimberly for the address to Ancestry headquarters. When she asked why, I informed her I planned to file a complaint. She provided Ancestry.com/Support saying I would find the info there. I explained that I'd already read that page and it didn't have any contact info for the company. Her comment? "that's all I'm allowed to give". If you look on Ancestry.com you'll notice there is NO contact information whatsoever. Apparently they want you to pay exorbitant fees for membership but don't want those members to ask for assistance - even when they're the cause of the problem.

7 years ago

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R. Wilkes Memphis, TN

Poor shipment delivery service. Purchased two DNA kits from Ancestry.com who uses UPS to pickup and deliver shipment to destination city. At destination city, UPS transfers the shipment to USPS for home delivery. That logistical hand-off proves to be inefficient and can add days to final delivery time. As for my shipment, UPS delivered it to the correct city but the wrong post office location. Instead of transferring the shipment to the correct local post office for delivery, USPS forwarded the shipment to another city 200 miles away for a delivery date 3 days later! Yes, USPS shipped it 200 miles away, to ship it back 200 miles for delivery. Genius! When I called Ancestry.com the customer service rep told me that this was a USPS issue, not Ancestry.com. I purchased the DNA kit from Ancestry.com, who selected this UPS/USPS tandem for its delivery option. So, yes, this IS an Ancestry.com issue. So, please lower your standards and expectations for shipment delivery from Ancestry.com/UPS/USPS. I would suggest exploring 23 & Me who may have a better shipment and delivery process. P.S. I asked the customer service rep if by chance my order does not arrive within the delivery window outlined by Ancestry.com could I cancel my order for a refund. She said, yes, but there would be a $25 restock fee. What? As the customer I have to pay a fee for Ancestry.com's/UPS/USPS mistake and poor logistics model? In good faith, I cannot recommend Ancestry.com to a friend based on its poor delivery and customer service (deflection of the problem onto USPS).

7 years ago

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Donna McLaughlin Redding, CA

If you want to talk to a Customer Service rep. be prepared to wait up to an hour. They can't really even do anything except refer you to their supervisor, who makes a note, and then..... well, you wait...and wait...and wait. Never to hear back anything. That leaves you with having to call again. Same story; no results. In addition, the customer service representative can't even connect with a supervisor; I've been left waiting on hold for up to 25 minutes just to have her check with a supervisor. Unacceptable! Been with ancestry over 2 years; I've built quite a tree, lots of unknown links found, i.e. to Thomas Jefferson, Charlemagne, Chaucer, Kings and Queens. Very informative. But when something goes wrong on their end, they are VERY hesitant to admit fault. I've finally threatened to close my account, and now they are supposedly working hard(er) to address my problems.

8 years ago

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Shirley Tomlin Lumberton, TX

Ancestry.Com is a great site for records but so is a free site, FamilySearch.org. However, a lot of people involved in genealogy feel their ads and promotions are very misleading. The recent one about checking your surname as it might show you are royalty. That is BS. Having a name of a royal house doesn't even indicate a person has royal ancestry. Also it should mention in the ads that family trees on Ancestry.Com are not records. A person should distinguish between subscriber submitted family trees and actual records. I saw where someone found her family going back to 1150 on Ancestry.Com. Poor dingbat. Ancestry.Ciom does not have records going back to 1150. That person took information from family trees which are full of errors. Now family trees on any website are not to be trusted until verified with records but when your ads show someone pointing to a family tree it makes it appear that is how a person finds their genealogy.

11 years ago

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Patricia Davidson Nashville, TN

A couple of years ago I would have given a 9 or 10 rating, but things were changed and the site is a mess to use. If I put in a name, birthdate, place of birth, etc. - I might get that name on top of the list and it might be a hundred or so down the list with totally unrelated names in between, all mixed up. We no longer have the little "magnifying glass" that was so useful in identifying numbers and letters. In the past year and 4 months we have had Ancestry there has not been one thing I could use added - it's all England, Australia, obscure items from the US - I'm happy for the people who can use those things, but would like to have something new for Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas and a few other Southern states. If my husband wants to renew the end of this year, ok - for me, I don't think so.

11 years ago

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Bonnie Carnegie, PA

FINALLY figured out how to post a photo - but cant find how to change a profile photo. It looks nice but too many changes - will take a while to get use to it. Prices for long time subscribers should be discounted if you want to keep us. When adding to a John why do all the John's come up without their dates? Wrong media and photos can get attached to wrong John!! Frustrating.

11 years ago

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Motelgma Manchester, MD

When I started researching my family lines, Ancestry.com was wonderful and affordable. You had the option to re-new your subscription without counting off the days until it was over and having a sudden charge on your credit card! People used the service just to take a family name and adding their own bogus un-verified and un re-searched information too the name! Nothing that is public has is safe from the lazy researchers !!

11 years ago

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Kathleen Washington, MO

I had a subscription prior to 2008 and I really loved their website. Now they have made so many changes to how they index the records that it is impossible to do an exact search. I have never and would never rely on the trees people add indiscriminately to the website. My biggest complaint now is there lousy search engine. The results it returns are mostly irrelevant and require extra time to sort through. If you filter the search you get no results at all. I am glad I am not wasting my money on Ancestry.com any more..

11 years ago

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Janann27 Wood River, IL

I feel like the hints are ANNOYING, most of what I get now are hints to Find a Grave that I put in. Also, I bought the international one year in hopes of finding my paternal great x2 grandparents. Never found them and the few hints I added for my maternal great x2 grandparents is inaccessible now. I already had some info on them but wish I would have printed it out. I have been a member for quite a few years. A few years ago was told I would save $50.00 if I renewed, which I did but never saved the money, when I called it was basically too bad so sad.

11 years ago

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J A Lesich Charlottesville, VA

Ancestry.com is expensive and their pricing may be out of reach for some. The most comprehensive membership option has a hefty price tag of $199/annually. Having been a member since 2000 I was surprised that my fee was so much higher than new members. I was charged $299.40 and that does not cover all the services provided by ANCESTRY. There are sites that are absolutely FREE and proclaim to remain so forever. I'm not sure that ANCESTRY can continue to compete.

11 years ago

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arlan kickbush Colesburg, IA

had my dna tested and was was surprised to see 64% of my dna came from great britain . now you have changed it to 10% GB. THIS IS SO CALLED DNA. this is too big of a flip flop to take. don't believe a thing you say. arlan kickbush

7 years ago

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Ben Sparks, NV

Many cogent questions about using the web site are not addressed at the site. The usual wait for a customer service rep is a minimum of 15-30 minutes. They can spend the money on ubiquitous TV ads but won't spend on an adequate number of phone staff.

9 years ago

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Vivian Mason Buford, GA

I'd rate the site much higher if the DNA tool was better. No way to compare genomes with individuals makes the DNA info almost useless. Many people with DNA have no tree so without a genome tracker, it's a dead end. The search engine is cumbersome and I get so many irrelevant records. Can't get anything when I use advanced searches.

11 years ago

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Harold Green Dahlonega, GA

I have been a member for several years off and on but it has finally gotten to the point I can no longer afford it as our only income is Social Security. I will be forced not to renew my subscription when it expires this time.

11 years ago

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Nick. M

Not impressed, always trying to get you to buy some of there other services.I resigned my membership, to much of my information got out to people that I didn't want to hear from.

7 years ago

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Sophilino Tallahassee, FL

It's a great app if your family is European/American. As a Latin American woman, there is literally no information here about my family at all. I went in so excited only for it to basically tell me that I just poofed into existed.

6 years ago

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C. Bacon Ashland, WI

made changes in program without telling us how to use them? they want to sell books for you to learn rather than send questions via email?

11 years ago

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Sheryl Wilson Salt Lake City, UT

The new version needs to be revised. It's too busy and difficult to work with. It makes it really hard to research.

9 years ago

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Rocio Diaz Tallahassee, FL

Not meant for people of color or ancestry anywhere else but the US & select parts of Europe. Would not recommend if you are ethnically diverse.

6 years ago

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Josh Harold Dallas, TX

I tried using this to find out more about my ancestors through my last name but it didn’t have anything even though my last name is pretty common.

6 years ago

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Pam Chambers Norwalk, CA

The most comprehensive membership option has a hefty price tag of $199/annually.

11 years ago

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Rocio Diaz Tallahassee, FL

Not inclusive. Caters towards people with European or American ancestries, not many other ethnicities.

4 years ago

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Logan Hudson Norcross, GA

Ancestry.com is a very lengthy website to find information about ancestors. And it costs a good bit of money.

6 years ago

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Jack Boyd

Couldn't help me find my bloodline but not sure it was their fault.

7 years ago

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Donald Morgan Baton Rouge, LA

A complete cash grab. It said I was Italian and my family records proved it wrong numerous times.

6 years ago

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Scotlynn Blair Phoenix, AZ

Too expensive to find your loved ones. I tried my best to navigate but I prefer familysearch

7 years ago

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Tommy Standard

Did not give me enough info to share. Wasted money

7 years ago

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