Kits Without E-Mail in Contact Info

[loobster]

I have seen complaints recently about Kits without e-mails.

I am wondering how many of those were caused by the switch to ordering using the Shopping Cart -- at which point, you entered your name and address and e-mail - and then, if the Kit was for someone else, you entered their name and address and, if they had one and wanted to use it, you entered their e-mail address.

Many folks probably did not realize that the e-mail address they entered for themselves as person placing the order would not only not be Primary e-mail address - BUT would not be listed at all in Contact Info [unless they also listed it under name of person Kit was sent to].

[dna]

I am always going into the kit and making sure that all the contact and genealogical information is correct. Or assist the kit owner over a shared desktop session. Either of those immediately after the purchase.

W.

P.S.
Nowadays also adjusting security and privacy settings.

[Darren]

Loobster,

I am not certain if the billing email address would still have been used anyway if no new email address was listed. The engineering team has recently made changes to the shopping cart to avoid the whole mess of data not getting saved so it should no longer be a problem.
-Darren Marin
Family Tree DNA

[loobster]

Darren -

re: " the whole mess of data not getting saved " - that may well have caused some of the missing e-mail issues - and I am glad to hear it has been fixed. Is it just fixed going forward, or have those saved without data also been fixed?

The issue I saw was a bit different. The e-mail from the recipient's info was listed in Contact info.
Moreover - The sender might not realize this - because the e-mail from the person placing the order was listed on the Home Page.
(Discovered after I ordered a Kit for a cousin, and thought it was his choice that a) he was Primary e-mail and b) my e-mail was not listed at all for contact - but on getting up guts to mention, discovered he had done nothing to cause it. Do not know to what extent this may still be the case, or if it has been changed.)

Do not know for sure what happened - or happens now - if no e-mail given for recipient. But it seemed possible it might have been contributing to what some seemed to report as lots of Profiles with no e-mail.

SUGGESTION to folks who see no e-mail address in a Profile they wish to contact - try a download and see if an e-mail shows there -- because whereas recipient's e-mail showed in Profile as contact e-mail, in the download it was the e-mail of the person placing the order that was shown (and may still be the case).

DARREN - can you find out for sure if a) going forward, if no e-mail in recipient's info, will the e-mail in billing info be used as contact e-mail? and b) was that the case in the past?

[Darren]

Loobster,

Any fixes that were made would not be retroactive. I don't know the answer to your question but I will ask tomorrow when people get in and see what may be discovered.

-Darren Marin
Family Tree DNA

[Darren]

Dear Loobster,

Going forward the email address both for Billing, and if separate, Shipping, is a required field and the order cannot be completed without these fields filled in. While I cannot be certain, I thought that is how it used to be but apparently not based on your experience.

-Darren Marin
Family Tree DNA

[rba910]

Emails

I ordered kits for my children. I put their emails in the order. I hope everything is ok. Better check!

[dna]

I ordered kits for my children. I put their emails in the order. I hope everything is ok. Better check!

The e-mail addresses entered while ordering should have received kit number/password letters from FTDNA.

Ask your children to login using information provided and that they verify everything in their profiles.

W.

P.S. Unless you do that for them :-) As often parents do

[loobster]

Dear Loobster,

Going forward the email address both for Billing, and if separate, Shipping, is a required field and the order cannot be completed without these fields filled in. While I cannot be certain, I thought that is how it used to be but apparently not based on your experience.

-Darren Marin
Family Tree DNA

Darren -

It used to be - you provided one or more e-mail addresses FOR THE KIT - with one of them, if more than one, designated as the Primary e-mail address. You DID NOT say this is the e-mail for the person ordering, this is the e-mail for the person the Kit is being sent to. [I believe an e-mail was required, but - it was an e-mail for the KIT]

When they switched to separate e-mail entries for person ordering and person Kit sent to --
That is when problem I am mentioning started, as they then (without telling folks) chose to ONLY list the e-mail(s) of person Kit was sent to in the Contact Info - while listing the e-mail of the Person Ordering the Kit on the Home Page [and, to confuse things further, as the e-mail shown if someone did a Download of their matches].

I am not sure - but I think it was just the e-mail for the person placing the order that was required. Certainly, it did not occur to me that the two were being differentiated the way they were - nor that I had to put my e-mail in both places to even get notifications beyond that of kit order placed.