How to get gifted kit to show up in my account?

[Robertjm]

Hi all,

Recently a cousin bought me an early Christmas gift, a Y37 test. Today it arrived in the mail, and I'm all set to do the swabs and get it back in the mail. But, I'm a little confused about something.

When I look at my account, there's no place to register the kit, like I did when I did the autosomal transfer from Ancestry.

Is this going to show up in my account once it is processed, or is it forever tied to her account?

Thanks!

Robert

[The_Contemplator]

There is no need to register a kit number. You use a kit number to log in. That kit number is tied to one person's tests.

Did your cousin give you the kit number and password or did she use your email account so only you can see the kit number and password? If so, you have control of your account.

Once your results are processed, your account will have a section for those results automatically. So you only need to collect a sample, send it, and wait for results.

Wait did you already had an account before she got your that Y test? Do you have the kit number for that test?

[dna]

@Robertjm, when you login to administer your account, there is a kit number in the top left corner below your name.

Take a look and compare to the kit number on vials (test kit you had received).

Please let us know whether the numbers are the same.

[prairielad]

Hi all,

Recently a cousin bought me an early Christmas gift, a Y37 test. Today it arrived in the mail, and I'm all set to do the swabs and get it back in the mail. But, I'm a little confused about something.

When I look at my account, there's no place to register the kit, like I did when I did the autosomal transfer from Ancestry.

Is this going to show up in my account once it is processed, or is it forever tied to her account?

Thanks!

Robert

Currently this kit would be assigned its own kit number and password (its own separate account), unless cousin logged onto your account and ordered upgrade.

If cousin ordered through your ftdna homepage, test would already be registered and listed under Order History.

If kit was not ordered through your account, the vials, as dna mentions, will list a different kit number to what is listed as your account number. You will have to contact FTDNA and request them to associate/change order to be associated with you FTDNA account (may need cousins consent)

FTDNA phone number is
713-868-1438
Mon-Thurs 9am-4:30pm CST
Fri 9am-Noon

or use their contact form and inquire what steps you need to take to merge accounts
https://www.familytreedna.com/contact.aspx

Another option is to send Darren a PM here on forum and inquire
http://forums.familytreedna.com/member.php?u=9333

[Robertjm]

Thanks! I ended calling about 10 minutes after they closed today so sent them a message. Will call them on Monday.

[loobster]

Best of luck.
There really are major advantages to having them both be parts of the Same Account. I can understand your cousin not knowing that, but sure hope all works out! And if you have not mailed back - definitely think will be easier to get straightened out if talk to Customer Service before sending in.

(PS - If you are on good enough terms to be gifted this way by your Cousin, I assume you are on speaking terms. Suggest - contact your Cousin and ask her to forward to you the e-mail giving the kit number and password. Also - decide whether you are willing to share your kit number and password with your Cousin, so she can see all your info, or if not, talk with her and decide - are you willing to reimburse her, or is she willing to have paid and not be able to see results.)

[Robertjm]

We're definitely on speaking terms. Sadly, we're the only two who are extremely active when it comes to family history.

She provided me with the log info, so I was able to get in to that profile and make changes (i.e.: names, contact info, etc.), so that's all good.

My biggest thing was that I would like to have this test's stuff show up in my profile in the same profile as my transferred Ancestry dna test, which I'd set up earlier.

Their phones are pretty busy today so I'll try it again later to talk with someone.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

[dna]

We're definitely on speaking terms. Sadly, we're the only two who are extremely active when it comes to family history.

She provided me with the log info, so I was able to get in to that profile and make changes (i.e.: names, contact info, etc.), so that's all good.

My biggest thing was that I would like to have this test's stuff show up in my profile in the same profile as my transferred Ancestry dna test, which I'd set up earlier.

Their phones are pretty busy today so I'll try it again later to talk with someone.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

You have to talk to FTDNA about merging of the profiles.

I do not know whether they have the rules which profile stays, but that should not matter to you as it is just a number used for your logins. Your matches would not notice anything changing.

P.S.
If you were in a mtDNA or Y-DNA project, projects could be displaying kit numbers of the participants, but you are not.

[Robertjm]

Funny you should suggest that, because I was thinking that it might be simpler to merge "my" profile with the newer one simply because all it had was the Ancestry DNA transfer, which I'd paid for. As long as they're going to do it for free, and I don't have to pay to unlock it again, I don't really don't care which one gets transferred into which one.

Could never get through on the phones to them today. Half the time the phone was busy. The other half I was on hold for at least five minutes, or more. Then I forgot they leave at 4:30p Central, rather than 5p, so I'll be calling them tomorrow again.

[Robertjm]

FOLLOW UP: resolution

Just a quick followup in case anyone ever searches the forums for a resolution to a similar situation.
---------------
They've going to merge the two kits, merging my original one into the kit my cousin gifted me.

First they will need to delete the autosomal record, and then I upload it to the new kit. Then they'll unlock it, and it'll be all in one location, which is what I was hoping for. The original autosomal kit number will be deleted once it's all completed so there won't be duplication in the data.

They'll even send me an email when it's ready so I don't have to keep monitoring it. :-)

They even added the new kit to the projects for me so I wouldn't have to go through the process of being approved.

Total changeover will be only a few days, which I'm happy with since the yDNA kit won't be back until February.

[loobster]

YAY!!
(would you believe - that cannot be posted - got the error message "The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters." )

[Robertjm]

Actually, I can. There's a setting within most forum software, where the administrator can set a minimum character length. I think it defaults to 10 characters, though that's off the top of my head.

YAY!!
(would you believe - that cannot be posted - got the error message "The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters." )