Data Transfer Problem

[deltadwn]

On May 3, 2014 I transferred data from 23andMe to FTDNA for two of my family members - "Patty" and my sister. I have transferred three family members' data in the past year without any problems. My sister's results were available within three days or so. However, Patty's is still not available and it's been almost two weeks.

On Patty's Home Page it displays mid-page near Family Finder: "Ordered 5/3/2014" When I click on "Awaiting Results" it states "You are not currently waiting on any results".

I sent an email to FTDNA's Help Desk on May 8th and received one of those generic emails that assigned a Request ID number. Now it's been a week and still no response to my problem from the Help Desk. It's getting very frustrating to not have the results that should have taken only a few days; and not getting any answers from the Help Desk as to what the problem may be. By the way, my credit card was charged for both my sister and Patty's data transfer.

Would one of you please help me? In other words, what steps would you take to get this resolved? Thank you

[efgen]

Hi there,

Customer Support currently has a huge backlog of email, so that's why you haven't heard back yet. But you definitely will once they get to your email.

In the meantime, I'm thinking it's possible that your uploads were rejected, otherwise they would have been processed right away. Please log into your myFTDNA accounts and see if there's a "Transfer Results - Click Here to Upload" icon near the top of the page. If so, then your original upload was not accepted.

If these tests were done at 23andMe after Oct/Nov 2013, then they were done using a new version of the 23andMe test that is not compatible with Family Finder at Family Tree DNA.

Tests done after Oct/Nov 2013 are version 4 (V4). Tests done prior to that date for the last few years were version 3 (V3). And there's also an older version 2 (V2). Only V3 is compatible with Family Finder.

If the version is the issue, then you have two options:
- Cancel the transfer, get a full refund
- Change your order to a regular FF test. What you already paid will be applied to the new order, you'll pay the additional $30 and a swab kit will be mailed out.

Customer Support can process either of these changes for you once they respond to your email. You can also update your request by replying to the automated response that contained your request ID.

Elise

[deltadwn]

I found out that the DNA was genotyped on the V4 version. Wouldn't it save a lot of hassle for 23andMe customers and FTDNA - to emphasize on the Transfer/Upload page that it is imperative that they [23andMe Customers] check what version they have before attempting the upload? Probably the good majority of people trying to transfer data have no clue what version they have, and don't pay attention to FTDNA's statement: "We accept....the Relative Finder V3 raw data file from 23andMe." Kind of a vague statement anyway for the general population to understand. Why couldn't FTDNA adjust their tests to accommodate the newer V4 version? I guess they don't want transfer business from the newer 23andMe customers.

At any rate, since I was not able to upload the data from my 87-year-old cousin's 23andme account, I do not want to order a new FTDNA kit to be sent to her to be tested (we were barely able to get her to submit to the 23andMe testing). So I have requested a refund. Thanks just the same for your help.

[Jim Barrett]

They don't pay attention

Wouldn't it save a lot of hassle for 23andMe customers and FTDNA - to emphasize on the Transfer/Upload page that it is imperative that they [23andMe Customers] check what version they have before attempting the upload? Probably the good majority of people trying to transfer data have no clue what version they have, and don't pay attention to FTDNA's statement: "We accept....the Relative Finder V3 raw data file from 23andMe."

And why do you thing they would pay attention to a more detailed statement?

[Parameswara]

Why couldn't FTDNA adjust their tests to accommodate the newer V4 version? I guess they don't want transfer business from the newer 23andMe customers.

Maybe because in V4 version the SNP 23andme test is less than 600k and just about 300k SNP that overlap with FTDNA autosomal test. So maybe for FTDNA, 300k SNP not enough for matching people in their database.

[T E Peterman]

It is imperative that everyone be tested/ compared using the same set of SNPs; otherwise we would be mixing apples & oranges.

If the 23andme test included all Family Tree DNA SNPs, plus more, the simple solution would be to keep what we can use & drop the rest. But since the reverse is true, 23andme v4 data is unusable.

Timothy Peterman