Enough is enough

[AngeliaR]

Automation

Automating test status notifications would be a huge improvement and will likely cut the need for direct contact with a customer service rep.

I personally hope it will include some form of indicator that will inform customers which stage of processing has been initiated even if it's as simple as "Kit Received", "Kit Batched", "Processing in Lab", "Final Qualty Check", and "Done!"

Status updates would greatly relieve the anxiety waiting customers feel during the 6 - 8 weeks (or more) until results post.

Having been in a manufacturing environment where everything is barcoded and can be traced start to finish down to the workstation and exact status of widget installation, it's hard to imagine that something like that can't be used to automate feedback here as well.

Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping to see positive change.

[tlgarrison]

Further to this, unless IT is keeping logs of all outgoing messages automatically generated for a significant period of time, it will be difficult to resolve for the reason that kit owners only find that they haven't been notified when they chance upon a new match -- which may be quite some time after the match date.

I knew that they notified me when a new match to me came in for YDNA or mTDNA but I had never received a match notification for family finder until my mother and father's results were uploaded so I figured it was just very close matches that triggered the email response.

I am also a Surname group Administrator and I get notification when only close FF matches are made ( I would not want to be notified of any matches to all of the people in our group (very large group).

I worked out my own workflow for new matches:

1) Wednesday (sometimes Thursday) new batches are created so that means that some batches were finished on those days.

2) Sunday visit your kit and sort by match date so all newest ones on top. If you are impatient or happen to think about it then check on Thursday and you will usually see 1 or two new matches). But the results don't all come in at once so come back on Sunday and check again. This week I had none on Thursday but when I checked on Friday There were 6 new matches there with September 4th dates.

3) Repeat above every week and you won't miss your matches. I think they only send FF notifications for close matches. For my YDNA I have it set to All matches. For mtDNA I have it set to all matches but there is not a setting for Family Finder Email notifications.

4) Shake your head a little because NONE of your matches have uploaded a Gedcom. And most of them will never think about it again. A missed opportunity. I hope that FTDNA will send out an email to all members to upload their Gedcom when it is re-enabled. This is my only complaint. Well that and the fact that hovering over our existing matches gedcoms ancestors no longer displays the place of birth etc. This helps eliminate common surname possibilities if they were not from same areas etc. Is this happening for other's as well?

[gtc]

I knew that they notified me when a new match to me came in for YDNA or mTDNA but I had never received a match notification for family finder until my mother and father's results were uploaded so I figured it was just very close matches that triggered the email response.

I refer, in the main, to the unreliability of Y match notifications. I don't recall ever receiving a FF match notification and I don't know if FTDNA undertakes to send out such FF notifications to individuals. (23andMe does.)

I am also a Surname group Administrator and I get notification when only close FF matches are made ( I would not want to be notified of any matches to all of the people in our group (very large group).

I'm not a Project Admin, so I don't know what type and range of notifications they are supposed to get, but I have read posts by Admins complaining of non-receipt of notifications.

It sounds to me that Project Admins are the ideal people to report such problems to Elise, as and when they occur.

I get the impression that many testers do not visit their myFTDNA pages regularly, so reliable email notifications are important.

[Sarmat]

I knew that they notified me when a new match to me came in for YDNA or mTDNA but I had never received a match notification for family finder until my mother and father's results were uploaded so I figured it was just very close matches that triggered the email response.

I refer, in the main, to the unreliability of Y match notifications. I don't recall ever receiving a FF match notification and I don't know if FTDNA undertakes to send out such FF notifications to individuals. (23andMe does.)

I have never received a notification for either Y matches (yes, it is set to email on all matches) or Family Finder matches. I always just stumble upon them by accident when I happen to check.

I do, however, frequently get mtDNA matching notifications.

[efgen]

I have never received a notification for either Y matches (yes, it is set to email on all matches) or Family Finder matches. I always just stumble upon them by accident when I happen to check. I do, however, frequently get mtDNA matching notifications.

Sarmat,

Thank you. I'll be sending your kit to IT as an example of the notification issues that still exist. I found your kit # and can see that we haven't sent you Y-DNA match notifications for at least the past year, while you have had a few new matches in that timeframe.

It's a very strange issue -- it seems to affect only a very small percentage of kits. And, when I first wrote up the bug report for IT a while back, I tried to find a pattern for which kits were getting affected, and I couldn't find one. So this bug is more difficult to diagnose and fix since we can't replicate it on-demand.

Anyway, I can't tell you exactly when this issue will be worked by IT since it'll need to get prioritized against other open bug reports. However, once they do get to it, hopefully the bug will get completely squashed this time!

Thanks,
Elise

[Sarmat]

Thank you for working on it. I appreciate it.