For those awaiting Y results

[lgmayka]

So tell me, how much long do you want to wait before taking action? How about a lawyer? Isn't it high time for a lawsuit?

I myself am only a volunteer administrator. If I "cause too much trouble," FTDNA can simply remove me.

Individual project members may take stronger action, but that's up to them--it is not my place to suggest or encourage such action.

[ekc123]

And how are a lawyer or lawsuit helping in running the lab tests?

I would like to see the Big Y results I had ordered, and I do not care about some lawyer needing more cash. I have no idea about German lawyers, but here even if I won in the court, often there would be some money I would need to give to the lawyer representing me.

A true story (from North America, and I do not think it would be different in the EU). Home owners wanted to change their fridge doors, so they ordered new doors from the manufacturer. The manufacturer gave only an estimate for the delivery. The estimate kept changing, and the new set was manufactured around six months after the purchase. A full refund was always an option. But why would they go for that? What would any litigation accomplish?

We are asking FTDNA to communicate the status of the tests (any test). Otherwise the forum gets full of very good explanations: samples dropped on the floor, an IT disaster, a power outage, etc.

W. (Mr.)

Lawyers are in it for the money just like anyone else; there's no doubt about that. As to whether lawyers could affect change in the way a company does business, there are ample examples of how lawyers have been able to achieve results where others could not. There is typically a reasonableness standard that is applied to businesses in general in determining what is reasonable in the context of a contractual agreement in a given industry. What might be reasonable in one context might not be in another. It all depends: 1) on what is being explicitly or even implicitly promised by the parties and 2) failing that, the standard practice of others similarly situated in the industry. If other companies customarily force customers to wait for months on end to receive results, then it might be argued that taking several months to run these tests and delivering results only after several months of waiting is reasonable.

Aside from that, a bigger issue is whether FTNDA has a duty to notify customers of supply issues that affect the availability of a product it is offering for sale. It continued to offer these tests, knowing that one of the components needed to process the str tests, would no longer be available and that it would have to formulate a workaround to continue processing str tests.

Whether or not it is worthwhile to pursue a claim is another matter altogether. Since this is a hobby, I am personally inclined against such action, although I can fully understand why someone who has been waiting five - or six or eight - months might consider lodging a complaint with the AG or some other similar action. I am fully convinced that the problems are not with the lab(s), but rather are owing to a lack of efficiency on the part of the company as a whole. Accuracy seems to not be a big concern, judging from the reported errors that have remained for months on the haplotree page for my haplogroup.

[Tenn4ever]

BATCH 596

Patience is now gone...a royal pest I am going to be. New dates for expected results 3/11/15 with no explanation....that's 17, yes, seventeen weeks almost 4 1/2 months for a Y37 test which already had a Family Finder test in quickly..no problem with the sample.

Tomorrow will be the day for non-stop complaining.

[KimmyNOLA]

Batch 600, where are you??

Where oh where are my father's Y37 results? Ordered December 6th and the sample was already in-house from a successful Family Finder test... and is this the new norm? Now I wish I'd just gone ahead and ordered the Y111 and been done with it. Sigh.

[GoofusBroadway]

Batch 602 - FF received, still waiting on y-37

Ordered together on 1 Dec 2014. Batched together on 25 Dec 2014.

FF results came in on 20 Jan 2015. (A little less than 4 weeks.)

Date expected for y-37 has changed at least twice. (Maybe 3 times, but I've lost count.) Yesterday the expected dates were 2-11 to 2-25. Today they are 2-25 to 3-11.

Pretty frustrating.

My guess is that the lab is overloaded because of sales, coupons, etc. And that "someone" has overbooked their time. They probably didn't add extra technicians to help with the extra work.

(Just a guess, mind you.)
Kathy

[TeresaJill]

don't hold your breath

If batch 599 Y upgrades (38-67) aren't done, I'm guessing your results aren't going to be done in that new timeline.

The stuff I'm waiting for was an upgrade using an existing sample that had no troubles the first time.

[ekc123]

Another deadline passed and still no results on final y111 panel. The completion date of 2/11 - 2/25 has changed to 2/25 - 3/11. If my results are not ready by this latest deadline, I am seriously thinking about following others' lead and filing a complaint, especially given the company's failure to inform people about the supply-related backlog.

[Darren]

lgmayka,

Regarding those long outstanding Big Y tests have you contacted the helpdesk for status updates on the kits? At least they can check to make sure the test is running or if a new sample is needed etc.

-Darren
Family Tree DNA

[M123]

Ordered together on 1 Dec 2014. Batched together on 25 Dec 2014.

FF results came in on 20 Jan 2015. (A little less than 4 weeks.)

Date expected for y-37 has changed at least twice. (Maybe 3 times, but I've lost count.) Yesterday the expected dates were 2-11 to 2-25. Today they are 2-25 to 3-11.

The same with 601 y37-67!

[M123]

My guess is that the lab is overloaded because of sales, coupons, etc. And that "someone" has overbooked their time. They probably didn't add extra technicians to help with the extra work.

(Just a guess, mind you.)
Kathy

Perhaps the laboratory assistants - it is the students who work part time leisurely in their free time? Then the employer is better to change them to professionals.

[lgmayka]

Regarding those long outstanding Big Y tests have you contacted the helpdesk for status updates on the kits? At least they can check to make sure the test is running or if a new sample is needed etc.

Both I and the project members have asked the Help Desk and/or the GAP contact about at least some of these kits. We have sometimes eventually gotten various excuses (and sometimes no answer at all), but nothing actually gets done.

The most obvious sign of inactivity is that the projected completion dates have never been updated. One gets the strong impression that test orders all too easily just "fall into the cracks," never to be seen again until someone makes enough noise. This is particularly upsetting for such an expensive test ($400-$700).

[mafe]

FYI: Upgrade from Y-DNA12 to Y-DNA37 in batch 601 completed 2/25/2015.

[MikeP]

Thank you for posting, mafe. This the first sign of progress in weeks ... hopefully not an isolated sign ...

[RandyZie]

thanks for sharing mafe

[dna]

Both I and the project members have asked the Help Desk and/or the GAP contact about at least some of these kits. We have sometimes eventually gotten various excuses (and sometimes no answer at all), but nothing actually gets done.

The most obvious sign of inactivity is that the projected completion dates have never been updated. One gets the strong impression that test orders all too easily just "fall into the cracks," never to be seen again until someone makes enough noise. This is particularly upsetting for such an expensive test ($400-$700).

So it is not that I did not try...

Today, I have phoned FTDNA Support. Oh boy, they are busy. I have talked to a nice lady about the delayed Big Y.

And learned that a new collection kit was sent out last week. Kind of makes sense, since the samples in storage are now more than 5 years old. At that time 3 vials were collected, so let's say there was the 3rd vial to try.

However, I have envisioned a similar scenario and phoned FTDNA Support in January requesting an additional collection kit, since the kit owner is 99 years old. My January request is on file... I will wait a little. How long should I wait given that USPS can send packages into a blackhole?

FTDNA please consider that the improvements are needed in the following areas:

• no notification that the new collection kit is required (neither by e-mail, nor in the status page, nor in GAP);
• no e-mail was sent out with tracking information for either collection kit; and on new kits an e-mail gets sent out as "Family Tree DNA has sent you a package"...

W. (Mr.)

P.S. The nice lady sounded a little bit surprised, when I asked her to check the account for my January request...