Batch 603 results

[AngeliaR]

Y37 still waiting

Batch 603
12/02/2014 Ordered
12/31/2014 Received by Lab
01/01/2015 Batched

Delayed and now due 4/15 - 4/29

This kit was more sensitive than most I have ordered as it concerns unknown parentage and hopes for resolution to lifetime of uncertainty.

I asked for an update beyond the automated messages and received this emailed response this morning.

"The first pass failed and it is currently being rerun. We should be seeing the results within the next two to four weeks provided it clears quality control on this current run."

Although I am pretty sure that's what the contact at the lab said, I'm really not sure if anyone even bothered to look at the real status. Formulaic fake responses to inquiries should be thrown out the window in favor of real, honest communication. We deserve better.

The automated delay message posted reads:
"Your testing is under review with our data assurance team. If we need action by you, we will send an email to the email address that is primary on the account. Thank you."

I'm pretty darned disappointed. This account, and every step along the way, has been nothing but glitches from the get-go. I've never seen anything like these delays and excuses in 10 years of testing and multiple family members here at FTDNA.

Really makes you wonder... about a lot of things.

[Tenn4ever]

Y111 upgrade. I'm at 15 weeks and am beginning to get really upset especially when I see Y results coming in from Batch 608.

I know it's not a problem with the sample (unless THEY dropped it and ruined it during processing). The FF test and Y 37 test came back fine and the Y111 was batched on 1/1/15 and four of the Y111 panels came in the very next day . However one of the Y111 panels is still missing and none of the y67 panels are in.


With some panels reporting right away it wouldn't be a sample problem.

Are some of the kits being outsourced

[E19463]

Ordered upgrade Y-DNA on 12/29/15. Never got results or satisfactory answers. I filed complaint with Better Business Bureau of Houston and suggest all unhappy customers do likewise. Also going to Facebook to warn anyone from purchasing their tests. My results get pushed back every few weeks even after being told a month ago they were being placed "in a high priority status." B.S

„Something is rotten in the state of Denmark!“ Shakespeare would say. Something is going on behind the scenes and it is anyones guess what it is. Rumours are flying because this situation for that long is definitely not normal for no company and no business.
For my Y37 I waited from November till April and for my mtDNA I am right now waiting from January on with no end in sight as FTDNAs predicted dates have not meaning at all. Bad, worse, FTDNA, what else can you say...

[GEOMILO]

BATCH 603

Ordered upgrade Y-DNA on 12/29/15. Never got results or satisfactory answers. I filed complaint with Better Business Bureau of Houston and suggest all unhappy customers do likewise. Also going to Facebook to warn anyone from purchasing their tests. My results get pushed back every few weeks even after being told a month ago they were being placed "in a high priority status." B.S

[dna]

Good point. When do the tests actually begin processing? And why are different tests in the same batch when they have different processing times? As others have stated, many of us run or have run labs, myself included, and I don't understand what is going on at the FTDNA labs. It seems like complete and utter chaos.

You can think that there are six (6) batches started each Thursday:

• Big Y
• Family Finder
• mtDNA
• SNPs (individual tests for Y SNPs, the warrior gene etc.)
• X STR
• Y STR

You have a valid observation. However, any testing used to start with the same step: DNA extraction, and that is how possibly the batch numbering system started at FTDNA. In FTDNA own words (at least the way I read them) the batch numbers are not used for tracking inside FTDNA anymore.

W. (Mr.)

[selah]

...or if those estimates were actually tied to when the lab begins to process the samples rather than when they should have started to process them?

Good point. When do the tests actually begin processing? And why are different tests in the same batch when they have different processing times? As others have stated, many of us run or have run labs, myself included, and I don't understand what is going on at the FTDNA labs. It seems like complete and utter chaos.

[RDickinson]

...or if those estimates were actually tied to when the lab begins to process the samples rather than when they should have started to process them?

[Darren]

I agree, I strongly dislike that system. It works fine for the most part if everyone wasn't being shown overly optimistic time frames in a time of system wide delays.
-Darren

[selah]

I haven't seen a huge jump in the number of kits that have been failing. Part of it is the vague nature of the automated wording on the pending results section of the myFTDNA page. This is something I am pushing to be improved (to keep time frame also in the expected turn around times that we are actually seeing).
If I recall correctly win123, when I checked for the lab for you, your sample actually had failed and was being rerun.
-Darren
Family Tree DNA

Darren, a change in the wording to be more specific is absolutely needed in the automated message as well as a separate message for each type of test. The Y and mt tests take longer and should not receive the same expected results as a FF test. If my FMS is going to take four months, I'd rather know that up front as well as if my test is being rerun or the sample failed. I hate checking daily to see if my results are posted since the expected results date has been pushed out and seems immaterial anyway. A run on BBB complaints isn't what a company wants.

[Darren]

I haven't seen a huge jump in the number of kits that have been failing. Part of it is the vague nature of the automated wording on the pending results section of the myFTDNA page. This is something I am pushing to be improved (to keep time frame also in the expected turn around times that we are actually seeing).
If I recall correctly win123, when I checked for the lab for you, your sample actually had failed and was being rerun.
-Darren
Family Tree DNA

[win123]

My dates have been pushed back again to 4/29. Has anyone from batch 603 received their Y-dna results?

Is there something going on with the new STR process that is causing so many kits to fail?

[Tenn4ever]

Well, got the remainder of my 37>67 upgrade yesterday. So two panels came in on 3/4 and the last on 4/8.

Batch 603

[Osiris]

Well, got the remainder of my 37>67 upgrade yesterday. So two panels came in on 3/4 and the last on 4/8.

[win123]

A few comments:

Why so many samples doing y-dna tests have failed during the run? Is this related to the new procedure adopted in December?

Suggestion - it would help tremendously if FTDNA provided panel results as it used to do. It would be partial but at least people would have something. A disclaimer could be provided that results are not final until the process/ steps are complete.

Customers want to be seen as partners in this process, not the enemy or annoyances.

I truly wish that FTDNA will continue to be successful for many years to come. Their services are unique and valuable. We all like getting the results and feeling part of the team.

[dna]

Out of the several lab checks I had there were two from this thread that had failed testing and were being rerun. If everything looks good on the second pass we should see the results within the time frame provided. This was from my lab contact. In the end any explanation will sound like an excuse and that is not what you paid for. You paid for results and you deserve them.
-Darren
Family Tree DNA

Darren, unfortunately it is not what we are after... It is the communication failure that gets us.

The problem was best exemplified yesterday (the 8th of April) when it became clear that the current processing timeframe, as it is known to FTDNA, is not reflected in the turnaround time being attached to new batches on the same day...

It is like buying a new house from a builder. If he tells you outright, that it is going to take 6 months, you may be very, very happy when getting your keys after 180 days. And even more so, if you were given accurate progress reports along the way. If the builder told you, that the house was going to be ready in 8 weeks, and you got it on the 180th day, you would be extremely unhappy by then, regardless of truthfulness of the reasons for the delay. And your unhappiness would be compounded if each time after contacting the builders office you were given a stock response (even if it were the right one).

W. (Mr.)