Terrible Customer Service!

[jova99]

scam

I am starting to believe this company is a big scam
Been waiting 6 months for a symbol Y-37 marker test.

My conclusion is they lack the equipment to complete these tests, so they take our money, then throw out 25% of the samples when they arrive, then string us along, hoping we forget or die

[khazaria]

My conclusion is they lack the equipment to complete these tests, .... throw out 25% of the samples when they arrive ....

These are ridiculous assertions.
There is a backlog, but there is no scam, and if a sample is unusable due to an inadequate amount of DNA (not the lab's fault) they notify the customer by mail that a retest will be necessary.

[Darren]

6 months is excessive. Can you please send me a private message with your kit number and contact email address and I would be happy to check with the lab and see what may be going on with the testing.

-Darren
Family Tree DNA

I am starting to believe this company is a big scam
Been waiting 6 months for a symbol Y-37 marker test.

My conclusion is they lack the equipment to complete these tests, so they take our money, then throw out 25% of the samples when they arrive, then string us along, hoping we forget or die

[Sarmat]

So, this seems a fitting thread for my experience with FTDNA Customer Service today...

I got a seemingly random email from them this morning with the subject line "Update on Your Request {285019}".

The body of the email simply read, "Thank you for contacting Family Tree DNA. I am seeing that there are now matches showing up. Are you still encountering the same problem?"

I searched my email inbox to see if I had any previous correspondence related to ticket # 285019, but I have no prior correspondence related to that number.

I wrote back to say that I'm not sure if I'm still encountering the problem, because if I actually submitted that ticket it was so long ago that I don't have any recollection of what the original problem was.

I asked them to provide the original text of my submission, but they never answered.

Ok, I heard back from them today. It was in response to a ticket I filed a week or two ago when my mtDNA matches weren't loading.

I never got any kind of automated response when I filled out the form, so I didn't associate that particular problem with the ticket number provided yesterday.

[jova99]

something fishy

Today FTDNA alerted me that my sample failed quality review. After i voiced my complaints, they have an easy out to hide their malfeasance.

Now I strongly suspect FTDNA is running a scheme. After sending in my sample in January, they have changed waiting times 3 times, I suspect they either trash many samples, maybe the techs they just throw them out so they can go home, or maybe is is policy to discard 10% of the samples then to delay , and then delay again while they spend our money. Then they claim the sample failed quality review...seems like this occurs too often here, so many customers are failing quality review, i cannot think of any other explanation. These are phantom tests for many samples to string us along.

They have perfected a great way to get lots of cash without investing in a better more efficient lab, rinse and repeat...I suppose the biggest scam is offering the Y37 test, when they know it is useless for most projects, and then convincing customers to pay for more and more tests.

[Sarmat]

Oh, come now. As inept and inefficient as they are, they're not intentionally throwing away anyone's samples.

[Peter MacDonald]

I am having the issue of getting Y DNA match notifications with zero or a greatly reduced matches showing up on my Y DNA Match list. This has been going on since early January 2015 in my case. I had put in my concerns of the issue to FTDNA, who said the issue was fixed, however shortly after that statement I have been receiving similar notifications right up to today. I have passed along the issue to FTDNA with no further replies unfortunately.

As of today 15 May 2015 I have received:

Total of 50, Y67 DNA Match Notifications, but have only received 20 actual matches on my match list; and

Total of 10, Y111 DNA Match Notifications, but have only received 2 actual matches on my match list.

FYI, FTDNA sent me this response this afternoon (so lets hope the issue will be resolved soon):

"Thank you for your email. For each new Y-DNA 67 marker match you have the system is sending triplicate notifications. The engineering team is aware of this issue. On top of this there was an error sending out match notifications and once this was corrected old match notifications were being sent some about two weeks old. There is another problem though where Y-DNA matches are only going one way. This results in a match being able to see you but you cannot see them or vice versa. The engineering team is going to start working on this after they get the Family Finder matches correct mid next week. I am sorry for the inconvenience. "

Guess I will have to tune in next week

[Infantry169]

GeoMetric you are cleared weapons hot. Fire for effect.

Few weeks ago my brother's Family Finder results were published. I am listed on his matches, but he is not listed on my matches. I called FTDNA (Gene by Gene, Ltd.) to notify of my problem. The first girl documented my issue and said it would be fixed by Monday. Tuesday comes, still not fixed. I call a second time requesting them to fix this issue, I give the employee my brother's kit # (He said they didn't have it???)he claims with the kit # my problem will be fixed soon. I wait few more days, no fix, so I call yesterday and request to speak with a supervisor, he is in a meeting, not available. Today I call and request to speak to a supervisor, they take my number again, and state he will call. He finally calls and gives me the run around that many kits are broken and they are working on it. Terrible customer service!
I have now went on my Linkedin account and found many employees, the president, managing partners, etc...I will give the tech team a few more days, if not fixed I will contact Max Blankfeld, and Bennett Greenspan to start!

[susan_dakin]

Notify us when it has been fixed

There appears to be a widespread problem with matching. It likely impacts almost everybody over past two weeks. FTDNA is silent on the reasons and ETA for the fix/return to normal.

How are we going to know when the matching problem has been reliably resolved for all kits? (I maintain 7 kits.) I have already messed up my database by deleting some Family Finder matches and matches in common because they had disappeared, and I assumed they had removed their information from FTDNA. I've also entered incorrect information, because when I uploaded the kits to dnagedcom.com, many of the MIC were not uploaded. At this point, I have had to halt all work on my database, because I can't trust either the matches lists or MIC, and I don't want to enter incorrect information. This is very frustrating, but what's worse is that it will be impossible to tell whether the problem has been resolved just by looking at the lists in the kits.

The ETA they gave me yesterday was by the end of next week, but apparently it keeps shifting. It would really help if FTDNA could send out an e-mail to all customers when they are sure they have resolved the matches and MIC problem!

[dna]

There appears to be a widespread problem with matching. It likely impacts almost everybody over past two weeks. FTDNA is silent on the reasons and ETA for the fix/return to normal.

How are we going to know when the matching problem has been reliably resolved for all kits? (I maintain 7 kits.) I have already messed up my database by deleting some Family Finder matches and matches in common because they had disappeared, and I assumed they had removed their information from FTDNA. I've also entered incorrect information, because when I uploaded the kits to dnagedcom.com, many of the MIC were not uploaded. At this point, I have had to halt all work on my database, because I can't trust either the matches lists or MIC, and I don't want to enter incorrect information. This is very frustrating, but what's worse is that it will be impossible to tell whether the problem has been resolved just by looking at the lists in the kits.

The ETA they gave me yesterday was by the end of next week, but apparently it keeps shifting. It would really help if FTDNA could send out an e-mail to all customers when they are sure they have resolved the matches and MIC problem!

Since I had posted my comment 3 days ago, Darren from FTDNA specified that the ETA for the fix is Friday, the 22nd of May. That date is, so far, the only one that is being given - you were apparently given the same one. And yes, that means that some research has to be placed on-hold...

Mr. W.

[Sarmat]

Ugh... Just got a notification for a new Y-25 match and another for a new Big Y match.

Nothing new on my list...

[GeoMetric]

Still Waiting Problem NOT FIXED!

I have waited and waited, they have till weeks end to fix my Family Finder or I go public with damaging info.
I do not believe the company is a scam, but know they are NOT spending where it is needed.
I now am friends with 6 employees on Linkedin from Gene by Gene (FTDNA).

[Sarmat]

Ugh... Just got a notification for a new Y-25 match and another for a new Big Y match.

Nothing new on my list...

For what it's worth, 25 marker match finally showed up this morning, 19 May, with a match date of 15 May.