More than ticked off, What kind of game are you playing here FTDNA?

[mjohn1964]

Listen,
I have been trying to call you since Monday using the number you list under the contact us. And ALL I GET is your recording telling me it is past your business hours, and to try back when you are open! Here is the catch..I CALL WHEN YOUR SAY YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE OPEN! I HAVE ALSO SENT 4 or 5 emails to you demanding to speak to someone, and they have ALL BE IGNORED!
So what is the deal here? I am not LIKING how I am being treated, and either I get someone to talk with me, or I will be demanding a FULL AND COMPLETE refund!
You owe me something for what I have paid for, as per our user agreement! There is nothing there that allows you to ignore emails and not answer your phone!

[Tenn4ever]

What time zone are you located in? They are not open on the weekends and not past 12:00 noon Central Time on Fridays. So, you have to consider the time zone you are in. I know that is aggravating but if you are in the ET and you call at 1:00 pm on Friday then it is 12:00 pm CT and they will be closed. Also, Mon - Thurs you will have to consider that too. Not sure what time on M - T but if you are ET when you call it will be an hour earlier here CT.

Okay, I just went back and looked. If you are calling from ET then M - T they are closed at 4:30 CT. That will be 5:30 ET M-T.

[dna]

At the bottom of your kit home page, there is a link named Contact Us, it leads to the page https://www.familytreedna.com/contact.aspx.

There is no option listed to contact Family Tree DNA Customer Support using e-mail.

And on that page it is shown that the phone support hours are shorter on Fridays (in the past three hours you would get the recording you had mentioned).

You can only use Open a request form. Upon submitting your request, you would get a message

Thank you for submitting your request.

Your Request ID is 23456789. A Family Tree DNA team member will review your request. Please note that submitting repeat requests will slow down the processing of your Request ID 23456789.

We strive to answer your emails quickly, efficiently, and thoroughly. Requests that require research may take a little longer.

Thank you for your patience.

Regrettably, and I am not the only one who finds it unfortunate, FTDNA does not send back an automatic confirmation via e-mail that would contain the Request ID and the message content (may be they do, but I do not recall seeing that). Thus you need to save both the Request ID and content of your message.

Message above and some other places might indicate that e-mail addresses [email protected] and [email protected] can be used to contact FTDNA Customer Support, but that is not true since the 2nd of April this year.

W. (Mr.)

P.S.
I have used a fake Request ID in my example above.

[Tenn4ever]

I think a company like this where many people who work m - f and want to do genealogy work on their weekends off that the company should have customer service lines open on at least Saturdays.

[LynCra]

I agree. They should also have opening hours that take account of their international customer base.

[Tenn4ever]

I agree. They should also have opening hours that take account of their international customer base.

I'm not sure about that. The International base is small now and that would almost require 24 hour service. There are few companies that have that. Europe could possibly be a consideration but they are only 5 - 6 hours ahead. So, they call at 6 pm their time it's going to be 12 to 1 pm here. That would still be in the time frame. Actually, the hours FT has now is better for them (as far as off work hours) then it is here in the States. Somebody here wants to call at 7:00 pm ET then customer service is already closed. Somebody in England wants to call at 7:00 pm their time then it is only 12:00 - 1:00 pm here. So they are in better shape. Although I don't know why anybody there would want to make an expensive call like that. :-)

[kattoo13]

I got through to them twice in a day. I just had to press 3 after the prompt, to speak with somebody. First time I had to wait 15 minutes, second time was about 2 minutes.

[mjohn1964]

I do not know how many times I must say it. I called WITHIN their posted hours of operation! So FTDNA moderators/Admins/flunkies do not get it twisted! I am far from stupid, I can read and I know the time zone changes between eastern and central! I called WITHIN THEiR POSTED HOURS! All week all I have gotten is their voice mail informing me they are closed, and to try back during normal hours!

[Tenn4ever]

I do not know how many times I must say it. I called WITHIN their posted hours of operation! So FTDNA moderators/Admins/flunkies do not get it twisted! I am far from stupid, I can read and I know the time zone changes between eastern and central! I called WITHIN THEiR POSTED HOURS! All week all I have gotten is their voice mail informing me they are closed, and to try back during normal hours!

That's hilarious. I'm none of those things. I've been very vocal about things I don't like as I'm sure many of the posters on here know but I do try to be objective too and compliment where I can. As you can see one poster,kattoo13, said she did get an answer today.

[mjohn1964]

objective?
objective went out the window on Monday. I have seen this service go down hill for many years. I do not like the game they seem to like playing. Believe me, I do not get angry for no reason. There is no backup number, there is nothing! They are not answering their phones, they are not living up to the agreement we had! And that is where the problem is. Answer me this, when was the last time you saw a moderator here? Or a admin? Either I get some answers or I go to the BBB and I also take action to get all my fees returned to me. Real plain and simple. They can not treat customers this way!

[Tenn4ever]

objective?
objective went out the window on Monday. I have seen this service go down hill for many years. I do not like the game they seem to like playing. Believe me, I do not get angry for no reason. There is no backup number, there is nothing! They are not answering their phones, they are not living up to the agreement we had! And that is where the problem is. Answer me this, when was the last time you saw a moderator here? Or a admin? Either I get some answers or I go to the BBB and I also take action to get all my fees returned to me. Real plain and simple. They can not treat customers this way!

What were you calling about?

[lgmayka]

One time in this forum someone complained that he was unable to reach FTDNA. But then it turned out that he was calling some number other than +1.713.868.1438.

[mjohn1964]

Ok believe what you will lemmings. I know what I called, I know what the voice mail said when the FTDNA answered it, and I know it was well within their hours of operation. I also know I have written to them 5 separate times this week, and have got nothing from them! Maybe you want to accept bad customer service, I for one refuse to be treated like this!

[Tenn4ever]

Ok believe what you will lemmings. I know what I called, I know what the voice mail said when the FTDNA answered it, and I know it was well within their hours of operation. I also know I have written to them 5 separate times this week, and have got nothing from them! Maybe you want to accept bad customer service, I for one refuse to be treated like this!

What were you calling and writing about?

[ec1970]

The only time I contacted support was when my message forum account was not activated immediately. Other than that I guess I have been lucky that I haven't needed any help.

Is it something that people here might be able to help with?