How to Follow Up on Customer Service Request

[Tenn4ever]

How does one follow up on a customer service request? I know it says not to file another one but what if there is no response to the first one?

I have the request ID number but what good does that do me if there is no way to follow up. This is just for ONE single snp test which is ten weeks since batched.

[dna]

I used to say phone them, but I did phone them this week and last week only to get an impression that the information they have access to is more limited than I have previously thought. So do not expect much, but phone them anyway for a followup.

W. (Mr.)

[telly441]

From my experience, they have the knowledge to answer questions that you may find in the learning center but if you are asking about the status of your test, issues with matching, problems with results they do not have access to that information. It appears that the customer service reps, IT and the lab do NOT share the same computer system or have access to the same information and quite honestly are kept separate for some strange reason.

[dna]

[----] It appears that the customer service reps, IT and the lab do NOT share the same computer system or have access to the same information and quite honestly are kept separate for some strange reason.

The reasons for the isolation are privacy and security, there is nothing strange with that.

However, it was very strange that the lab did not keep pushing the updates to the system available to the customer service. Recent announcement from FTDNA made it clear that there was less automation of the processes in the lab than at least I had imagined. So I am having high hopes that in 2-3 months...

W. (Mr.)

[Tenn4ever]

The dates for expected results on this snp test are 5/27-6/10 This is 6/24 and the dates haven't even been updated. I think 10 weeks for one snp test is way too long but every test I've had done on kits the last six months have gone long.

[Sarmat]

The reasons for the isolation are privacy and security, there is nothing strange with that.

That is pure speculation on your part with absolutely zero evidence to support it.

[dna]

That is pure speculation on your part with absolutely zero evidence to support it.

Yes, I have no direct knowledge.

My speculation is based on

• isolation used for the said purposes;
• the lab being used for medical tests and tests used as evidence in courts and tests used as evidence by the US government, in addition to FTDNA testing.

W. (Mr.)

P.S.
At this moment I have thousands of dollars in tests that are being processed by the lab (one since November) and I wish to phone Houston only when I make a mistake...

[Darren]

You can always send me a private message with the helpdesk ID number and I can help follow up.

-Darren
Family Tree DNA

[Sarmat]

Yes, I have no direct knowledge.

My speculation is based on

• isolation used for the said purposes;
• the lab being used for medical tests and tests used as evidence in courts and tests used as evidence by the US government, in addition to FTDNA testing.

W. (Mr.)

Given that they've admitted in their recent announcement to Project Admins (reposted to the general forum this morning by Darren) that their processes are antiquated and rely heavily on manual entry, I think it's far more likely that the real reason Customer Service has no access to realtime test status updates is simply that FTDNA currently lacks the IT infrastructure to make that happen.

[dna]

I would summarize our discussion as

FTDNA currently has an inadequate IT infrastructure.

The details and exact reasons are unknown to us, but the overall assessment can only be as the above.

Mr. W.

[Sarmat]

Yeah, that's safe to say.