Family Finder

[DABAYMAN]

I signed up for the family finder kit on Friday... does anyone know how long it takes for results?. They already have my dna sample from previous tests.
Thanks.

[dna]

It might take only 4 weeks from the day the lab started processing. Watch your account https://my.familytreedna.com/, and you will see when it goes into the lab. If you ordered last Friday, then most likely the lab would start processing your test this Thursday, 2014-12-04.

If the lab testing needs to be repeated, it will take longer than 4 weeks, (essentially another four weeks of waiting each time a new test is started).

W.

[Sarmat]

... (essentially another four weeks of waiting each time a new test is started).

That would be convenient for the narrative (of excuses for delayed results), but I really don't think that's how it works.

Anyway, the truest and most accurate answer to the OP's question is that it is at this point entirely impossible to predict how long the results will take. They may very well be available within FTDNA's predicted timeframe, but they could just as easily take many months to come in.

If the results are delayed, do not expect to get accurate or even truthful updates from customer service. They just give out what seems like a convenient answer at the time, with the only objective being to get the customer to stop asking for updates.

[prairielad]

the fastest results for Family Finder I have received, from sample the already had, was 14 days.

But as others have stated, for various reasons it can take up to 4+ weeks.

[grahcom]

The last 2 we had done from dna on file batch 592 took 3 1/2wks and batch 593 3wks.
Long delays outside the expected time frames seem to occur more where poor quality samples are submitted so they have to rerun or retest.

[Sarmat]

Long delays outside the expected time frames seem to occur more where poor quality samples are submitted so they have to rerun or retest.

That is a supposition with no solid evidence to bear it out, aside from customer service claiming that tests have "failed" and need to be rerun. I guess it's prima facie believable, but if one digs a little deeper, it starts to break down.

In the case of my Big Y test, for example, that's exactly what they told me repeatedly until over 5 months in when Bennett Greenspan finally contacted the lab directly and got the truth:

...passed LMPCR but was left off a previous run due to space limitations and was picked up in the next batch. It got 45x on its first pass and will need to run on the next XCov run to obtain enough coverage. Overall, the sample has good quality and doesn't need to be re-extracted.

So, yeah. If you believe customer service, these results were delayed because the test had "failed" (more than once) and that they would even have to send me a new collection kit. If you believe the lab, on the other hand, then what actually happened was that they just hadn't actually run it when they they reported that they had due to "space limitations".

[prairielad]

the fastest results for Family Finder I have received, from sample the already had, was 14 days.

But as others have stated, for various reasons it can take up to 4+ weeks.

my kits family finder batch and completion dates.
I quess fastest was 16 days not 14

kit 14 03/07/2014 Batched - 22/07/2014 Completed 19 Days
Kit 13 12/06/2014 Batched - 14/07/2014 Completed 32 Days
Kit 12 06/02/2014 Batched - 25/02/2014 Completed 19 Days
Kit 11 12/12/2013 Batched - 04/01/2014 Completed 23 Days
Kit 10 12/12/2013 Batched - 04/01/2014 Completed 23 Days
Kit 9 20/11/2013 Batched - 06/12/2013 Completed 16 Days
kit 8 20/11/2013 Batched - 06/12/2013 Completed 16 Days
Kit 7 16/10/2013 Batched - 06/11/2013 Completed 21 Days
Kit 6 24/07/2013 Batched - 12/08/2013 Completed 19 Days
Kit 5 03/07/2013 Batched - 01/08/2013 Completed 36 Days
Kit 4 13/02/2013 Batched - 02/04/2013 Completed 19 Days
Kit 3 21/11/2012 Batched - 16/12/2012 Completed 48 Days
Kit 2 18/07/2012 Batched - 10/08/2012 Completed 23 Days
Kit 1 25/04/2012 Batched - 13/05/2012 Completed 18 Days

[Tenn4ever]

prairielad, you must be living 'right'. Look at my different tests. Some are Y tests but all included a FF test before that. The very fastest I've had a FF test come in was 21 days. My own test last year took 44 days. A couple of my Y test completions have been very unacceptable.

I think the FF test are pushed through to bait people to purchase a Y test thinking they will get the results as quickly.

I wanted to purchase a Y67 upgrade during this sale for two kits but there is no way while I'm still waiting on the two Y37 results in order to see them. So, guess I want purchase those kits unless I get the Y37 results back soon.

Here are my completion days:

I’ve listed all my kits from batch time of sample to completion. These are in order of dates beginning with first test batched in June 2013 until current. Nothing has had to be retested.

Kit 1 FF 44 days (July 2013)
Kit 1 mtDNA 42 days
Kit 2 FF 26 days
Kit 3 FF 26 days
Kit 3 Y37 29 days (July 2014)
Kit 3 SNP test 19 days
Kit 3 Y67 56 days (unacceptable)
Kit 4 FF 26 days
Kit 4 Y37 21 days (July 2014)
Kit 4 three SNP tests 8 days
Kit 5 FF 36 days
Kit 5 Y37 36 days (August 2014)
Kit 5 two SNP tests 8 days
Kit 6 FF 25 days
Kit 7 FF 25 days
Kit 8 FF 25 days
Kit 8 Y37……..still waiting…..it’s been 63 days (unacceptable)
Kit 9 FF waiting for completion, so far 21 days
Kit 9 Y37 waiting for completion, so far 21 days

[Sarmat]

You think that's bad? My Big Y is still pending at 175 days today.

Because I've basically made myself into a big pain in the rear, Customer Service now assures me that the lab director has elevated it to "VIP status" and promises to present results by the end of next week. I'll believe that when I see it.

My FMS took 101 days.

No one ever apologized for that one. I don't think they thought anything of it all. That just seems to be how they do things around here.

[Tenn4ever]

Obviously, I'm not going to purchase a Y67 test until I see the pending Y37 test results

[prairielad]

prairielad, you must be living 'right'. Look at my different tests. Some are Y tests but all included a FF test before that. The very fastest I've had a FF test come in was 21 days. My own test last year took 44 days. A couple of my Y test completions have been very unacceptable.

.........

Majority of my test have seem to process within acceptable time frame. I only have had 2 tests that took over 2 months, a FMS at 78 days and a SNP test at 101 days.

Kit 1 (2011)
YDNA 67 - 35 Days
SNP Tested - 19 Days
yDNA 111 Upgrade - 43 Days
mtDNA Plus - 27 Days

Kit 2 (2013)
YDNA 37 - 27 Days

Kit 3 (2007)
YDNA 25 - 35 Days
yDNA 67 Upgrade - 31 Days

Kit 4 (2012)
FGS(mtDNA Full) - 78 Days

Kit 5 (2013)
FGS(mtDNA Full) - 42 Days

Kit 6 (2013)
yDNA 12 - 16 Days
yDNA 67 Upgrade - 35 Days
SNP Tested - 101 Days

[Tenn4ever]

I think the marketing has changed. The idea is to get people hooked with a quick turn around on the FF test getting them to upgrade then to a Y or mtDNA test. Then those tests take a lot longer then they used to because of all the emphasis on the FF tests being processed quickly.

The entire process has been very disappointing to me and will keep me from ordering upgrades when I have tests taking so long to be completed.

[dna]

Hearsay...

I was hesitant to post the story, but this thread overturned my hesitations.

I am always making phone calls to the kit owners or their family. Everything is included, additional e-mails are sent, but I still believe in a conversation, face to face or at least over the phone.

I started taking to a daughter in law of my tester explaining some additional points I have found useful over the years, but not covered by the documentation, and very shortly I realized that I am talking into the air. So I have stopped, hoping for her to continue. Well, she did. She is a M.D. and happens either to take DNA samples or to oversee taking buccal swabs on a daily basis. She is not a geneticist, but for her the patient DNA results are crucial in determining the treatment. To sum it up, quality of a sample does matter, so it is better to err on a side of providing a better scrap...

W.

[Sarmat]

The 'low quality samples' excuse is getting tired. You know, it really just amounts to blaming the customer for FTDNA's own failure to deliver within a reasonable timeframe...

Once again, at least in the case of my test which has now been pending for 175 days, the lab stated that the quality of my sample was good and that it was successfully extracted on the first try. It ought to be; I scraped myself bloody.

No, in this case the prolonged delay was instead caused by the fact that they admittedly did not begin running my test within the expected timeframe, but rather at a later, unspecified date.

Then, as of my last contact with FTDNA earlier this week, they still had not started the "XCov" run to ensure they provided the promised 50x coverage (instead of the 45x it got on its first run), even a month after Bennett Greenspan told me that an XCov run would be done "in the next few weeks".

I'm not certain how often they actually do those. I have asked what their schedule is for them, but have not received an answer. My guess is that they wait until they have enough samples needing an extra coverage run to make it worthwhile in terms of cost, which likely means that some samples may end up languishing for a quite a while until enough they got enough to make up the batch.

[Tenn4ever]

Oh, great Scot. So, what do I tell the cousin(s) who have agreed to do these tests?