written by Jecabe on 04/03/2016
I think it is hard to use and expensive. My adult daughter is much more computer-savvy than I am and she agrees that the site is difficult to use. Especially considering the cost. Seems like they could simplify things, cut the price to attract more members, and it would be to everyone's benefit. I did DNA testing on myself and my children. Something disappeared off of my possible dna matches that looked intriguing. I saw it and intended to get back to it later when I had more time. When I returned to it a few days later, it had disappeared. I wrote to Ancestry about it but received no response. Apparently you have to pay extra for customer support, which seems ridiculous considering what they charge for a regular membership. What other company could get away with that???
written by Bates1947 on 20/04/2015
This site is great to use if you want to build a Family Treee. Good and helpful customer service.
written by JillT on 17/01/2015
I've been with Ancestry.co.uk for years, and plan to stay. It's not perfect - what is? - but it's an excellent repository for my data, and has some really useful data sets for researching British and N American family. I like member connect very much - it's great collaborating with fellow descendants. I use the wills and the images of parish records a lot. It's good to be able to calculate the relationship between any two profiles. A few niggles e.g I wish I could add a weblink to multiple profiles - but overall I'm very pleased.
written by JillT on 17/01/2015
I've been with Ancestry.co.uk for years, and plan to stay. It's not perfect - what is? - but it's an excellent repository for my data, and has some really useful data sets for researching British and N American family. I like member connect very much - it's great collaborating with fellow descendants. I use the wills and the images of parish records a lot. It's good to be able to calculate the relationship between any two profiles. A few niggles e.g I wish I could add a weblink to multiple profiles - but overall I'm very pleased.
written by Famarcher on 18/10/2014
I you are purchasing a newer version of the program you have no way to convert your old ( 100s ) of files to the new version....
written by AlanMalloy on 14/10/2014
After nearly 11 years a paying customer ancestry just decides to cancel not only our DNA project supprt, but thousands of other families as well, yeah thats right then they give us 3 mos to download our data from thier server...Huh!!! we could not take the important stuff like History, and conversations pertaining to our members, recipes, or even get into the categories to transfer our info....what a lousey thing to do! If that weren't enough, they deleted thousands of DNA results from thier data base a lot of which were of people that have been deceased for a long time and now thier familes have no way to compare with other people, and this was done illeagally....DNA BELONGS TO THE PERSON, OR FAMILY OF THE ORIGINAL TESTER, AND IS THEREFORE ONLY THIER'S TO DESTROY OR OTHERWISE DO SOMETHING WITH NOT ANCESTRY.COM! sO NOW THERE ARE A FEW mILLION PEOPLE THAT ARE HIGHY UPSET AT THEM AND WILL PROBABLY SEEK RETRIBUTION OF SOME KIND.....DON'T EVER DEAL WITH THEM, THEY ARE NOT ANY GOOD.
written by madgie1234 on 10/06/2014
I cant praise Ancestry enough: first class customer service, which is speedy, helpful, extremely polite, and moreover goes the extra mile; they even sent me links to read up more about my queries, and the next day sent me a review of their endeavours to fill in giving the option for negatives as well as positives. Well done. Having had recent experience of a good site gone to the bad, am so relieved.
written by on 04/02/2014
Can not get them off my Credit card have been having to fight with them for ever. Been waiting for over thirty minutes just to speak to customer service, then get run around to be told. We will cancel you next month, which they told me that last month. Ask yet again to speak to supervisor, they tell me same thing. Do your self favor, use some one else.
written by on 04/02/2014
I tried the 7-day free trial. Little did I know that even though I cancelled with the 7 days, they have been charging my credit card for 4 months now. When I called them, they explained that their cancellation steps were difficult and are working on making them easier to use. Only willing to give me back $7.95. I have to eat the rest. They also told me that they have nothing to do with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Dislike that I was taken for $24.00....
written by applebomb on 19/11/2013
I love all the information on ancestry.com. BUT, when they post notice on their site that they are having technical difficulties and are going to be working on the site for the next few months so those problems will continue, I am not happy. Supposedly a genealogy search site, it has 198,000 message boards (by their own count) which seems more like a networking site. Started ok but after first week, couldn't access the part that "hints" where to look (the little leaves that are a HUGE selling factor in their ads). Very useful site but not if it isn't available due to technical difficulties - which it hasn't been. The family tree to see how everyone is connected became unavailable. You could see a list of members but not in the tree format. The LIST is pretty meaningless to me. Since, I hit 2000 people on my tree, I only get an unavailable "due to technical difficulties". Ancestry.com customer (non)service claims there is nothing wrong with the site but everyone else is having the same problems so I know it's not just me or my computer. Apparently that is the extent of ancestry.com's customer service - blame the customer. re: the search engine: I searched for a WWII soldier using enlistment and the out dates. Got a list including all the Civil War enrollees!! Search for a specific birthdate in 1940s and get people born from 1700s to present. Why? This is not a search. It's just throwing eveything they have at you and then YOU search manually through it all. A HUGE time cruncher!! Don't know any other site that arbitrarily closes responses on comments. They even MOVED my posted complaint from their suggestion board to a strictly technical help board claiming it wasn't suggestions but a community help request. Not unless the community can change things at the company!! Bottom line is I paid for services I cannot use because of the company's "technical difficulties". Could have warned me before I paid! Company seems unresponsive, unconcerned and condescending in their customer service emails to me. I just tried to access the site and got yet another "pages not available" at this time notice. VERY FRUSTRATING!!!!
written by on 17/11/2013
My family and I have used ancestry.com for years to research, organize and share our genealogical data. it has been such a helpful tool in extending our lines, and sharing what we know about our family. I especially love the features that allow me to connect with other family trees to see what others have found. The ability to attach documentation from original records gives me confidence about the information found in other's trees. Pictures, documents and stories help me to feel like I know family members I did not have the honor of meeting in this life. Thanks Ancestry for your excellent work in providing such a great resource for us!
written by on 16/11/2013
Ancestry has allowed me to bring my past to life and to feel that I know all these past family members It has allowed me to see how they lived and worked. I have also met new family members tracing the same trees which is very exciting. I now have a great extended family.How can I dislike something that makes me happy.
written by on 15/11/2013
I go to ancestry.com and bam jest i was looking for.
written by on 12/11/2013
After 5 years of paying for access, I discontinued my subscription. I had downloaded several trees to 2012 version of Family Tree Maker. In the process of synching a tree, 5000 photos and 1200 stories were lost. Was given 3 months free access in order to re-create the lost info. Unbelievable! Will never find it all. I deleted a lot of the info from my computer, thinking that it would be safe on the Ancestry site. When I discontinued my subscription, they discontinued access to nearly all of their records. I cannot view census records, military records, or social security records that I have already paid for. I have discovered numerous free websites that provide the same information and continue to add that info to the Ancestry site. It takes more effort in locating the free info and is often more complete than what Ancestry provides. I now back up the Ancestry info on separate discs knowing that it could go away at any time.
written by on 11/11/2013
I find Ancestry a quick and easy to use search engine. I appreciate the vast scale of the data base. I particularly like the access to the older original hand written records.
written by on 11/11/2013
There is nothing to dislike at ancestry.com. If you are serious about researching family history, don't even think of not using this valuable and easy-to-use tool.
written by on 11/11/2013
This system has an excellent system for entering family members as you go. It does not take long before you have your near relatives up on the screen, and little green leaves start appearing, indicating that the system has found records that may well apply to you family member. You can look at the record it has found, and if for the right person, you can attach it to your own records. Often, un-looked-for information turns up: for example, looking at a record from the 1881 Census showed me not only the street address the family (and teenage daughter)was living in at the time, but next door was the boy the daughter was to marry a few years later! Of course, if the name in question is John Smith, there may well be more records for non-relatives. Rather like looking people up in the phone book!
written by computa_mike on 10/11/2013
Using Ancestry I have been able to answer questions, and put some of the 'family myths' to rest through the information and sources that ancestry has opened up. I was able to create my tree easily by starting with the information I already knew - I had to create a repository and source for that (I called it interview with *my name*) - ideally Ancestry could offer a 'setup' function that sets up this initial list of things that are already known - but that is more of a "nice to have" than an issue with the service itself. I bought a copy of family tree maker(FTM), and that shipped with a 6 month subscription to Ancestry, and I was able to work on my tree either on my Windows machine using FTM, and sync the changes through to Ancestry, or on the website itself - and the site works great under Chrome on Linux. I especially like the Library use - My local library allows full access to the ancestry web site through a library subscription. I have been able to export my tree from Ancestry as a standard formatted file, and load it into GRAMPS - an open source family tree system - and there's even a mobile app so that I can update my tree from the local archives when I do research. I've also been able to take photos of gravestones containing important dates and information - and where these no longer exist, the ancestry community have in some cases already uploaded them.
written by on 10/11/2013
Among the many sites available, Ancestry is a usable site which gives latest information available and is reasonably accessible and usable. For Americans it is highly recommended but for those of us in Australia we need to be really specific that we mean Australia or UK otherwise US information takes priority. A really good resource for beginners and advanced searchers but much more expensive for Australian researchers than the equivalent cost of US and UK users.
written by on 09/11/2013
this is the first time i tried this. but im glad i finally got around to it. too often i ve had questions , but when i asked i was avoided. or someone danced around the subject. there has been a whole lot of unexplained situations that exist in my family. silence is never an answer. pedophilia,alchoholism,domestic violence,divorces,juvenile delinquencies,jail, and the list goes on! why?why?why? i want to break the cycle.the truth shall set you free! im not interested in coming down on anyone ,but all the secrecy enables it to continue on to the next generation. no more! i have just started, but it will continue untill i uncover the past! and i shake loose even the most securely hidden secrets! shake the very cores foundations !
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Msamanda's Comment
Written on: 18/12/2013
You paid for this research, it should be "yours for life" not for the duration of your membership. If you buy a dish or a chair, you are not renting it, you are buying it. What's up with that?