Ancestry Reviews

Ancestry refuse to uphold and follow the law in Canada with the new postal and customs clearance laws. Even after like 2 weeks of contacting and even once being told to call back. ** I sent them the link to the postal rules because they didn't believe me when I said the postal works said it's legally garbage and due to human specimen internationally me and ancestry would both be charged, I showed them the instructions and they said that ancestry is striking against this. They said if I just threw it in the box and refused to listen they I could be arrested and charged for that too.

I signed up for a free trial membership for information my daughter needed for an assignment. I knew most the information already, but thought I would use the site for confirmation. I cancelled my membership after one use, but then noticed the cancellation did not take effect. My mistake for not double checking my membership was canceled. When I noticed the charges, I tried to cancel and was charged an additional fee just to cancel. Stay far a aware from this company, bad business practices and obviously fee a cancellation fee equaling a monthly fee is acceptable when you cancel the day you were already charged the monthly fee.

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH ANCESTRY!!! DO NOT TAKE THE 7 DAY FREE TRIAL. THEY CHARGE YOU THE FIRST MONTH AT $24 AND THEN CHARGE ANOTHER $25 TO CANCEL.THJEIR MAIN FOCUS IS TAKING YOUT MONEY AND NOT DELIVERING ANYTHING.

Terrible website. Trying to redirect you to pay for their services.

I hired them to research both sides of my my family at a cost of 14K. Both sides were a disaster and the salesman Thomas **, blamed it on me. First, I told him I was especially interested in the unique spelling of my last name. The report ignored lots of documents containing the spelling I signed up with but the report used a misspelling I had never seen before. Other problems but the one that takes the cake is that they said in the beautiful binder they sold me, that I had died. Thomas said they got that from some record on other sites I shared with them but I never saw it. So it's my fault, I told them I had died, is their explanation. I don't even remember what I was doing the day I died. Unapologetic, blaming me and unwilling to refund my large payments or fix the reports many errors a child can recognize. But not Tom....

Do not bother with getting a subscription. You will have to pay additional fees to view photos and news articles. Then, when you want to cancel your subscription, they will charge you MORE than your actual subscription price. It is not worth it! Please do not fall for this money trap with a sham "service."

I signed up for a World Explorer Student Pass for my class at College. My teacher said it would be $4.99 a month and gave out a code for $4.99 price. I got billed $40. Called Ancestry.com and they tried code and other codes and none worked. They said it was $40 for first month then $4.99 after that. Very misleading and false advertising by Ancestry.com. This is not stated on Ancestry.com website.

I don’t recommend this website at all, they went into my bank account and took money without my authorization. I had cancel the free trial and they won’t refund me saying they sent a reminder email when I never got the email. When I contacted them the lady asked me, "You want me to send you the email now!?" Very dishonest website.

Disgusting and predatory business practices. I let a trial lapse for a single day. I cancelled the following business day and was charged an additional $25 cancellation fee. That is 58$ charged to me for a service I did not use and cancelled the following day I was charged. Truly unconscionable stuff. I was kind and tried to get a refund through their support chat, but they were firm in upholding their Terms and Services. Do not use this service. It is business model designed around scamming unsuspecting customers.

If you ever have an account problem, you will battle a useless AI for 7 minutes before holding for a human agent that will not be fluent in your language. I don't know where the money I spend on this account goes if they're cheating out on support with bad AI and unintelligible agents overseas.

Terrible! Both kits they sent did not work. Cannot get a refund - they pass you around, put you on hold for hours, and then hang up. No one there can help. Terrible customer service. I've wasted hours of my life trying to get a refund after waiting 6 months for DNA results that never came. Do NOT get involved with Ancestry.

They have a "pyramid" type of payment scheme where they lure you with a price and then they keep adding on necessities, but that's not the reason that I'm upset. They charged me a disconnect fee!

Ancestry is one of the most frustrating subscription services I have ever used. The company constantly nickel-and-dimes its customers and locks away information that many of us have already paid to discover, save, and build over the years. What bothers me most is that once your subscription ends, access to so much of your own work and research becomes severely restricted. I paid for a DNA test. I paid to build my family tree. I spent countless hours collecting records, attaching sources, and documenting my family’s history. Yet without an active subscription, even viewing that information is impossible. It feels less like ownership and more like leasing access to your own family history. That is why I call it a lifetime membership. Once they have your information and investment of time, they know many customers feel forced to keep paying just to maintain reasonable access to what they have already built.

Never had a subscription, just free browsing. I was charged a monthly fee and also a cancellation fee. I asked for a refund because I didn’t know anything about this and I was given a hard time. I was told I wasn’t eligible for a refund that’s 2 charges back to back. 😡

Was great until they charged a $27.00 cancellation fee. They do NOT disclose at signup. Zero clue until I went to cancel my membership. Unethical and unprofessional.

I have submitted my "dna" kit twice now and for the second time they say they couldn't extract my dna!? Not sure why! I have now waited approximately 4 months to know nothing! To say I'm disappointed is an understatement! Not doing it a 3rd time!

Avoid!!!! They will charge you. You can’t get rid of them.

Do not sign up. Their digital resources are useless and their membership trial has a $25 cancelation fee! Underhanded practices and a worthless product. Not to mention that the membership itself cost hundreds per year.

I gave it two stars. Initially it was very informative…. But then they began adding charges onto my credit card for advanced crap. I finally cancelled whatever they were charging me for. Next I tried changing my email address and password and now unable to even access my account. Contacted Customer Service which is a joke and just took me in circles to no where. Look elsewhere for family history and avoid this headache.

I placed an order for their most expensive dna kit and 3 month all access family plan membership ($149 msrp) on April 30th, directly from their website. Order **. It was supposed to be a mother's day gift. They immediately charged me and started the membership clock (This in itself is crooked because it's a gift and the membership should not start until the recipient activates the membership). The DNA kit was supposed to arrive by Mother's day, according to their website when I ordered it. It has yet to arrive and the online tracking number shows it has not moved from current location in past 5 days.

Ancestry is a fraud and should be investigated for theft by deception. I canceled Ancestry in March 2026, and they billed my credit card in April for a one-year renewal. There are no appeal rights; they just take your money and run. Leave it to the Mormons to steal everything.

I have been a member since 2012. Called them as I could not correctly access my family tree information. I was told I had cancelled my membership. I noted I had not and was then “accelerated” to a higher level and was transferred. I was on hold for 1hour and 16 minutes and finally hung up! I don’t know what to do now! I am so frustrated and sad about this!

I have been a member of Ancestry.com since 2012. Because I am retired and we need to cut down on expenses, we had to cancel our subscription. They charged me $50 to cancel. You would think 14 years as a loyal customer would mean something to these people. They already cost too much money for what they provide. Now they want to add on a cancellation charge? Ridiculous and a slap in the face to loyal customers.

I have been on Ancestry for YEARS, building a very extended family tree. But their deceptive renewal fee practices are too much now. They gave me no notice of a $169 renewal that is more than double the price I signed up for. I love the work I've done but the company is not trustworthy.

They suck. It cost a fortune for 3 months. I tried to cancel before it renewed but it didn't go thru apparently and I got stuck with this overpriced crap. I will never recommend them to anyone. Want money back.

Called customer service concerning my account access. I had uploaded a document to the my online account and was needing to download the document for personal reasons. However, I had no access since I did not continue to pay the very high subscription. I asked customer service for a way to access my document and she kept pushing me to buy a subscription for $64.99 a month. I told her no, I did not have the money for the subscription at this time and I needed the document for a legal matter.

I lost the email account linked to Ancestry.com. So when I logged into my account... There is no option to update a lost account. I have called many times...and the customer service is zero help. More push you along. So I tried the 14 day trial... Can see my tree [I made, what my DNA]... Can't recover anything. I'm asked to buy the DNA Kit [again]. Really!? So...not impressed with Ancestry.com. They can't help on a simply email/account recovery. WTF! DISAPPOINTED.

They have more people for family tree but 23 and me is better and make sure if you buy it unsubscribe right away. Because they will rebill you and it's not like you received hundreds of dollars worth of service to be rebilled. They won't refund you if they rebill you.

I was so excited when I got an Ancestry kit. I mailed it back it the same day I got it. And was beyond excited to get my results. It's now almost 3 months later and I still don't have my results. I've been able to build a limited family tree with records I have found, but I wanted to know about more than just my grandparents. I am really upset with how long the process is especially because it's advertised as being quick. I understand this takes time, but I definitely feel like 3 months is too long, especially because, according to the website the DNA was extracted almost a month ago. Very disappointing so far.

Very hard to navigate subscription cancellation on a phone. Cancelled and charged anyway. “Free trial”. Call India and they won’t remove the charge. How far are we going to let these companies go with their trial subscription scams and data theft?

I purchased a DNA kit from Ancestry and they received the sample on January 16. I am still waiting on the results. When checking the website for the status of ny DNA it says "Delayed". I tried calling the 800 number today 1-800-401-3193 and of course no one answers. I tried using Ancestry's AI Bot called "Leaf" and the only answer it keeps repeating is due to high volume and weather related issues there is a delay in processing DNA. Their subscription rates are high and if you cancel early there can be a 25.00 dollar forfeiture of the subscription rate. Their website tells you about creating a tree for free and then it wants you to subscribe in order to view hints or specific info. These are usually sent in marketing emails.

I paid for the DNA directly through Ancestry. I quickly did it and sent it back. First issue. I had to register the kit twice. Next issue is they gave me a completion date, which changed 3 times. Now there is no completion date. I paid them for a service they failed to provide, because they are too busy comparing my DNA to unsolved criminal cases. What a fraudulent company and a criminal corrupt company.

I just wanted to get the DNA done. I got a trial membership as well. Ancestry began processing on Jan 9. Results are still not in yet. Here's what they tell me: "Results pending. Due to high volume, your results are taking longer than expected. We're still on track to process your results soon, and we'll let you know when they're ready." So wait, How long have they been doing this? They don't know how to adjust their staffing level to deliver their product? So I start to get the feeling that it's being drawn out to eat up time while my trial subscription runs out. Lo and behold! I just got the email that my trial is up in about 10 days. That really breaks my confidence in the company.

Enrolled in an Ancestry free trial and later canceled shortly after the trial period ended. I was charged a $25 cancellation fee plus tax. I personally did not see clear and conspicuous disclosure during sign-up that a separate cancellation fee would be imposed. In my experience, when a free trial converts, the expectation is that you are charged for the subscription period, not assessed an additional cancellation penalty. Others may wish to review the full terms carefully and confirm all potential fees before enrolling in a free trial.

Unfortunately I was not a fan of this. At every level of any new information, I was told to pay for a new charge. My husband gave me this kit as a Christmas gift.

Used to love it until they barred paying members from using their RESEARCH databases to identify John and Jane Does and homicide cases, as well as MILITARY repatriations. Absolutely disgusting.

DO NOT subscribe. Their site is a fraud and it will not let you unsubscribe without calling them and they will charge a 25.00 unsubscribe fee even if you unsubscribe in the time allotted. I will NEVER engage with this shady site again!!

Awful service and don't even provide a product. Lied about me not having registered a kit despite the app saying that I had registered one. Lied about receiving the kit, despite the confirmation from the carrier, and wanted to charge me the delivery fee before they could provide a refund.

The site itself can be useful, however, beware of their deceptive "cancellation" process. Twice, I thought I had cancelled my subscription only to find out that they continued to bill me. When I (finally) got a telephone contact, the person admitted that their cancellation process is a 3-step process that many people think they have cancelled when actually they have not. Very deceptive business practice. I will never do business with Ancestry again, or recommend them to anyone. Just an aside: their website will not allow me to delete my credit card information.

Canceled my subscription only to find out they charge you $50 to cancel. That is a bunch of b______t if you ask me. Single mom who can't afford money coming out of my account without knowledge.