CROOK ALERT!! www.ancestry.com
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The Generations Network
Apparently this outfit may be running a bit of a scam? Judging from the comments on this Hub and another, Ancestry.com seems to receive a lot of complaints from individuals who sign up for a trial of the service and later have trouble stopping the deductions from their bank accounts or charges to their credit cards.
Ancestry.com complaints re: 14-day free trial
- Ancestry.com -- cancel free trial deception - Ancestry.com -- cancel free trial deception
Company: Ancestry.com -- cancel free trial deception, Product/Service: , Summary: Ancestry.com -- cancel free trial deception
Consumer complaints about Ancestry.com
- Consumer complaints about Ancestry.com
Consumer complaints about Ancestry.com
Privacy International Complaints about On-Line DNA Service
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Comments
There were about thirty comments complaining about how they were scammed by the website after giving their credit cards for a "Free" trial period. Now the comments have disappeared. The hub should be deleted and the person who put it up banned in my opinion.
No. The comments are still there, all 46 of them. Check here http://hubpages.com/hub/www_ancestry_com
Hmmm. That's not good. Thanks for the clarification.
This is nothing less than Internet theft - what a nightmare to get my money back. Never again. Look at the hub pages to see how many folks were ripped off. Advice to budding genealogists - use FreeBDM instead!
Very true. They have figured out how to make millions by stealing a little bit from a lot of people.
Last year I was offered free research time on Ancestry.com. They wanted my credit card number. Big mistake. After the free period this company charged me for a years presciption for only the US part which dosen't help me in the slightest bit. I tried to cancel this account but couldn't get anywhere with this company. There service was non-existant. I didn't get one hour of service from these crooks. In January of this year they once again stole a chunk of my hard earned money using my m/c without my permission. By all means never ever give this outfit your credit card.
There have been a lot of complaints similar to yours about Ancestry.com. Maybe you should inform your credit card company that you did not authorize the charges and wish to disput them. If they are not willing to stop charging your account perhaps you could cancel your credit card, in writing, and apply for a card with another bank.
I currently have a membership with Ancestry.com which is a daughter company of The Generations Network. When I signed up for my membership I read the fine print that said that my account would bill automatically after the 14-day free trial. I am in a habbit of doing this with every website I sign up for because as you all know, nothings free. Well I suppose the 14-days were ;)
When Ancestry.com bills for an annual membership an email is sent to me every year letting me know that my credit card will be billed. I find this to be in very good business practice. Also, if I ever want to cancel my membership I can do it online now. The Generations Network works hard every year to keep me happy from my stand point.
My suggestion to everyone who purchases something online (even a FREE trial), read the fine print. Why else would they ask for your credit card.
Thanks for your comment. Your suggestion regarding online purchases is a good one. However, I don't agree that putting something important in the fine print is "a very good business practice." In my opinion, it's a sleazy, misleading business practice. The Idaho Chamber of Commerce gave the company a thumbs down, perhaps because of all the unresolved complaints. Judging from the complaints on the ancestry.com website of which you are so smugly dismissive, there are plenty of unhappy customers the company's attitude is not "the customer is always right" but rather "gotcha, that's tough shit."
they stole 162$ using a credit card that had been canceled by the credit company. Months later the credit card company mysteriously revived my credit card for ancestry.com and automatically deducted the cash from my account. denying yhe card had been canceled. My credit union sold their to a company called services credit card services. someone in their company mamipulated the computer files and erased the credit card cancellation for Ancestry.com whom I never used or authorized any transaction. I am going to change credit card unions
Pretty sleazy! Join the group of victims of Ancestry.com and of the legalized credit card Mafia.
I took over from my mother in finding genealogical information. She had gathered about a thousand direct ancestors, doing it the hard way over several years. In about three years, I gathered another thousand, including a lot of aunts and uncles. These could not readily be shown on paper genealogies, but were a piece of cake using modern software. I used Ancestry.com for virtually all of my work. Sometimes I found inconsistencies in the data, especially as the ancestors were dated in the 100s or 200s AD. When I saw that the data were inconsistent or a little too pat, I just would include the later dates. That was probably irresposible. I should have thrown out the whole file. I wrote Ancestry.com that they should flag any item that was plainly inconsistent, and not accept it. Reunion.com, a very fine genealogy program used for organizing data, does check for such things.
Thanks for your comment. There apparently have been a lot of complaints expressing dissatisfaction with Ancestry.com.
I also signed up to do a little research for part of an xmas present. I realized in Feb that I was still being charged. I cancelled online and received a confirmation. It's now August and they are still charging me $31.45 a month. What a freakin SCAM. This has cost me $251.60 so far and I can't seem to get rid of them short of cancelling my credit card which I really don't want to do.
Seems to me you should be able to get your credit card company to stop the charges because they are no longer authorized. And they should refund any charges after the date on which you cancelled your subscription to Ancestry.com.
hi guys, i made an account but the free 14 day trial one, they didn't ask me for my credit card so does that mean after i don't pay anything. i think somebody has also hacked my account. they wont't get far.
I signed up for a free trial without Googling first to see if there were complaints against Ancestry.com (mistake). I tried it and didn't care for it, so I canceled my subscription without much hassle (though I too noticed that it took some looking to find the cancel button). Now I want them to simply delete my credit card data from my profile since there is no way to do it myself, and they claim they can't. I told them they should then delete the entire profile. However they referred me to their T&C wherein I agreed to have my data retained (it does not specify cc data except in connection with a paid account which I no longer have or want). Also in the T&C is a clause stating that they do not cancel free accounts.
wtf? Why is there any reason for them to have billing data when they supposedly won't bill me? Do I seriously have to go to my bank and cancel that card? And by reading the other comments here that might not even work... argh.
A fair number of people seem to have issues with tha outfit. I don't have any advice wrt your credit card data.
You should not trust their DNA testing either. It provides very little information based on their small database. Not a single of my "relatives" came out as Portuguese, even though I am 100% Portuguese. It is obvious that the only reason for this is that they do not have any Portuguese folks in their database.
Thanks for the heads up comment!
Hey guys. I really suggest using a virtual credit card for these things. If you put a small amount on then you can't get automatically rebilled.
I have gotten charged though I can never find the cancel button. If we no longer are interested in their service, it MUST be disclosed to us. I think it's time to enlist the help of the attorney general
I wouldn't place Ancestry.com in the category of Scammer. They have digitized huge collections of data and made it available online. They have done a wonderful thing in that respect. They are the biggest online collection of primary genalogical data. Many libraries have subscriptions thsat can be used freely by patrons on the premises.. They do however do a number of sleazy business acts. So rather than call them a scammer, you might just have a category for sleazy companies that have done good works.
Overall however, I would say this is a very useful company for doing genealogy research. It is up to the individual user to draw conclusions on whether the data is good or bad. Remember the data they present was taken from another source. If you're looking at a transcription, you have to know that the transcriber may have made a mistake. Just like the census records are filled with mistakes. The problem is too many people are doing their own research, but neglect to learn HOW to do research or how to use the internet. Not every customer complaint is the fault of Ancestry. Some people are just bad, lazy, or uninformed customers. The customer isn't always right. Caveat Emptor!
Points well taken. They may have cleaned up their act a bit. A couple of years ago there were plenty of complaints. Thanks for your comment.
Hello,
Well, I wish I could be so kind. I have been with Ancestry for a few years, and Ancestry has biten off more than they can chew, steadily getting worse. In between managers that don't know what they're doing (On a blog)"Let me try that ..." To customer service getting snippy. First, this is not the slot machine management game, using my money. Second, if they can't handle the heat of customer service, then leave. Lest we not forget the monopolies they have created, RootsWeb, US GenWeb, Genealogy, etc... all part of the Generations Network in some form or fashion, and don't let anyone tell you different. All are controlled by the Mormon Church. Great tax write-offs when the companies are all split. Not getting into the religious portion... ONLY whom controls the buttons.
Yes, I fell for the 14 day free trial. Not quite bait and switch, but darn close.
As for the inability to remove your credit card information, I told them, 'Either it's gone, or the next person they talk to will be my representative through the government'.
Shame on them. I mean, why should we, the consumer have to rely on threats to get action done? AND, why should this company use underhanded tactics, being so close to the church? It goes to show all of us, we're having to be tougher and tougher.... another shame.
The latest situation at Ancestry. Inability to provide service; The items are ready at their site. You click for an image, and because the servers cannot handle the traffic, bam! You have no service; therefore, the yearly fee you paid for, has now been reduced to 4-5 months worth of provided service..... Buy 12, get 4.
This is where I drew the line in the sand. I have documentation out the wazoo. I'm currently shopping around for which government agency to file the complaint. This is not something that's happened overnight, or even 2-3 years.
For, "Just Some Genealogist", Don't minimize the problem.
Thanks for your comment.
I just received my credit card bill and there is a chg. of $155.40 to TGN Ancestry.com!!!! I haven't even been on the site for at least 2 yrs.!!! What's going on here?????????
You are not alone.
Robin says:
3 years ago
What's the scam?