If you've had any experience with DNA testing for genetic genealogy please complete this three question survey. I'll keep it open for a few days. Please do give it some extra publicity on Twitter, FB and through your own connections. All being well results will be posted on Saturday.
Added note: If you don't see the dissatisfied options please scroll down to see the scroll bar which will reveal them to the right, or respond by clicking three question survey.
I have had no experience with DNA testing, will be very interested in your survey's result. John Quinn
ReplyDeleteI ordered a FTDNA Family Finder test in 2010, and was very satisfied with how quickly I got my results. I ordered another Family Finder test in 2011 as a birthday present for my husband. We were expecting to receive the results around his birthday in mid March.
ReplyDeleteWhen the results did not appear as expected, we called and sent emails to ask why. More than once, we were told that the results were there. I had to be very insistent to make the customer service rep believe me when I said that my husband's profile was there, but there were no results or matches attached to it. It took 3 - 4 months before the results appeared, without any explanation or apology. We were not impressed!
When using the Family Finder Chromosome Browser Feature, I sent an email to ask why the maximum comparison available was 10 cM, when even a 5th cousin would appear as around 25 cM. My query was not answered.
Until recently, I used to forward FTDNA's marketing emails to people who had expressed interest in getting a DNA test one day. I won't be doing that again until the company starts putting more emphasis on their customer service training. There is no excuse for sounding bored (or worse, rude!) when customers are enquiring about unfulfilled expectations. FTDNA needs to spend some time and money on training customer service reps who sound as if they care about their customers' concerns.
In September 2012, I submitted my father's DNA sample to FTDNA for the Y-DNA test and received the results at some time in the fall. That was all well and good so I decided to take the next step. When FTDNA announced their Christmas sale, I placed my order on their website in mid December, believing I'd ordered the Family Finder DNA kit for myself. I promptly received an email stating that my order had been received and I saw the charge on my December Visa statement.
ReplyDeleteWhen no kit had arrived by mid February (nine weeks later), I checked the website and saw a note which led me to believe that the test was being done on the Y-DNA sample from my father that I'd submitted in September. This was certainly not my intention so I immediately submitted a query on their website to this effect. When I didn't receive a response to my query over the next couple of days, I phoned the company.
The representative I spoke to told me nothing could be done, that it was all clearly marked on the website, that it was my fault and my problem, and there was nothing he could do or would do. I asked to speak to his supervisor and I was told that there was no one else I could talk to. I was incredulous at being told that I could not speak to anyone but him, but that was his script and he stuck to it. He eventually added that he would give me the sale price to reorder the test for myself. I told him that I was extremely dissatisfied with this service and that evidently customer service is not a priority with this company, that I would be sharing this situation with my genealogy friends and colleagues, and that I would not be ordering anything from them again. From his attitude, I was left with the feeling that mine was not a unique case, and that this has happened before.
I did subsequently receive an email response to the query I had submitted to their website and they lowered the re-order price from the $200 I was offered on the phone to $179 and then to $149 in subsequent emails. However, the whole situation has left me feeling very dissatisfied and bitter, and I am very wary about having any more dealings with this company and with DNA testing in general.
As a side note, in mid March I did try to recreate my purchase on line to see how or where I'd gone wrong as the representative had told me that it was all very clearly marked. It was indeed very clearly marked in March and there was no way I could have made the error at that time as the Family Finder test wasn't even available as an upgrade. Apparently, the website had been changed in the meantime and it is very clear now. Unfortunately, it was very poorly marked when I ordered in December, and as a result, I only have autosomal results for half of my DNA and I'd need to hand over at least another $149 to get results for the other half of my DNA.
I hope that my story will act as a caution to others. It's easy to take people's money but much more difficult to deliver positive customer service and satisfaction.
I signed up in December 2012 for the special promotion with FTDNA. After looking on the website and noticing that my results had been delayed, I began to check their website regularly regarding the status of my results. However, I never did receive any notification from the company when my results were finally available.
ReplyDeleteIt’s a difficult website to navigate and I phoned a couple of times for clarification. Each time, the customer service rep sounded bored, unhappy and imposed upon to have to deal with my questions. I felt as if FTDNA had taken my money and now couldn’t be bothered to notify me or help me with my test results.
Many years ago, I had phoned several companies to ask what to expect from each one regarding DNA testing. My notes at that time indicate FTDNA didn’t seem interested in answering my questions at all and in fact, the rep said that other than learning the origins of my DNA from thousands of years ago, I shouldn’t expect much more from my results. Things really haven’t changed over the years!
I tried contacting the company last week about their special on mtDNA upgrades. I wanted to know if they could use my recent autosomal test for the upgrade for the mtDNA test. I emailed the company and marked the message "urgent" and I also left two voice messages. Three days later I received an email which told me to go to their website, use their pull down menu and that the test would cost $189.00. That was it. My phone calls still have not been returned.
My hope is that their front-line people receive much better training to bring about an awareness of the importance of excellence in customer service. Until then, I wouldn't recommend this company.
This is cool!
ReplyDelete