FamilyTreeDNA Reviews 229

I deeply regret ever trusting FamilyTreeDNA with my grandmother’s genetic data. I accidentally uploaded the wrong autosomal DNA results to her account and immediately submitted a removal request. I was assured it would take just a couple of weeks. That was over a month ago, and not only has the data still not been removed, but the company has completely ignored every single one of my follow-up emails.

I’ve contacted them multiple times for status updates and have received zero response. No acknowledgment, no timeline, no resolution—just silence. This is not just poor customer service; it’s negligent and disrespectful.

To make matters worse, I purchased an mtDNA test for my grandmother through her account, and she’s now unable to take or submit the test because FamilyTreeDNA refuses to remove the incorrect upload. So not only are they holding her data hostage, they’re also blocking access to services I paid for.

This experience has been a nightmare. If you value transparency, responsiveness, and basic professionalism, do not use FamilyTreeDNA. Their failure to act and communicate is inexcusable.

Update after response by business: False claim to resolve issue. They never reached out to me. They still haven't responded to my previous emails requesting an update on the removal of the uploaded DNA file.

Purchased upgrade to process my rawdna on 30 July, it is now 17 September and still no results despite the website claiming it takes 24 hours. I have spent 19 dollars for nothing, and the support is extraordinarily slow to respond.

Update: the support team offered me a full refund as well as resolved my issue after this, which I deeply appreciate and has left me with an overall good experience

We started with NO STARS kit. not arriving and lost. It took hours with the courier company here in NZ to find out what happened, but finally when I did send the info to Family Tree, Michael in Houston did really try to help. He sent the kit out again, and it did get here finally, though again(the Fedex did not sync well with a local company). The whole time I dialogued with Michael in Houston, he really seemed to care. They did get the kit at headquarters but now hear it is many many weeks before finding the reality of the DNA tests, so that is why it is a three. That is a long time to get the results. But I will say, Michael, is a wonderful customer service person. We await to see the fulfillment of our original order already 10 or so weeks ago.

I recently got the Family Finder test from FamilyTreeDNA and I’m honestly so impressed. The kit was super easy to use, and the whole process was smooth from start to finish.

What I loved most is how detailed the results were! Not just the usual ancestry breakdown, but actual matches and insights I didn’t expect. It’s such an amazing experience seeing connections you never knew existed.

If you’ve ever been curious about your background or just want to learn more about where you come from, I 100% recommend this. It’s such a cool experience!

I got this test as a gift for my grandfather, and the process was so smooth. He received his test quickly and loved how easy it was to swab and send back. His results came back fast as well, and he's spent hours on his account sifting through the data he received. I'm so pleased that it gave him a new hobby! Will definitely be looking into the more detailed tests and also getting one for myself!

Super fast shipping, kit was easy to use. The tools they have on their website are interesting, and more detailed than what I've seen on Ancestry/23andMe. Definitely going to look into trying some of their other DNA tests.

The results came back within the promised timeframe, and the ancestry breakdown was truly fascinating. I learned things about my heritage I never knew, which sparked some great conversations with my family. Definitely a worthwhile purchase for anyone curious about their roots.

I ordered the mtDNA test for myself and the Big Y test for my husband, and it’s been a fascinating experience digging deeper into our family histories. The results are detailed and the reports have opened up new avenues of research we hadn’t considered before. It’s amazing how much insight you can gain with the right tools. Highly recommend FamilyTreeDNA for anyone looking to explore their ancestry more thoroughly.

Family Tree DNA’s “Balkan and Greece” category is surprisingly careless for a company claiming to provide detailed ancestry insights. The Balkans are one of the most diverse regions in Europe, home to South Slavs, Albanians, Romanians, Greeks, and others, each with distinct genetic and cultural backgrounds. Grouping them all together under one vague label flattens that diversity entirely.

Even more confusing is the phrasing “Balkan and Greece,” which implies that Greece is somehow not part of the Balkan: a geographically and historically inaccurate distinction.

What really stood out as completely off, though, was the inclusion of Slovenian DNA in this category. Slovenians are Central Europeans, both genetically and geographically, with much closer ties to Austrians and Northern Italians than to populations in the southern Balkans. Including them here makes no scientific or historical sense.

Family Tree DNA should seriously reconsider how they define regional categories if they want to be taken seriously by users with any knowledge of European history or genetics.

Only a 3 star rating currently as I’ve had some challenges in the beginning with lack of responses. Once the admin team engage, then issues get resolved. Still waiting for my kit to be sent. I think familytreeDNA need to review their processes / capacity in admin to provide a better response time

I had an incredible experience using FamilyTreeDNA. From start to finish, the process was smooth, professional, and full of discovery. The test kit arrived quickly and was easy to use, with clear instructions that made the whole process stress-free.

I used Family Tree DNA for their mtDNA test and I was soon impressed by the depth in and details of the report i had received from them. It helped me learn more about my maternal ancestry than I ever expected to learn. Their customer service was also fantastic acting quick, friendly, and helpful. One star off only because it could be more user friendly to those like me who are not entirely familiar with it all.

I have been waiting approximately six months for my my Big-Y test results. There were a couple of initial "glitches" which I have deducted one month for. Otherwise it would be seven months. I was told today that the test results will probably be ready in about another month. At that point the process will have taken approximately eight months from order to completion. I'm being kind when I say that I am unhappy with FTDNA's service. The good news is that I probably hold the record for the longest length of time it has taken them to process a kit in their history...

I attended Rootstech25 and visited the FamilytreeDNA booth. I decided to purchase a mod a kit for $119.00. They processed my sample and sent it to their lab. About six weeks later I received results for a Y37dna test. That test only cost $79.00 at the event. Since that time I have tried to contact FamilytreeDNA twice. I finally placed a stop payment with my credit card company, but to date, no response from the company.
FamilytreeDNA seemed to have good reviews until the beginning of this year, now they are terrible!

buy the Family Finder kit since 10 days now nothing came to me and the support did not reply i asked for refund waiting for them to respond they say 4 business days but tell today no answer from them or support really best customer service

this is update to FamilyTreeDNA it was a mistake by me i purchase it throw this website familytreedna.ae I guess i have been scammed by them sorry FamilyTreeDNA if you want the number that contacted me by email and phone number just email me
sorry again

It's good that they have made updates to their mitochondrial test results. However, these still remain mostly meaningless since they do not provide timings for mitotree branches, while at times, depending on which tab you look at, the results seem to contradict each other.

Their staff are also no help at all, sending meaningless one-sentence replies to questions or even referring people to Facebook groups for answers. I've never seen anyone so provokingly indifferent. The supposed chat doesn't even work. Nobody answers it.

I got much more meaningful results from YFull. Ideally all samples from FTDNA would appear on YFull, where the answers are much clearer and include estimated dates.

Cons:
1: In app group projects activity feed. No way to communicate with other members. Or notifications if someone answers in the feed. Not big deal but would be nice.

Pros: New MTDNA Mitotree. Finally an update from scientific community for mitochondrial dna. Hopefully this will bring to a halt all the naysayers of mtDNA being helpful.

Staff is friendly and helpful. They have some admin issues in their corporate social media groups. Hope the best for this company. They are leaders in industry now.

I have paid for all these kits over years, the last two recently. I want access to the older ones. No go. They are kits number: Kit Numbers:
269946, 525047, 787326, B131613, B175103, IN34979, IN34981, IN36988. What has happened to them. Were they deleted?

My experience with FamilyTreeDNA has been extremely frustrating. After waiting weeks for my test results, I was informed that due to their “quality issues,” they were unable to process my sample. Their solution was to ask me to pay another €50 to send a new sample, with no guarantee that it would work the second time either.
I refused, as this clearly goes against consumer rights. Instead of taking responsibility, they tried to shift the blame onto me, as if I was responsible for their processing failure. After a long back-and-forth, they finally agreed to issue a refund.

Despite repeatedly assuring me that I would receive my money back via PayPal soon, it has now been over two weeks, and I have still not received anything. They are now completely ignoring me.
This entire process has been exhausting, and I still do not have my money back. I would not recommend this company to anyone.

Atrocious customer service, I paid for a "Family Ancestry Kit" on Monday, January 13th, and I received nothing, no email confirmation, no feedback. I contacted the customer service and explained the issue, after 2 weeks of emails back and forth, nothing!