FamilyTreeDNAReviews of familytreedna.com

They have the best marketing funnel. I paid for their top tier with Y chromosome testing. Incomplete result after 2 months. No response to inquiries. No customer service. The incomplete data showing my origins and family migration are also highly dubious. You know your family history and expect a surprise, but almost everything was a mathematically challenging (impossible) surprise. I'm no geneticist, but I'm willing to bet you can't have one parent donating 70% of your genetic material. My other family members got their DNA test results from 2 other DNA companies, fast and accurate. I overpaid so you could get this honest review.

RAW data transfer never processed 3-4 months on, poor communication, never a response to queries. The one reply i did have said it would be live soon and that was 6 weeks ago. Beyond a joke when they arent actually doing the test but processing data another site has completed. This still hasnt been done and ive had multiple actual DNA test come back in the time via other providers. And a different site processed my RAW data in 24 hours. DO NOT RECOMMEND. THEY ARE JUST TRYING TO ACQUIRE DATA WITHOUT ACTUALLY PROVIDING ANYTHING BACK

I am highly disappointed with Family Tree DNA due to their terrible customer service and significant operational delays. Taking a DNA test is supposed to be an exciting experience, but this company has made it incredibly frustrating. First, there was a major delay in sending out my sample kit. I waited for more than a month, and the kit never even arrived. To make matters worse, their communication is practically non-existent. They take forever to reply to emails, leaving you completely in the dark. Because of the total lack of response and the extreme delay, I decided to cancel my order. Shockingly, they charged me a $25 cancellation fee—even though I never even received the sample kit! Paying a penalty for their failure to ship a product on time is completely unacceptable. They take your money, ignore your emails, and then penalize you when you try to cancel. Save your time and money and use a company that actually cares about its customers.

I like the provided mtDNA and Y DNA , especially since there is no real alternative for these types of tests. The databases for this types of tests are the biggest in the world, and can give new genealogical insights. Also the their site UX is good. However the good things stop there. Customer support is terrible. Test delays are virtually all throughout the year. They never give any deadlines or any concrete information whatsoever. The only answer is like ChatGPT generated version of "patience is a virtue". Currently FF results are taking more than 3-4 months.. many times longer than the advertised processing times. Autosomal transfers are not working at all .. again. Bugs I reported on some of my kits that were acknowledged by the support have not been fix for many months, even after repeated requests. And there is the issue with even sending a kit back to the USA. Since the Trump tariffs of 2025 virtually you cannot mail your kit from anywhere outside of the USA. The only option is to send with a private carrier, which charge more than 100$ per envelope.. Most of the competing companies have a post box in Europe, where you send your kit, and than they mail them in bulk to USA. It works fast and efficient. Not FTDNA however, they do not care. Even receiving the test in the first place is challenging, some are sent with ridiculously slow mail, arriving in more than 2 months, than they are held by customs and etc. And one post box per continent could solve all of this... All these things also make very hard to recommend to someone to take a test. And this is crucial for genealogy.

Horribly slowly working we site, extreme long processing time, errors downloading raw data. Customer service keeps on being non responsive. Very disappointing. And results are doubtful.

You guys don’t even state on your site about the equipment change or that there will be a delay. Instead you just keep emailing me promotions to get another kit. Again you guys suck at costumer service.

I strongly regret choosing FamilyTreeDNA. My Autosomal DNA test has been pending for around 7 months (28 weeks), and my Big Y test has been delayed for more than 16 weeks, despite being told the expected turnaround time was 10–14 weeks. Customer support repeatedly provides generic responses but no meaningful explanation or realistic timeline. The company continues to aggressively advertise and sell new DNA tests while failing to deliver results to existing customers within a reasonable timeframe. When you are entrusting a company with something as sensitive as your DNA, transparency, reliability, and timely service are essential. Unfortunately, my experience has been the complete opposite. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend FamilyTreeDNA due to the excessive delays, poor communication, and lack of accountability. I've written to your customer service many times about the complaint and the situation, and you've kept delaying it. Are you only going to try to solve it now? Let's see then. Will we finally see something that actually works?

Don't waste your money. I had myself tested and two female cousins trying to make a break through on brick walls. The site is NOT user friendly and despite my one cousin have liverally over 500+ matches the site is so cumbersome they are meaningless. Meanwhile on Ancestry where I also tested the same people I was able to quickly catch on to the system and break down the brick walls. If I could give this site zero stars instead of one I would.