MyHeritage

I decided to give MyHeritage a try on a whim. I have paid member ships to other sites and thought since we had DNA data I would upload it and see how it compared. First, it took FOREVER to get the results. While I was waiting, I uploaded my family tree. Their "matches" and hints were off, MyHeritage were clearly for the wrong people. Their records were very limited and could be found for free on many other sites. But that wasn't even my biggest complaint.
When I got the DNA results back, they were clearly off. Other sites had it right. Theirs was not. Not only that, but I got sales calls asking me to upgrade within the 14 days. I don't want to be harassed with sales calls when they took nearly that long to get the DNA results uploaded! Further, during one of these calls I specifically cancelled my subscription and told him "no thank you, I'd like to cancel". He pushed and pushed in a slimy salesy way trying to get me to buy their Premium package (Oh, and also, I couldn't do ANYTHING with my tree in the 14 days because I wasn't a Premium member. So... total waste of time). I told him no, just cancel it because it's not of value to me. To which he replied that he would take care of it but wanted to know if he could call again another day if he could get a better deal. I asserted to first cancel, and he is welcomed to call back but I work during business hours and don't answer. This was on the 11th day of my 14 day trial. Today, I got invoiced for the full year, without even that salesman's discount applied. SLIMY. I called and reached Connor who condescending told me I should have read the contract more thoroughly. He was rude, and told me the best he could do was make sure it didn't auto-renew next year. I advised I was disputing the charges. He said he would give me 25% off. No, I want the refund and my membership cancelled. He said he could not cancel because I used the site during my FREE 14 day trial. Hi, it's FREE for 14 days and if you cancel you CANCEL. I cancelled on the 11th day. He then told me the best he could do was a $50 refund. The site is terrible, their service is terrible and their DNA results are inaccurate. Don't waste your time or money. Go with more reputable sites!

No question, I love the software as it allows me to cooperate around the world with my family members to build a great family tree. If you have a question, their support will respond in a friendly and timely manner, but don't take anything for granted.

Whilst their success gives you access to a lot of family trees, it seems that this huge data collection is slowing down their features. Hence, MyHeritage created a new policy without any customer communication or forewarning in January. The result: They do not allow instantaneous syncing between your online tree and the Tree Builder software on your computer once you reach a certain size. In turn that allows you only uploads to the website and no downloads anymore, thus all changes you or any family member makes online will be lost. So forget your laptop, your tablet, mobile app, auntie Mary's or cousin's John input. Any change that is not made directly from your home computer using the Family Tree software will be lost. Interestingly, this only punishes long-standing, premium paying customers with a big tree, whilst new customers with small trees maintain all features. Figure out the marketing sense of that!

So if you have only a small tree, I highly recommend MyHeritage, but if you pay a premium for their Premium software, make sure you don't grow your tree too big, because the most important features will disappear. Also be warned that you are with an organisation that may make spontaneous decisions that only suits them. They don't treat you as a family member, but a dummy they can milk for money. You will not asked anything, except to upgrade or to buy additional services. And yes, there is no notice that your annual subscription is due, they simply charge you.

Yeahhhhh, finally after a lot of years I spoke with a nice person from Holland who is living in Israel. She listened and not as other people were dominant and not listening what I want to tell and ask them. Brigitte is a dutch woman who is living in Tel Aviv and she from the helpdesk. She understood my arguments about the fact that in the contracts we have to pay there are websites included which are free to search in etc. Also the high costs myheritage charge for premium and premiumplus contracts she listend well. I hope to get a contract that I only click if there is a match in what kind of register or with an other familytree. This because my tree is good as finished an mostly I dont get any new info from sites or other trees. I hope MyHeritage finally listen to this arguments! This last part is why I give only 2 stars, because myheritage contracts are to expensive according to the free registers which we can use in the Netherland and Family Search in Salt Lake City. Maybe you have make an account but info is for free. Also info from Delpher is in Holland for free to access so why do I need to pay plus when the information in Delpher is free to search in. Also Online Begraafplaats.nl is for free. Local registers and whoiswho is for free etc. So to my opinion I understand that a company have to make profit but not with these amounts and especially if you see less activity like in my tree.

Also without my knowledge the yearcontract has been go on without my approval. This is against Dutch law. The website itselve is good, but the way the people (english language and sales persons) threat a client who is critics the english talking people are getting angry instead of learning from the experience. I got the feeling that its only to get as much money as they can. After a couple of years Brigitte is the only person who took the time for me. Nothing changed so far, but atleast I am heared. Will I recommend myheritage to people, NO WAY STAY AWAY and go to a dutch website with dutchrules and dutch peoples.

I have been trying to reach MyHeritage for a month now. Every time I call I receive a message stating MyHeritage are "unavailable right now" even though it is well within their working hours as posted on their site. So then I tried contacting them through email. After searching the site in every manner conceivable I finally posted a note in the forum area. Now to me, a forum is a give and take of users' comments. Apparently to MyHeritage, that is how you are suppose to contact them if you can't reach them via phone. Since the company is based in Israel, I will give the benefit of the doubt on the "forum" experience and chalked it up as a difference in local vernacular. Today, after waiting on the phone line (from caller 23 when I dialed in) for nearly 45 minutes, I reached someone in the accounting office. Although he was very nice about it, he informed me that he couldn't help and I would have to reach technical support and he gave me a supposed direct number. I called the direct number only to receive a recording that said they were now unavailable because it was their lunch hour. I waited another hour and called back again. This time I was caller 27 and was on hold for an hour. The tech that I spoke to was nice though very abrupt and I did resolve the problem I was having, but I can honestly state that I will not pay another subscription to this company as long as they continue to act like this is a part-time Mom and Pop business. That is not the level of professionalism I wish to deal with.

My experience and opinion. Unfortunately for me I was doing my fiancé a favor by using my card for the free trial. I normally check reviews but this time I didn't and paid the price of $119 and some change. Had I known that MyHeritage don't send expiration messages, I wouldn't have used my card. I definately have my thoughts as to why no expiration emails are sent. Moving on to the information provided. We as consumers who use the trial has provided all of the necessary information in order for others to trace our family roots. We noticed some of the information found was incorrect. We had done a better job researching outside of the website. We ending up adding the information we found outside of the website. By the time we got the hang of how to utilize the site the trial is up and and pockets $119.40 thinner. Through our experience it appears that the company stays in business by the consumers who provide information and by charging expensive site/product fees. By the time I realized this, I was charged $. About the refund, charged yesterday, called, cancelled asked for refund 7-10 working days, called back to confirm full refund amount and given some trouble, called 3rd time assured the processing of a full refund and cancellation's of any and all services/products. While some of their products might've been useful, I don't plan on taking another chance. I'll give an update on full refund that I'm praying to receive. Response to my heritage: Thank you for your response. However it still doesn't address the issue of not sending an expiration email. It is an inconvenience for the monies to be withdrawn and having to call for a refund. On top of that you still have to wait 7-10 working day's for the issuance of the refund. It appears that a lot could've been avoided with one expiration email. If emails involving initial registration, cancellation, charges, fee renewals, and etc are sent, what is the problem with sending an expiration email. In my opinion if there is an individual that can reply to reviews, that time could be better spent sending expiration emails. If indeed the 100% satisfaction guaranteed, in the best interest of your consumers are at heart it just logically make sense to remedy the issue. It is apparent that while the refund might ultimately satisfy the ending result, the inconvenience and the time spent calling and emailing can definitely create lines of mistrust. As a consumer when there's trust issues I definitely do not return for any services or products and I wouldn't recommend that business or company to anyone. Once again this is just my experience and my opinion.

I'm not sure this company uses accurate algorithms. My ethnicity results did not fit at all with the family history that I have. I am English, with Irish, Scottish and Romany Gypsy ancestry. My results showed 66% North Western European, 32% English, 0% Irish/Scottish 0%Eastern European. In other words a very narrow ethnic range. Now one interesting thing is that a few of the people I have been DNA matched with have no ethnicities in common with me. How can there be a match with no shared ethnicities? Another interesting thing is that some of my main matches have a really high percentage Irish (mine is 0%). I would expect a match with Irish ethnicities as my grandfather was Of Irish parentage but apparently I have no Irish. Surely I should at least have a small percentage even with the random nature of genetics and the type of DNA matches I have been given. Another unusual DNA match I have been given is with someone with Eastern European ethnicity ( we have no ethnicities in common). Now given my family history, this match links in with the Romany Gypsy side but apparently I have 0% Eastern European. If I could afford it, I would test with another company to compare results or challenge My Heritage with a blind sample so MyHeritage cannot guess at results based on surname, where you live etc. Reading the reviews it does seem that some other customers have tested with other companies and got quite different results!

For a long time I have had a major problem exporting COMPLETELY ALL the EXACT data from RootsMagic into Family Tree Builder. There is a mismatch using simple GEDCOM.

Rootsmagic apparently can Sync data with Ancestry.com using "TreeShare" feature. However it does not work the same with MyHeritage. Therefore I am unable to Sync my family trees as expected to MyHeritage website.

For more than a year (May 2020 - August 2021) I have expected to get tabgible help from MyHeritage to no avail.

Here is my recent replies to MyHeritage support team (sorted backwards):

August 26,2021

Dear David,

I have reinstalled FTB. This time it is build 8625.

Please be advised that when the version was 8571 (since November 2021) I have never been given an option (within the HELP Menu) to upgrade it and I have never been given an access to a User Manual.

Now the system identifies me with the family tree 241823281 and requires me to pay in advance a full 979 ILS for another year ahead.

As far as I understood MyHeritage promised me at least a free month for trials. It was not established.

Until yesterday I was given (by you, David) an extension to work until September 9. This extension is invalid now, after the new install of FTB build 8625.
The system recognizes me as a Basic user locked out of the all features that should be tested.

Still I can't download a User Manual (a very basic thing) and I'm blocked from using the Complete subscription plan as I understood you will allow me to do before renewing the subscription for another year.

Since MyHeritage has never allowed me to work fully and properly after paying for the Complete plan subscription (in May 2020) and since MH has failed to reply timely (delay for months) to my questions AND since MH did not fully refunded my subscription fee (only partially), I am not in a position to pay NOW 979 ILS before we finish the full tests of synchronizing the tree that I have on my computer (RootsMagic format).

Without the completion of a full import of the family tree (that I have in RoorsMagic format) and which your system does not recognize, there is no value in renewing my subscription with MyHeritage.

Please send me as soon as possible a discount code that will allow me at least two fruitful weeks of experimenting with version 8625 and then I will be able to decide if your service meets my expectations.

If I do not receive from you a code enabling me to work NOW for another calendar month in order to complete the tests AND at least 50% discount for the upcoming year, I would simply end the relationship with MyHeritage.

I have wasted my time in vain for a year and a half.
FTB does not work as I understood it should.
So far you (David) called me telephonically by surprise, at inconvenient times for me, without a schedule. In my opinion our mutual tests are supposed to be done in front of a computer screen.
Each turn takes more than a week!
MyHeritage financial promises for letting me solve the problem have not been fulfilled.
I'm sorry, my patience has a limit!

Thanks for your consideration!

Shabbat Shalom,
Doron Tal____________________________________________________
August 26,2021

David thank you!

Just before re-installing FTB per your instructions, I have checked and found:

1. Since 17 November 2020 I have been using updated FTB 8. 0. 8571 (see an attached screenshot)

2. I have double checked on 26 August 2021 that I have been using for many months FTB V 8. 0. 8571 (see a screenshot).
I had timely checked on the help menu that I have been always using the latest version.
The only thing I am not sure about is whether it had been installed as an Administrator.

3. The Sync between FTB and MH remained stuck at 77% at Step 4, it occurred once after 7 hours and in my second trial it was stuck for about 24 hours, on 25 August 2021 before I "gave up" (see a screenshot).

4. On 26 August 2021 I was Unable to download a User Guide (see attached two screenshots).

I am sending this mail just before reinstalling FTB from the link you have sent me today.
I'll update you ASAP after the new "administrator" installation of FTB completes.

In our recent talk today I understood that you were not aware what RootsMagic software is doing. Am I right?
Therefore I attach hereby another screenshot proving that MyHeritage claims (even today as it has been for a few years) that MyHeritage are working in collaboration with RootsMagic.
As I told you (in our first conversation), I found RootsMagic only because it was advertised on your front page just on top middle (see a screenshot).
Thank you MyHeritage for letting me know. In 2017 I found RootsMagic 7 to be the best software ever and I use it even today and won't replace it by another s/w unless I am convinced that FTB can do better, such as decoding flexible date./ time formats for each and every fact / detail on the family tree.

Kind regards,
Doron A. Tal____________________________________________________
MyHeritage Support #988435338: August 24,2021

A reply of a frustrated user to Support:

Dear David,

Thank you for your explanation.

Immediately after we completed our phone talk on August 17,2021 I tried to do what you recommended me to do. Unfortunately, I was not successful.

This is because many errors were detected while trying to transfer a GEDCOM file from RootsMagic (RM) to Family Tree Builder (FTB).

There is no coordination between the software packages in many parameters. The main problem is a date range such as 1845-1848 which is not recognizable by FTB.
There are more issues. If you consider to resolve them I would make a complete list.

In attempt to find a solution I have tried to download a User Guide Manual for FTB from the internal menu on FTB and also from the MyHeritage website,
Https :// faq. Myheritage. Com/he/article/היכן-ניתן-למצוא-את-המדריך-למשתמש-עב�...⇄ /> But I failed. Your system did not allow me to downloaded User Guide or there is a dead end or a missing link on internet. (I feel like a dummy stupid).

Therefore I opened on August 19 (two days later) a new query, ticket number # *******702, but have NOT yet received any response.
It turns out that the new information about my difficulty of getting something as simple as a User Guide has not reached you timely.
It took a whole week ( 17/8/21 – 24/8/21) to get today an inefficient response from you (as far as I am concerned).

I would like to make it clear, the main software I work with and want to continue working with is RootsMagic not FTB. I would do so only if I could export each and every detail from RM which is impossible.

I may have misunderstood you in our last telephone conversation.
I thought that you will examine the issue of the possibility of performing "TreeShare" feature of RootsMagic with MyHeritage as they do with Ancestry.com. We talked about it.
You have not yet responded to this issue. I would like to remind you that I had raised this issue back in September 2020, almost a year ago!

In these circumstances your recent reply (cited below) does not satisfy me.

I am in exactly at the same state of uncertainty as I was in May 2020!

Thank you for your attention.

Kind regards,
Doron A. Tal
A frustrated user of MyHeritage and Family Tree Builder

First, Let me say this is not the first time contacting support. I can honestly say that the support is generally quick. In light of current world pandemic affecting several countries I can understand responses can be delayed.

I'm sorry to say that it took over a week for MyHeritage support to get back to me from my initial email for support. Initial email was for a problem of the FTB desktop software not syncing up with the online tree.

Way Too Long to Respond!

The information that I finally received was wrong information! The support person said I had the wrong FTB version installed and I needed to update the desktop FTB version. When I ran "Check Updates" from the 'HELP' menu the software reported I was up to date with version 8571. The documentation/instructions the agent reported was 8545. Well in my book of software experience ver 8571 is newer than 8545 and therefore did not need to be updated. Note: I usually check for software updates on a regular basis and in this case my software was already updated.

I finally resolved my own issue.
1. Closed the FTB desktop software.
2. Opened the online family tree.
3. Restarted FTB desktop software.
4. Wait for the 'SYNC' dialog box to open again.
5. Clicked 'OK' to begin sync process. All four (4) steps to sync took place.
6. Now all working as supposed to. "Until next time" I'll do it all over again. Note: this was not the first time this happened but the steps I did above solved my problem.

I have been a fanatic about my heritage, genealogy and ancestry for some time now. The name of this organization fits it perfectly. I started my family tree a while back but always hit a roadblock. My family ordered me a DNA kit for Christmas and has been an addiction since. I signed up for the premium service to challenge myself along with finding additional family members, so that I may pass it along to my child and share this information with my immediate family as a gift.

I have called a number of times to chat with Customer Support and have always been treated with the utmost respect. The wait time on hold was a bit long but well worth it. Perhaps a solution is to bring on additional support. Once Aaron McCorkmack the Customer Support Representative assisted me. We were able to resolve my issue together. The matter is still unresolved, but I am optimistic that Aaron will follow through to have this matter resolved. Having a great deal of patience, great customer service is the key and success to any business. It is very important knowing that the client is happy in the end with results.

Looking forward to completing my tree and using the additional services such as the genealogy department to fulfill my dream.

Hello everyone,

I bought 2 kits in November and both were received by my heritage in January.We received the results for one kit on February 20th. We should expect the results for the other one on February 27th. We never received the results. It was the stage "Raw data produced"! And then we received an email. "We are experiencing delays because we are moving to a new, more advanced version of the chip used for DNA analysis. You can expect your results March 14,2019 - March 27,2019. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Today, I received an email "There may be a problem with your sample. We could not read the DNA from the first vial of your DNA sample. It is possible that the DNA sample was not collected correctly with this vial. We encounter this problem in about 1% of the samples. Fortunately, we still have the second bottle you sent us. We are now processing it at no additional cost. This will require more lab processing time for your sample. We have updated the estimated delivery date of your results online accordingly and we will notify you by e-mail as soon as your DNA results are available. "
Now the deadline is "You can expect your results March 27,2019 - April 17,2019. We apologize for any inconvenience." It's a joke? We recommend my heritage to our family after the results of the first kit and bought 3 other kits. It sounds like a bad my heritage joke that takes its customers for idiots!

Julien

I joined up on a 21 day free trial. Unfortunately, I entered an incorrect email address, which I did not realise at the time.

On the site, I requested access to a restricted family tree, but received no response. After some time, I found the incorrect email address in my account details, but could not amend my email address. The password had been sent to the incorrect address I had given and I had no access to alter details on my account.

Since I had received no response to my query for access to the restricted information, I decided to cancel my account at the end of the trial period, and rang the number given on the MyHeritage website. After pressing the option for account enquiries, I was tele-prompted for my password, which I did not have. Thinking laterally, I chose the option to open an account instead, which produced a live operator in very short time. This lady, Pauline, was a joy to deal with, and dealt with my story with the utmost efficiency and politeness. The account was cancelled as requested, and I then agreed to an extension to a new indefinite free restricted account.

I am impressed with the amount of detail available on the MyHeritage web site for the research I have done. Even the freely available information is surprisingly comprehensive. My fears of possible account mishandling were allayed by the courteous efficiency of the operator when contacted about my problems, and I intend to take up a paid account to access the full range of their information once I have settled down a bit.

In short, MyHeritage.com have a comprehensive data base with masses of information, and their support staff are extremely good at their job; very helpful and efficient. I have no hesitation in recommending them.

When you sign up for a free 14 day membership, if you decide to cancel, depending on where you live in the world, this is not processed due to the time difference. The head office of MyHeritage is actually based in Israel, not the US. I had cancelled my 14 free trial, but MyHeritage still debited my account for a yearly subscription which is very expensive. The refund process is lengthy & costly. They take your money but they State it takes 7 business days, not including weekends, to be returned. It takes months of frustrating calls. If you attempt to call them, again depending in the time difference, eg I had to set the alarm for 2am to call and then was placed on hold for over 30 mins to speak to a call centre in Ireland. They stated they could not connect me to the head office as stated on their own letterhead in a refund email as being in Utah US as the head office is located in Israel. This company is a fraudulent. In my 20 odd years of dealing with various Genealogy online companies, MyHeritage is the worst I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. Call Centre staff in Israel are very rude & argumentative. DO NOT SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TRIAL AS THEY WANT YOUR CREDIT DETAILS AND AUTOMATICALLY DEBIT YOU ACC AFTER YOU HAVE CANCELLED YOUR FREE DAY TRIAL.

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed my initial post and I do hope that it has been helpful.

As a result, I would like to update you all on my situation.

I must mention that the most recent post by Rafael was made after several email exchanges between us with the penultimate one from me being on the 7 Mar 18, which read as follows

"Hi Rafael,
It is safe to say that I am very tired of all of this bureaucracy.

Surely the simple answer from you should be that you will have my sample retested by another researcher (I take this to mean person and not company).

I understand what you are trying to say but my point is that none of these enthicities that you all have manufactured have appeared in my genealogy going as far back as the 1400's.

Surely there is zero chance of your current result being correct especially since my parents are 1st generation Caribbean of Caucasian European descent".

This resulted in Rafael stating that "I just wanted to make sure that you know how your DNA is tested. I can send you a free replacement kit by all means.

In order to do so, I must forward this ticket to the appropriate department. Therefore, i will do this now".

I must highlight that I have never expected this to drag on for as long as it has. I have only ever wanted the professional and honest service which MyHeritage claim to have in relation to DNA testing and the results.

Let's see what happens next but I am hoping that this is the final chapter since I would like to move on with more pressing matters of life.

For the past several years I sang the praises of MyHeritage until a few months ago. As previously noted in my first review a little over a year ago, the ability to search both official and non-official records, as well as the family trees of others, is a tremendous benefit to those who are building their family trees.

I was pleased until I realized some anomalies were happening and reached out to their customer service for assistance. One anomaly involved a xGGM being identified as such in the on-line family tree, and her information printed in ancestral charts, but her parents and other ancestors, despite being attached to her, did not appear as "yGGF and yGGM, etc." nor did MyHeritage appear in ancestral charts. Other anomalies involved error codes appearing when trying to enter or query common items, and worse, information I entered into biography fields was either corrupted or deleted.

When I initially called customer service, the customer service agent detached my xGGM from my family tree and reattached her (something I had also done), only to confirm what I reported. He said it was an unusual thing for him to see, assigned it a customer service ticket number and assured me he would forward the concern to the technical customer support team for resolution. The same customer service agent told me to send screen shots of any error code that popped up, as well as "proof" of information being entered and then corrupted or deleted; the customer service agent gave me a specific email address to send attached screen shots and narrative to the technical support team, as well as a specific subject line.

Within a few days a technical customer support team member emailed me in regard to the one service ticket item. She confirmed what I experienced (regarding certain ancestors not appearing as such in my family tree or ancestral charts) was a "glitch" in their system, and they would work on fixing it as quickly as possible.

Per the instructions of the customer service agent with whom I spoke, I sent multiple emails to the technical support team over the period of a few weeks, forwarding the original email along with each subsequent email documenting distinctly separate error codes and examples of information (including photographs!) I entered but later found was corrupted or deleted. I began printing family books after about an hour of entering information, to confirm the information was saved, and then logged in later to learn the information was corrupted or deleted; I sent evidence of both in emails to the technical support team.

Not once did I receive a response from a technical customer support team member to the emails I sent or forwarded.

When I called customer service to inquire about the lack of response to multiple emails, the customer service agent explained I possibly sent the emails during the technical support team's weekend or possibly sent the emails to the wrong address. I explained I sent the emails to the address the previous customer service agent instructed me to send them to, I had not received any failed delivery messages after sending or forwarding emails over the span of a few weeks, and the email address was the same one the technical support team member used when she responded to the ticketed service item.

The customer service agent suggested he send me an email and I reply to it with all of the emails I previously sent the technical support team, and he would then forward it to the technical support team for resolution. I did as he requested. Weeks later, still no response from the MyHeritage technical support team.

I previously created databases for both private businesses and government agencies albeit not nearly as expansive as the one MyHeritage has. The initial response I received in regard to ancestors not showing up as such in my family tree or being included in ancestral charts was appropriate; acknowledge glitches and assure customers of a speedy fix. The failure to respond to numerous emails, each one including previously forwarded emails documenting distinct error codes and examples of data being corrupted or deleted, is unacceptable.

As I could not longer be confident the information I entered into the MyHeritage system was safe from corruption or deletion, I removed my family tree from the site and canceled my subscription (though I continued to be billed for a back-up service - backing up nothing - until I addressed that separately). I uploaded my family tree to a highly regarded off-line genealogy software program and am currently working on "cleaning up" entries related to over 9000 individuals.

So the research potential MyHeritage offers is vast and offers tangible documentation for those interested in identifying, corroborating, or simply knowing more about their ancestors. Logging on to find information previously entered has been corrupted or deleted is a sickening feeling, to put it mildly. Re-entering information, only to later learn it has also been corrupted or deleted is maddening. The lack of response to multiple emails documenting error codes, corrupted or deleted information, particularly after contacting customer service agents twice, is unacceptable.

If your interest is research, with the intent to store the results of your research elsewhere, I am not sure if other services would provide a comparable service for a comparable fee (but I will be looking after repairing the damage to my existing family tree). If your interest is storing and growing your family tree on MyHeritage, as was once my passion and pleasure, my best comment would be "Caveat emptor" and best wishes trying to get a technical customer support team to respond to any issue that arises.

I maintained a premium subscription with MyHeritage from at least 2010-2015, then reverted to a basic (unpaid) membership on completion of my genealogical research. In June 2021, I renewed my premium ("complete") subscription and found to my dismay that my family site was dysfunctional in that it prevents me from exercising my right, as the site manager, to add, edit and remove site content. Specifically, I have been unable to:
1. Edit the 9 existing "news articles" and their multiple attachments that I had written and posted on my family site from 2010-2015, to describe and document my research, or to create new articles, even though these options remain displayed on the site.
2. Add descriptive text to the the photo albums I had created on my family site (also a displayed option).
3. Rearrange photos in a logical order on the site. All

I repeatedly contacted MyHeritrage Support, to no avail. None of the site functionally issues that I first reported over a month ago have been resolved. The so-called "support" staff is useless … inattentive to substance, totally incompetent technically, unresponsive, and customer-averse. The only "advice" I was offered was to clear my browser cache. All that did was wipe out all my saved online account passwords; nothing else changed. Then I was told that the "news articles" that I had written and posted on my family site to highlight and summarize significant aspects of my family's history and the methodologies I employed in conducting and then documenting my genealogical research could not be edited nor could I create new articles because the "feature has been discontinued. " Most recently I was told that all my articles would be "removed" from my family site! Excuse me?! I paid for the privilege of posting these articles on my family site for the benefit of my children and grandchildren, so that MyHeritage would be cognizant of their heritage and family history! And MyHitage not only denies me the right to add new articles but even to edit the existing ones and now threatens me with removal of the latetr against my obvious will. I paid a huge premium for renewing my so-called "complete" subscription and when I did, I expected my family site to be fully functional as I had left it. I was given no notice before I renewed that this would not be the case. For that very reason, I then asked for the name and e-mail address of a MyHeritage senior executive so that I could submit a formal complaint before consulting with my attorney concerning my legal options in order to protect my rights as manager of my family site, on which I had relied in good faith when renewing my premium subscription in June 2021. I have not received as much as an acknowledgment of my request. All other issues I reported remain unresolved.

I have been a My Heritage member for 2 months. During that time, I have expanded my family tree a lot - it is very gratifying. I was waiting for some ancestor information from my cousin, so did not log into My Heritage for a week.
Fri, Jun 5: I tried to login and was prompted for my password AND 2FA (this was the first time that this happened). 2FA did not send me a passcode to my phone. Tried many variations to get passcode.
Note: I thought that this was strange, because:
1. This is the PC that I always use (i. E. it is a trusted device)
2. I had verified 2FA when I first used it, so I knew that the mobile number was correct.
Sat, Jun 6: Tried again and same problem. Tried many variations to get passcode.
Sun, Jun 7: Tried again and same problem. Decided that 2FA issue was not a 'temporary' problem with website.
- I reviewed the My Heritage website for the support email. I found none.
- I decided to call the support line. (Almost) Every option in the phone tree expects an Account Id, which is in my profile behind the logged in screen, so I did not have the account Id. After several tries, I decided to call 'Sales - new accounts' (this was the only option that I found that did not require an Account Id).
- verified with Sales that Mobile number was correct.
- Although Sales could not help me get logged in, my problem was passed onto support.
Tue, Jun 9: I received an email stating that "I had requested to deactivate 2FA and to provide security information on the account".
Within hours, I had replied with the correct problem statement - specifically I wanted to use 2FA and with my email and mobile number (which uniquely define my account).
Wed, Jun 10: no reply from support. Re-sent my Jun 9 email.
Thu, Jun 11: I received a reply stating that other members had also had problems with My Heritage 2FA and recommending that I 'download and configure an external Authenticator app'.
Thu, Jun 11: requested that 2FA be activated (since it does not work) and provided security information (3 names and birth dates of people in my tree)
- Email received from support confirming that 2FA was deactivated and how to re-activate (the broken) 2FA for my account.
- Verifed that Login is successful (AND 2FA NOT re-activated)

Question: Why did Sales not give me the support email address, so that I could directly email a problem statement?
Question: If My Heritage 2FA has design problems, then why does customer support not know about it so that MyHeritage can provide better customer service?
Question: Why does customer support tell me how to re-activate 2FA, even when they know that it is broken?
Question: Why did it take so long to respond to this problem?
Question: Why does a member have to request that something be removed if it does not work?

Canceled my trial period only to have MyHeritage take a subscription fee out of my bank without my knowledge and failed to activate that I had cancelled within the 14 day period and then when I complained she said that I must have had a past account with MyHeritage and MyHeritage got confused between the two (I was some years back a subscriber but that was cancelled years ago) and withdrew my money. It is not my fault they got confused and she said it was after the 14 day trial. Wait a minute I cancelled this trial period within the subscribed 14 day time period using the cancellation agreement and it is not my fault that MyHeritage computer or staff got it wrong. I have been a disgusted subscriber since before Christmas but due to a glitch in their system I cannot use the account because they failed to give me an account number that works I still cannot use this unwanted account even after she gave me a new number which also failed to open my account what seems to be an imaginary account but I feel since they have taken my money that at least I should be able to use this account. Oh by the way I am deaf and use the mail and message services through my wife who does not get confused easy as I do but they want me to ring them and they will not listen to my wife. So you be the judge seems MyHeritage just stole my money for services not rendered in my case and will not at least be descent enough to supply me with an account number which will enable me to use the services I have reluctantly paid for. I am worried that they will wait and then take more money out of my account using this same excuse.
John Ralston

MyHeritage have absolutely no actual human that will talk to you. (+31) 0800 24 00013
(Ma–Do, 08:30–20:30 CET, Vr 08:30–14:00 CET). Please, try and call them yourself. And you will see! The most weird woman voice recording will tell you to just visit the website. And obviously the website will absolutely be no help at all. There is no email address to contact support either. It's so frustrating. I had to go on forums like this to find humans that are going through it like I am. And then I see they have the audacity to react to some of these good people's complaining with the most "matter off fact" kind away. Telling them to just contact them. Like that's not what they have been trying to do. They just ignore the whole complaint of not being able to reach them at all. What company doesn't have a phone number? Or atleast a chat service or a support email adres stated clear on their website under the tab contacts?. THATS RIGHT! SCAMMERS DONT! Do you know why because they're tired of hearing the same complaints over and over again and instead of doing something about it they just remove customer service. It's absolutely ridiculous that you offer people a free trial and when they don't want to continue you just act like you don't hear them. And just keep taking their money. You are criminals. Do something about this! Do you have enough money you scammed enough money out of their pockets the least you can do is have a customer service phone number. And don't you dare tell me that you have a phone number ((+31) 0800 24 00013)
Because the phone number goes straight to voice recorder telling me to go on the website.and the website claims you can call me back but then that's a dead end bc that option doesn't realy exist either. SCAMMERS don't do business with these humans pls don't do business with them

Double pedigrees, double premiums, various contracts - a self-made mess - urgently need help!

With my very limited knowledge of computers, I found it difficult to solve the problems myself. So I had a lot of duplication as well as other confusing problems and often when I tried to fix them, I made them worse. It became very frustrating.

I called the MyHeritage hotline several times and was always on hold while i was constantly told that I was third in line. So I left a message and my phone number

When I finally got in touch with ANNA in Tel Aviv at My Heritage, the hope grew to solve the problems.

ANNA reassured me humanely and competently, went through my problems individually and had great patience with me.

- She finally got me back on track.

My way to ANNA:

- First hotline contacted several times by mail and phone
- either get an automatic response or refer to FAQ
- You contacted me for the first time and only referred to the problem globally.
- I felt that the help I received was quite haphazard.
- Courteous, friendly, but not comprehensive. MyHeritage didn't really ask questions about possible
Locating sources of error
- Later, another person tried to help.
- the hotline becomes a person and is called "Anna"
- by mail (in German) Anna tries to solve my problem for the time being
- although the support was done, Anna has privately thought about other thoughts,
Further errors in my handling discovered
- after several hours a call from Anna (late evening)
- she speaks perfect German, her workplace is in Tel Aviv
- after some problems and misunderstandings in communication, Anna presented
Some other solutions
- some carried them out themselves - some I had to do (got easy to understand
Instructions)
- Anna also cleaned up my premium payments (wrong or double payment) and
Provided for a transfer of a credit note
- Finally, I would like to state:
- so I imagine a hotline - not only automated, but personally with empathy
Acting consultants, who stop the support when the problem is really
Is solved
- if I need the MyHeritage hotline again, then I only wish
"ANNA" as a consultant
- Every hotline in this world should only have employees like Anna.

Thank you ANNA
- for weeks of patience to look after me
- for professional competence and excellent conflict resolution
- for the empathy and human interaction of my person

I can only recommend ANNA!

Peter BRUNNER - Vienna

I am extremely disappointed in MyHeritage. I made the mistake of signing up for a free trial and not cancelling at the end of the trial. Understandably, my card was charged. I quickly emailed to rectify, but was given the same run-around by customer service as another commenter and only got 50% back. It was like a sales call where I was told to actually keep my account and MyHeritage made it seem like they were doing me a favor by giving me a discount to a service I didn't want. I re-read the terms and they state that they value customer satisfaction and would fully refund if cancelled before 30 days. I was not given this luxury. When I emailed them back about it, they re-activated my account and called me and left a voicemail saying the "fixed" my account that that I accepted their offer and I assume by that statement I was now left with an account to a website I had zero interest in.

I can't believe the runaround I have had in trying to delete my account. I sent a very personally unflattering email the last time I tried to delete my account, but it worked and I'm only out about $75 CAD.

I can't recommend this website.

**************************************
Update:
You will see that MyHeritage has responded to all negative posts, like mine.

Nothing has resulted in my contacting them. They couldn't even find a record of my account and after sending all the emails and Paypal receipts - nothing changed. They said "We see that we've refunded you 50% as per your request (I didn't request it - it was all i was offered) if there is anything else we can do, please don't hesitate to contact us"

I cannot explain how unhappy I am with this whole ordeal. Its such a waste of time and money.;

Found this on a list of "free" genealogy sites. Was alright starting off, until I reached the limit of Smart Find matches you can confirm. Then it asked me to pay. Since I was not interested in doing so (note how I said "I was looking for FREE genealogy sites"), I decided to delete my account. It asked me to put in my password; so I did. It said my password was incorrect. This is when I knew something was wrong. I had saved my password with Google Smart Lock as soon as I made it, but sometimes you can mix passwords up with Google Smart Lock so I assumed I did make a mistake. I pressed "forgot password", put in the email with which I registered my account, received a link to change my password, and did so; this time, however, I made sure the Google Smart Lock saved the right password and that I updated it correctly. Went to delete my password again. Same thing. Changed the password through the way where you have to input the current one and then a new one. Same bloody problem. It won't let me delete my account. It wants to keep my information. Called the number provided; the call ended while it was holding (twice!) and after I put in my ID. Tried to email them only to get "Sorry, we don't offer customer service to non-paying customers". Real nice. And funny, because a customer would only pay if MyHeritage didn't have a problem with the site and didn't want to take their information off and delete their account. This problem still isn't fixed ya know. I'm gonna have to take it to the guys who fix my computer; they're nice so hopefully, they'll be able to help me out. Also, in the end, no matter WHAT you pay for a genealogy site, if you have to pay at all, go Ancestry.ca (honestly). I think I might just invest in that anyway.

I'm just getting more and more frustrated with MyHeritage. I mailed in my DNA samples at the same time as my friend. I literally took BOTH envelopes to the post office TOGETHER on the SAME DAY. MyHeritage both arrived at MyHeritage on May 22,2018, an hour apart, according to the tracking numbers. My friend received an email from MyHeritage the SAME day, saying his DNA had been received. Two days later, mine still hadn't been checked in.

I called and the rep was polite, but he said the packages are scanned in by hand, and that it could take up to two weeks to get checked in! I was worried that mine had gotten lost. Luckily, I got an email an hour or two later saying my package had been checked in.

A few days later, my friend got an email that MyHeritage was working on his DNA, and a video of the lab. I didn't get the same email until June 1st.

On June 3,2018, my friend got an email that his DNA results were ready. I'm still waiting for mine, four days later. It says my results should be in June 14th-21st. But that's just an estimate, not a guarantee. There are 4 stages, starting with extraction. Mine has said they are extracting my DNA since June 1st. I wish they had better communication. I'm starting to worry there's something wrong with my samples.

The whole reason I did a DNA test is because my family lied to me about who my biological father is. I have no way of knowing that the other person they claim is my father truly is(he's dead). Supposedly my real biological father was Italian, so I'm waiting to see if my results will show that. Also, I'm hoping that someone else on my father's side of the family has taken a DNA test with MyHeritage.

I don't understand why two samples received the same day would receive such different levels of processing. It's like a lottery system whose DNA gets worked on.

I have been a dedicated user of Myheritage for seven years now and have spent hundred of hours building my site. In these years I have been a good ambassador for myheritage, recruiting new members and advising them how to get started. My main project has been to preserve pictures of my ancestors and identifying them on all the pictures that I have collected from generations back. All together more than 2000 pictures.

In 2010 the Myheritage salespeople was very persuasive at selling me a premium plus membership witch include backup and Priority support. As a computer guy I found this reassuring and have prepaid my membership until 2022 to preserve my work for later generations. My main concern about Myheritage up to recently has been some missing functions on how albums are organized and that pictures that aren't organized in albums will "disappear" when more than thousand pictures are added.

Then two months ago, the 16. September, In an attempt to reorganize my albums and moving pictures into new albums I did not notice that the subtext in the dialog box, when deleting pictures that was doubled in different albums, warned that MyHeritage where deleted from all albums. In a few minutes I accidentally lost more than 3-500 pictures and historic documents with names, places and stories supplied by both me and other members on my site, in the comment section of each picture. Tens and tens of hours off work. Strangely enough when opening an album, that was now empty, the website counted up the missing pictures.

My first step was to send a mail to support so they could restore from their most resent backup. My so called priority support, used four days to sendt me a "blahblah" answer with different suggestions that pointed to familytree builder (witch I have rarely used). I responded immediately to get them to respond to my request for a restore from their backups since the backup they offer me access to was a month old (20. August).

At this time I got so desperate for action that I spend an hour to find a support number I could call. It was not found on myheritages pages but in a email received some time ago. After some waiting I got to speak with Shimon whom I gave a recap of my mishap.We had a nice, long conversation where I was told that I could restore everything using tree builder so everything would be fine. What a relief I felt, but only to realise that none off the backups they had taken was working nor had the synchronization to treebuilder (export of pictures from Myheritage had partly failed altogether).

The next month I spent time writing and sending eight emails to support with screenshots trying to explain and trying different actions in response, My pleading for them to escalate to technical support for qualified help was fruitless.In their last response they admitted that they have a problem with their backup solution and that they would contact me when this was solved. That was 20 days ago. A week ago I requested an update to my case but still haven't heard from them.

Conclusion: I would think that a company claiming to have more than 80 million users are serious about their business. And dealing with historic data of this proportions I would certainly think that they have a backup policy and solution that secures their databases. Building a support organization that can handle 80 million users must be a challenge not getting easier after their acquisitions of Geni.

I am sad to have to write this review but see no other way than to share my experience so people are warned both about Myheritage's lack of support but also of their insufficient backup system. I am not giving up on getting help and I will not accept that all my precious work are gone, by them not having working backups of my data. A service I have paid for and trusted the last five years.

As it is now, I have not taken the chance on continuing my work for more than two months. Should I give up my project on myheritage and find another program? Then what about my familymembers that I have recruited and are contributing on my and their own pages? As of now 1300 pictures and 15 albums that I have om my website is failing to synchronize to treebuilder. Export to GEDfile does not include more than half of my existing pictures. So my work is in ruin. And no help.

Regards
Tore O
Norway

3. December Update: As you all see I got the attention from Myheritage. Next day I received a promising mail offering me VIP- support. I was told they would look into the case and offer me advice?! I spent a couple of hours writing them a new letter with practical the same information I had supplied in previous emails. I have waited a week without any more words from MH before I yesterday sent an email asking for a status update. They responded today telling me that they finely are having the R&D looking into my problem.

Be very careful with this company, MyHeritage are frauds. They just deducted 300 euros from my account credit card for no reason, and congratulated me on the successful update of my profile. Once they got your credit card details, they can do whatever they want. Or just update their user licence agreement, hide it in on of teh 1 million emails they send you, and use it as referance, that they probably warned you.
*****************
Even more worrying is that they have a very very serious security issue.
Last year they had a security breach, wehere approx 92 million user data was leaked. Its probably just some cover up for theis in house illegal activity.

Let me give you an expample. After leaving a feedback on google earth, some woman wrote me an email in their name within 15 minutes to express that she is very sorry that i didnt notice one of their emails in which they wrote that after some period of time they will start charging money for the registration, (which is a bull$#*! registration by the way, you dont need it, and they only force you to activate it only because of course you cant get otherwise your test results.)...

BUT, and there is a big BUT, the thing is, i left a review from different account, than the one they replied to.

How can that be possible, without violating my privacy? Lets say, they have approx 100 million registered members. Hoe is that possible, that is someone leaves a comment, they look up that person, check their data, and make a move. How can i be assured that their company wont show up at my door demanding my apartment and pointing out that there is a clause in their licence agreement, that allows them to evict me.

How could they from hundereds off millions of users find me within 15 minutes, and explain why they charged me for something, if it wasnt willingful, and manual in the first place anticipating, that those people they do it to will complain right away.
*******************************
I had to report them and cancel my credit card immediately.
********************************

The features for normal users to enter some family info and merge with other users' infos is practically not there. I do have stuff going back to the 17th century and was intrigued to see that MyHeritage appear offer this, but it is only appearances, they do not really. My phone number was never registered with your site. While I considered a subscription, they called my (unlisted, not known) home number - so within minutes they must have taken a deep grip deep inside the illegal address trade that the phone harrassment companies have here. The call was logged to come from 044 508 **, which designates one of the infamous companies in Switzerland, not reputable. ---- So, I asked on their forum whether they want to explain how exactly, step by step, they had worked that out so fast, in more detail but they would not. With that I found them to be shamelessly non-responsive to a sensitive issue - and when you deal with family information, you just can not afford to be shamelessly non-responsive in context of very sensitive information, particularly if it is a phone number that is generally not available. So I did more research and found that their 185 USD annual subscription is virtually impossible to cancel - because they also do not seem to answer any requests there. To make other collectors happy I would have paid 10 or 12 bucks a year or so, given that I would be the one to type in all that stuff.

*******@myheritage.com

Dear Rafael

There is a misunderstanding. According to your answer, I will try to explain.

Dear Fausto,

Thank you for taking the time to write to us. My name is Rafael and i will do all i can to help.

Respond
It is absolutely understandable to be concerned about this but I guarantee you that your research is ensured to be replaced if found lost in the mail.

Fausto
Understandable to be concerned about this - my problem is I've sent, according the instructions, my samples to USA address. But the samples had return to my address because of Brazil's regulation for exporting biological material. That`s due to the Brazilian Mailing Regulations.

Respond
DNA kits have become was a very popular Christmas gift. It is true to say that around the holidays the post office is swamped with all sorts of mail and packages to reach their destination before the holidays begin. With DNA kits coming from Brazil, I have seen a slight delay in receiving kits for various reasons.

I have seen a slight delay in receiving kits for various reasons -

Fausto
It's still with me, it's not a delay. MyHeritage return to my address.

Respond
Your question is a very popular one and if you do not see it as received online, it more than likely means that it has yet to be scanned. It more than likely is in our backlog and is just waiting to be scanned.
It more than likely is in our backlog and is just waiting to be scanned. -

Fausto
Not possible. They are with me.

Respond
I can send you a replacement without question, but I'm hesitant to do it because I think your set will be processed soon in my experience. If I would send you a new set, you would probably have to wait a lot longer and take the test again, so I do not recommend it. It is ultimately your choice.

If I would send you a new set, you would probably have to wait a lot longer and take the test again -

Fausto
That is one of my questions. I pick the samples in December 10. If I send it again, should be by your My Heritage Brazilian Collection Center, which I think is at Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brasil. But I don't know the address of this Center.
I was informed that by a friend who have done the DNA test.

For how long the samples still suitable, I mean, how long the sample's validity?

Respond
Please feel free to e-mail me directly if you have any further issues with this specific kit at *******@myheritage.com.

If you run into any further issues, by all means, please don't hesitate to reply. I'm here for you.
Kind regards,

Rafael

MyHeritage Support team

www.myheritage.com

To visit our Help Center, click >here<

Kind Regards,

Fausto

Please so send to me a refund or a new kit with the right instructions.
As you said - I can send you a replacement without question.

OK

I purchased a one year membership to this site in March 2016, and used it very rarely, as the content was nowhere near as good or complete as on the site I have used for several years (and which always alerts me two weeks before my subscription renewal is due). Today (March 15th 2017) I received notification via email that £90 would be taken from my bank account - TODAY! This afternoon I placed a call to their billing department to request a refund, only to be told somebody would have to call me back in 3-4 days - surely an unacceptable delay in anyone's view. A Billing Department should be able to process such a request within a few hours. I have subsequently had to contact my bank and cancel my debit card, as I do not feel I can rely on MyHeritage not to take more money from me.

Let this be a warning to anyone buying online - always use a CREDIT card - or one of the well-known organisations that handles monetary transactions.

As for MyHeritage.com... if by any chance anyone from that company is reading this, I suggest you review your business practices and start warning people about impending payments. It is always possible MyHeritage may not want to renew with you, and may even earn you a good reputation for customer service. I worked for many years in a customer-facing environment, and if i had treated customers in the way you have treated me so far, I would have lost my job many times over.

I spent the last few weeks updating our family tree online at MyHeritage.com and expanding it with hundreds of family members after MyHeritage removed restrictions for the number of family members in a family tree. When I decided to delete some duplicate information, I ended up deleting my most recent version of the family tree (due in part to a lag in my internet). I was devastated; there were over 500 family members lost! I had spent so much time researching family members and updating data. I quickly decided to call tech support for the My Heritage website. I was immediately able to talk to a live person (MayaN), she asked a few simple questions about what happened and then contacted tech support to check for a backup of the file (all while I was still on the phone). This took a matter of minutes (less time than Ive been on hold waiting for other companies to answer my call!).

She assured me that she would email me as soon as MyHeritage were able to find a solution for me. I had no longer walked into the next room when she called back to say they had already uploaded my family tree with the 500+ members for me. I also received an email with links on how I could backup the files in case something should happen in the future.

I was amazed at how quickly this was solved and relieved as well (so much time saved!). They were very empathetic and helpful. Thank you, MyHeritage!

I signed up just before Christmas to my heritage and proceeded building my family tree. Within a day of starting the free trial I was telephoned by their customer service and asked to upgrade, the person doing the pitch took forever to get to the point and was wasting my time. I declined, but after a couple of days decided to upgrade to the premium service assuming that there would be no further billing as I had no upgraded.
I checked my credit card bill a few days ago and realised that I had been billed for the upgrade I decided to do in December and then also billed at the end of the free trial I had taken out. I have contacted customer service twice, once with no answer at all, and then today got a response to say that I had two active subscriptions. I obviously don't want two subscriptions I just want to research my family tree.
After reading the review on here I am very worried about whether I will get lost in the bureaucracy and ground down and not get an answer until I give up trying to get a refund. Dean from my heritage seems able to be able to assist. So Dean if you see this please give me a sign this isn't so? Great website, really helped me to research my family tree, just seems really shoddy customer service...

I hope to have at least one victory if MyHeritage staff responds via this site since I got ripped off with the cost of the DNA kit and the so-called DNA results:(

I immediately replied to a MyHeritage email once MyHeritage informed me that my results were ready for viewing a couple of days ago.

My initial reaction to the email was delight since my results were estimated for between 23 Feb-2 Mar 18. Nonetheless, I reviewed my results and I was confused and disappointed with the findings!

I have done substantial genealogical research and the Ethnicity Estimate does not even come close to my lineage. I am left wondering if those were in fact my results? The code seemed to be the one assigned to me but the results are just so far fetched.

I then found this site and emailed Rafael (MyHeritage Rep) in the hope that he would reply but no such luck. I note that in a recent post, Rafael alluded to some type of glitch which occurred a couple of weeks ago which affected the comparison of raw DNA to specific ethnicities but I am unsure if this issues has since been rectified.

I was born in a cosmopolitan country in the Caribbean and I feel that this is what MyHeritage used to assume that I was of Afro-Caribbean origin. The results showed that I was from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Kenya, etc.

In hindsight I should have posted a photo of myself and changed my country to the European country where I now reside and the results would have been very different.

I am mortified to see that according to this test; I do not have any Jewish, Chinese, Portuguese and obviously Caribbean roots (which I have) instead of that large Nigerian, etc percentage (which is news to me)... shocking!

Do you have a policy on DNA retesting? Or alternatively you can refund my purchase fee to a charity of my choice.