MyHeritage.com Reviews

MyHeritage.com
( 26 reviews )

MyHeritage.com is the online home of MyHeritage, a genealogy website which promises to help users find information on their ancestry and heritage, as well as the ability to build a complete family tree. 

How Does It Work?

According to their website, MyHeritage.com is dedicated to helping people discover, preserve, and share their family history. To do this, they have structured their website around the concept of building an online family tree. 

To begin with, customers will add the names, dates, photos, and stories of family members they know and are familiar with.

Once you’ve begun building your family tree, their website will automatically begin searching for additional information for you. They say that “with exclusive content and accurate results we'll help you uncover more than you ever imagined.”

As more information is discovered or becomes available, MyHeritage.com will send you email alerts for Smart Matches and Record Matches that reveal new family tree connections, records, and newspaper articles about your ancestors. 

Their website says that their users will have access to more than 7 billion historical records, including birth, marriage, and death records; census, military, immigration, and legal records; newspapers, yearbooks, and directories; family trees, photos, documents, and maps; and much more. 

Mobile Options

Currently this website is offering their customers use of their services through a mobile application which can be downloaded for free to either Android or iOS smart phones and tablets. 

Cost/Price Plans

This company does provide people with a way to use their website and information for free, though the information that is available through their free service is very limited.

In order to get access to their full offerings of information and services, customers will need to upgrade to their Premium Subscription, which they say is priced at $9.95 per month.

However, they only allow customers to sign up for this subscription on an annual basis, so in reality it is a $119.40 fee. 

Refund Policy

This website does say that they value the satisfaction of their customers, which is why they provide their members with a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee.

In order to request your refund, all you have to do is contact their Customer Service team within the first 30 days of purchase.

It is important to note, however, that this Refund Policy only applies to their Data subscriptions and not to any physical products that you would order from their website, like Family Tree Posters.

Customers who have an issue with a physical product they have ordered will want to contact their Customer Service team right away for more information.  

Customer Service Contact Info

Customers who would like to contact their Customer Service team with any questions, concerns, or complaints can do so by phone at 877-432-3135 for US based customers.

Customers calling from other countries will want to find their country specific phone number on their website.  

Reputation

This company seems to have two different reputations. The first is the impression that you get from blogs and websites that regularly review or work with genealogy websites, all of which seem to have a very favorable review of this website and often rank this website very high in comparison to the field of genealogy websites.

The second impression comes from customer reviews, which appear to be dramatically mixed in tone and opinion, with some people having great experiences and others complaining about how severely inaccurate the information they found on this website was. 

Another concern from reviewers of this website is that MyHeritage.com only offers their customers Annual Subscriptions, which isn’t always best suited to customer needs, and while they do offer some of their information for free, in general this information is very limited.           

Competitors and Alternatives?

Certainly there are many, many other genealogy websites available if this website does not meet your needs for any reason. They include FindMyPast.com, Archives.com, and many others.  

If you have any experience with MyHeritage.com or their services, please leave your reviews below.

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MyHeritage.com Customer Reviews

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I feel I've been scammed by this company...
June 5, 2023

They pushed me to use their free trial, and I found their paid functions useless. Then, without any advanced notification, they took US$189 (a crazily high sum!!!) from my account. I’m so angry: It's a huge sum of money for a website that I don't even use and I did not authorize this payment.

Trying to get a refund is truly a joke, as other people wrote here. They send automated replies and don’t contact you. There is no email to contact them directly, no chat with a living person, nothing. I am worried that if I call them (and it's an international call), I will lose even more money. What a dishonest business...

Unauthorised payments
March 15, 2023

Logged in for free trial, it was very limited as to what you can do ,I have been in hospital so my trial went over 2 days, they subsequently took £79.00 out of my account, I’m absolutely fuming as I did not authorize this payment.

Trying to get a refund is a joke, they don’t contact you and there is no email address for you to contact them direct, be very careful of this website.

Findings Are Not Authentic!
January 31, 2023
My DNA analysis was not correct. I know that I have at least 1/8 Native American heritage and that was not at all indicated on the findings I received. So, I am greatly disappointed in the authenticity of MyHeritage!

Beware of MyHeritage!
January 28, 2023

I believe MyHeritage is a scam. I have enjoyed visiting Ancestry.com for almost 10 years. In December, I noticed a new feature and thought it was part of ancestry. I was horrified when I received an email telling me that Heritage was charging a separate fee, which together with Ancestry would have cost me at least $395. That alone seems like a scam to me. I decided to remove both services.

Ancestry helped me, I think due mainly that I had stressed the amount of money I was being extorted from Heritage and secondly she saw how many years I had been using Ancestry and just felt sorry for me.

I then looked at Heritage to see how I could get my money back. The only thing I found was how to remove all evidence of Heritage for all times which I did sadly because I now have lost both Ancestry and Heritage.

Finally, having tried several times to get a refund of the minimum cost of $145.00 I paid to Heritage at the beginning of this mess, I found online a way to remove all evidence of Heritage for all times which I did sadly because I now have lost both Ancestry and Heritage.

I will not use them
January 24, 2023

Being a foreigner settled in UK I was curious to find out if it would find out my father's background. He died about 90 years go. Before I got any info I had to give my credit card details. after getting the security code I was expecting to confirm subscription but I was never given the chance either to confirm or any satisfactory conclusion of any arrangement. I abruptly closed the site.

Three days later I found my credit card was debited with £79. I looked at my inbox and found an email saying "we hope you are enjoying the...". I replied asking them to refund my money. My email bounced back "having difficulties delivering".

I do not know what these people provide but they use psychologically sophisticated subterfuge. I will never use them

Scam!
January 16, 2023

My daughter bought one of these kits and then I got a phone call from her and she said I lied to her, saying I must have adopted her or her father wasn't her real father. And all the blood lines were from other countries. None of the ones that should be there.

Scam! Theft by Deception
December 24, 2022

Scam! Yes, they offer ancestry documents, but no different than any other site. They will definitely hold on to your information and steal your money. I canceled and deleted my account, couple days later I noticed when I got charged, instantly called and emailed them while the charge was still pending, ignored my emails, and when I did get in contact with them, they kept saying billing will handle it. They didn't $160 was taken out of my bank account. When I called them after they said we have no record of your account! Well, they obviously did, or I wouldn't be missing $160 the weekend before Christmas. No response since then !

Horrible Customer Service
November 5, 2022

Avoid this site. I get many responses from them on data found but many are repetitive. It is almost entirely American data and a little from Britain. I have many ancestors in central Europe and I get no data on those.

Their customer service is horrible. They say they have 24 hour customer service They automatically enroll you in auto subscription renewal and then don't tell you when a renewal is upcoming. I called about canceling and a refund and argued for a half hour until they said OK and I would get a refund in 7-10 days.

Two weeks later nothing. I called again and was put in a queue, then told they would contact me. 6+ hours later no call. I called again and was cut off. I wrote to their customer service and got a reply "case number" Two days later still no response.

Do Not Use - Scam!
July 6, 2022

I used the free trial in 2020 and canceled it. I was charged $349!!! USD for a yearly subscription. I called to get a refund. They took a week to get back to me using a virtual phone number (RED FLAG).

I had to ask 3 times for a refund, and each time, they offered me "free DNA" testing and a partial refund.

Ask to speak with the manager. They issued a refund. We'll see. I am contacting my bank to let them know as well.

Use Ancestry, Family Tree DNA, or 23 and Me instead of this company.

Scam
May 20, 2022

Be very careful if this site , when you cancel a subscription , they keep your bank details and money from your account. I cancelled over 2 years ago and they tried to charge me again for £226 !!!

JanBaker-freeman May 28, 2022

This just happened to me, I am stunned and devastated. a $216 charge to my bank account will get me evicted from my apartment. I would NEVER sign up for this type of revolving CHARGE on my account. How dare they. They do not care.and it is in Utah I think banking is different in that state. The CS is in Guatamala!!!!!!

scam, do not bother with the DNA tests
April 26, 2022

I created my own family tree after taking the DNA test on Ancestry.

now my daughter took the DNA test on My Heritage and after my heritage connected her name to my family tree (and my own info I found in family records) MY Heritage tells me my daughter is related to me and after entering the names of my great grand father guess what! My Heritage tells me I am related to him.

I submit they don't connect people via DNA but instead us the very information WE supply when creating a family tree.

I demand a refund of the $65 I paid for my daughter to take your fake DNA test, you did not even tell my daughter part of her family entered the USA via NY , you only connected her to her dad's side of the family(in the South) which was the only side of her family tree she created to test you people.

Your DNA tests are cow manure, you get your info from Ancestry.

CherylD. April 26, 2022

follow up;

I was so upset I called the phone number and got a person after I hit 1

she was sweet and gave me a refund to my credit card for the cost of the DNA test for my daughter. Hopefully is shows up soon, she said to give it 7 business days.

We shall see, keep posted.

Probably never use their service again
April 23, 2022

If you forget to cancel free trial your bank acct gets charged for year subscription not monthly.

I started with free trial. Didn't realize if forgot to cancel I would be charged almost 165$ for a subscription. They don't charge monthly subscription like my ancestry. Nope 165$ a year only. And will probably never use their service again.

I was able to get a refund
September 23, 2021

Don't understand how they were able to charge me $299. I was able to change my password and get back into the site. It only had 12 blocks entered. It has not been touched in the last year. It said I started it in 2018. My CC number had been changed and they were able to get an updated number.

I called the number 1-844-994-1888 and was able to get my last charge refunded.

Likely Scam
August 19, 2021
I don't even know how I signed up for this and got billed over $200 a year later.

JanBaker-freeman May 28, 2022

Same here

Refund Response time
June 24, 2021
Ok so I was charged for two different sites on Myheritage. Totally my fault for not remembering to cancel my subscription. However, I have been waiting on a response for nearly a week now with nothing. The charge was almost $400.00 bucks so yeah its a big deal to me.

LizMcmahon May 20, 2022

Scam!!!!!

scam artist
September 30, 2020
I tried my heritage because it advertised itself as a free site, then I was told I had an option to try it out for 14 days to see if I liked it or not and a the end of the trial period I could keep using the basic site for free, upgrade to one of subscription plans or cancel the account. Wrong! because when i tried to go to the purchase page to cancel it wouldn't give me the option to do so at the end of the trial period it automatically upgraded me and took 149.50 out of my account. I called customer service to report it and cancel the account and was told that I'd have to wait for someone to either email me or call me back to get a refund and yet by the next day my account has been reported as being still active ! so I wouldn't recommend the site to anyone as it's nothing but a scam . oh and on another note I wasn't able to find an real information on my family and the discoveries I did make which were very few contained nothing but, inaccurate information

BettyMiller February 05, 2021

I totally agree!, This website is a scam. Very difficult to cancel membership. My advice— don’t get involved with this bunch. They are well. Erased scam artists. I’m reporting them to my attorney general!

BettyMiller February 05, 2021

Got the same response from them! Reporting the to the attorney general. No one that’s reputable does this. Emails and phone numbers change. Advertise 24/7 day service! SCAM! BEWARE!

JanBaker-freeman May 28, 2022

I will go that route also, I did sign up for this CS is located in Guatemala.

waste of my money
July 5, 2020
I cant't even find my relatives that were born in usa

A scam by anyother name to get your private family information
June 9, 2020
I was solicited by this company to try a one month free trial to test out its capabilities, and while some information was useful, I did not realize that the information I was collecting was not just for me to see and collect privately, but for anyone else who wants to get my information, if they sign up. These Florida scam artists never mention that in their ads, which is pretty damn sleazy and underhanded. Now that I found out, I am going to call their customer service tomorrow and have them remove all of this, or I contact my US Senators and US reps to have the US Congress investigate this gross invasion of privacy! My Heritage is run by a bunch of sleazeball scumbags!

always want more
February 19, 2020
They teased me with some findings that I couldn't view with a basic account, so I paid $170 to upgrade to premium for more and better information. Even after upgrading, everything I try to view is an additional charge. I can't do one thing more than I could before I upgraded.

I was a victim of their security breach then again on their service
July 14, 2019
I was as a victim of their security breach. Then, only after complaining to them in regards to the loss I occurred did they offer complimentary use of their software for a (stingy) 6 months. Six months later after filling out my family history on their site, I was the victim again of all the bugs on the site that erased my data or family tree charts that include complete omissions of family members and their ancestor lines. This company does not stand behind their product and has a ton of technical problems. I would not TRUST this company with your precious family. This Company has a reputation for MAJOR DATA breaches.