23andMe Reviews 57

Bought the middle product for around £120. Sample kit arrived and I felt quit excited. Followed the instructions which were quite straightforward and put the kit into the postbox 2 hours before collection in Edinburgh. It took 8 days to reach Bedford, England. Then the following day, it was handed to FedEx. Another day later it arrived in Indianapolis USA with insufficient description where it was impounded by US Customs. 10 days later it is still there. This is a biological sample! Totally incompetent.

Just an update to say it finally reached the lab in Los Angeles on the 14th of July. Customer services ignored all my complaints which is what prompted me to write the review here, that and the fact that there "Google reviews" are being 'managed' by a 3rd party company.

Very surprised by the number of bad reviews. I used the ancestry and health test and was really pleased with how quickly I received the results. It was a nice smooth process and I have found a lot of relatives through the service. Not to mention the health email notification updates. I now use 23andMe as a present to loved ones!

Terrible graphics in the family tree - virtually unreadable. DNA estimates are ok but not as accurate as Ancestry.com or Myheritage, which match my extensive family tree going back 400 years. I was looking for further confirmation on one or two branches so tried 23andme. Completely useless. They didn't pick up my first cousin who is a member of this site and I had to add her manually. You also can't upload a previously constructed tree - so have to add people one by one - so time consuming. Also very fiddly because of the poor design. My advice? Don't bother with this site and use one of the others.

I can't fault the service I received at all. Having done my research, before buying the kit, I knew it would take some time to get the final result. My kit arrived very quickly and I returned it straight away. It took a few weeks to get through the shipping process, but I was given a tracking number, so I knew it was on it's way. Once it arrived at the lab I was updated at every step of the process and given an estimate of how long each step would take. I was then given a final date to expect my results but they actually came in a little earlier. The whole process took from 22nd May until 22nd July. On receiving my results I was very happy with the number of reports available, the amount of detail and level of accuracy.

Treated myself last November as it was on special offer. Took 3 months to get results. Not the month as suggested. Filled all online forms in as requested. Think I probably did most of their job for them. I’d definitely fill none of the forms in until after I received results. For example told I’d be at higher risk to strokes, blood pressure issues. I’d already provided them with that information through online forms.

Keep receiving sales material. Want me to pay an annual fee for access to DNA family tree, as one example.

As some reviews suggest if you live in the UK just don’t bother. It’s a waste of money and time.

I purchased a 23andme kit back in May.

Read the background and a few forums and was under the impression results could take maybe a month from time of shipping.

Actually it’s more like a month to even know where your shipment might even be, who knows maybe even lost as I did indeed think at one point.

Two months later and my sample still hasn’t reached them and apparently is in customs in Memphis.

They provide useless responses when you contact their customer support.

They seem an incompetent bunch of muppets!

If you live in the UK don’t even bother. The samples get sent to the US for processing by surface mail which takes weeks and ends up making the sample unusable as it’s likely dried out in the time it took to arrive. Sent first kit and this happened so got a second one, and the same happened with that one so got a refund.
If they would get them delivered Air Mail that took days rather than weeks then it might have been ok, shouldn’t take a genius!

If you’re in the US or Canada then you may be OK, but if in the UK, don’t waste your time and money.

I ordered 2 kits, one for my wife and one for myself. Both samples posted back on the same day.

After several weeks, I received a tracking number for both kits being shipped to the US.

A few weeks later, both kits were signed for by C Wilson.

A couple of days later, my wife's kit shows as being processed but not mine.

A few weeks later, my wife got her results but my sample had no sign of being processed.

I contacted them only to be told they don't have my sample. (Yet it had been signed for).

They said they would send a replacement that would arrive in 3 to 5 days.

7 days later, no kit so I contacted them again and asked for a refund. They insisted that they would send another kit that day, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt.

A few days later, my kit arrived, I registered it and returned the sample then received an email saying that they see I registered a kit so they would not send the 2nd replacement ( the one they said they would send a few days ago.

It's now the 19th of June and my kit is still showing as "in transit".

Incidentally, I ordered an Ancestry kit for my wife when she received her 23andme results as they are really confusing. The Ancestry kit arrived, sample returned and she has her results that are far easier to understand.

In my experience, and if I had known how bad 23andme were when I first ordered the kits, I would have gone straight to Ancestry.

To save yourself a lot of time, do not use 23andme!

I have had a complete nightmare with this company and have repeatedly sent samples that have been "lost in the post" or "something went wrong" once received meaning they can't process my sample. Utter waste of money. They send you a pack that requires you to add a DNA sample but the pack is returned 2nd class and untracked so you could have paid over £100 with absolutely no means on ensuring it reaches them - which is frankly farcical. I really feel this product is problematic as you could buy it from Amazon but they aren't providing the service so you have no guarantee you'll get the service purchased. I It's does not appear worth your time, money and effort. I am still living in hope that I might actually get an unspoiled sample to them intact but am not hopeful and will need to send a 3rd sample (if one is sent out) which is tiresome to say the least. I bought my pack on Amazon with no hope of a refund given it was purchased in April (it's now June) & the 1st pack took 5 weeks to be identified as missing.

I was really surprised to see all those bad reviews as that has not been my experience with 23&me.com at all.
I received my results in a timely manner, and I have had no problem with this company.
Perhaps the difference is that I live in America.

As with the other reviews it is a terrible service. Seven weeks after sending the sample back, the App still showed it as not received. Apparently all samples go to Bedford and then to the US so may take some time? However 7 weeks is ludicrous.

I have asked for a refund which is taking its time in being actioned.

Absolutely terrible. They lost our first kit. But before they could send a replacement it had already been almost 6 weeks. Our second kit has taken ridiculously long to be scanned into their lab. Which is somewhere in America. And the dna extraction takes several weeks?? If anyone remembers a level biology alcohol precipitates dna in minutes. Basically the whole process will easily take 2-3 months. Waste of money. You’re better off using another provider like myheritage.
Good luck to you all

Really poor service. Sent off the sample end December and heard nothing for two months. The app showed the sample as “in transit” all that time. Enquiries were ignored. I raised a dispute with my credit card issuer and received a refund. Another month passed, and finally they completed the analysis. It is really poor and tells you nothing, and seems to serve as a method for them to try to flog you the premium services for more money.

They then challenged the credit card dispute, and because they blank enquiries and you can only contact them through the app, which gives you no evidence of all the chasing you’ve done, and their utter lack of customer service, I couldn’t evidence why they should not keep my money.

Dreadful product. Three months of frustration and then a very disappointing result. I wish I’d read the reviews here before I purchased.

This company have lost my sample 3 times and have ended the call each time I try to resolve.
Below is the last review I sent to them when they asked for feedback.
Needless to say that they never responded.

After 23andMe lost my first 2 samples, (1 of which being lost at the lab) I sent a 3rd.
Since registering my kit the app changed to ‘Waiting to receive’.
I had to contact when it then said there was a problem with the kit and to contact customer services.
The 1st adviser ended the chat, so I contacted again. The 2nd adviser said that the 1st one has sent me an email. I explained I had not received it and they also ended the chat. I felt this was rude and very poor customer service.
I then spent £17.00 on a call from the UK to USA to try and resolve. Only for the adviser to tell me that the recent message does not refer to the kit I had just registered (despite being updated on registration and with the barcode), nor does it refer to the kit they lost prior to that, but it refers to the original kit!??
I cannot believe that this message has come through for the original kit after 2 others have been registered and more than 3 months after the initial one was submitted.

I am not sure if the company is a scam, but have now given sufficient time for a resolution, yet there has been none.
I shall therefore post a review on every social media site I can to prevent others losing their money in this way.
Absolutely disgusted

Sent my sample off nearly 4 months ago and have still not received my results, despite my parter sending them off at the same time and having his results over 2 months ago. They will no longer give me an expected date for results (I had one previously) and when I enquired as to when I could expect my results they couldn’t give me an answer.

It's been over 2 months and our test samples arent even in USA yet where they process the results. I paid £128 GBP for 2 tests and they process a refund for $59 USD. Seriously beware all the reviews you read here on Trust Pilot are likely true. They take your money and don't supply the service promised. Then make it very difficult to get your money back. For the safety of consumers i'm seriously considering reporting these guys to Visa/Mastercard and the financial ombudsman. Quite possible they could be fraudsters based on my experience.

Took 4 months to get results and they are generic as they come. Waited all this time to be told I'm British and Irish. Well yeah I know! the whole point was to find out what percentage English, Scottish Irish etc. Might as well have said I was European for all the use that is.

My Mum ordered the test at the same time and had to wait longer for the results. It's missed heritage that we know for a fact we have.

Made a family event of waiting to reading the results together all at the same time. imagine how disappointed we were to be given results like this! Never been so disappointed in a service in all my life.

Their main interest is not to serve you customers, but to get your genetic data and to use them for whatever economic benefit of pharmaceutical enterprizes. There are no efforts done in ameliorating the usability of the 23andme - App or to make it easier to work with the messaging service, that is all but comfortable. And for ancestry research it is all but helpful. - It is a method to get genetic information with very little benefit for the persons that pay for their DNA-Analysis and are forced to communicate in English. Therefore, most of the genetically related persons are located in the USA. This reduces the interest of persons, that are not native Enlish speakers significantly. My heritage e.g. is the total opposite, there they focus on service and personal benefits for those who seek to kow as much as possible about their ancestors. This is a really powerful tool to get in touch with your interesting and fascinating own family's history. Take care, could get easily addicted to that challenging hobby. So 23 and me gets only 1 star. They have to respect their customers more than they do up to now. Start with communication in the mainly speaken languages.

This company is a total scam. I posted my kit back over a month ago and it never arrived. They sent a replacement kit and promised me express delivery and tracking for it but it just has the same standard delivery. So now I have to start the same process all over again. I wish I’d never bought it.

They have no phone number for uk customer services. The live chat and email operatives are beyond useless.

I’m furious

STILL no results from 23andMe after more than 3 months. It says "in transit" but there have been no updates since June 2021. No contact from 23andMe to apologise for the delay. Lots of other reviewers are saying the same thing. Very disappointed with 23andMe and would advise others to avoid.