Substituting the Tree used for my DNA Test for another?

[trebor]

You don't, they do. After they get their DNA results they need to go to the DNA home page, click Settings, go right down to the bottom of the page, and click Add a person. Ideally you want them to make you a Manager.

Thanks Peter - I have already done that with my wife - I thought the "managed by" was something special.

 

[Bryman]

It seems that I needn't have worried about how best to get the Ancestry tree and DNA test linked. Today, after more than 2 months since purchase and only 1 week before estimated arrival of results, I am now informed that I need to supply another sample as they were unable to process the original successfully. A new (free) test kit will be sent to me in the next 10 (!!!) business days. Presumably, this will also take a couple of months before I get any results.

There has been no specific reason given for the first sample being inadequate so I just hope that whatever it was does not get repeated.

I think that I recall something similar happening to another member of this forum but I cannot find that particular thread. I followed the instructions for collection exactly so it would seem to indicate a relatively high processing failure rate based on just the few submissions from members of this forum.

 

[peter]

With the DNA tests being managed through our account, with the permission of the testers (neither of whom were Ancestry users or wanted to be), we set up a guest account for each of them, using an email address which forwarded to us. We were then able to set up things up on their behalf so that the tests were managed through our account, but they can each still see their results through their own guest accounts.

I'm not sure if this is what you're describing here, but just to make it clear for others, it's no longer possible to activate more than one DNA test per Ancestry account - every person who tests must now have their own account, and the test must be activated on that account.

This is a change that Ancestry made in 2017 when they upgraded their privacy. So the person who tested is the Owner of the test, but they can appoint a Manager. Either the Owner of the test or the Manager they have appointed can invite others to View the results.

 

[peter]

It seems that I needn't have worried about how best to get the Ancestry tree and DNA test linked. Today, after more than 2 months since purchase and only 1 week before estimated arrival of results, I am now informed that I need to supply another sample as they were unable to process the original successfully. A new (free) test kit will be sent to me in the next 10 (!!!) business days. Presumably, this will also take a couple of months before I get any results.

There has been no specific reason given for the first sample being inadequate so I just hope that whatever it was does not get repeated.

I think that I recall something similar happening to another member of this forum but I cannot find that particular thread. I followed the instructions for collection exactly so it would seem to indicate a relatively high processing failure rate based on just the few submissions from members of this forum.

My 1st cousin had a problem - at the time of the test she noticed that the preservative didn't mix with the sample as it should have done. I suggested submitting the sample anyway, but Ancestry could not process the sample and had to send out a replacement kit.

 

[Bryman]

This does not look good for the reputation of Ancestry and I hope that this problem was a one-off in my case and unlikely to occur again. I should have mentioned that I did submit two (!!!) other samples to FTDNA within minutes of the one to Ancestry and I had Y-DNA results back from FTDNA two weeks ago.

I wonder why Ancestry doesn't ask for two samples initially so they have a back-up available if necessary.
Alternatively, perhaps Y-DNA analysis just takes less time than an autosomal Ancestry test?

 

[peter]

This does not look good for the reputation of Ancestry

Why? They don't make the kits, or the chips, nor do they process the samples themselves. All they make is the software that holds it all together.

What Ancestry do is detect when there are problems with a sample, admit to them, and provide a free replacement without quibbling. Surely that is good for their reputation?

 

[Pauline]

I'm not sure if this is what you're describing here, but just to make it clear for others, it's no longer possible to activate more than one DNA test per Ancestry account - every person who tests must now have their own account, and the test must be activated on that account.

Yes, that is what I'm describing - I first raised this issue in this thread when the procedures were changed just as one of my relatives was in the process of doing a DNA test for me.

 

[Pauline]

I think that I recall something similar happening to another member of this forum but I cannot find that particular thread.

It may not be what you recall but when I tested with Living DNA my first sample wasn't good enough and I had to submit another one. You only get two chances with them but fortunately the second sample was OK.

The thread is here.

 

[Bryman]

Thank you Pauline, That was the thread that I recalled but I don't know why I failed to find it. My memory even suggested that it may have you that posted the item but I didn't want to say that if not true. I am glad that everything turned out OK for you in the end.

 

[Bryman]

Why? They don't make the kits, or the chips, nor do they process the samples themselves. All they make is the software that holds it all together.

What Ancestry do is detect when there are problems with a sample, admit to them, and provide a free replacement without quibbling. Surely that is good for their reputation?

It is not a matter of faulty kit manufacture nor necessarily the process performed. I don't know enough about such details to pass comment. The company reaction to the situation was good but not so that the situation occurred, even if not their direct fault. I was wrong in my recall of which company another forum member had experienced a similar failure. I was trying to indicate that if multiple failures could occur within a small sample size of forum members as subjects then that might not look good for the company administering the process.

It is always dangerous to draw general conclusions from a small number of subjects but if I had found the original post then I would have realized that it was not the same company involved and hence not needing a comment. However, it is rather disappointing that there is no general indication of what the problem was. The fact that I submitted a successful sample to another company at the same time would suggest, but not prove, that the problem was not at the source. Instead, I received "Tips to getting a better DNA sample..." but no different from the original instructions, suggesting that I should have been more careful and done better.

There may be no addition financial cost involved for me but the time delay for getting results is frustrating.

 

[peter]

It may be inconvenient for you to have to wait longer, but for them the cost of providing the test has doubled (at least). I'm sure that if they knew of a way to reduce the number of degraded or contaminated samples they'd already be using it.

To collect the genetic information that a typical autosomal DNA test provides would have cost around $1 million 20 years ago. There are bound to be a small number of failures when you reduce the cost by a factor of 10,000 - the important thing is to spot the faulty samples.

Between us members of the LostCousins forum have probably bought over 1000 Ancestry kits. I'd be pleasantly surprised if only 2 required a re-test.