Geneanet Reviews 179

From their "About" section at the bottom of their search boxes:

" Geneanet has a unique Contributive/Collaborative/Freemium model, organizing the member community . . . Geneanet joined the Ancestry family of companies in 2021.
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It doesn't give us actual historical records or documents when we click on it in Ancestry. Basically it's a collection of trees that random people have submitted.

Ancestry bought it in 2021 so it's considered a "hint" on Ancestry but is not a decent source for contemporaneous historical records or documents.

One person I was tracking shows on 3 different trees. None of them is correct. Problems with wrong death month (not what it says on his DC); incorrect wife's middle initial; shows with 6 children who belong to a family with a different last name (which is why all the footnotes refer to the "other" family); shows with dates in the 1800s in a city that didn't exist until 1901;
wrong grandmother; has a niece listed as sibling in another one.

I know exactly where the material was copied from --- Rootsweb/WorldConnect) which they bought in 2000 and have turned into a database (abt 2023) which might be the replacement when Geneanet is retired . . .
not unlike these retired sites that has so many errors --One World Tree;
the Millennium File;
The Family Data Collection 4-part series;
Netherlands, GenealogieOnline Trees Index; and other databases sourced from undocumented submittals.

Research I managed previously on premium was great, and helped uncover a lot of my family. Since my subscription expired though - lapsed as I was busy - I've struggled for weeks to re-subscribe. I get Payment Pending and they continually tell me that the problem is at my end, although there are dozens reporting the same issue, and I'd managed to subscribe successfully previously.

Geneanet is a great genealogy resource if your ancestors are European and the membership fee is very reasonable, unlike other popular tree building sites.

I want to believe that my genetic line includes a Patriarch of Constantinople, Baldwin Iron Arm the first Count of Flanders and Geoffrey Chaucer, but I'm guessing that telling people they have famous ancestors is a marketing ploy. Three stars for making me feel like I was the lead in a series like Blackadder.

Discovered that myself & a lot of my family including minors are listed on this site! Contact the member who has not taken this down. Find it hard to contact the company to address this data breach!

The cancel auto renewal option does not work and then they refuse to refund you when they continue to take money from your bank without permission!!! I paid for a one month subscription and cancelled the auto renewal. Curiously, AFTER they replied to my query about this, my profile changed and some red text suddenly appeared to show I have a subscription. This red text was never there before. There is clearly a fault with their cancel button. The point blank refusal to recognise this and refund me is a disgrace. I've been a Genealogist for 25 years and use multiple sites. I have always always deactivated auto renewals immediately. This was no exception. They have stolen money from my bank and refuse to refund or acknowledge their website issue.

apparently according to Geneanet no family member exists, nor has ever, existed, not even I exist !! very very ridiculous.

I am very unhappy with this company at this time that deleted the DNA section of its website. What is the point of having this account without the assurance of DNA matches? WHOSE DUMB IDEA was that?This company was bought out by Ancestry several years again. I don't ever recall getting an email notice that they would delete this very important section of DNA distant cousins related to me. I have now deleted my family tree as of today in order to send a CLEAR message to this out of touch company!! There is NO VALUE to this site. As a pro member on Ancestry, access to Geneanet.org should now be provided for FREE!!! I renewed yesterday for one month and was charged over $11.00 ..I want my money back immediately . If I don't get my money back, I will simply delete the entire account.

Terrible matching.

Geneanet.org is my go-to place for information that I can’t find on the big guys sites which are mostly US centric. Geneanet is French, but I get results for searches in Europe in general as well. The information I get will usually lead to more exciting discoveries. I also like the map feature about the origin and distribution of family names. The only non-positive for me is the discontinuation of their DNA-matching service. I enjoy doing research on Geneanet.

I bought the Premium service. I cannot get half of the data for France. This service is useless.
I complained. Geneanet answered they don't have the data and I should find the information accessing myself the public records. They mentionned also the privacy law in France, but if they cannot provide the data why do they claim they can sell it.
I asked them for a refund as the service didn't provide the billion record in 80 countries as advertised. It is clearly a misrepresentation when they sold the service to me.
They refused quoting the Consumer Laws in France. In the consumer regulation they should provide the service which they didn't, so this company cannot be trusted.

Terrible customer service.
I ordered a premium subscription to take advantage of dna matching with Europeans. One week after my order, they send an email announcing that they are canceling the dna matching services.
When I asked for a refund, they said impossible due to ToS. Well, they changed their terms of service by removing a service. Therefore, I should have the option to cancel for at least a prorated amount. 51/52 weeks.

Really bad, can`t find anybody there... even a simple search of pp I already found on Familysearch came up with nothing.. not to mention the rudimentary user interface... waste of money!

Easy to use and informative. Great experience.

Good business practices dictate that advance notice of charging a customer, whether they are aware of renewal or not, is warranted. I received the email the day of the charge which is inappropriate and reflects a company that is comfortable with railroading customers into paying their fees. I will take this into consideration should I ever think of subscribing again. I will also post this feedback online on ad many places as possible along money off of people who do not want to subscribe is just plain bad. Try to make money by truly proving great services and customer service. In this case, you failed. Best of luck to you in your career.

Yes, I agree - a scam. Like other people, Geneanet refused to refund my money after I realized I did not want to use their service - only a few hours after signing-up. They also keep interrupting research on their site by asking continuously about accepting cookies - each time you click on something else the question comes up again and again until you accept ALL cookies. If only I could get my money back. What a waste of time.

Useless service, and rude customer service. They are in France and expect that everything works like in their country even if the customer is in anoter state.
The site doesn't offer any news or anybgood help, no app, no research with a decent criteria.
++Reply++
Yes I am referring to GENEANET.COM

Horrendous experience not user friendly everything needs to be manually added no document provided. It is completely useless. I was charged not knowing how bad the premium was, canceled on the same day but they still refused a refund quoting french consumer law.
I am in England so what is the law for us in England?
All I can say its a french scam website.
Beware there is no document to see here.

I've just had a Geneanet hint pop up on Ancestry for my G Grandmother. The date and place of birth are incorrect but it has her as married to my G Grandfather. I have my G Grandparents birth & marriage certificates. I feel that hints from here cannot be trusted.

There are many Genealogy sites out but Geneanet is about the worst I've tried. I purchased a 3 month subscription to try but immediately knew I'd made a mistake. The site is very cumbersome to operate.