I keep getting messages from MyHeritage.com, saying that there are SmartMatches for my family tree, or that various people want access to my tree.
When I go to their site, however, I cannot do anything about these, because I get this message:
Your family tree has 10,592 people. This exceeds the Basic subscription plan of your family site.
In order for your family tree to display all people, you must upgrade the site plan.
We have an Easter special: 30% discount on our Premium plan! But hurry up, this offer expires very soon.
Now I never subscribed to their site, with a basic plan or any other. I did not enter those 10 592 people on their site, so if it “exceeds” their basic plan, that is their problem, not mine.
They never asked me for my permission to put their data on their site, yet they seem to have done so, and now want me to pay them to have access to my own data, and to respond to the 19 other people who have asked my permission to access it because they think it matches something in their family tree.
There seems to be something unethical about this whole operation, in fact it seems to be yet another genealogy scam.
They stole my data without my permission, and now they want me to pay them to access it, or to give other people access to it.
Filed under: genealogical research, genealogy Tagged: | genealogy, MyHeritage, scams, unethical practices
Dear Steve,
I completely understand your frustration . Let me explain a little bit what happened. MyHeritage recently assumed control of the OSN group including Gencircles. You have will have access to the GenCircles site until the backend of the site are merged seamlessly. The merger happened to increase the user database and offer many more genealogical tools to the entire user base as well as combine the strengths of both groups, that being OSN strong focus in Eastern Europe and MyHeritage.com’s concentration in Western Europe and America. Your information is completely secure on the MyHeritage.com network. Smartmatching requires users to accept the match on both sides before anyone can view your tree. At which point they are only able to view the most immediate connection with one degree of separation.
As far as the upgrade service required, this is strictly relative of the cost to operate server space. GenCircles may have offered this service free but it was on a different model, they were able to sustain from web adverts. MyHeritage.com is essentially free of adverts. Premium users also have access to unique research tools.
Another option is to use Family Tree Builder. This software for your computer is completely free, you can build your tree as large as you like. It is held on your personal computer and will not be connected to the MyHeritage.com network unless you so choose. It still has all the great functionality . If you later choose to sync this program with MyHeritage web app, the products have seamless integration and it can serve as a great way to backup and keep safe all of that hard work.
If you have any questions ever feel free to write me. I’ll get back to you asap.
Thanks again for expressing your concerns , I hope I’ve addressed all of your relevant questions.
Best!
Sebastien
sebastien@myheritage.com
Um…I have a My Heritage account…with a crap load of people in it…however it had been awhile since I last used it. Now it has NO ONE in it when I log in. Can you tell me what happened since no one else seems to be able to?
sort this out once for all.
Hi team,
How many times do i have to use a blog, thread, posts, and a letter to myheritage, etc….for anyone to take me seriously.
Now take in with what i’m about to say; PLEASE.
I started out by joining myheritage and entered in ‘project’ name as Busch family.
Then for some reason or another the ‘builder’ which i need to enter my info, updates etc…..went off then i couldn’t do anything on my tree.
Everytime i download builder to get it back up it asks me for another ‘project’ name which now i’ve got too many for my own liking but still
dosen’t bring it up on for the ‘Busch family’ for me to work on. In frustration i have deleted my ‘Busch family’ or renamed it [it's been sometime ago now] so i’m
not sure what i’ve done. Just of late in the last couple of days i’ve downloaded the ‘Builder’ and imported a family which i can now fill in but it dosen’t show a tree of squares as such.
I also get a email from myheritage about ‘ i’ve exceeded the number’ so on…… but it’s always on the ‘Busch family’ tree [WHICH I CAN'T DO ANY THING WITH] I’m starting to get pissed off. Is there anything you / your team can do to deleted it off at your end but happy to keep ‘Lorraine’s Family’ -ORR Web site going. I ONLY WANT ONE, JUST ONE TREE GOING, not all these other ‘project names’ i’ve had to enter.
I got a message the other day through myheritage again on the ‘Busch Family’. Can’t you people get with what one needs / wants.
I been viewing alot of negitives on a blog about myheritage and now only wish i didn’t have ‘myheritage site’ also i want count on you replying as like you people don’t from other users, ex-users.
Hi,
I am an employee of MyHeritage and I feel that some of the facts have been misunderstood. Allow me please to post a correction here for your benefit and that of your readers. This will help set the record straight.
MyHeritage acquired Pearl Street Software, the makers of GenCircles.com and the Family Tree Legends software, in early 2007. This was announced to all users of GenCircles.com (including you, no doubt) in a series of emails. It included at least one email from Pearl Street and another one from MyHeritage. Those emails informed the GenCircles users that their data was going to be available on both GenCircles and MyHeritage. On MyHeritage, there are capacity limits for large trees, but GenCircles users received free unlimited use of MyHeritage for a period of 3 years, as a courtesy. In addition, MyHeritage made free the former paid products of Pearl Street Software – the Family Tree Legends software and the FTL Record Collection of genealogy data. So when referring to this company as a greedy corporation, consider that after the merger with MyHeritage, Pearl Street users were able to get for free what was previously only paid for. Most of the Pearl Street Software users embraced the merger with MyHeritage and very few complaints were logged.
Some time prior to the expiration of these 3 years, which took place at the end of 2009, all GenCircles users whose family trees were large enough to exceed the free accounts on MyHeritage, received two email reminders that they will soon have to purchase a subscription in order to keep access to their data on MyHeritage, and all this while the data remained available and free on GenCircles.com. This was not followed up with any “ultimatum” and no user data was deleted for users who didn’t want to do so.
It appears that you are receiving emails from MyHeritage regarding Smart Matches, which means that no doubt you have received all the other communication mentioned above from the company. So you should not be in the dark as to what has taken place. The same information has been posted publicly on the Internet in scores of places including Dick Eastman’s genealogy blog and any site covering genealogy events.
The Smart Matches are a service, and it is free. It allows you to get in touch with other tree owners whose family trees overlap with yours. If you don’t want to receive this service or the Smart Match emails, simply unsubscribe from them, there is a link for that at the bottom of every email that delivers the Smart Matches. Or contact the support at MyHeritage and ask them to stop sending you any emails, or to delete your account and data, which they will do immediately.
You are welcome to email me (alon at myheritage dot com) and I will provide you another 3 years for free on MyHeritage so you could get a better chance to see all that the site has to offer, as perhaps you never had a chance to check it. Then you could decide whether it’s a service worth subscribing for, or leave it and ask for your account to be deleted.
I hope this clarifies the matter, and it is now clear to you that you have not fallen victim to any dark conspiracy, but are rather receiving an opportunity to benefit from a genealogy service offering new functionality that was not available before on GenCircles.com.
Peace,
Alon
Thanks very much for the clarification.
I must have missed the announcement about Gencircles being taken over by My Heritage, but it is good to know that that is how my data got there.
I looked at the My Heritage site a few times, but I found the number of SmartMatches notifications overwhelming, and so there was a large backlog to follow up. Also, as “upgrades” of increasingly bloated software were added to my computer, the memory was overwhelmed as web browsers got bigger and bigger, and I found trying to follow up things on My Heritage too time-consuming, as the site was slower than most. I also use No-Script on my Web Browser to avoid bandwidth consuming things like videos, Flash and the like, because bandwidth here is capped and expensive.
I once followed up a branch of the family tree that someone had contacted me about, and that person give me access to his tree on My Heritage — his ex-mother-in law had been a distant cousin of my wife’s. And now I am overwhelmed by e-mails telling me every time any member of his family has a birthday. So when someone says they will share family information with me by giving me access to their My Heritage site, I think twice about it, because I find the site is so time-consuming, and slow.
My old computer was stolen, and so I got a new and faster one, and thought I would try to follow up some of the My Heritage things and see if it worked better on a computer with more memory, but then got the message mentioned above. There were numerous messages from people asking for access to my tree, which I can’t give them unless I upgrade, and I’m not sure I want access to their trees (which I presumably also can’t get unless I upgrade), and anyway I’m not sure I can cope with an increased flood of e-mails reminding me of birthdays of people not directly related to me.
As a pensioner, I’m already using more bandwidth than I can afford, and I’m trying to cut down. I can’t afford an upgrade. But it seems that the only way I can remove my data from My Heritage is to pay for an upgrade.
Meanwhile, people keep asking me for access to it, which I can’t give them.
Recently I made my family three online at myheritage.com.
When try to print is as a book, I get plenty mistakes like:
51. ZDRAVKA JERCIC [KATUSIC] (Ante’s second cousin) was born to Zvonko Katusic110 and Blazenka Katusic [Jercic]109.
Note:
Normal 0
false false false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
Do you know what is the problem
Thanks
Ante
I just purchased a one year subscription to MyHeritage and paid with paypal. Immediately received a receipt from Primul Ltd showing a payment of $75 plus annual recurring payments of $75 for an indefinite period of time. Am unable to undo this on Paypal and am now having to file a complaint in order to stop them. They can’t make an honest profit so are trying to force clients into an undesired ongoing arrangement. I am furious and am telling everyone I know about this, including posting to Facebook. This is not the way honest business people operate.
When I try to print out descendant reports, they stop with the fifth generation. Well, I have descendants in the sixth and seventh generations that need to print out. What’s the problem?
My only complaint with genealogical websites is that they ask you to post your family files on their sites supposedly to help others that are doing similar research dealing with your family or other relatives. So, in the interest of wanting to be helpful to others and perhaps obtain info from their research, you do so. The only drawback is that the genealogical website that has all your years of research has the potential to make a lot of money from your labors by charging you for data that you may need from others. You do all the work and they charge you for any needed data.
I’ve been involved in my family history for over 20 years, my children aren’t particularly interested and perhaps any of their children may not be interested and I’ve put a lot of time, effort and money into this project. So what happens when I fall off my perch…maybe it ends up in the bin eventually, what a waste of my time etc again….But…if I send it off to a family history site with my stories, photo’s etc at least it’s not gone, and the only people interested are people of my family, our 5x great grandmothers may have been sisters or whatever and they may have purchased the same certificates, but they may have a photo you don’t, that’s what makes sharing your families so good, every body wins.
Drop my name from this site because most of it was wrong and I could not correct any the information that was listed.
Susan, I’m not sure what you’re getting at.
It is fine that myheritage.com has a “different model” than Gencircles did, but I too would like to opt out of it; I had not updated any information there in quite some time and it is ancient; more correct info is at my own website. How do I delete my files from myheritage, which I have absolutely no interest in?
Hello, I have got the following problem.
I have upgraded myheritage fam. tree builder to an premium package. Since that and the growing of my family tree I got a lot of messages/requests from people around the world (fun).
In order to organise all these messages I made myself a new email account and changed my profile accordingly.
Now I do not have any acces to the account on hotmail (do not why) but I also do not have acces as sitebuilde/manager/owner to my own site. So I can not publish it add new data to it etc.
I would like my account set back to previous set-up, but I can not (no acces). Is there anybody who could help me (support does not respond beside automatic generated messages (I ahve got about 4 to 5 tickets for support, but noactual response.
Peter
I downloaded the family tree builder from MyHeritage.com just a couple hours ago and it crashed my computer. All my personal files were gone. When I tried to restart it, it wouldn’t. I had to run the Windows repair program. It was able to restart my computer but all my files are still gone!!! I don’t know what kind of scam site this is but take this as a warning. It will ruin your computer and delete your files!!
I have noticed some errors on my family tree but I cannot find out how to edit or delete entries.Your assistance would be much appreciated.
I had joined myheritage.com a long time ago and had not done much with it. Recently I had joined again with a new account and removed the old. I will say I have no problems with the software. It has been working awesome. Because of it, I have been able to trace my ancestors back to the 1400′s. so far. I cannot believe how many out there that are connected to me. I do not get a lot of junk mail because there is options to avoid that in your accounts. Just as there are if you join someone else’s tree you can opt not to receive emails for updates from their side of the tree too. It is easy to get your account information to log on to remove your account to not be bothered from them if you choose not to be a part of the account any longer. I don’t think they are out to spam anyone. They are offering a great program/site that opens the doors for many who want to dig into their family heritages. It sure has made it much easier. You do not have to pay unless you want to make merging others info into your own much easier. You can only put as many members you add on your computer as you want. However, hosting over 250 people online is only for free which you do not have to do so at all.
I’m not sure why so many people seem to be having such problems with myheritage.com. I have not had any computer crashes or lost information. Any errors I have found when printing reports have come from myelf and were easily fixed. I truly believe that the people complaining of it being a scam site are non-user trolls.
Downloaded new Family Tree Builder 6.0. New feature “Profile Page” will not allow access unless I log in with an old E-mail address. When I try, My Heritage informs that there is no such member on MyHeritage.com.
I am logged into the site with my current E-mail address and password. “Profile Page” feature still does not work.
Wow after reading all these comments I am very hesitant to become a premium member – I was actually looking for a discount promo code when I stumbled upon this blog and started reading – but now i cant decide if this is for real or not and how much info will be relevant to my ancestors in South Africa.
I was doing the same as you Karen. Does anyone have any positive feedback for this website or perhaps some good alternative sites to start building a family tree on.
My family tree info migrated to MyHeritage.com and with a little clean up effort it is all in good shape. I personally like the organization and interface.
I also want to become a premium member to continue to update my family tree and I am looking for a discount code.
I am in Australia and have not no trouble with my heritage. About the smart march emails,at the end of the email it tells you how to opt out of receiving these emails.I have found so many relations at no charge at all.
The problem I feel is personalites which no one can do anything about, but Kim And Karen,you both want to do your family trees so you are halfway there. There are many sites and they have their own problems
Karen,
If you have not done so, use the free family tree builder first, you get 250 people listed for free. When you start your search, try to go straight back, meaning after you list the relatives that you know, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, then grandparents, after you get to your grandparents only put in a direct relative, meaning your great grandmother but not your great aunts or uncles etc, once you get up to your 250 by doing this you will know if it is worth subscribing to. I have subscribed in the past after my 250, most of my smart matches were from my sister’s tree, well she was putting everyone on it, too many people to keep track of so I went back to my direct lineage. I like the site and am going to renew my subscription tonight. And yes you would be suprised at where this site takes you, I have people from South Africa that have relatives in my tree……… Hope this helps.
Deb
Hi i have a small problem? My computer crash and burned and i lost every thing i’ve put in myheritage. I went on the myheritage.com site and found it all my problem is how do i get it back to my system again
you’ll have to download the desktop software again and then sync the online with your desktop software. it should all show up quiet quickly. I even use the iphone app which pulls in info from the online tree. love it!!
Je suis bien HEUREUX de na pas être le seul à être tomber dans le panneau de ces ESCROCS, car c’est le nom qui leur convient le mieux. Ils se croient hors d’atteinte de la justice, mais je vais cependant porter plainte pour escroquerie près le Procureur de la République.
J’ai lu les textes ci dessus, ce qui raconte mon parcours. Maintenant, je ne pense pas qu’ils m’attaquent pour diffamation. Je suis prêt à fonder une association de défense brawe@sfr.fr
Oui, je remet en ligne mon commentaire qui a déplu à ces Messieurs, car il a été effacer quelques minutes après. Je disais donc qu’il ne faut pas leur faire confiance comme vous pouvez voir ci dessus. Ce sont des escrocs qui vous bourrent votre site dès l’abonnement acheté et vous obligent à prendre le premium. Une fois le doigt pris dans l’engrenage, vous continuez (de payer). Après cela, à dieu vat, ils s’en foutent si ça ne marche pas. Si vous êtes prêts à me suivre dans une association de défense, voici mon adresse
brawe@sfr.fr
I put all my history in My Heritage and one day could not log in because of an error message. Sent an email to the help line and it took them weeks to respond. They asked for my comuter set up and they told me it was not possible to get that error message. I deleted the file and started all over in ancestry.com. Someone above got 3 years free. All I got was an opportunity to start over in another software package.
Mr Hollinski. Is the new software package working better for you?
Please let me know the name. Myheritage is so bad and I want to get the money back but it is IMPOSSIBLE to get someone to respond.
i am so sorry I got this company
You need more people solving the problems. This site has too many flaws, my trees dissapeared all of the sudden even though I just paid for Premium, STOP expanding and buying other companies and try to have your already costumers happy. To that instead of being a pleasurable activity it has become a VERY STRESSFULL one.anyone that reads this note: PLEASE PLEASE, do not join this company. It is a disaster and they will not give you your money back if you opt out. What did I do? This is so horrible