GeniReviews 78

Beware: If you are looking for genetic information or your family history, do NOT use Geni! They assign random people to "manage" our family tree and they mess it up beyond belief. You will find NO accurate or reliable information there. And there is no one to complain to who will fix the mistakes so your frustration will know no bounds. Jut let it go and move on to a more reliable platform like Ancestry, Family Search or My Heritage instead.

These fools contacted me using my dead mother, but saying that she was about to be 85 years old! They don't even know that she's gone! Wow! Idiots. Would NEVER USE. THIS IS PROBABLY THE EXTREMISTS.

Been using Geni.com for months. Able to access photos no problem. Now it is telling me I have to log in. Log in and all it does is ask me to pay for geni premium site, $140 a year. Can't even access people on search results on new computer. Wants me to pay for premium. Over and over and over. All it will do is ask me to pay for premium site. FREE MY $#*!!

Went back to phone, where I have been using site for nearly a year, and now it is asking me to pay for premium to access photos. So far, I can still access ancestors' profile, but for how long? Keep getting "start free trial" "only $140 a year". Site is useless now. All they want is MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!

USED TO BE A GOOD SOURCE FOR RESEARCHING FAMILY TREE. RECOMMENDED IT TO SEVERAL PEOPLE OVER THE PAST YEAR. NO MORE!

I tried the free trial to see if I wanted to join and money was taken from my account. It's been a month and the money has not been refunded. They keep closing my ticket as "solved".

Geni does not answer communication unless you pay high fees. Since fees are high this is not an option.

I just deleted my subscription. Unfortunately I should have done my homework prior to giving my billing info there. I'll now have to put a stop to any future billing as I'm not even able to make edits on my family tree so what leads me to believe that they won't bill me again? I had put in birth info that was incorrect but tried to change it and nothing allowed me to do so. If you are allowing misinformation to be added to a name then why do YOU only have the control to not allow the changes to be made? There are so many knots in my family tree now that anyone who chooses to use this site will be mislead and we'll have names added that have nothing to do with our family. It really shouldn't be this hard to make changes. So the cycle will continue on and on with misinformation. I honestly don't believe your curators are digging into each and every geneological background and keeping the it correct. I know your response will be that they can't do this but it's up to the person putting the information in to be correct. I tried that. I've wanted to track my lineage but with the lack of ability even with a PAID subscription it's impossible. I have read through the reviews and we all seem to have the same complaint. I'm sure i'll be given the same reply from Michael as everyone else. You're absolutely right. Geni is not for me. I've resolved that issue on my end by the cancelation. Now if you would resolve from your end and remove what i've inputted as misinformation not intended to remain on my tree that would be nice. But it'll be there forever and the worst part is that i PAID for it.

After being on board with them and thinking everything was going great for six years they end up taking away the privacy of my accounts, lock up my photo editor, and start re-writing the bios of my 3rd and 4th great grandparents essentially locking me out as a pro Geni customer. Things get worse after I attempt to get help, and end with violations of my family privacy, not allowing me to post family photos or depictions, or licenced photos, ugly accusations and interrogation sessions about my family and locking up my family line from me. Interrogation is not collaboration and Geni allows curators to walk all over the customers while also being their customer service, also they all side together on issues and leave your family out in the cold once they take over your families line. Be wary, the customer and family do not come first there once they do their "take over," it is essentially best overall to keep your own family tree in case you come into contact with one of their Nazi collaborators who essentially can do whatever they want without good reason to your once private profiles, and they could care less if you are a paying customer or not, going against their own rules by locking up profiles and family photo editor functions. One of the managers is very controlling and he lies out the roof of his mouth, I believe his name is Michael, especially be wary of him, he doesn't know how to tell the whole truth and doesn't mind his own business as far as your family is concerned. In Geni's rules it states that as a paying customer you can use any family photo that you want and you have can post unlimited ones for your family lineage, they took down my family photos although they were licensed art and then after taking away my paid for functions and freedoms, proceeded to harass me. No self-respecting person would or could put up with that level of contempt or control that should be called "forced collaboration because if you do not answer all their interrogations, they then have the power to destroy your families profile" (this all coming from people who are amateurs and can't even source their own trees have zero business regulating mine) Why would I want to be part of such a mockery when my line is already fully sourced by certified geneologists? In my case, the definition of Nazi fits the bill to my experience. They did things to me without notifying me, and in the end, they enjoy antagonizing the customer by saying "geni is not for you, whoever treats their paying customers like that? The customer should be given the benefit of the doubt at all times and family should be respected but I did not see that happening at all. Michael is a piece of work and has no clue how to be a manager in the real world.

As a paying Pro Geni member I have to say I agree with Ryan M's review. When I read the response by the site representative Michael S., I was appalled. Michael for you to accuse Ryan of being "spiteful and petty" for posting his honest review, is highly unprofessional on your part. Clearly you aren't familiar with the concept of valuing your customers. If your goal is drive people away from your site, then keep that "woke" attitude.

Geni, once the best place to create a family tree and collaborate with relatives, is now a place of negativity and harassment. I have been on Geni for 15 years and have been very happy. Recently, things took a drastic change. Myself and many other account managers began receiving messages claiming my family does not exist and relatives were made up. A man, who had no family tree of his own and no relation to anyone, began sending daily messages that he was going to delete these profiles. I contacted Geni, who then defended this behavior by saying that all he wants is proof that your Great Grandfather x 13 is a real person. My response is that I cannot provide a paper trail to a person alive in the year 1500. Geni said that they will delete any profile that does not have proof. We all know that proof cannot always be obtained, especially going back over 500 years. So, the messages continued from this disgruntled member saying that my profiles will be deleted. I am helpless now to really provide anything other than oral history and or collaboration with other members who are also related and then also DNA. I was told that I was in the wrong and GENI now allows profiles to be randomly deleted. I guess aggressive cancel culture is now the way things are done on something as simple as a family history site. The world is changing and being aggressively disrespectful is the now the accepted way. This is not the same genealogy it was a few decades ago. I would not recommend GENI as a site. You are always now under the threat of being deleted if GENI or any hostile member wants you or your family removed.

This is the worst site I have Paid for in 25+ years of internet usage. There appears to be no way to contact them or get them to respond and I have no access to this site which I have paid for and spent hundreds of hours entering info, which appears unreachable.

Hello
I was wondering if someone can provide me with the name of someone who has the authority to override the interference to my tree of one of Geni's volunteer curators. I can't find anywhere to lodge my complaint. Apologies if this is not the correct site to do this but I am getting increasingly frustrated with the lack professionalism.
I have not given her the right to manage my profiles. Unknown to me she put Stop Signs on 3 of my profiles. Without going into detail, my research shows different parents of my 2 x great grandmother, Elizabeth. Geni's volunteer curator won't release my profiles until I provide my research. Note I said research, not records or sources. I am not going that. This could have been handled differently. This has been going on for some time and I have had enough, so if someone can point me in the right direction that would be appreciated.
Thank you and regards
Jan Stefanac

We have belonged to Geni for several years. And not had a problem till we tried working with a collaborator. The woman lied to us add people that aren't real. Didn't say anything till she got the idea we knew more than she expected. She took over management of my husbands profile. And made sure I couldn't delete things on my tree. We had to write an email to customer service and haven't answered my husband. And wouldn't allow me to report my problem. I would not recommend this genealogy site.

I was using the free version of geni.com to see if I would want an upgrade to pro, but all of a sudden it stopped working, a major disappointment. I cleared my cookies and cache, then tried switching from Safari to Chrome. It still doesn't work! Now I see that it has failed worldwide. MyHeritage has been kept separated from geni.com. Does that mean MyHeritage is fully aware of geni.com's flaws? My condolences to MyHeritage, the lemon owner. To expect anyone to pay $119.40 for something that doesn't work is an insult to their intelligence. Your business model is astounding!
P.S. (added later): Never mind. I just read more of the reviews. It's obvious that the geni lineages are sloppy, inaccurate, poorly curated, and hard to fix. Misinformation in a genealogy renders it a useless waste of effort. Verifying data from the distant past requires dedication, careful documentation, and logical thinking. Splicing together unvetted information invites errors which then propagate. I'll stay with authoritative sources and spend my $119.40 elsewhere.

I used Geni for about 2 years but suddenly found that someone from Hungary had attached part of their family tree to mine. It was obviously completely wrong but I was unable to remove it. I did not want to start a chain of correspondence with the interloper so I have closed my Geni account. Unfortunately, all the incorrect information is still there. It is far better to pay for and use your own stand-alone family tree program. If I could have given Geni zero stars I would have done so.

Adding the ancestress of the person I was trying to reach put me as her "admin" informed me that I had 2 matches and put a paywall between me and the person I was trying to reach in the first place. Wow, that was rude. I could see the info online before but now that I added it to my tree, I have to have pay for it? That is insane. What a horrible business model. You know what? I would gladly pay geni 119 bucks if they would have this member call me to compare family notes. As is, I deleted the entire tree I entered as not to put a paywall between us and anyone else who may try to connect too those families. I think I am done with Geni. My experience was very disappointing.

Geni has family trees with members that can't be a spouse or mother/son as the dates are impossible. For example, mother & daughter born the same year? When I've requested they edit/change the information, they don't. If you try to edit an error that you or someone else made, it's practically impossible & the incorrect information is locked in forever.
One person in particular who has control of several families genealogy is P. Silbernagl who doesn't know what they're doing nor are they willing to correct obvious mistakes.

Stick with Wikitree for this sort of tree. Or Ancestry or a PC or Mac based tree like RootsMagic. After I added my GEDCOM to Geni, there were so many issues to deal with, and I accidently added my exwife's info which was on my GEDCOM. Once it is added, it is there for good. You can disconnect someone, but you are told you are "splitting the tree." Then you get merged with a tree that is rampant with misinformation. I have worked hard to correct trees that are just wrong when I see them, and now MY tree on Geni is merged into these trees that are just wrong. I can disconnect from the wrong ancestors, but it becomes a big mess when 30 other people are saying that the tree goes in another direction than what you are saying. On wikitree they are good at requiring source information, and they keep tree management down to a single person, so if you have an issue with something, you are only trying to convince one person that something needs to change, and you can provide one person with a source to prove that a change needs to be made. I just contacted a "curator" for an ancestor who mysteriously has a middle initial on Geni. He has no middle initial, he was born in 1610 in England, and there are no sources to support any such thing. The "curator" asked me if I contacted the other managers of the profile, which is 27 people, and that maybe one of them knows something. Sorry, I am not doing that, honey, you are the curator, so curate! Don't upload a GEDCOM to Geni. You will be sorry you did.