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A new class action lawsuit accuses Ancestry.com of automatically renewing memberships without subscribers’ permission, in violation of California law.
The Ancestry.com class action lawsuit, which was removed to federal court this week, seeks more than $250 million in restitution for consumers.
Plaintiff Marta Carrera Chapple says she went to the Ancestry website in February to try to find information about her relatives.
According to Chapple’s complaint, she requested the site’s free trial offer, choosing the middle membership tier and entering her credit card details as required.
Chapple says she believed her credit card would be charged the monthly subscription amount of $39.99 when her 14-day free trial expired; such a transaction did indeed post Feb. 14.
However, Chapple claims that she was not aware when accepting the free trial that the defendants would enroll her in a subscription plan that automatically renewed from month to month.
The Ancestry website class action lawsuit states that additional charges of $39.99 were posted in both March and April. Chapple says if she had known the auto-renewal was going to be charged every month, she would not have submitted her credit card to begin with or, alternatively, would have canceled her Ancestry website membership in order to avoid the additional charges to her credit card.
Consumers wishing to take advantage of Ancestry.com’s free trial offer first click a “start my free trial” button and select a membership tier, the class action lawsuit says. The site then invites the customer to click a button that says “Start FREE trial.”
The consumer is then prompted to create an account, the Ancestry.com class action lawsuit says. That step is followed by a prompt to enter payment information, after which the consumer clicks a “Proceed to checkout” button.
Once the payment information is submitted, the Ancestry website shows the customer an order summary and is asked to click an “Order now” button, after which the site displays a confirmation page, the class action lawsuit states.
Chapple’s Ancestry.com class action lawsuit points out that other consumers have reported similar issues with Ancestry.com; “hundreds of customer complaints” have been posted on websites such as Yelp, the Better Business Bureau and ConsumerAffairs.
Many of the customer complaints cited in the lawsuit allege a similar experience to Chapple’s and say Ancestry.com has refused to issue refunds when the affected consumers have requested them. At least one customer claims to have canceled their membership during the trial period and is still been charged for months after the cancellation.
Another Ancestry website user said they had been charged an “annual service” fee without ever enrolling in a monthly membership plan; they had only used Ancestry.com’s DNA kit, the complaint says.
The Ancestry.com class action lawsuit claims the plaintiff suffered injury and lost money as a result of the defendant’s violations of California’s Automatic Renewal Law.
Therefore, the complaint says, “Plaintiff and Class members are entitled to restitution of all amounts that Defendants charged to Plaintiff’s and Class members’ credit cards, debit cards, or third-party payment accounts in connection with an automatic renewal membership program during the four years preceding the filing of this Complaint and continuing until Defendants’ statutory violations cease.”
Chapple’s class action lawsuit maintains that unless stopped by the Court, Ancestry.com will continue to represent that its “goods or services have characteristics that they do not have;” to advertise a product or service with the intent not to sell it as advertised; and to represent that a transaction involves rights or obligations it either does not have or that are legally prohibited.
The defendant’s alleged failure to disclose the automatic renewal in a clear manner is injurious to consumers and is immoral, unethical and unscrupulous, the complaint says.
Chapple’s class action lawsuit proposes a Class including anyone in California who enrolled in an Ancestry.com membership program on or after Dec. 1, 2010, and was charged for the membership “within the applicable statute of limitations.”
The plaintiff accuses Ancestry.com of violating the California Automatic Renewal Law, which is part of California’s False Advertising Law; the Consumers Legal Remedies Act; and the Unfair Competition Law.
The class action lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees and court costs, restitution, pre-judgment interest and any other relief the Court deems appropriate.
Are you an Ancestry.com member? Did your membership automatically renew unexpectedly? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiff is represented by James T. Hannink and Zach P. Dostart of Dostart Hannink & Coveney LLP.
The Ancestry.com Auto-Renewal Class Action Lawsuit is Marta Carrera Chapple, et al. v. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., Case No. 3:20-cv-01456-LAB-DEB, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
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182 thoughts onAncestry.com Faces $250M Class Action Lawsuit Over Auto-Renewals
I signed up for the free 14 day trial on June 19th, 2022. I called in to cancel the trial membership the next day so that it wouldn’t renew and charge me two weeks later. The customer service agent I spoke to told me she had cancelled the trial membership renewal for my account, that it was all taken care of, and that I would not be billed. Several months down the road, I noticed a recurring monthly charge on my bank statement of $24.99 from Ancestry. I disputed it with my bank, they investigated it, and informed me that Ancestry claimed I never cancelled the trial membership. Which I know I specifically made a point to do and did in fact call to cancel it. I didn’t realize I’d need to check my email to catch them NOT sending me a confirmation that my membership is actually cancelled after hearing them tell me directly that they’ve cancelled it for me. So I’m yet again attempting to cancel my membership with Ancestry today, and this time insist on receiving confirmation from them that they won’t lie to my face and steal from my account. I’ve been sitting on the phone waiting to talk to an agent for over an hour, listening to some recording tell me how important my call is to them. Right. Ancestry is not just a sleazy company with predatory business practices – they’re criminals, they’re misleading and scamming their customers, and they’re breaking the law. It’s unacceptable, and they need to be stopped.
The usual bait and switch. I’ve been on the phone with them for 3 hours and am too tired to go into detail. I definitely would like to join this class action suit. I’ve saved, screenshot, and taken voluminous contemporaneous notes.
I tried to cancel my membership 2 days before it was up for auto renewal. I felt I did it right online. A week later I was informed my membership had automatically renewed. I have spent hours online and nothing from ancestry. IT is a scam. Auto Renewal should be illegal. Very Angry
Ancestry.com renewed my subscription in the amount of $185.00 6 months after I initially subscribed. I am on a fixed income and that charge meant I did not have the money to pay my living expenses for the month. Ancestry should at minimum alert customers that a renewal is coming up. This is an unscrupulous practice.
Add me I’m disappointed in search of nothing results renewal cancellation won’t let me and I just now found out of this dna test are a lie
They have done this to me several times in the past, as well as faulty DNA results. I have been waiting for a refund for the last several months and still nothing. You ask to speak to a supervisor, thinking you may get some real results. They still give you the run around. They have no problem taking your money. Thanks Ancestry I have results from three other companies, that managed to do their job!
keeps renewing though i canceled add me
Same here.I canceled prior to auto renewal and they did not send me a email confirming it.They then charged my Pay Pal acct,The next day for $225.58 after I canceled.I tried chatting to no avail,very rude.They said I did not cancel and cant find my email.Help.
I attempted to cancel using the online process 1 week before my annual renewal. It was not clear that I had to confirm that I did indeed want to cancel 2 additional times. It takes clicking a cancel button 3 times before it is actually complete. I clicked it twice 1-week prior, but failed to scroll to the bottom to see that I needed to do it 1 more time. Very deceptive having a 3-step process and hiding the last confirmation button so low on the page that you need to scroll down.
Ancestry.com promotes and advertises a “free two week trial” but does not actually give you two weeks for free before charging you UNLESS you allow them to charge you at the end of the two weeks.
They state you must cancel TWO business days BEFORE your “Two week free trial” ends in order to AVOID being charged AND when you cancel BEFORE your “free two weeks” you lose access to the ‘free trial’ simply for telling them they can’t bill you at the end of the ‘free two week trial’ they advertise. That’s false advertising designed to trick customers into using their service and getting stuck with a subscription.
I learned that by searching for the way ancestry will try to charge you for this free trial and found out I had to cancel 2 business days in order to not be charged. That information is obfuscated on Ancestry’s site and not made clear at all in their fraudulent offer of ‘free two week trial’ as 12 days are not two weeks. If they continued to allow access until the 14th day, no matter when you canceled the ‘trial’ they demand you let them bill you on day 14+ then this would not be an issue but they revoke your access the day you cancel the trial (which is realistically the only way to avoid being charged and use the ‘two weeks’ they falsely advertise).