Geni Reviews

(based on 29 reviews)

228 of 439 people found this review helpful

Only free for very basic data entry, as far as I can see. To do any research and link to others costs money. Fair enough if that's what was advertised.

At one point I found some unknown person had some correct but very incomplete information about my grandparents, which I could access if I paid up. A few minutes later, doing a search under the names of those same grandparents it said there were no matches. Needless to say, they're not getting my money.

Not easy to delete your information if you don't want to continue, either, so, given the privacy warnings in other reviews - if you don't want information out there, be warned that entering it may place it at risk, even if you try to remove it.

On the other hand, it was easy to change the birth order of siblings, unlike some sites.

In summary, I would not recommend Geni to a friend.

234 of 470 people found this review helpful

If you're into genealogy and if you're thinking about putting your tree on Geni.com---don't. I speak from experience as a long-time FORMER participant. Bad mergers with other managers can cause you to lose control of your tree, making it open to theft. Also, privacy issues. If you want to use Geni, most of the privacy issues can be addressed, but I wouldn't rely on any of it for accuracy. I found that my oldest known ancestor, whose parents are not known, had suddenly acquired an entire ancestral tree of his own, added by another manager. Total fantasy, of course, with no sources, but I was unable to change it. After my tree was taken over, I was blocked from changing it, and at that point unable even to contact management, much less get help from them. Avoid it!

In summary, I would not recommend Geni to a friend.

266 of 509 people found this review helpful

I clicked the "try Pro for free" and since they require inserting credit card number (though without security code), they succeeded to charge 190$ (year membership) from my bank account! This site should be closed down!!

In summary, I would not recommend Geni to a friend.

230 of 467 people found this review helpful

Against my wishes, a GENI Pro member has put my personal information and that of my daughters on his website (including full birthdates.) I have discovered that people are downloading huge numbers of names from GENI and transferring them to Ancestry and other websites. From this one webpage alone on GENI four people have downloaded around 100,000 names. 12 other people have transferred smaller amounts from the same webpage. (A real boon for Ancestry and the other websites!!) I know this because all the trees contain the same 'marker' name and so were easy to trace. The person has refused my request to remove my personal family information and GENI allows transfer of information so it is appearing on other websites. I am very conscious of identity theft because of a bad experience. Fortunately Ancestry and Friends Reunited have ethical standards regarding information about living people and removed my information at my request but I now have to be vigilant.

In summary, I would not recommend Geni to a friend.

229 of 476 people found this review helpful

i gleefully joined Geni thinking i could input, research, get assistance from a great support staff. What the fire was i thinking.. i joined as a PRO. (still confused about that) every question i asked staff support was meet with " what platform are you working on ( Geni, of course), well, give us a step by step description, ( well i did) Then i find i am talking with a "CURATOR" that is someone who has used GENI for a long time ( long enough to learn system) SUPPORT just flew out the window. you can only input a certain number, then Geni shows only the basic part of your tree. When i asked about seeing my entire tree, i was told to "go to a list, ???" now i am confused, lists dont relate to a TREE.

dont use GENI- no research sites, you can only research within GENI.. hahahaahahaa, dont make me laugh.. i have over 3000 distant relatives, 4/5/6 generations,, i want to leave Geni, just trying to find a good research, input, support site.. hints anyone!/>?

In summary, I would not recommend Geni to a friend.

277 of 522 people found this review helpful

I signed up for a $9.95 monthly subscription and then Geni.com charged for a whole year. You can't call customer service and they don't respond to e-mails. Avoid!

In summary, I would not recommend Geni to a friend.

254 of 508 people found this review helpful

As a basic user, there was a time you could see other trees and check to see if you were related. Now they just want your money before you can see anything, public or not. I will be pulling any information off (if possible). At this rate they will be down in less than a year.

In summary, I would not recommend Geni to a friend.

222 of 466 people found this review helpful

If you cancel your tree after experimenting (as I did), your data then is NOT deleted - but is up for grabs by anyone opportunistic enough to claim "management" of it.

As a result, I have relatives complaining to me about misinformation published and in the search engines, that I cannot amend or delete, as although I "created" the data, I no longer "manage" it. Current "managers" state they cannot delete it either.

When I wrote to Geni to remove all my data, I was told that they would only assist paid-up members.

In summary, I would not recommend Geni to a friend.

231 of 467 people found this review helpful

If your concept of a family tree is simply boxes showing birth and death dates, then this is the site for you.

Entering any information beyond this is not recommended. Geni has changed to a Wiki concept so that anyone in the world can change the information you entered, but unlike a Wiki there are no moderators and the source of the new information is not normally provided. Similarly, except for the basic information, the author of the changes is not known.

In a Wiki, such as Wikipedia, a moderator would normally highlight or remove such information to prevent the site becoming a data dump.

With no research material available on the site, the subscription is simply paying for web hosting. This is definitely not value for money.

In summary, I would not recommend Geni to a friend.