Summary:
Customer support for this product is too poor to recommend its purchase. Those risking the purchase of this software would do best by buying it from the manufacturer, using a credit card for the purchase that might be credited in the event of later requesting a refund.
I found poor my strategy of using Family Tree Maker to maintain a printable off-line backup of tree(s) created on-line at Ancestry.com.
Pros:
Family Tree Maker for the Mac 2 is one of the most popular genealogy software packages available.
A six-month cost-free trial of Ancestry.com is offered.
Print options for FTM for the Mac 2 are much better than for (sister) family trees constructed on Ancestry.com.
Cons:
My experience was that the stated claim of complete satisfaction and refund is false. I purchased the software from Office Max, not from Ancestry.com/Nova Development. I returned the software within the 60 day period to Avanquest. My refund request status was listed as approved after a few weeks. Six weeks after receiving my post-paid manuals, disks, and forms, the company claimed they mailed a refund check (they had not processed the credit card purchase). That check was never received. Three subsequents requests for a replacement check have gone unacknowledged and unheeded. Using the company's website and other Internet information, I have been unsuccessful in identifying any individual in customer support or on the refund team who can aid in my request. An online chat with a company representative yielded the following: "Once there is no return check from us, we cannot reissue a replacement check." So much for complete satisfaction.
A second con is that the synchronization and replication of associated data are quite poor between trees constructed online at Ancestry.com and those maintained on the customer's computer.
Customer support for this product is too poor to recommend its purchase. Those risking the purchase of this software would do best by buying it from the manufacturer, using a credit card for the purchase that might be credited in the event of later requesting a refund.
I found poor my strategy of using Family Tree Maker to maintain a printable off-line backup of tree(s) created on-line at Ancestry.com.
Pros:
Family Tree Maker for the Mac 2 is one of the most popular genealogy software packages available.
A six-month cost-free trial of Ancestry.com is offered.
Print options for FTM for the Mac 2 are much better than for (sister) family trees constructed on Ancestry.com.
Cons:
My experience was that the stated claim of complete satisfaction and refund is false. I purchased the software from Office Max, not from Ancestry.com/Nova Development. I returned the software within the 60 day period to Avanquest. My refund request status was listed as approved after a few weeks. Six weeks after receiving my post-paid manuals, disks, and forms, the company claimed they mailed a refund check (they had not processed the credit card purchase). That check was never received. Three subsequents requests for a replacement check have gone unacknowledged and unheeded. Using the company's website and other Internet information, I have been unsuccessful in identifying any individual in customer support or on the refund team who can aid in my request. An online chat with a company representative yielded the following: "Once there is no return check from us, we cannot reissue a replacement check." So much for complete satisfaction.
A second con is that the synchronization and replication of associated data are quite poor between trees constructed online at Ancestry.com and those maintained on the customer's computer.