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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2007-10 > 1191809962


From: "Dora Smith" <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] About Genebase
Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2007 21:19:42 -0500
References: <851083.98928.qm@web55401.mail.re4.yahoo.com><0a9801c80872$ef08bb80$640fa8c0@Villandra2><000001c808e7$988e7680$6500a8c0@dell><000601c80915$52e8a280$640fa8c0@Villandra2><000f01c80931$d131d2d0$6500a8c0@dell>


David, as I did point out, I really don't want to diagnose the causes of
Genebase's problems; I just posted what to do about it. If one happens to
be one of their poor hapless customers.

I know what I read on that review/ blog page, and what it says on the local
Better Business Bureau page, which describes an extreme situation. I
point out that the Better Business Bureau report on them is consistent with
teh blog page, and it is also harder to dismiss.

If more people make complaints through the appropriate channel, I can see
where the local Better Business Bureau might end up referring this company
to the appropriate enforcement agency for legal action. Or maybe not.
After all, as you correctly point out, it is not an easy matter to infer
fraudulent intent from a record of one way and another, seeming to rarely
deliver what was paid for. Maybe getting it together really is
prohibitively difficult, and I just don't have enough understanding and
Christian charity, just because no other company in the business is having
any of these problems.

It is hard to see how an established business with collecting stations in 40
or 50 cities could be having these problems, but there are a number of ways
it is possible. It could be an organizational branch with serious
organizational or even criminal problems. Even the best businesses
sometimes suffer from high level fraud. Even my great-great grandfather
committed fraud - he had his finger into too many pies, he was overextended,
he ran into problems, and he took money from his real estate handling that
belonged to other people and spent it somewhere else and couldn't make it
good. (He plunged from probably clinically manic to very seriously
depressed, and they forgave him.)

This company has never dealt directly with individual members of the public
before - parentage tests being usually ordered by courts and law
enforcement, and they've never provided Internet based service before, if
it's hard to see these factors explaining the extremes of the situation over
a period of a year. My boss where I work would probably explain, in much
more charitable terms, that they're quite possibly spoiled and corrupt. (My
boss actually quite cheerfully thinks the entire business and public sectors
are corrupt - just a fact of life.) Serving teh public sector is not known
to train businesses to be efficient, honest and responsible. He is
infinitely patient with employees who've never been expected to actually
systematically work before, and would rather spend hours on break
chattering. "Yours and my work ethic might not be theirs." He would
probably point out that if this company has only dealt with courts and
public agencies, it is accustomed to being able to provide the results
whenever, routinely lose whatever, and expect the agency to reorder it and
pay for it again if it should care to do so. How dare people expect
anything different. We all just have to be patient. :<

But on the other hand, figuring out and solving their problems isn't their
customers' responsibility. If they can't be counted on to deliver teh
goods, the reason why doesn't really matter - if you're teh one who
purchased and paid for the goods.

I would suggest that people read that review page and the BBB report before
doing business with Genebase - whether or not they want to venture to
explain it, and I'm the third person here today to say so. One was a
customer, and one had done atleast most of the same research that I did.

With that said, I can't really stop you from having work done at Genebase...
or is this perhaps people involved with other genealogical testing companies
trying to be charitable? Sorry, I just don't see it from that point of
view.

That's enough said for me.

Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, TX




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