StartEngineReviews 195

Difficult company to communicate with. With all the options out there I would probably pass on this one unless they can actually provide a decent customer support.

Of the 41 positive reviews on here of StartEngine, 38 were posted in August 2020. Of those posts, 65% were posted on August 14th. Do you really think the StartEngine fan club got together and decided to boost the reviews on a single day? Really! They are fake reviews.

That exclamation point in their logo should be looked at as a flashing WARNING alert. Horrible communication. Limited ability to access. Unclear process. After hearing many positives, Start Engine sadly is an example of the precarious modern "tech company" that states "we are here to help" and then does the complete opposite in their process and interactions. From multiple sources, along with my own experience, this disorganization is the current norm within the last year at Start Engine. BE WARY and ensure they have their plan, customer response, and business model in better shape before investing your time and money on this risky venture of a company. "Mr Wonderful" has some work to do whipping them into shape.

They have some interesting offerings but they are just horrible to deal with. First, no responses to phone calls. Then, they would no longer accept phone messages and you would need to email them. Five days later, three emails and no response on a specific issue of payment. There are many other platforms and if customer service means anything to you, especially if you are a company making an offering on their site, I would look elsewhere.

Terrible investor service and relations. Do not address the direct questions asked and you are unable to respond to them. For me, I had them cash my check for a period of over 2 weeks and they had no response of reply as to what was happening. I had to continue to badger them in order for them to coordinate completing the transaction.

They are arrogant and complete jerks--from the CEO down to the customer service reps. They will not call you back in a timely manner, See other 1 star reviews. By the way, the 5 star reviews are fake, at least the majority of them are. It is obvious.

This company is a total scam, ponzi scheme. If you see Kevin o learys face anywhere, run. He got super wealthy by stealing companies from poor people trying to get help and succeed. Pure lowlife!

I finally got my money out, but it was no thanks to StartEngine. They use an intermediary to handle funds. I complained to them (phone and email) and they took care of getting my money distributed. I've closed my account with StartEngine.
I will add this... StartEngine is advertising HEAVILY. To me this is not a good sign. Also, their different startups advertise to me (retargeting ads). At this stage they should be relying on PR, not ads. This is a new and revolutionary product, or so they claim. They shouldn't have to spend so much on advertising. This feels very much like a direct marketing machine and not a true investment service.

Visually, the website is nice, and the investing process is pretty straightforward. HERE'S WHERE YOU REALLY NEED TO PAY ATTENTION. Every company has a profile page, sort of like a dating website. Once you have viewed an investment opportunity - again, simply viewed it - that company is automatically added to your account as a pending investment... as if you actually clicked a button that says 'I want to invest in this company... even though you didn't. Then, you receive frequent emails reminding you to come back and invest. It's important that you visit your account and manually cancel these 'pending' investments as soon as possible. Once, five days after viewing a particular investment, they automatically charged my credit card for a company that I did not, and would not, ever invest in. After whining and threatening, they reversed the charge. This is only my experience.

They do not respond to emails, they do not have a phone number to reach them. I have invested in a company but they will not be available. Do not do business with a website that is not transparent.

I invested as a ordinary person wanted to invest in a start up company gave them 275 dollars for 100 shares and 10 percent bonus on ally my investment ally i got was a page with my name and no investment sent several emails and they keep telling me i didn't invest. They have a phone number, that directs you to email them. But you never speak to a live person. With the kind of money that is being given you would think they would have live support so these issues can be address the screwed me out of my money which I am still trying to recover

It is a great platform for start-up investments. People who think they can buy and sell the same week are wrong. You buy, hold on to it while the start-up grows and it can take years or decades before you see the money again, but it is a great way to build long-term wealth.

Dont invest in this website if you:
- Expect to make money overnight or over a few month's time span.
- Feel entitled to constantly talk to the CEO of the companies you invest in.
- Feel entitled to dividends withing months of investing.

Invest on this website if you:
- Don't mind waiting for years or decades before a return.
- Feel comfortable risking a few hundred/thousand dollars to have a chance to hit it big in a few years.
- You are willing to lose the money invested because they are bold ideas. Those who don't risk, never win, many companies in StartEngine are risking it all in with bold innovative ideas that may or may not succeed.

My only complaint is their customer support is a bit slow, but I never had a problem with them not solving any issues. Just don't geet desperate and entitled with them and I assure you you will get better results.

NEED I say more than, watch this guy and his millionaire cronies "help" the poor suckers who take their new products/inventions to SHARK TANK... only the real good ones are "accepted" and the "terms" favour the SHARKS by a big margin. That is why CBC dumped the equivalent show... they were using taxpayer money to increase the wealth of the Sharks and NOT the little guy trying to put a new product on the market. O'Leary, like Conrad Black are basically U.S. citizens... same with SCHEER. Watch out, fellow Canadians.

1. I expect to have my questions answered in a reasonable amount of time. It's been 72 hours since I sent a request to help me reset my password. The only contact I have had was a return text stating they had received my request.
2. I have been deluged with text from start engine that there has been an errors with my purchases of stock in some companies. Mind you these are purchase I made 1 month ago or more. Now they say a month later there is a problem! These companies have closed there stock offerings so now I guess I'm SOL!
THIS IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!

TOOK MY MONEY AND RAN WITH FOLKS RUN FOR YOUR LIVES.AND I CANNOT CATCH A LIVE PERSON TO SAVE MY LIFE

I sent $520 via credit card on Tuesday.
The CC company stalled the purchase and wanted a confirmation from their fraud departent, so I called and ok'd the charge.
The next day I got an auto email from SE saying that my charge didn't go thru and to do it again, so I did.
The next day I got an auto email from SE saying that I had $1040 pending purchase. I called and got a recording telling me to email them, and I did.
I heard nothing.
I sent two other emails, each more urgent... heard nothing.
So, NOW I'm getting this sinking feeling... did I just get ripped off?
On Tuesday of the next week I notified the CC company that I had been ripped off and they're trying to get my money back.
It is either gross incompetence, or outright fraud... but there is SOMETHING wrong with this company.

Not only are they their own broker dealer but they are the FIRST in the industry to launch a secondary platform so that you CAN trade Regulation CF and Reg A+ shares! Right now, if you invest in startups on any other platform... you're locked in until either that private company exits either by a buyout or better yet it IPOs. At Startengine, you will be able to buy or sell your Reg CF and Reg A+ shares... THAT's AWESOME.
And they are also apparently going to start a real estate platform soon.
I've invested on Startengine and love the ease of it, I'm hooked.
I did notice that the negative reviews only reflect ignorance. They don't understand investing in startups under Regulation CF or Reg A+. They don't even understand basic startup business knowledge! You're not buying shares on Wall Street at a high price! And you're not going to get dividends from a startup that is not yet profitable, DUH! For the most part, you're buying equity into a PRIVATE company in hopes that they become profitable and give dividends or better yet they IPO... so your not paying Wall Street prices... you're not even paying IPO prices, you're paying PRE-IPO prices. It a game changer for the industry, because before this was only offered to venture capital, accredited investors or employees etc.

They also have the highest amount of Regulation A+ listings on the market, that tells you something. From both the business side and investor side, Startengine is the way to go.