Check out our latest communities fighting
AI scams on Reddit and Facebook

business logo of StartEngine

StartEngineReviews 192

2.3

On SmartCustomer, businesses may not offer incentives or pay to remove reviews. Learn more about our Review Guidelines.

How would you rate StartEngine?
grey stargrey stargrey stargrey stargrey star

StartEngine Reviews Summary

StartEngine has a rating of 2.3 stars from 192 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with StartEngine most frequently mention customer service, phone number and email address. StartEngine ranks 4th among Crowd Funding sites.

service
81
value
76
quality
70
This company does not typically respond to reviews

We monitor reviews for authenticity

New Jersey
1 review
39 helpful votes
Follow Daniel L.
Unfollow Daniel L.
Share Review
Report Review

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.

The exclamation point in their logo should be beviewed as a flashing WARNING alert to investors and those looking to make a raise.
SCAM.
Date of experience: April 20, 2021
Florida
1 review
22 helpful votes
Follow Theodore O.
Unfollow Theodore O.
Share Review
Report Review

Horrible Customer Service
February 23, 2021

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.

Date of experience: February 23, 2021
StartEngine T. StartEngine Rep
over a year old

Hi Theodore, I'm sorry to hear you had this experience. We are offering customer service via e-mail due to everyone working remotely. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. I am not Please drop us a line at [email protected] and we will be happy to resolve any concerns you may still have. Best, The StartEngine Team

California
1 review
22 helpful votes
Follow Irving K.
Unfollow Irving K.
Share Review
Report Review

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.

Date of experience: February 12, 2021
StartEngine T. StartEngine Rep
over a year old

Hi Irving,

StartEngine in general accepts payment via card, ACH, and wire. It does take some time for investments to be closed on by companies once the funds arrive in escrow. It sound like you have a unique situation so I will have the team circle back to you and give you an update. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Best, The StartEngine Team

Kentucky
1 review
10 helpful votes
Follow Lori A.
Unfollow Lori A.
Share Review
Report Review

VERY UYNPROFESSIONAL
January 20, 2021

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.

Date of experience: January 20, 2021
StartEngine T. StartEngine Rep
over a year old

Hi Lori, I'm sorry to hear this was your experience. If you need help with a platform issue, or have a question about investing on the platform, please don't hesitate to reach out to [email protected].

New York
1 review
21 helpful votes
Follow Johhny R.
Unfollow Johhny R.
Share Review
Report Review

Kiss ur money goodbye.
January 6, 2021

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!

Date of experience: January 5, 2021
California
1 review
4 helpful votes
Follow Bart T.
Unfollow Bart T.
Share Review
Report Review

Update: I finally got my money out
January 4, 2021
Updated review

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.

Date of experience: January 4, 2021

DO NOT SEND THEM MONEY. THIS IS A SCAM.
November 11, 2020
Previous review

I sent StartEngine $3k to start my account and have cash ready to invest. Despite having deposited money with them, when I tried to invest they (the online tool) asked for SEPARATE/ADDITIONAL funds for a $300 investment, 1/10 of what I had on deposit. After trying and trying I gave up and submitted a disbursement withdrawal.
THEY NEVER SENT MY MONEY.
The $3k disappeared from my StartEngine account and has not appeared in my bank account. If you call them on the phone they send you away. No voicemail.
If you send an email they don't respond.
Their online chat is a bot that just says they will submit a ticket. I've heard nothing.
Mr. Wonderful basically stole my money.
This is a fraud.

Date of experience: November 11, 2020
Iowa
1 review
15 helpful votes
Follow M. S.
Unfollow M. S.
Share Review
Report Review

Buyer beware
December 29, 2020

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.

Date of experience: December 29, 2020
Mexico
1 review
6 helpful votes
Follow Javier Z.
Unfollow Javier Z.
Share Review
Report Review

Stay away! 11
December 19, 2020

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.

Date of experience: December 18, 2020
Wisconsin
1 review
33 helpful votes
Follow Frank C.
Unfollow Frank C.
Share Review
Report Review

Scam
December 13, 2020

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

Date of experience: December 13, 2020
Mississippi
1 review
10 helpful votes
Follow David B.
Unfollow David B.
Share Review
Report Review

Could not get my owner's bonus purchase refunded. OK, but that means no more investment from me or my brother. Understand?

Date of experience: December 8, 2020
California
5 reviews
4 helpful votes
Follow Rolando P.
Unfollow Rolando P.
Share Review
Report Review

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.

Date of experience: December 1, 2020
Canada
1 review
22 helpful votes
Follow Howard B.
Unfollow Howard B.
Share Review
Report Review

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.

Date of experience: November 27, 2020
New Jersey
1 review
3 helpful votes
Follow Anthony V.
Unfollow Anthony V.
Share Review
Report Review

Finally a way to invest in small upstarts without an enormous amount of money. I'm so excited for the new trading platform can't wait till more companies are trading

Date of experience: November 27, 2020
Florida
1 review
9 helpful votes
Follow Vadim S.
Unfollow Vadim S.
Share Review
Report Review

This is scam
October 25, 2020

Site does not have enough functionality to do anything, customer service does not exist. Try to invest and but by some reason they could not verify my payment. Customer does not exist if you call on phone they will tell you send email, if you send email they will never return to you.

Date of experience: October 25, 2020
StartEngine T. StartEngine Rep
over a year old

Hi Vadim,

I'm sorry to hear you had trouble investing. From time to time payments don't go through. It could be for a number of reasons from an error in the entry to the bank temporarily blocking the charge. We are always happy to work with investors to resolve these issues, and we honor the date you submitted the investment as long as the payment eventually goes through. I am going to reach out to you via private message to confirm your e-mail so we can help you get set up.

Best,
The StartEngine Team

Virginia
2 reviews
16 helpful votes
Follow Michael S.
Unfollow Michael S.
Share Review
Report Review

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!

Date of experience: October 8, 2020
StartEngine T. StartEngine Rep
over a year old

Hi Michael,

Apologies for the issues you encountered. We would love to make it right so will message you privately to get some more information so we can view your account and the specific issues you mentioned.

Generally speaking, when an investor submits an investment, they self-report the information such as name, address, date of birth, and payment information. We are required to comply with regulations, and our banking partner independently verifies this information. From time to time, we are required to follow up with an investor to re-confirm information in order to submit the investment to the company's account. Additionally, because we accept investments through ACH, Wire, and Credit/Debit cards, sometimes it takes some time for the payments to clear and if they bounce, we need to reach out to the investor to ask them to update it. The investment stands, and will go through to the company as soon as the payment information is corrected.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

Best,
The StartEngine Team

Tennessee
2 reviews
14 helpful votes
Follow Kelvin A.
Unfollow Kelvin A.
Share Review
Report Review

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

Date of experience: October 2, 2020
California
1 review
10 helpful votes
Follow Chuck P.
Unfollow Chuck P.
Share Review
Report Review

No contact
September 29, 2020

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.

Date of experience: September 29, 2020
New York
26 reviews
98 helpful votes
Follow CHRIS W.
Unfollow CHRIS W.
Share Review
Report Review

I questioned many of the companies on StartEngine about how much money investors might make by investing with them. Most of them said either they don't know because their company is " new ", or some companies stated that investors would get stocks in the company, approximately 2 to 6 shares. Since the average share in a new company is around $10.00 a share, that is far less then what the average investor is expected to invest. After questioning these companies, it becomes obvious to me that the only ones making any money here are the companies and NOT the investors.To me, this is a BUYER BEWARE investment. ANOTHER strange thing about the StartEngine website is the fact that I've sent at least THREE emails to MR. KEVIN O'LEARY " Mr. Wonderful " from Shark Tank, who is the new executive there, and so far I've received no reply to my questions about these companies he claims to represent. My questions were whether or not these companies are trustworthy or scams. However, since I've received NO reply from him or his office, I guess I already know the answer!

Date of experience: August 29, 2020
Arizona
1 review
45 helpful votes
Follow Stopit Y.
Unfollow Stopit Y.
Share Review
Report Review

EDIT: I wrote to the people giving 5star reviews and they were completely deleted and the reviews started to be less identical. PLEASE BE WARE, there are b0tss everywhere! The positive reviews only started after negative and true reviews were flooding.

The ppl reviewing this page take a look at their dates, their actual "review" they claim the company responds fast lol, but we actually want to know if they made MONEY, none claim that!
Alsp, they all voted 1 only! And they all review only once!

They are bots. Am going to request my money back. I invested in aquipor, but I swear my gut tells me this platform is a scam! Be ware! Dont believe the bots! They are really FAK3

Date of experience: August 24, 2020
Colorado
1 review
6 helpful votes
Follow Delbert R.
Unfollow Delbert R.
Share Review
Report Review

GO Start Engine
August 23, 2020

Hello My name is del and i would like to send a big thank you! Out to Start Eng. For every thing you have done in getting this platform up and going so smoothly WOW you guys are amazing! I started out a couple years ago investing in start ups with three other companys. They all three were not very good at communicating and to be honest i did not feel comfortable investing with them but i did a little until i found Start Eng. Since that day ive deleted every email from all the other guys and have only used St Eng. I really do believe in this concept can you just imagine with me for one min. What your bank roll would like if you could have invested even 500.00 in amazon or tesla when they first started! And ill bet my last dollar that St. Eng. Will find us more than just a few good ones just like them!

Date of experience: August 22, 2020