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Review by shaded 
member for 2.5 years, 441 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 6 days ago
 Ottawa,ON
 $59 per month- (month by month)
 about 5 days "Great speeds and phone support" "nothing so far after a month" "Best cable provider in Ontario for package speeds and monthly cap size"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Update: I've recently also purchased DSL 50/10 service, installation went smooth and my speeds are 50/10 as advertised:
»www.speedtest.net/result/2615632298.png
====
I was previously with another TPIA cable provider but was very disappointed with the poor network performance, furthermore I was really excited to see Start get some of the newer packages in Ontario so I made the switch (45/5 package). Previously I had been stuck with 1Mbit/sec upload which was just terrible. I also had issues watching youtube videos in 1080p or streaming off twitch.tv on a constant basis, but I haven't had any of these issues with Start.
When placing the order with Start, I was glad I didn't have any wait time reaching their sales department, I was able to do a move order and was not charged any installation fee. I also received follow up calls to confirm my move and when my service had been moved over and activated.
Attachments:
Comments:
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Review by madchikun
member for 8.7 years, 58 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 8 days ago
- Canada
- $50 per month
- about 9 days
- "Simple to sign up, great follow-up support, and fast connection."
- "Nothing so far."
- "Go for it. Start has exceeded my expectations and will likely do the same for you."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Update: Start continues to offer solid service. They are continually improving their offerings ensuring that they are up to date. Not only that but they have a dialogue with their customers. I've comfortably referred my friends and family to this service.
After being a DSL customer of another company for the past 5 years I decided to give Start a try. I was looking for faster speed and the lower install cost, faster speeds, and lower monthly cost of cable was really intriguing. I took my time to do a lot of research, looking at a number of options. Even though they are new, Start really stood out as a solid reliable company who are doing things the right way. It has been 4 days now since my install and I couldn't be happier. I ordered the 28/1 service and the connection speed is better than advertised and everything is running smoothly. The other surprise for me coming from DSL is that the speed has been fairly consistent throughout the day. This was a big concern coming from DSL to cable especially in the high density area that I live in. Start has managed to mitigate that risk so far! I also purchased the DCM475 which was shipped within 3 days, renting is also a viable option at just $5/month. The 300GB cap is very generous for moderate to heavy usage as I normally do around 225GB/month.
****I do have one word of advice, if you are in an older building with wiring that is not that good you may want to investigate having that updated or upgraded. I am in Rogers territory and they contract out their install services to another company. My building is close to 50 years old with a cable run of 300ft+ that was last run in the 80's and the line stats were not that strong. Luckily the install technician put on a new connector at the box and my stats are within range but that it is not normal procedure. I haven't been able to confirm if its true but he mentioned that they get around $8 per TPIA (Third Party) install so don't expect them to want to do too much extra. They most likely will not upgrade the wiring at install time.****
Attachments:
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Review by ravage777
member for 213 days, 4 visits, last login: 9 days ago
updated 10 days ago
- Windsor,ON
- $45 per month
- "No dropped connections, very low ping, speeds as promised, high caps, AMAZING value, website show monthly data usage LIVE"
- "Clueless support staff (but at least they speak English properly)"
- "Just can't recommend them anymore"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
This is a great ISP. I haven't had a dropped connection yet- not once in like 8 months! The speeds are always fast as advertised and ping is low as well. The bandwidth usage caps are very generous. I have the grandfathered standard 200gb plan, but even the 150gb caps with the new plans are great compared to others. I've only had to contact their sales staff a few times during installation and they were great- they spoke english well and didn't have thick accents. Oh and the best thing about these guys is they show you the bandwidth usage for the month live on their website without logging in (it's based on IP I think) and you can see your estimated usage for the month too.
Update: I have to edit my positive review of this place... just a few days after I wrote it! I was switched to the new standard plan which is faster but with a lower cap than my previous grandfathered plan. After speaking with an unknowledgeable representative, I decided to switch because he said it would take just 24-48 hours for the change- easy peasy. What he conveniently didn't mention was that a new modem was required (which Start e-mailed me a tracking number for the night of- surprise!). I said fine.. this is a bit of a hassle but that's okay because after e-mailing their support team, I got a reply saying that it just needed to be swapped out. Okay, I assume when someone says ". Once you receive that modem please call us immediately so we can setup to swap it out" and "Once the equipment swap is completed we will process the speed upgrade.", that it means Start (the "we" in this case) is going to be swapping said equipment out for me. That's not the case here. I'm informed I am being charged 2 rental fees for 2 modems and that I have to return the old one at my own cost via mail or dropping it off in London. Thanks Start!!
Edit: I just wanted to write a clarification because there was a comment assuming that I only talked to one agent and should've found another one to get the help I needed. I talked to 3 agents. 2 on the phone and 1 via e-mail. 2 offered misinformation and 1 offered no credit. The first agent I spoke to said I could get the new plan in 24-48 hours and that I didn't need to do anything on my end- completely untrue. He also said there would be no extra fees. Not true either. He also said it would be faster- well probably true but now I'll never know because I'm downgrading my plan to the most basic package possible now. The second agent (via e-mail) responded "Once you receive that modem please call us immediately so we can setup to swap it out. Once we have completed the swap your current modem will stop working." to my question of "Do I need to send the old modem back if there is a new one?". Now to me, and most normal people I would think, that means they are sending someone to do the install and that they will take the old modem back at the same time. That didn't make sense to me, but hey I asked a clear question.
The third rep I spoke to clarified everything regarding mailing costs, modems, and installations. Unfortunately, he also said I would have to pay two modem rental fees if I didn't get the old modem back to them on time. This pissed me off because I was already complaining about them giving me misinformation on the modem in the first place and he was unapologetic and actually suggesting they were going to charge me even more money despite all this being the fault of their reps who can't answer questions properly?!? Apparently this isn't true either according to another comment on this site below. After asking for a plan downgrade and suggesting that I would cancel my service (I asked about cancellation fees), he finally sounded a bit apologetic and said he would see what he could do about a credit for the mailing cost and would get back to me. He asked me if I was interested. I said I was, but that I would still downgrade my plan so I wouldn't need the new modem. He also said he would try to undo the equipment swap on their end and that it may take more time and would be harder for them. I said okay, and asked him- but can you do it? He said yes.
I then get a message saying that in fact, I have to keep the new modem because the equipment swap order on their system can't be undone (Um... why not exactly?!), so I'm going to lose my connection, I have to install the modem and send the old one back. I'm losing count of the number of times I've been given misinformation. Oh and he would still try to see what can be done about the credit.
A bit later, I lose my internet connection. Hm.. this is probably because of the forced equipment swap I think to myself. But wait, the last rep said he would call me to let me know when that was about to happen. He didn't. I call yet again and I get a different rep. I ask him if I lost connection because of an outage or because of the swap. He checks, and it is indeed the swap. I ask why I didn't get the call from the other rep about it. Oh the employee didn't get back to me because he's left for the day. Oh lord... I'm not even surprised at this point. I ask about the credit to make sure it's in the file. It is, but it still has to be looked at because management has left for the day.
*flips table*
Comments:
 | | IP Your usage wouldn't be by IP if you don't have a static IP. It's most likely by MAC address for the modem. | |
| Reviews:
 ·Bell Fibe
 ·Start Communicat..
| New rating Dropping the rating to a 50% is a bit harsh dont you think?
If you tried sending a PM to Rocca or even calling Start and talking to a different agent, im sure they would have immediately credited you the second modem charge. Also they send out pre paid mailing labels for returning equipment, so you jumped the gun on that one yourself. | |
| | Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
| Re: New rating Nope not harsh considering my interactions with this company. I've never had a worse exerience.. even with the people at Bell or Rogers for god's sake. I talked to 3 agents now in about half a dozen calls, several e-mails and a lot of wasted time. Only the 3rd one mentioned the possibility of a credit (yes the rep said he would look into getting me one... very generous of them to -consider- a $10 credit vs losing my business completely)... after I said I am going to consider cancelling my service completely. They said they send out prepaid mailing labels for returning equipment?
Well that means you know more than their customer support does because this was not mentioned ONCE despite me asking about a way for me not to have to pay for the mailing back of the modem several times. Maybe that's something they used to do, or I just got helped by new staff? I don't know. Don't care at this point. | |
|
 roccaStart.caPremium
join:2008-11-16
London, ON
kudos:9 | Modem exchange Swapping the modem is just unplugging the old one and plugging the new one in, just like plugging in your computer or a modem, ie this isn't something we need to send a technician for. We always credit back a second rental if you've returned the one across a billing boundary, and while normally returning modems is the customers responsibility I'd be happy to send you a label in this case. The service is tied to a specific modem, so we can't make the change until you get the new one otherwise you'd be out of service so we like to make sure you have that modem before we initiate that. In the end you have a DOCSIS 3.0 modem now instead of a DOCSIS 2.0 at no additional charge. Anyway, sorry you were very upset about this, unfortunately if we don't do it in two steps (ie you get the modem first, then we initiate the swap) then you'd be out of service so this is to ensure that doesn't happen. Anyway, feel free to PM me if you're still upset about this or to arrange a label. | |
| | Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
| Re: Modem exchange "Swapping the modem is just unplugging the old one and plugging the new one in, just like plugging in your computer or a modem,"
Yes this was clarified to me after several phone calls and one VERY misleading e-mail that implied otherwise.
"We always credit back a second rental if you've returned the one across a billing boundary"
Interesting because the rep I spoke to said I would have to pay two modem rental fees if I didn't get back it to you guys on time so it was in my best interest to return it as soon as I could.
Thanks for the offer for the prepaid labels. Funny enough because I'm still waiting to hear back from one of the reps about the possibility of a credit for me mailing back the modem. I guess he has to discuss with upper management if it's better to give me a $10 credit vs losing hundreds of dollars of my business.
And I actually have no use for the DOCSIS 3 modem now. I decided to downgrade my service to the basic package, which doesn't require it. I still have to keep the modem (and swap it in) and return the old modem because the system won't let the rep undo whatever he did I guess.
I've got to admit it's impressive to get a solution offered so quickly upon writing an internet review. Maybe I should've done this sooner rather than spend all that time dealing with reps who are churning out misinformation and unhelpfulness. Sorry if I sound grumpy and mean, but this whole situation has really soured my mood. | |
| | | roccaStart.caPremium
join:2008-11-16
London, ON
kudos:9 | Re: Modem exchange As I said I'm sorry if you weren't told at the initial phone call that'd we'd be sending you a new upgraded modem at no charge. Because we didn't tell you about the modem needing to be done I've offered to credit the cost for the return of the original modem.
From the point you emailed asking why we were sending you a new modem though I'm not sure how this got blown up or confused to the point it is. If you don't return a modem for a long period of time then yes we start billing for a second rental, I think it's a fair request that you can't indefinitely have two rental modems?
It seems like this whole thing is because you're upset we've asked you to return the old modem, and I've made good on that by picking up the cost for it.
As for needing a review to get a credit, no that's not the case, if you felt like our agent let you down you could have asked for a supervisor, or PM'd me here, I'm always happy to help here when things don't work out as smoothly as they normally do.
I'll certainly look at the emails again and see if there is a way to make it more apparent that by 'swapping out the modem' we don't mean that someone is going to go to your house to do it.
In any case, we have your request for the downgrade now - I will get a return label mailed for you to send back the modem that isn't in use.
Thanks and sorry we didn't meet your expectations for this upgrade. | |
| | | | roccaStart.caPremium
join:2008-11-16
London, ON
kudos:9 | Re: Modem exchange Sigh.
David didn't tell you everyone was gone for the day, he said that Colin, the support agent you were talking with earlier was gone for the day when you asked for him specifically. We have lots of management here - I'm the CEO and am here, as is the COO, as is the customer relationship manager and our whole provisioning team.
As for why you didn't get a call from us the second the modem swap (in Cogeco's database) occurred is because we haven't received the update from them yet, it can take a couple hours, however we clearly indicated this would happen in the email to you:
"Once you receive that modem please call us immediately so we can setup to swap it out. Once we have completed the swap your current modem will stop working. At that time you can change over to the new modem, but not before."
That message tried to be as self-explanatory as possible and doesn't indicate we're coming to your house.
Service is tied to a modem, ie the mac address of the device. When you change modems we have to submit a 'swap' to the new equipment, ie the service moves to the new mac address of the device and only one device can be active at a time.
When you ordered service that required a faster modem we sent the modem and asked you to call us once it was received so we could make the swap with Cogeco's database, that's what was completed today and requires that you plug in the new modem when the old one stops working, ie like the email above indicated. I'm sorry if this was complicated, but it's no different than plugging it in the first time when you activated service and we are not able to send technicians to plug in modems.
As for your return label, I haven't got to it yet because I've been reviewing and replying to your comments here over the past hour.
As it sits now you're modem is swapped to the new one, we'll process your request for the downgrade and send you a label to return the old modem. | |
| | | | | Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
1 edit | Re: Modem exchange Wow.
Okay, the first sentence is incorrect. I assume you have recordings of what was said. Did you listen to the last call? He said colin was gone for the day, yes that much is true. After that, I asked about the credit to make sure it was mentioned in the notes, and he said it was, but they still have to look at it because management was gone for the day and thus he couldn't do anything at the time since it was an upper management issue. I remember it specifically because I remember asking myself-- an upper management issue, really?!
"That message tried to be as self-explanatory as possible and doesn't indicate we're coming to your house."
Are you serious? That e-mail doesn't implying someone is coming to my house? Look at the context. My original e-mail asked 2 questions: Are you sending me a new modem, and do I need to send the old modem back? When the rep answers the first question but doesn't say "yes you need to send the old modem back" to answer the second question, and instead goes on about how "We" need to swap the modem out... I'm going to have to completely disagree on what "self-explanatory" means. To me, self-explanatory is: "Yes you have to send the old modem back" because I was already under the impression I can just plug in the modem myself so why the heck was she talking about how "we" had to swap out the modem when I was asking about shipping the old modem back.
Edit: And it's funny that you think the e-mail is as self-explanatory as possible since Colin mentioned that she just probably didn't read my entire email/question when he read the e-mail himself. I guess we're both idiots. | |
|
| | | Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
| "If you don't return a modem for a long period of time then yes we start billing for a second rental, I think it's a fair request that you can't indefinitely have two rental modems?"
That's definitely fair, but the rep did not put it that way nor did I ask him if I could keep two modems forever. I asked him when I had to give it back by. He responded that I should do it as soon as I can since I can get charged two modem rental fees otherwise because that's what he sees on his system or whatever. He didn't mention waiving the fee if it happened to cross the billing period. In a vacuum, this is a reasonable response, but to say that after I've already noted this whole situation is because of his colleagues' misinformation. I don't even.
"As for needing a review to get a credit, no that's not the case, if you felt like our agent let you down you could have asked for a supervisor, or PM'd me here, I'm always happy to help here when things don't work out as smoothly as they normally do."
"In any case, we have your request for the downgrade now - I will get a return label mailed for you to send back the modem that isn't in use."
I only wrote this review after calling the support line so I didn't know this place was actually monitored by Start. I was going to ask for a supervisor but he already said he would try to see what he could do about the credit and would call me back. I got a message later saying that they are looking into the credit still (and can't undo the swap). I called back just now actually and asked if the credit consideration was on file. Another rep now.. said it was but that it wasn't being processed because management has left for the day. It was 3:12pm. He didn't mention prepaid labels being on the file. I guess I'll have to take your word for it then.
"I'll certainly look at the emails again and see if there is a way to make it more apparent that by 'swapping out the modem' we don't mean that someone is going to go to your house to do it."
It's pretty simple. In fact I initially thought it was a simple modem swap I could do myself since that's what Rogers had done before.. heck I didn't even ask how the installation was being done- that's probably how it got so confusing. Here's my e-mail exactly as sent in response to the tracking code e-mail I received: "What are you shipping to me? A new modem? I asked for my grandfathered account to be changed to the new one (25 mbps). The representative didn't mention anything about any additional hardware needed. Do I need to send the old modem back if there is a new one?"
She responded: "Yes we are shipping you a new modem. In order for us to upgrade you to the 25Mbps speed you need a DOCSIS 3 modem. Once you receive that modem please call us immediately so we can setup to swap it out. Once we have completed the swap your current modem will stop working. At that time you can change over to the new modem, but not before.
Once the equipment swap is completed we will process the speed upgrade."
Instead of saying "we can setup to swap it out" and "Once we have completed the swap...", all that needed to be said was: "Yes, you need to send the old modem back." | |
| | | | | roccaStart.caPremium
join:2008-11-16
London, ON
kudos:9 | Re: Modem exchange I'm going to give you a call, I think this is a 2 minute resolution.  | |
| | | | | roccaStart.caPremium
join:2008-11-16
London, ON
kudos:9 | For what's it's worth we just received the notice from Cogeco saying the swap was completed. | |
| | | | | roccaStart.caPremium
join:2008-11-16
London, ON
kudos:9 | said by ravage777:She responded: "Yes we are shipping you a new modem. In order for us to upgrade you to the 25Mbps speed you need a DOCSIS 3 modem. Once you receive that modem please call us immediately so we can setup to swap it out. Once we have completed the swap your current modem will stop working. At that time you can change over to the new modem, but not before. Once the equipment swap is completed we will process the speed upgrade."
No answer, I left you a vm, but just to confirm, the part that you are upset about over this whole process was that the email above didn't say "and return the old modem" on it? - just trying to clarify the root of the concern so we can avoid anything like it again. Thanks. | |
| | | | | | Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
| Re: Modem exchange Upset about the following things:
1. First rep neglecting to mention a new modem, the need for the old modem to be sent back. The rep also fumbled around with what the new speeds were so maybe he was new.
2. Second rep neglecting to mention the need for the old modem to be sent back when I specifically and clearly asked that in my e-mail. She goes on about the process for swapping modems, which was completely irrelevant to my question. This to me, is confusing.
3. Third rep offering no help and zero resolution skills despite my obvious anger over the issue- no apology until I asked for a downgrade and asked about cancellation fees. A mailing cost ($10?) credit that was going to be considered by his management and he later leaves a message saying it's still being considered?
However, yes if the e-mail answered my question instead of going on a tangent, then I would've been satisfied.
At this point, I wish to cease communication about this. Good day. | |
| | | | | | | roccaStart.caPremium
join:2008-11-16
London, ON
kudos:9 | Re: Modem exchange I do understand not being told in advanced that a new modem was coming, we should have mentioned that - it was missed but as soon as you asked because of the shipment notice we advised and the 2nd rep was only trying to help by given more details about the process. You then made a credit request and within a couple hours I was engaged with you here offering a printed return label. I'm sorry that this upset you as greatly as it did, we certainly were just trying to get you an upgraded modem so you could enjoy the new speeds for the same price as your older package. Anyway, no reply required - just wanted to let you know our intention was always to provide you with a good experience and sorry we couldn't make you happy this time. All the best and have a happy Easter. | |
| | | | | | | | roccaStart.caPremium
join:2008-11-16
London, ON
kudos:9 | Re: Modem exchange Further to my last message, just keep the modem - no need for you to ship it back, I'll write it off. Have a good weekend. | |
| | | | | | | | | Reviews:
·Bell Fibe
·Start Communicat..
| Re: Modem exchange The maturity of the reviewer astounds me. It should be pointed out he keeps lowering the review scores of various things like "Value for Money", "Install Coordination", "Tech Support" and "Services" just to be more difficult. All which have nothing to do with the issue he brought up.
Starts Value for Money and Services are without a doubt among the best in Canada if not right at the peak of the mountain. As for the other docked points, this has nothing to with with line issues or faulty equipment so I am unaware why Tech Support is so low.
I find it hard to believe that Start wouldn't have offered you a pre paid postage slip, ive had one client cancel a second install after receiving the modem and right away was offered one.
It also amazes me how irate you seem to be, but when the CEO tries to personally call you and correct the situation, the scores you lowered out of spite should have gone right back to normal.
--
Rocca, your dedication to your customers should be pointed out yet again for the offer you made in your reply. Class act all the way. | |
| | | | | | | | | | Guru
join:2008-10-01
kudos:2 Reviews:
·TekSavvy DSL
1 edit | Re: Modem exchange said by coaxguy:The maturity of the reviewer astounds me. It should be pointed out he keeps lowering the review scores of various things like "Value for Money", "Install Coordination", "Tech Support" and "Services" just to be more difficult. All which have nothing to do with the issue he brought up.
Starts Value for Money and Services are without a doubt among the best in Canada if not right at the peak of the mountain. As for the other docked points, this has nothing to with with line issues or faulty equipment so I am unaware why Tech Support is so low.
I find it hard to believe that Start wouldn't have offered you a pre paid postage slip, ive had one client cancel a second install after receiving the modem and right away was offered one.
It also amazes me how irate you seem to be, but when the CEO tries to personally call you and correct the situation, the scores you lowered out of spite should have gone right back to normal.
--
Rocca, your dedication to your customers should be pointed out yet again for the offer you made in your reply. Class act all the way.
+1 | |
| | | | | | | | | | smallj53
join:2002-08-25
Niagara Falls, ON Reviews:
·ELECTRONICBOX
·Bell Sympatico
| Re: Modem exchange Having read most of this (and I seriously doubt most people could wade through everything this customer has posted) I am amazed at the patience and dedication of Start staff. You have been "ravaged" Rocca.
I have read about how some companies label customers like this "hard to serve" and refuse to do business with them. Also one last observation: is it possible there is a new category of customer, one that we might call a "troll customer?" I would suggest leaving off on replying and letting the "troll customer" have the last word much earlier next time. Its not worth your time or trouble. | |
| | | | | | | | | | Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
| Re: Modem exchange Troll customer? I rarely complain about anything. I even didn't mind the very hard to understand staff at Rogers. I've been with start for a while now and Rocca can attest to that I'm sure and I think he'll also tell you that I never even call in about anything nevermind to complain. My start (pun intended) with the company was smooth and simple. I accepted the misinformation about the modem. When it came to the point that I wanted the cost reimbursed since I wasn't informed of it, I did call in and the staff did offer to think about it. I call again later in the day (at 3pm) and the staff is gone, the credit on file and the management is gone as well (or so I was told). What else am I supposed to do? Yeesh. | |
|
| | | | | | | | | Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
| Install coordination was lowered appropriately as it's directly related- no call was received with the impending swap so I lost connection unexpectedly and actually missed out on an important stock trade near the end of the trading period (funny enough, I got the call about 3 hours after the swap actually occurred) and incorrect installation info was given (twice). Value for money is indirectly related to all of the above. Tech support and services is directly related. When you call the tech support line (yes the tech support extension) and the staff gives you incorrect installation information, then how is it NOT related? If I also dial into the billing line and that staff gives you incorrect information, how is that NOT related? If my service cuts off because they are doing an equipment swap that I didn't want to do (and it was promised to me by one of the TECH SUPPORT staff that he could cancel it), how is that NOT related? Please let me know because I'd like to hear your explanation of how tech support giving me completely wrong information multiple times, not doing what they promise to do, and being unhelpful in general is not related.
And you find it hard to believe they didn't offer me a pre paid postage slip? I find it hard to believe too, but it happened! If you think I'm just blatantly lying, Rocca can easily tell you I am wrong and that they did offer me a pre paid postage slip if that did occur at all, at any time during a conversation with those agents. He will not because it didn't happen.
Yes I am irate because of the way the CEO said the e-mail was completely "self-explanatory" despite the fact that the e-mail didn't answer 1 of 2 questions I asked. I posted the e-mail in one of the comments. When I have to bicker with a CEO of a company over whether his customer support staff did what they were supposed to do, that IS irritating to me. Also the fact that he said I was never told management was gone for the day in the last call was the last straw because I very, very, very clearly remember the staff saying that since it was the most baffling thing I've heard at 3pm in the afternoon. So no, I'm not going to take his calls after reading that garbage.
In summary:
1. Given wrong information leading to me switching my package
2. No compensation for unmentioned additional costs offered after multiple calls
3. More wrong information given (about being called before the impending swap and connection loss)
Next time I have to contact these guys I'll make sure to record the conversations and post as necessary so I don't get a CEO here disagreeing with me about what occurred. | |
| | | | | | | | | | roccaStart.caPremium
join:2008-11-16
London, ON
kudos:9 | Re: Modem exchange Things like: 'the CEO said the e-mail was completely "self-explanatory"', where in fact I said: 'That message tried to be as self-explanatory as possible' ...really twist the events. The agent tried to make the message self-explanatory by detailing the process, you didn't read it the same way it was intended and so obviously it was unsuccessful in your case but that was the intention.
As for your points:
1. Agreed.
2. I called you personally at home within a couple hours of your request for a credit.
3. Completely disagree, the message there was very clear about the process: The email said "Once you receive that modem please call us immediately so we can setup to swap it out. Once we have completed the swap your current modem will stop working. At that time you can change over to the new modem, but not before." (emphasis added) -- Yes, it could have probably said "After, please send the modem back." rather than being implicit.
My summary looks like this:
I agree we should have notified you at time of request that a new modem would be required and the old one sent back, when you engaged our team to express your extreme dissatisfaction it was escalated to the top level and within a couple hours I personally called you to make it right and pick up the shipping cost. I'm really not sure what more could have been done and it's unfortunate that 8 months of excellent service had zero goodwill in giving us a chance to correct the issue. In the end I wrote the modem off so you didn't have to do anything at all.
I tried to help, I really did. Sorry you see it differently. | |
| | | | | | | | | | Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
| Re: Modem exchange Okay, fine I guess this another argument of semantics. Personally I think a message has to have an ounce of 'self-explanatory' in it when someone says the message "tried to be as self-explanatory as possible," but I guess that is saying the same thing as 'the very obese man tried to be as thin as possible'. She at no point answered my second question and was misleading IMO. Whether your statement contradicts my opinion is semantics I suppose. Whatever then.
1. Great.
2. Yes, and that was very helpful but the staff weren't and this matters (see #4).
3. I'm not talking about the e-mail. I did call after receiving the modem. I'm talking about what Colin told me unless I misunderstood him. I believe he said I would receive a call afterwards letting me know when the swap occurred (i.e, it was already being processed) so I could plug in the new modem (I already received the modem at this point). I am quite certain he actually said this because I did indeed receive a voice mail message several hours late after the swap telling me that I could now plug in my new modem. I didn't wait for his call. Logically, either that rep is another rogue rep deciding he's going to follow processes not followed by everyone else at the company, or Colin did indeed say that to me.
4. My understanding is that I only got real help after I posted this edited review. Had I been some sucker who didn't speak up, I would still be waiting for a response from Colin's upper management regarding a possible $10 credit for their mistake.. management that had left for the day according to the last rep I spoke to. To me, I think that's frankly ridiculous. You can argue with me about whether the last rep said upper management had gone away- only recordings will prove who's right. What I am 100% certain about is that they were still looking at the possibility of the credit and that there was nothing he could do on his part since it was an "upper management" matter. I was not transferred to a supervisor. I could've thrown a tantrum and said "Find me a freaking supervisor somewhere!!" but I knew you were already resolving it and likely the rep didn't know that. I think that shows a huge disconnect between the your attitude and at least a few of the support staff. You are very willing to resolve this, yet the staff have to leave a memo for management to look at the possibility of a $10 credit for a mistake they made and won't suggest handling the matter immediately by calling a supervisor who can sign off on a $10 credit right then and there despite how pissed off I was. Maybe they are new? I don't know. In any case, your quick resolution of this as the CEO speaks positively a lot about you, but not to your company because not everyone who experiences a problem will post a review on an online website. They will likely go through the support staff for a resolution. As I said to guru, I was willing to remove my review or at least edit out the negativity until you told me I was wrong on about 4 things that I highly believe occurred. That is the one (major) negative aspect of my dealing with you. We are going to just have to disagree on those things unless you send me the recordings to prove me wrong. Anyway it's Easter soon, and I think this resolved. I'm going to continue to address comments guru has about this because he thinks I'm some kind of immature jerk who's just out to troll a company for no reason, but not to you because I just don't think we're going to agree and neither of us should have to interact anymore. | |
| | | | | | | | | | Guru
join:2008-10-01
kudos:2 Reviews:
·TekSavvy DSL
| Re: Modem exchange ravage777, I am not going to answer your questions because it has already been answered. If you still think after the text below, I will answer your questions but hear me out.
What I am trying to simply say is your problem was looked at in proper manner and you got excellent service for your problem. As Rocca said, his intentions were not wrong or the way you are looking at it and I am not taking his side. Myself and many others who had interaction with Rocca, he honestly goes not only one or two but three extra miles for the customer and that's exactly what he did.
Despite Rocca trying to offer his help and do what's best and on top of that he called you and you are still miffed with that is something we are trying to tell you. How can you be mad at something which the party at fault is doing everything to solve your issues and in fact solved it within couple of hours. Where are you going to get that kind of service? As I said you seem to be a educated person and I believe you are being unreasonable.
I said it in the past in one of the thread that I am neutral and certainly don't want it to be looked at as taking sides. I am a customer myself and I go through exactly like you do but when a problem is solved and I see that extra effort is being made to solve the problem, I cooperate and be a good customer and encourage them to improve and not discourage or get miffed with them because if you honestly care about improving the service and you don't want others to go through then you pass the info who's going to fix it for good. In this case, Rocca took few decisions which will prevent this kind of misunderstanding from now on.
As an example, in the past, I had issues with TSI customer service and I was told wrong information many times and I was pissed. What I did was I approached TSI staff on DSLR and passed the info to them and it was taken care of. When things don't get fixed then you should give them hell but again when its fixed or see the extra effort, you should acknowledge the service and be a good customer.
I understood your problem in your main post and saw that Rocca took the ownership and solved it. But then you continue to be harsh and picking every single words. To me it seemed like you were trolling and not being understanding at all. That's the part it gets me about customer, it honestly does and dislike that about customers. I didn't see Rocca ever being rude or called someone off or what not. I highly speak of Rocca as he honestly was being genuine and he takes customer service very seriously that's why he's here and did everything he could to help you and I honestly didn't see him being harsh on you. I just don't want you to be looked at as a bad a customer as you prolly are not but after all this, you are still miffed and taking a dig at CEO because of few mere words where he's trying to explain in detail. Rest is up to you my friend. | |
|
| | | | | | | | | Guru
join:2008-10-01
kudos:2 Reviews:
·TekSavvy DSL
| said by ravage777:In summary:
1. Given wrong information leading to me switching my package
2. No compensation for unmentioned additional costs offered after multiple calls
3. More wrong information given (about being called before the impending swap and connection loss)
Next time I have to contact these guys I'll make sure to record the conversations and post as necessary so I don't get a CEO here disagreeing with me about what occurred.
I think you made your point and Start Communications listened and fixed that for you.
It's not like other companies who make mistakes but never acknowledge that that they dropped a ball and never offer help whatsoever. On top of that that company will tell you are stupid because you are creating a big fuss. I have had experience with Bell and Rogers where both of them said "Sorry" and that's it and no money back, no NOTHING!!!
The type of ignorance you are showing is unbelievable. You seem to be a educated person and I believe you understand how this works. When Rocca or anyone at that point is helping you to solve the problem and listens to you then, you have to be understandable and willing to help them help you and be a good customer.
You are total opposite here, after all the help you received and that too within couple hours, you still behave like a child and drawing the same conclusion. Rocca took the responsibility, solved the problem and resolved it but yet you have the same conclusion drawn. How is that fair and at this point how can we believe you and your review? Sorry man, if I am being too harsh here but you are not being very understanding.
Now if you hadn't received any help and CEO said, you are WRONG then, me and others wouldn't be saying what we said.
If I were to ask you the difference between good and bad, I bet you'd have the same definition lol.. | |
| | | | | | | | | | Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
2 edits | Re: Modem exchange Yes I realize Rocca solved the issue and for that I'm grateful. I still stand by my point that I had the right to be mad about 3 unhelpful reps and something was only done after a review was edited.
I'm surprised that you had such a bad experience with Rogers and Bell. They did screw things up a lot but they sure as heck knew what to do when it came to apologizing and reimbursement. I guess this proves we can have different experiences with the very same company and why I might not have been offered pre-paid labels by Colin and you would've expected that I was.
Also, I am not going to change my rating because of rocca's comments on this matter. I was actually ready to move on and edit/remove my review, but the fact that rocca is replying the way he is infuriating. While they are at times apologetic and helpful, they also deny fault at other times and insinuate that I am some kind of dunce that can't understand e-mails or speak to tech support.
"Now if you hadn't received any help and CEO said, you are WRONG then, me and others wouldn't be saying what we said."
That's hilarious considering the following comments from Rocca:
"That message tried to be as self-explanatory as possible and doesn't indicate we're coming to your house."
^Guru: Please tell me where in the e-mail does the staff member answer my question of whether or not I had to send an old modem back, whether she did it clearly, vaguely or even remotely in a self-explanatory manner because the CEO thinks the message tries to be "as self-explanatory as possible"- of course that is semantics because effort is not the same as results. I was ready to move on from this issue since really $10 for a mailing cost is not a big deal, but the fact that the CEO of the company is downplaying it like this is irritating beyond belief.
"3. Completely disagree, the message there was very clear about the process: The email said "Once you receive that modem please call us immediately so we can setup to swap it out. Once we have completed the swap your current modem will stop working. At that time you can change over to the new modem, but not before." (emphasis added) -- Yes, it could have probably said "After, please send the modem back." rather than being implicit."
"David didn't tell you everyone was gone for the day, he said that Colin, the support agent you were talking with earlier was gone for the day when you asked for him specifically. We have lots of management here - I'm the CEO and am here, as is the COO, as is the customer relationship manager and our whole provisioning team."
Now I don't have recordings to prove the above 2 points wrong, but golly gee if the rep didn't tell me that only (an absent) upper management could handle the credits and that he couldn't do anything about it, I must be going crazy. I guess at that point I should've mentioned the CEO was willing to make an exception. | |
| | | | | | | | | | roccaStart.caPremium
join:2008-11-16
London, ON
kudos:9 | Re: Modem exchange Unfortunately tone in text sucks and where I was being genuine I think you read it in a way that it wasn't intended. I took responsibility for the initial lack of communication and simply tried to provide a different perspective on the subsequent message. I think if you read through my contributions to this site you'll find I'm very transparent and customer focused. None of my replies had any intent of infuriating you and simply was to help explain the process and get you fixed up.
For what it's worth next week I'm putting in place a technical restriction so that service can't be changed if the modem isn't compatible to ensure we never run into a similar situation in the future.
Anyway as you said time to move on, I respect your decision on your ratings and I've never once asked someone to change one. Normally I don't comment on them at all here but wanted to help.
All the best. | |
|
| | Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
1 edit | Re: You can't please everyone First off, your positive experience, and those of other Start customers, doesn't make what I experienced false. Outliers exist and maybe my situation is one of them.
Yes, the CEO did go above and beyond by resolving the issue so quickly and personally. That's something I've never experienced before. The staff didn't. Not a single one. 4 people either gave misinformation, did not do what they said they would do, or did not offer real help even after I downgraded my package and practically threatened to cancel... over $10 and their obvious error. That's also something I've never experienced, not with Rogers and not with Bell- yes one can get the runaround with them but when it comes down to it, they won't mind shedding a few dollars over their error. Even with that I was willing to edit/remove my review because hey.. at least it's resolved and the CEO did a bang up job with resolving it! I mean yeah it was only $10 anyway and I was only arguing because of the principle. Then I read his denials of wrongdoing as below (arguably the first quote is not technically a denial), which I've also never seen a CEO do regarding a customer service issue like this:
""That message tried to be as self-explanatory as possible and doesn't indicate we're coming to your house."
"3. Completely disagree, the message there was very clear about the process: The email said "Once you receive that modem please call us immediately so we can setup to swap it out. Once we have completed the swap your current modem will stop working. At that time you can change over to the new modem, but not before." (emphasis added) -- Yes, it could have probably said "After, please send the modem back." rather than being implicit."
"David didn't tell you everyone was gone for the day, he said that Colin, the support agent you were talking with earlier was gone for the day when you asked for him specifically. We have lots of management here - I'm the CEO and am here, as is the COO, as is the customer relationship manager and our whole provisioning team.""
To you those may be small things. To me, it's irritating and baffling to see a CEO say things like that after I clearly detail my account of what happened and my reasoning for why that indeed truly was what happened. In my mind, that means he actually believes that's what happened because his staff are giving him inaccurate reports OR he has listened to the recordings and honestly believes I'm wrong about the second and third quote. If the latter is the case, he (or anybody at Start) is very welcome to send me the recordings showing A) the rep didn't say I will receive a call when they are ready to go ahead with the swap and B) the rep didn't say that management had left and they would not be able to help me with the credit at the moment.
If that's done, I will edit my review, apologize, send back the modem, and admit I was wrong. If not, I hope you understand why I might be pissed about the CEO basically saying I'm wrong about those things. If he's going to do that, it's only professional to show me some proof since he is the one that has the recordings. | |
| | | Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
 ·Distributel Cable
·Bell Fibe
 ·Vonage
| Re: You can't please everyone Honestly, this is turning out to be a 'he said she said' thing. From a customer's point of view, you're right. But from a CEO point of view, he is standing by his people and he's right. Both you and Rocca are right from either side, and I am not trying to justify either of you here.
All I'm trying to say is let it go. Rogers and Bell can afford to let go of $10... heck they should be able to let go of a lot more than that but that's not what happens. Rogers and Bell can afford to let go of $10 because they make billions in profits each year.
Start, or small companies like Start barely break millions, and when Rocca has to run such a tight ship to pass the savings on to us, every dollar counts. Yes, the reps you dealt with definitely were not adequately trained to handle a situation such as yours, and yes you can say that Rocca is vicariously responsible for their mishandling of the situation. But don't punish an entire company when he fixed it all at the end.
For companies such as Start, they need all the positive reviews they can get to gain traction to bring behemoths such as Rogers, Bell, and Cogeco down to their knees. This IIPS is revolution if you ask me, a movement that is starting to change the Canadian competitive landscape. In the wireless industry it was Wind, Mobilicity, and Public, that gave the Big 3 to give birth to the tier 2 companies such as Fido, Virgin, Koodo.
We need to help Start out, and situations like the one you just went through helps better prepare Rocca and his team to better handle future situations. Like he said, as of next week he is going to implement a new rule that would keep any account from being changed to avoid a situation such as yours for any prospective customers in the future. I would say they deserve a pat on the back just to admit their mistake and to come out and say that it was their mistake and that they will make sure it will never happen again, don't you think? | |
| | | roccaStart.caPremium
join:2008-11-16
London, ON
kudos:9 | said by ravage777:Yes, the CEO did go above and beyond by resolving the issue so quickly and personally. That's something I've never experienced before. Thanks, I'm always happy to help when things go sideways.
said by ravage777:did not offer real help even after I downgraded my package and practically threatened to cancel We don't run a retention department and our support team has to submit credit requests for approval, it was done within 2 hours. It wasn't that they didn't care, it's just that credits have to go to a manager for approval. You called several times within a couple hour period, apparently we didn't do it fast enough otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation.
said by ravage777:Then I read his denials of wrongdoing as below (arguably the first quote is not technically a denial), which I've also never seen a CEO do regarding a customer service issue like this:
""That message tried to be as self-explanatory as possible and doesn't indicate we're coming to your house."
"3. Completely disagree, the message there was very clear about the process: The email said "Once you receive that modem please call us immediately so we can setup to swap it out. Once we have completed the swap your current modem will stop working. At that time you can change over to the new modem, but not before." (emphasis added) -- Yes, it could have probably said "After, please send the modem back." rather than being implicit."
"David didn't tell you everyone was gone for the day, he said that Colin, the support agent you were talking with earlier was gone for the day when you asked for him specifically. We have lots of management here - I'm the CEO and am here, as is the COO, as is the customer relationship manager and our whole provisioning team."" David's direct manager Al who manages our service desk was on holiday Thursday so perhaps that's a point of confusion but I hadn't dismissed anything, instead I explained the intent and circumstances behind things in a very transparent way and pointed out perhaps where you had missed that the old modem would stop working after you had called to initiate the swap and you'd have to plug the new one in as you had indicated you weren't aware of that. I probably could have avoided the 'sigh' comment and for that I apologize but it was frustrating as I had just offered to make everything right and instead of a reply taking me up on it you further edited the review and dropped ratings again.
Despite everything I appreciate the opportunity to at least try to address your concerns. With respect though I have to end it here, I'm happy to address any further concerns you have directly at rocca@start.ca but time for me to move on from this thread.
Thanks and have a good night. | |
|
Guru
join:2008-10-01
kudos:2 Reviews:
·TekSavvy DSL
|  Hear me out
What I am trying to simply say is your problem was looked at in proper manner and you got excellent service for your problem. As Rocca said, his intentions were not wrong or the way you are looking at it and I am not taking his side. Myself and many others who had interaction with Rocca, he honestly goes not only one or two but three extra miles for the customer and that's exactly what he did.
Despite Rocca trying to offer his help and do what's best and on top of that he called you and you are still miffed with that is something we are trying to tell you. How can you be mad at something which the party at fault is doing everything to solve your issues and in fact solved it within couple of hours. Where are you going to get that kind of service? As I said you seem to be a educated person and I believe you are being unreasonable.
I said it in the past in one of the thread that I am neutral and certainly don't want it to be looked at as taking sides. I am a customer myself and I go through exactly like you do but when a problem is solved and I see that extra effort is being made to solve the problem, I cooperate and be a good customer and encourage them to improve and not discourage or get miffed with them because if you honestly care about improving the service and you don't want others to go through then you pass the info who's going to fix it for good. In this case, Rocca took few decisions which will prevent this kind of misunderstanding from now on.
As an example, in the past, I had issues with TSI customer service and I was told wrong information many times and I was pissed. What I did was I approached TSI staff on DSLR and passed the info to them and it was taken care of. When things don't get fixed then you should give them hell but again when its fixed or see the extra effort, you should acknowledge the service and be a good customer.
I understood your problem in your main post and saw that Rocca took the ownership and solved it. But then you continue to be harsh and picking every single words. To me it seemed like you were trolling and not being understanding at all. That's the part it gets me about customer, it honestly does and dislike that about customers. I didn't see Rocca ever being rude or called someone off or what not. I highly speak of Rocca as he honestly was being genuine and he takes customer service very seriously that's why he's here and did everything he could to help you and I honestly didn't see him being harsh on you. I just don't want you to be looked at as a bad a customer as you prolly are not but after all this, you are still miffed and taking a dig at CEO because of few mere words where he's trying to explain in detail. Rest is up to you my friend. | |
| | Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
·Distributel Cable
·Bell Fibe
·Vonage
| Re: Hear me out said by Guru:ravage777, I am not going to answer your questions because it has already been answered. If you still think after the text below, I will answer your questions but hear me out.
What I am trying to simply say is your problem was looked at in proper manner and you got excellent service for your problem. As Rocca said, his intentions were not wrong or the way you are looking at it and I am not taking his side. Myself and many others who had interaction with Rocca, he honestly goes not only one or two but three extra miles for the customer and that's exactly what he did.
Despite Rocca trying to offer his help and do what's best and on top of that he called you and you are still miffed with that is something we are trying to tell you. How can you be mad at something which the party at fault is doing everything to solve your issues and in fact solved it within couple of hours. Where are you going to get that kind of service? As I said you seem to be a educated person and I believe you are being unreasonable.
I said it in the past in one of the thread that I am neutral and certainly don't want it to be looked at as taking sides. I am a customer myself and I go through exactly like you do but when a problem is solved and I see that extra effort is being made to solve the problem, I cooperate and be a good customer and encourage them to improve and not discourage or get miffed with them because if you honestly care about improving the service and you don't want others to go through then you pass the info who's going to fix it for good. In this case, Rocca took few decisions which will prevent this kind of misunderstanding from now on.
As an example, in the past, I had issues with TSI customer service and I was told wrong information many times and I was pissed. What I did was I approached TSI staff on DSLR and passed the info to them and it was taken care of. When things don't get fixed then you should give them hell but again when its fixed or see the extra effort, you should acknowledge the service and be a good customer.
I understood your problem in your main post and saw that Rocca took the ownership and solved it. But then you continue to be harsh and picking every single words. To me it seemed like you were trolling and not being understanding at all. That's the part it gets me about customer, it honestly does and dislike that about customers. I didn't see Rocca ever being rude or called someone off or what not. I highly speak of Rocca as he honestly was being genuine and he takes customer service very seriously that's why he's here and did everything he could to help you and I honestly didn't see him being harsh on you. I just don't want you to be looked at as a bad a customer as you prolly are not but after all this, you are still miffed and taking a dig at CEO because of few mere words where he's trying to explain in detail. Rest is up to you my friend.
+1 | |
| | | roccaStart.caPremium
join:2008-11-16
London, ON
kudos:9 | Re: Hear me out Thanks guys, appreciate your support and kind words. | |
|
Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
| Customer Service that goes above and beyond. | |
| | drp37
join:2013-03-31
canada | Re: Customer Service that goes above and beyond. Seems like Start Communications is making a great effort from a customer service point of view, so keep up the good work!
Just don't go down the B@ll/R@g@rs path (e.g. profits >>> service) which is the primary reason I left both of them. | |
|
| |  Expectations vs. Reality
Having said all of that, I want to commend the management team for how they handled the situation. I wasn't getting the answers from the frontline agents that I was looking for and ended up escalating up to Al. Once I starting to work with Al I was getting daily updates for what Start was doing. A credit was put onto my account for the difficulties without me having to ask for it. After the service was up I got follow-up calls to make sure things were working the way they were.
When I called in to ask about returning the modem Al said that I should send him a copy of the receipt and they would credit my account for it. At the end of the day it ends up being net neutral, really.
The point of all of this? I didn't need to come to DSLreports to slam Start. I did run into a lot of the issues you ran into with staffing levels and frontline agents not following-up on my expected timelines. I've been used to 24/7 CS with Rogers and realized I had to temper that expectation with Start. However, I escalated it when I'd had enough and got exceptional service.
Had you taken a similar approach I'm sure that the issues you ran into would have been resolved quietly and wouldn't have tainted your review of Start. | |
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| next review in page (previous review)
Review by Tristan
member for 6.5 years, 1154 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 11 days ago
- Nepean,ON
- $60 per month
- about 4 days
- "Consistent good service, consistent high approval rating, real referral credits"
- "Provisioning delays for customer-owned modems - expect delays of 24h to 120h, due to previous ISP's not releasing modem timely."
- "Best ISP I've had to date. Highly recommended."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
3/28/2013
I have had consistent, fast service, with almost no problems. The one thing I definitely notice in switching to Start was that they don't play the blame card as much as other ISP's. My previous ISP seemed to always be blaming Rogers for something. I do not regret my switch to Start, and highly recommend Start to anyone wanting fast, consistent internet, from a company which consistently receives top marks by customers.
Even with Teksavvy offering the same speed tier for $5 less than Start (in June/July for Ottawa), I would not return to Teksavvy. I would gladly pay more. Start Communications is an internet service provider that matches the level of end-to-end service quality I give my own customers.
2/20/2013
Downstream and upstream speeds have been fairly consistent. The service hasn't had any real issues. I think we had a power fluctuation which caused my modem to barf, so I will watch to see if it happens again. It has only ever done this once, so if it doesn't happen again, it's an anomaly.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with Start Communications.
2/13/2013
So far, my connection appears stable, and speeds have been reasonably consistent. Each time I have tested my speed, I've hit no less than 44Mbps down, and 3.89Mbps up, except on my furthest wireless machine, which tops out around 40Mbps down (limitations of wireless technology and distance covered).
I'm pretty happy with the speeds. The before-connection questions I asked led to a smooth and problem-free reconfiguration of my mail server.
I'm still evaluating, and cannot comment on connection reliability until I have a few more weeks under the belt.
Thank you Start for making the jump to aggregated POI's, offering fast speeds at reasonable prices, and not making me wait 30-45 minutes in a phone queue.
2/10/2013
Shortly after 10am today, my connection came roaring to life. Initial speed test:
>45Mbit down (w/ speedboost)
3.89Mbit up
Will be testing the connection over the next few weeks, then will update my ratings accordingly.
The length of time I had to wait for the connection to come online will certainly deter my friends from switching. I was lucky, I tethered to my cellphone, so I didn't lose any time, other than knocking my email server offline.
Corrected my primary and alternate numbers. In the event of connection problems, they will attempt to call my cellphone first.
Customers owning their own modems and switching providers, in conjunction with iISP's such as Teksavvy which hold on to the modem registration right up to the last possible minute are a leading cause of delays, and is something Start is trying to resolve.
Best possible way for customers to handle this: terminate your old ISP on one day, and start your new ISP on the next day.
2/10/2013
Wife retrieved our voicemails from our VOIP this morning. Turns out two different employees from Start have been trying to inform us that our service should now be online. Obvious fail, since VOIP not working. Ensure the primary number is actually a number someone can contact you at when the connection is not working. They didn't once try calling my alternate number. One of them mentioned emails they are sending me are bouncing back, which makes sense under the circumstances - my email server is still waiting for the connection to start working.
Have to call Start back at 10am (when they open) to get them looking into things. This will add another 24-48hrs. Let's see, start date: 2/7/2013, today is 2/10/2013. 4 days without service.
I am reducing the points awarded for install co-ordination.
2/9/2013
As of 12pm today, the modem has not been provisioned.
The modem was unprovisioned from Teksavvy sometime after 2am on February 8th 2013, which is actually the day after my cancelation date.
Had to call Start back to get the provisioning request resubmitted on 2/8/2013, and I believe I was told it could take up to 24hrs (maybe I misheard and the rep said 48hrs?).
During a later call, was told it could take longer. Apparently, customer-owned modems are more problematic to provision, and can take additional time. I was not originally informed of this, but have since been brought up-to-speed. In addition, Teksavvy can take longer to release a modem, as per their terms of service (must go check for myself).
I usually tell people to be prepared for it to take up to 7 days, so we're still in the ballpark. Not happy about the delay, but right now, I'm focusing on getting back online.
It's important to note, I can only review the install co-ordination at this time, which is why the rating appears low.
2/6/2013
CRTC has ruled, CNOC members do not get the new speed tiers Rogers is offering, so long as they are using the disaggregated POI model. Disaggregated model is being phased out, and service will end November 15th 2013. Start has the faster speed tiers, because they use the aggregated POI model.
2/1/2013
Just received my first invoice showing my prepayment for first months service, so my account shows a credit for $67.74. It also shows a $25 credit for a referral I made. So far, I am satisfied with Start, and my service hasn't even officially begun. If the 6 month rating for Start holds true, my satisfaction will reach new heights.
My previous iISP had a referral program too, but I never saw a single credit. Instead, I was going to have to gather the information of everyone who signed up to them on account of my recommendation. A task that was going to prove to be time consuming, and might prove difficult for at least one friend, as I had to kick him to the curb for being an insensitive dick. The lack of referral credit is not what caused me to drop my previous iISP.
Is it February 7th yet? No? Damn.
1/31/2013
Signed up with Start Communications last week. Provision date is Feb 7th 2013. Switching from Teksavvy to Start.
I ordered the Pro Cable Internet package, 45Mbps download, 4Mbps upload, 350GB/mo cap. My old service was maxed out at 28Mbps/1Mbps/300GB.
Made the switch for several reasons:
1. No install fee since I already had active cable high-speed internet service.
2. Access to Roger's new speed tiers with higher upstream speeds up to 4Mbps. This is due to Start's aggregated POI with Rogers. Some other iISP's haven't made the switch to aggregated POI's, are still on non-aggregated POI's, thus don't have access to higher speeds.
3. Reasonable price.
4. 97% rating, seems fairly consistent, iISP seems attentive.
Will update this review as I evaluate the service.
Attachments:
Comments:
| | Start Problems from the Start Just emailed Start this message:
"Help !!
Got cable package installed and it is awful.
Got 20Mbps package and can't stream a movie (whether through Wifi or connected directly to modem) without buffering every few seconds.
Tried different movies on different sites.
Tried different wireless routers and tried connected directly to modem.
Download speeds ridiculously slow through Wifi and connected directly to modem.
Tried different files through torrent, through direct download.
No matter what time of day or night.
Really need fixed right away.
Otherwise, unfortunately makes no sense continuing with service at this rate, because not getting to do anything I use internet for."
Little bit frustrated right now just because I had high expectations of internet service but will keep updated re: how / if Start fixes issues. Want to give them a chance. Maybe they can simply fix and make me happy. | |
| | | | Start Problems from the Start Update: 20-something minutes to download Roboscan free antivirus (approx 140MB) from official Roboscan site. Doubly frustrated. | |
| | | roccaStart.caPremium
join:2008-11-16
London, ON
kudos:9 | Re: Start Problems from the Start Sorry to hear you have problems but I'm not sure why you would scream this from the top of every mountain as per your identical post on dslr, Facebook and reviews without so much as contacting us for support first? Not really fair is it to be posting negative reviews without giving us a chance to address your problem? We ended up calling you after having to ask for your number on Facebook and I see from the notes that you are getting full speeds without your router in the mix but nonetheless are trying to assist you with your router speed problems. You don't need to try and blanket shame us into helping, we are happy to be helpful and you just need to call or email us when you need support. | |
| | | | | | Re: Start Problems from the Start Update:
To above post, not sure what screaming from top of every mountain and blanket shame means. But last time I checked internet was open forum for exercising freely and openly thoughts and opinions. Being honest and open, so hope you don't have a prob re being honest and open. Or with being highly frustrated re: circumstances. And did speak to tech before posting. Don't appreciate the "blanket shame us" etc comments (as a customer or otherwise) because its implying that that was my intention which is not at all the case.
However, back to issue update, spoke to Start tech agent yesterday (and don't want to give name because I'm always mindful of privacy) and we dealt with issue for almost 2 hours on the phone. And I came out of conversation thinking that that was possibly the best customer service I ever received (that I can recall at this point). Tech agent was so helpful in trying to sort out issue and whatever problem came up, trying to figure it out. Also, he kept saying thank you for your patience all the time which I really appreciated. And it really helped ease the frustration I was feeling re the issue. And, at the end of it, I was able to stream a movie last night. So I'll try it again over the week etc and see if it continues to be good. Bottom line: what that tech agent did (his superb customer service) really smoothed things over for me and made me a much happier customer. | |
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| | | | I have issues with them too & although I will say that I do like their internet speed a lot, I don't know if it justifys me staying with them or going elsewhere, but.... I am fed up with the terrible Customer Sercvice from Billing!!!! Tech is okay cant really complain there, but for a business with 10- people they certainily have no idea what is going on with my account half the time!
No one has a clue what is going on in Billing, billed 2 times for the same service :S, Yet they justify it, it ridiculas. Kinda pissess me off | |
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| | Re: Start Re: SicknTired – I’d understand your frustration. To give my fair opinion, if Start can sort out (the obviously important) issue of billing, then they do have pros to them. So you may want to consider that and weigh options. I read reviews on DSL Reports and Canadian ISP forums on all / most companies and that helped me a lot because I felt people were fair and honest (good or bad). Actually, that’s how I found out about Start in the first place. Do hope your issue gets resolved.
Re: WiMax – “Anyone that uses the name anonymous and then changes to a different user is highly suspect. And, if you have been mouthing off on other forums about the same thing and not calling Start or responding to their attempts to help you, then maybe Start is not for you. Have you tried iKtel? www.iktel.ca”
>>>> Is Wi your first name, and is Max your last? And what’s your phone number and email address? Just to connect the dots, what makes “WiMax” any less anonymous than the username “Anonymous” or any other username?
>>>> And are you sure I didn’t try calling Start before posting or respond to Start’s attempts to help? Are you really sure about that? Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t. But you have no clue, right?
>>>> Also, do you know what the other forums are? Could it have been a private facebook message to Start Communications vs a wall post? Or could it have been front page news in the Toronto Star? Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't. But you have no clue, right?
>>>> And re: “mouthing off”, seriously now … have you seen your ikTel Networks “book / novel” review lately? The one that has 6 updates to the post including … and I quote … “This company gets nothing right.” … “Yet another failed promise.” … “UPDATE 29Jan13” … “UPDATE 28Sep12” … “UPDATE 26Sep12 9am” … “UPDATE 25Sep12” … “UPDATE 26Aug12” … “UPDATE 10Mar12” …
So come on now, be fair.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
In any event, would just like to request for all to stop posting to this. This is my last post here. Just because Tristan indicated this is his post and he is quite right. Didn’t mean to post here initially. A mistake. New at posting / open forums.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | |
| Reviews:
·Bell Fibe
·Start Communicat..
| Unrealistic expectations Just wondering why, in your review, you criticize the delay that was caused by using the modem you were bringing from TekSavvy, but then mention that it was TekSavvy who does not release the modem MAC until the last possible moment.
You also mentioned that the delay you endured would deter your friends from switching. Why would this very isolated (based on the 97%+ approval rate of this ISP) deter a switch? | |
| | Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
·Rogers Hi-Speed
·Bell Sympatico
·TekSavvy Cable
| Re: Unrealistic expectations Hi Coaxguy.
I told Teksavvy to push the request through, to not leave it, but the CSR didn't seem to understand. As a result, the modem remained locked to an account longer than it was supposed to, possibly into late Feb 8th or early Feb 9th. When Start tried to get Rogers to provision the modem I own on Feb 7th, they couldn't. Considering requests take time, and the defacto response is 24 to 48hrs, timing is kinda important. Same-day turned into next day, turned into the next day, turned into the next day.
My friends are not as patient as I. Not all my friends would be deterred however, but some certainly will.
I have compiled a nice little doc my friends, family and associates can have to explain the process (for cable), including potential delays. I always tell people, do the switch-over at a time when you don't need the internet for about a week.
Let's face it, you and I check dslreports.com, but not everyone will. I do tell people Start has a 97% rating. My friends whom followed my progress on facebook, and noticed I wasn't posting as much as I usually do, will stop and think if they want the delays or potential frustration. Sure, it took longer than it should have. I have tried to explain why, and that it should happen same-day usually, and that the gains are worth the pains. In the end, some people will choose to steer clear, when someone they know experiences delays.
Start is trying to work this out because it's an ongoing concern for them. They are genuinely interested in providing a smooth transition for everyone who want to switch providers
So far, I think Start has done a great job, and my rating for install coordination and pre-sales information reflects the fact that they are still working out the kinks, and still have room to improve.
I think customers need to be better armed with more information. | |
| | | Reviews:
·Bell Fibe
·Start Communicat..
| Re: Unrealistic expectations I can totally see your point. I know my house hold relies on the internet heavily for work, entertainment and communications, so I can see your frustration with the 4+ day absence.
In the long run after reading your reply I can understand the rating now. Hope it's smooth sailing here on out. I've got 2 family members and a buddy switched over and it's been perfect for them in terms of line quality and reliability.
Cheers. | |
| | | | | | Re: Unrealistic expectations So far, very happy with the speeds. Watched Netflix Super-HD stream yesterday with not so much as a single hiccup. | |
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 Review by d4m1r
member for 1.6 years, 270 visits, last login: a few minutes ago
updated 12 days ago
- Kanata,ON
- $70 per month
- about 10 days
- "Price, transparency, quality of service, and the best customer service in the business!"
- "90 day logging practices, no overage cap, no unlimited plans."
- "Still the best ISP in Canada for cable at least, if not DSL as well!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
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Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I am usually hesitant to provide 5/5 star rating, but this time....Start Communications deserves it. I switched from another TPIA and Start made it as pain free as possible with full instructions on how to minimize my downtime when I called to sign up and another call when my service was supposed to start to make sure I was up and running (which I was). Overall, I am paying $20 more per month but getting almost twice as fast download speeds and four times as fast upload speeds! Latency is comparable to my old provider and I just reused my previously purchased SB6120.
I usually get a lot more than I am supposed to during non-peak hours (when extra speed is available), and so far during peak hours, I still get exactly what I am supposed to:
»www.speedtest.net/result/2601874575.png
There are a few minor details though that have resulted in me being only 99.99% satisfied  The first of which is Starts policy of logging IP to account assignment information for 90 days despite this not being legally required. This puts Starts customers at risk, like we have seen in the TSI vs Voltage case. I hope this changes in the near future to 7-14 days MAX so they become a viable option for other privacy conscious users. The second shortcoming is the fact that there is no cap on overage charges, nor do they offer unlimited plans. Even Rogers has a $100 overage cap which might seem high, but it would be better than a $1000 bill from Start. I took a risk making the switch because I was previously unlimited so paid no attention to my usage but now I will have to...
Comments:
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Review by flare4000
member for 1.6 years, 66 visits, last login: 1 days ago
lodged 12 days ago
- London,ON
- $40 per month
- "Start offers extremely good customer support and offers reliable internet."
- "Wish Caps were higher"
- "Start is a reliable and consistent option for internet and I would recommend them if you don't mine their caps."
| Pre Sales information:
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(ratings match consensus)
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I signed up with Start a year ago and had only one outage which was resolved within a hour. My transfer from Rogers was simple and I was able to use my internet on the date of activation.
Highly recommend!
Comments:
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Review by mlord
member for 6.4 years, 896 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 15 days ago
- Nepean,ON
- $68 per month
- (month by month)
- about 14 days
- "Exceptional/intelligent phone support, fast speeds, unlimited 2am-8am."
- "UBB with low monthly cap; no option for a higher cap."
- "I recommend them to my friends."
| Pre Sales information:
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(ratings match consensus)
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Like Teksavvy used to be, circa 2007. A small (but growing) ISP with excellent(!) customer service, and fast speeds on Rogers Cable. Transfer of service from Teksavvy was smooth and fee-free. No unlimited options, and no options for more than 300GB monthly cap.
Comments:
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Review by jbhathal
member for 17 days, 0 visits, last login: 17 days ago
updated 17 days ago
- North York,ON
- $45 per month
- "Excellent Customer Service, friendly staff, good speeds"
- "yet to see (hope not)"
- "Feeling good about my decision to switch from Bell"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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When a company puts their customers (including the potential ones) ahead of everything, it shows in their service. Since the day I read reviews about Start Comm. on DSLReports, I wanted to move with this company but I was also cautious. It is not easy to move away from a big corp. like Bell where one can at least expect some kind of customer service to a not-heard-before new and small company. I ordered DSL service with another company before taking my search to DSLReports. I found some bad reviews about this company and their after sale service. Now, most reviewers can't be wrong because people take their time to write these write-ups. So, as I read Start Comm. reviews, I took risk and cancelled my already placed -1 day old- order for DSL. I lost some money (shipping costs - both ways) and crossed my fingers when I called Start.
I talked to sales and told them about my confusion of choosing between DSL and Cable. The lady explained everything to me and helped me make a decision. After a while I called back and ordered Cable 25/2 pack.
After about a week, I am enjoying the speed of more than 25Mbps. Testing with SpeedTest actually had me jump high when I saw speed of 57Mbps with one of their servers in Toronto.
During the whole week from the time of my first call until today, I have received phone calls from Start reps. checking if everything is good. The company cares about you. I just hope that this is not just a nice reflection on the still waters.
Thanks Start communications for a great work. You have folks like Suzy, Nancy, Richard etc. who are working hard to help customers. Keep up the same quality of service and competition.
Comments:
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 Review by WiMax
member for 9.7 years, 76 visits, last login: 4 days ago
lodged 18 days ago
- Port Colborne,ON
- $34 per month
- about 15 days
- "Price, customer & technical support, technical performance"
- "Startup w/o credit card or one of 4 debit cards is challenging."
- "Excellent value and support while still having cable Internet!"
| Pre Sales information:
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Tech Support:
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(ratings match consensus)
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Start provides excellent customer "care" and technical support. They offered reasonable expectations and over-delivered in almost every case. From subscription to cutover was 15 days and was nearly flawless.
The only minor issues was that it was difficult to subscribing without a credit card or debit card from one of 4 specific financial institutions. I was able to revive a dormant bank account from one of these 4 banks to complete the transaction or Start would have accepted a cheque mailed to them, however, this would have potentially delayed the installation date.
Overall, a great company that knows what they are doing and know how to take care of their customer, something that cannot be said of the incumbent carrier.
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Package chosen: Basic Cable - 6Mbps/1.5Mbps, 100G bandwidth, modem rented, installation waived (migration from incumbent carrier).
Post-install performance - Very Good. (Upload speeds are slightly lower than advertised however this is likely a limitation by the incumbent carrier that still controls the last mile.)
Comments:
| | Start Communications -EXCELLENT I was looking at trying out a 3rd part Internet Service Provider. My sister has Teksavvy and I've heard great stuff about them as well. I called them up to see if they offer their services in my area (Oshawa, On). I like near Rossland & Grandview. Unfortunately, they said that they didn't offer it there. I asked them why because I was hooked up with Rogers (who's customer service is crap and OVERPRICED) and they just told me that they don't service me. So I wasn't too happy about that because I thought I would have had to stay with dumb rogers for cable internet.
At this point I thought all my options were exhausted but tried to give good old google another shot. I googled "Oshawa Cable Internet" and this unknown cable company called START COMMUNICATIONS came up. I feel I'm fairly computer savvy and the guys I work with are as well. So I asked a few people around the office if they have heard of this company. None of them had heard of them.
Being me, I thought I would give them a try. I found that the customer service at START was one of the best I've experienced for any kind of service. They were extremely friendly!
Afterwards, I told my co-workers about this company and one of them was willing to give them a try. From his experience too, he felt the customer service was great. He was currently with Teksavvy on DSL and they said they wouldn't offer cable internet to his home as well.
Since I was waiting for my 30 month cancellation period to expire with Rogers, my co-worker was fortunate to get his Cable Internet setup. He got the same package as me (25 mbps/2 mbps). Upon doing a speed test, his first test came out to be 36 up/1 down. I thought to myself, WOW, that's amazing speed. Further, when my co-worker filled out his form to sign up with start, they had a little box asking how they found out about them. He inputted "Google & Friend." To his surprise, START called him and asked him who his friend was. They looked my name up and said that they would be giving me a $25 referral credit on my next bill. The next day, my co-worker told me about this. Both of us were VERY surprised at this because we felt they didn't have to do this at all. They went out of their way to contact him and find out who the referral was. If this was ROGERS or BELL (and maybe even TEKSAVVY), I'm am most definite that they wouldn't do such a thing. I also thought that business were all about the $$$$$$. For START to do a thing like this tells me that they aren't and they are more about pleasing their customers than anything.
Everything since day 1 has been great with START. I ABSOLUTELY RECOMMEND START TO ANYONE!
Further, at 11pm one night, I did a speed test and I got 48 mbps down / 1.5 mbps up. I tried again during the day and got 21 mbps down / 1 mbps up. My most recent DL allowed me to get 12.8 mbps down (note 1 MB/s = 8 mbps). I was DL'ing at a speed of 1.6 MB/s. Also, Start has their own servers so they are independent from Rogers. The only thing they use is their lines (Rogers own's the majority of the cable lines in Ontario, Bell own's the majority of the phone lines in Ontario, and Hydro One owns the majority of the electricity lines in Ontario). So my speed shouldn't be much of an issue unless more entire neighbourhood becomes START customers. If that were the case, I would expect START to upgrade their servers.
START = VERY HAPPY CUSTOMER (make that 2 which includes my co-worker)  | |
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Review by jcodling
member for 101 days, 23 visits, last login: 21 days ago
updated 21 days ago
- Sarnia,ON
- $62 per month
- about 7 days
- "CSR was knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful."
- "None really."
- "Good value. Excellent customer service so far."
| Pre Sales information:
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Connection reliability:
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(ratings match consensus)
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Coming from a Bell DSL line of barely 5 Mbps/500 Kbps which had problems for 5 months prior I am more than happy with my new service with Start. I had questions when I called to order and the customer service rep answered all of them. Some of them before I asked them.
I ordered the 15/1.5 Mbps with 300 GB of usage. I get 20/2 Mbps and have no worries about my usage.
The installer came and ended up having to run a new line for this. I was told by him that the line will be trenched in after the winter. I have had no issues at all.
After a month I like my service so much I purchased my modem so as not to pay the rental fee. For me that means I am locked in for the next 22 months to make that purchase worth it. I am that confident in this service.
Having a proper internet connection has opened up more services to my home. I have so much bandwidth that I can do multiple things at once with no worries.
I am one satisfied customer. That isn't easy to do with me.
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