StartLogic Sucks
By Dave Hitt on Feb 19, 2008 in StartLogic Sucks
I hooked up with my first ISP back in 1995, when I put up a web page to advertise Electric Avenue, my 21 line dial in BBS. (I’m sure you’re impressed with the brilliance of that business plan.) Since then I’ve done business with a half dozen different internet service providers. Some started out great and turned to garbage. One that I really liked fell apart when the founder died unexpectedly. One raised their prices too much when this site went over their 250 meg limit. But through them all, the good ones and the bad ones, Startlogic stands out and the lousiest, most miserable, most horrible ISP I’ve ever dealt with.
Shortly after I moved this site to Startlogic I started the Podcast Peer Awards, and opened another Startlogic account for it. Things were uneventful for a while, until Startlogic started randomly bouncing my e-mails. E-Mail came in OK, but sending them out became a crap shoot. It was because they had their SMTP server set to use some craptastic blackhole list, and sometimes my IP was in it, and sometimes it wasn’t. This was before they had the kinks worked out of their “Never Let The Customer Contact You” policy, so I was able to get through occasionally, where I was given a lecture on spamming (which I have never, ever done) and treated like a criminal. After the tenth or twelveth time this happened I wrote them a ticket that told them I needed this fixed again and condemmed their incompetence.
I got a phone call from them. They actually called me back! And the reason for the call left me nearly speechless, which has happened approximately four times in my entire life (and I’m an old fart). They were calling to yell at me for questioning their competence! Not to help me with the problem, not to apologize for being complenety bereft of anything resembling a clue, but to chastise me for being pissed off about them breaking a crucial feature over and over and over again.
I was amazed. I was flabbergasted. I was disgusted. I’ve made a living doing various forms of technical support for most of my life. I know my customers on a first name basis and like almost all of them. And when they frustrate me I’m still Mr. Politeness, because I have to be. Being rude is not an option. Revealing simple annoyance is not an option. Like everyone in support I’ll sometimes make disparaging remarks in private, after I’m finished dealing with someone, but never, ever to the customer.
But here they were, calling me to bitch me out for being annoyed at their incompetence.
It wasn’t too long after that I moved davehitt.com to Dreamhost, who I’ve been happy with. They actually respond to questions and frequently have the answers. What an amazing concept in customer service.
But the heart of the Podcast Peer Awards is the forum. I guessed that moving a live BBS from one site to another was going to be a big risky job, and I had paid in advance for a year, so I left the site on Startlogic.
This week Startlogic blew up the forum. They completely screwed up the server where the database resides, making it impossible for PPA members to log in and converse and cast votes. I got some help at the phpBB forums, but there was still one problem with it that I didn’t know how to resolve. Like a fool I wasted an hour waiting on hold (“your call is important to us”) and had their “live” chat window open, before I gave up. An SQL guru where I work showed me how to fix the last remaining issue (it took, literally, fifteen seconds) and the board worked flawlessly for nearly ten hours before Startlogic fucked it up again.
I’m so annoyed and disgusted I tried to buy startlogicsucks.com, but someone beat me to it. I could write a small book on the stupid, horrible things that Startlogic has done, but I’ll settle for making it a blog category and telling one of the stories from time to time.
In the meantime I’m making plans to move the PPA to Dreamhost.
Dave, as a web programmer I’ve had the opportunity to work with many a client’s web hosting provider. I know that the bad ones are more plentiful than the good ones.
Recently I was trying to help a client with some sudden problems with his website. Turned out that they’d decided to move the database to a new server but didn’t copy any of the data over and made no mention of it to anybody.
They didn’t even know what I was talking about when I confronted them about it at first.
I’m always running into problems like that with all sorts of hosting services. And they’re usually not the clients’ first problems with the providers.
It’s pretty much trial and error to get a good one.
Parrot | Feb 21, 2008 | Reply
Startlogic is a really bad choice to go with. Their servers are slow as hell and they have major e mail problems as well as account password issues as of late. Being locked our of my account is just par for the course with these people.
I dread having to upload files via my FTP program because it is so slow and laggy. Yes, I host about 12 websites on my FTP program and it is the only one that takes forever to exchange files during an upload. They also outsource all of their customer service to non english speaking idiots that know nothing about anything therefore not being able to help you. Its frustrating as can be. I am leaving Start Logic as soon as I come up with the Money.
Joe Stenhouse | Feb 25, 2009 | Reply
I’ve been happy with Dreamhost – I have three sites there, their performance is good, and their support is excellent. Use the promo code HITTMAN to get $50 off your first year.
BTW, you can host all 12 of your sites for the price of one account, which ain’t too shabby.
Dave Hitt | Feb 25, 2009 | Reply
Really Dave? That sound like a good deal. I will make sure to check them out today.
Thanks Dude.
Joe Stenhouse | Feb 25, 2009 | Reply
Startlogic took my money without notifying me and then charged me $35 dollars to CANCEL my subscription!
Last week I noticed that $85 had been taken out of my bank account by Startlogic. I called to ask them why and they said it was for website hosting. The website they say they were “hosting” hadn’t been active in over a year. I don’t remember having signed up with them but with the information they had on my email address and other info, I felt that if I disputed it, I would lose.
So after about 45 minutes of trying to get them to refund the $85 dollars, I finally gave up and told them to take the damn $35 cancellation fee and give me back the rest of my money.
I did not receive any emails from Startlogic saying that my site was up for renewal and that they would be automatically taking money from my bank account. Unlike other website services that I have used, they don’t seem to think this courtesy is necessary.
I also can’t believe Startlogic charges a cancellation fee! The guy on the phone told me that it’s clearly stated in the agreement when I signed up. Although it isn’t listed ANYWHERE on there website policies. I can only assume its listed in really tiny print in some obscure place that no one ever reads.
Bottom line: DON’T give Startlogic your credit card or debit card number because they will take your money without warning you, and then they will charge you $35 to give it back. Theives!!!
Dazzlecat | Mar 28, 2009 | Reply
I had a similar case of my credit card being incorrectly charged by them. I just called my credit card company and explained to them what had happened. Since then, I have switched my web sites over to Tigersites and have nothing but good things to say about them.
Andrew | Apr 1, 2009 | Reply
Hi Dave,
While I haven’t had the experience you have had with StartLogic, I have noticed that their support is somewhat lacking, even with simple questions. Your article, and the other comments, are definitely eye opening and I will be looking for another hosting provider soon.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with the rest of us.
– Glen
Glen | May 18, 2009 | Reply
I recently renewed my expired domain in June 12 for 2 years. Last week i got an email stating that i JUST renewed my domain for 3 years. After waiting on hold for 45 minutes for billing, I get “Tech Support” instead, but they assure me that they can help me. They told me that I called on August 2nd to renew for 3 years. The bad thing, the Tech support agent didn’t see this as odd in any way.
I told them i didn’t call to renew and they said “Well you can keep your credits for use later on the website”. This really floored me to have a “sales pitch” to deflect the real issue here. FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD
This implies that the Tech support agent is very aware of the un-authorized transactions made by Startlogic to its customers. Isn’t this considered being an accomplice to fraud?
I am sure they covered their butts with the disclaimer that nobody reads.
I will be moving ALL of my customers that use this hosting company and make sure everyone knows how they scam their customers.
Bill Dance | Aug 19, 2011 | Reply