Start.ca Avis 82

I have been on the phone for an hour and a half. By the time someone answers It's been hours since my internet started working again.

My internet service with start.ca went down at 4pm today and has not come back up. Multiple attempts at resetting modem, etc., have not worked.

Can't get through to tech support due to 'a higher than normal volume of calls' to find out what's going on and get support. This is not the first time I've experienced this issue when trying to get support.

It seems to me it's too much effort for Start to bother putting up a message on their main landing page to inform customers what's going on and when any problems will be fixed.

I'm going to try to reach them in the morning to get things straightened out. And if I can't get through, I'll just sign up with another service, and then cancel my service with Start.

Start used to be great, but ever since Telus took over, it has turned into a pile of complete shite.

The WORST custoer service , they have no ownership for their mistakes, they are unreliable in service as well as customer service...am I an idiot for staying on hold for 3hrs? but for being a long time fan of this provider 7+ yrs, its almost insulting to hear " Yes we made a mistake but we cant help you" I DO NOT recommend to anyone looking for new service...go to Teksavvy,..cheaper and on the ball...

I talked to them only a year ago and it was lovely to talk with a local agent. They were answering the phones only 10 mins away! Picked up the phone as fast as a friend would pick up the phone. Had a great chat with a local agent and she gave me the deal of a lifetime 1000up/1000down for $50. 1000 upload! You can't get that anywhere else in my town.

Fast forward to that deal expiring and now it's a completely different company.
There are no humans around. Everyone got laid off, the office space is now dark and abandoned and the customer service; non existent. Ai operator points you to billing but there is no one there, wait almost 2 hours on the phone and no one picks up.

This was Telus' strategy: buy out the competition and then make their service unusable. There's got to be some sort of anti trust laws being broken here by Telus.

Why invest in customer retention when you can just not answer the phone when people are trying to cancel their services? At least the numbers won't drop if you ignore that your customers exist.

Multiple times I have called and it's a ghost town, just the same 2 songs over and over as they keep you on hold.

I am upset that I can't rank customer service lower than a 1 star as there is none right now.

I switched to Start because of the amazing customer service but it has recently gone to crap

There needs to be a way to give zero stars. I have been with Start for over a decade with no issues until now. The customer service is now nonexistant. I am done. I just switched to TeKsavvy.

We have experienced the same disappointing service as many others according to the reviews I have read. It's virtually impossible to get through to customer service. This company used to be great, now it's abysmal.

After reading the reviews it seems to be the way start operates now
No customer service
No answered calls
Been trying to cancel my service since October 1
Called several times on hold for hrs I end up hanging up the call
Ever since they merged with Telus Koodo and now Altima start has gone downhill

The customer service when you finally get thru is fantastic. Mark in tech support worked diligently to help me fix an issue.

Took me 5 hours of hassle one day, and then the next an hour and half and Mark was able to make magic happen. It turned out an issue on cogeco end, but they were able to fix it for the long weekend. Thanks Mark your efforts are greatly appreciated

Cannot terminate my account. Multiple attempts to contact them have gone unanswered and I've spent hours on the phone. Messages to their counterparts at Altima resulting in promises of a callback (did this twice) and neither time was I called back. Sometimes you wait and wait on hold and they terminate the call while on hold. In the meantime they've billed me for another month.

2025-10-04 I found that if I create a new online account under the new support site (it was not automatic based on my old start.ca account), I could engage with the live online chat where I was able to get through to a person in around 40 minutes and was actually able to cancel my account that day. If you aren't having luck contacting them by phone I suggest trying this.

When I started with START over 10 years ago the once or twice a year I called I waited no longer than 60 seconds each time to get a real live human being on the phone.
I've been calling and on hold for hours and hours and hours. Looks like the "profitability" for Koodo/Telus is to simple disable the support call center. I'm just on hold forever. I don't believe there's anyone actually there at all.
So I will continue to pay for a service that I am unable to cancel. Kind of like a tax.

Out sourcing your customer service department was THE WORST thing they could have done. Wait times are super long, the employees arent trained properly, and they cant help in any way. It was great when it was a home grown and home operated company. Its awful now.

Terrible since being acquired by Telus. Can’t get support and I’m being overcharged for services

Since they were acquired, service has been sliding downhill. When it works, it's excellent, no complaints. But, may the Good Lord help you if you actually ever need to talk to a person (like when the local construction crew cuts the cable to your house for the FOURTH time). Their hold times are now well over an hour and they are always seem to be "experiencing a higher than average number of calls". Dante could learn a few things about Hell from them. The "helpful" messages suggesting the use of their online resources or to restart your router are especially infuriating when the cable is no longer connected to their infrastructure, which actually isn't theirs in some cities, like ours (which, at this point, is making me wonder why I'm bothering with them at all - maybe I'll just move to the company that actually owns and services the lines).
If you have a recurring problem, then you have to wait on hold every time. For over an hour. Each. Time. No escalation team, no "supervisor I can talk to", no extension to leave a message. Just a nice, egalitarian queue, where it doesn't matter that you've had to call about this issue a few times before and waste chunks of your day listening to their "helpful" messages. Over and over again.

Horrible service waitibg hrs on hrs to talk about how to send back a unit they over charged me for

Was a great company before telus took over, will be looking for a different internet service

Will never recommend this company again as I did in the past

It took 6 hours of trying before I could reach a person...2 hours on hold for 3 days straight. Then my credit was a charge, so another 1 hour on hold to get that fixed..now my oct invoice is wrong! Online chat just kicks me out so can't do that route. Used to be fantastic but not since Telus bought them. I am looking elsewhere....frustrated beyond belief

Internet has been dropping around the same time daily for the past 2 weeks. In order to get this issue rectified (yes I have rebooted etc) but the issue persists on a daily. Calling tech support or doing live chat is nothing but a waste of my time. Waiting on "ignore" for over 2 plus hours (I hung up after that) for the past 5 days is unacceptable. Seems to me that Start.ca is having major problems that 100's of customers need tech support. Or Start.ca needs to hire more techs. Sounds like by all the other bad reviews Start.ca is losing lots of customers. Add me to that list.

This company has gone down the tubes!

I have been with start since moving to London 10 years ago. They were amazing! I referred many, many people to their service. It was 24 hour support, rarely on hold, if ever. I used to brag to everyone about the outstanding customer service. Well... not anymore! My internet went out sometime during the night last night. I did all the regular troubleshooting that we all should know at this point. I called before work this morning and was on hold for an hour. I was on hold for another hour around lunch time and the call just dropped. I have now been on hold for an additional 2 hours. That is ridiculous when you are paying for a service that isn't working and nobody will answer a phone, a live chat or an email (I've tried them all)! There is no respect for anyone's time! It is too bad big corporate bought them out and ruined them just like everything else. I will be switching providers once I shop around. Oh boy, I can't wait for that call! Yes... I am still on hold! Shesh!

This company use to be great when they first started for about the first 3 or 4 years. There was always a local number to call for your city. Someone THAT YOU CAN UNDERSTAND ALWAYS answered. Now internet is crappy. Mine goes out at least once a week and I have to reset it. Trying ro call them now been waiting on hold for 2 and 1/2 hours and still waiting. I'll probably end up have to talk to someone overseas that I can't even understand and though their glitchy wifi to make things even worse. This is rediculious. Time to look for new company.

Used to be fantastic, Super quick customer support, tech support or billing support. Now...GOOD LUCK! They've also mitigated their payment portal to Altima or whatever that garbage is, and even if you pay your bill. Start will hound you with e-mails claiming its unpaid. Absolute nightmare now. Might have to find a new provider. Telus/Koodo/Start/Altima nightmare.