StartEngine
reviews and complaints

I invested $1500 dollars on Start Engine, this is suppose to be a crowdfunding investment company. Once you invest, your money is no longer your money, They take the money and then say they don't have access to your money, when you try to contact the company that you invest in, you don't get a response or anything. This is a scam company, and should be put out of business. When you invest in a company at anytime you suppose to be able to get your money out or withdraw. They keep telling everyone the same story when they try to get their money back, You can't sell your shares because the site don't offer a way to sell, their just there to take the money and hide their hands. I have read several reviews. I have not met one person that has made money from this investing in this company, and no one has gotten their money back. This is the reason Complaintsboard.com was created.

I purchase shares with Start Engine Aqua Vault. I was told after a year I could sell and no they are saying I have to find someone to purchase. I purchase shares with Start Engine Aqua Vault. I was told after a year I could sell after a year. I purchased 50 shares at $350.00 on November 13 using my bank debt card. On Sept 24, 2020 I started emailing customer service regarding selling my shares as they told me in the beginning that I would have to wait a year from purchase. They stated that Start Engine was working on a platform that I will be able to sell my shares starting in October . I emailed again March 5 about trying to sell my shares now they are telling me that I have to find someone to purchase them. I wouldn't feel confrontable asking someone to purchase when I am thinking this is a scam to get money. I've been emailing stating I want a full refund.

I joined their Scout referral program in November - and submitted 56 referrals. (They claim to pay *** - for every referral submitted that signs with them and resolves the dissolution of their business that that are selling.) My complaint is that they are NOT doing their part -to help these businesses sell their businesses as they said - because they are not contacting me about any of the referrals I've submitted. They have no customer service-no live person to speak to -and will not answer my emails to them. ( That is also the case, with the second business,***, ***. " REFER A BUSINESS Earn a 10% Referral Fee On Every Deal, You Refer To Us" - is their sales claim. This company, despite several attempts to contact them by phone and email - has not responded to my emails or calls to them regarding the 10 referrals submitted to them.)

On August 9th I submitted an investment through StartEngine, (SE) which I later sought to cancel immediately after realizing I had linked a checking account at risk of being overdrawn. SE claims to offers its users the ability to cancel their investments any time before it's finalized on the platform. At this point in time my SE account still had a 'pending' status and no funds had been withdrawn from my checking account. For the past three days I have tried to cancel the investment made through SE using the 'Cancel' button, but every attempt to do so failed. Furthermore, the money has now been transferred out of my checking, but SE's website does not reflect any money being moved. I attempted to call the 800 number SE lists for assistance, but simply received a brief recording, which looped about 5 times and then automatically hung up. Finally I attempted to reach out to SE via email, but haven't received anything beyond an automatic reply noting my email had been sent.

I submitted an application online on start engine portal to open an account so I can invest in start up. During the account setup process I submitted all required documentation and transfered 1k$ as initial account balance. Now its has been over 4 weeks since I intiated an applicaiton, they have neither opened account nor issued a refund. The start engine is fruadualent platform to cheat small investors looking for opportunities. In my case, I did not buy anything or invest in any specific projects. They have taken money from my checking account day 1 and been telling account is not opened yet . They keep telling that account opening is pending with their banking partner which is yet another sketchy trust company. I've sent several emails asking how to talk to someone, they responded stating its not possible to talk to any one, only way to send an email and wait for their response. I have pleaded to refund and mentioned I am longer interested in opening any account. NO response

In september i purchased a share of stock with a company honda jet token through start engine. This complaint is for both companies because i never heard anything about the investment since i purchased it. Now i every week i get emails about the ceo changed and the company is at almost 6 million dollars but i have no part take in these funds when i own a part of the business, I've called each company asking about the investment they both tell me to call each other and i still have no answers. What did i invest for? Why am i being sent on the run arounds for answers when money is involved? Start engine really does not have anything to do with it once i made the purchase but since they are the third party i had to involve them! I invested for a reason to see how my money would grow and if it did numbers like i thought it would then i would invest into more stock but now im feeling like im getting ripped off or something because i need answers! Why am i not seeing progress?

I signed in with StartEngine in order to invest in startup businesses with its crowdfunding platform. It states also how much of the investment is in "cash", in other words liquid on their account and not invested in a another businesses. More than 2 months ago I tried to withdraw from this cash position an amount of $7,939.47 to have it transferred to a connected personal checking account. Since then, the status has been "pending". Last week, I contact StartEngine via its "chat" functionality. I think I reached only a chatbot, where I explained this issue. By the next day I obtained an email regarding this request where I was asked to confirm the withdrawal of this amount. Additionally an email with request ticket # ***. I clicked on the provided link in that email to confirm my withdrawal request. I thought this had been the missing item and the transfer would be now starting. But checking a week later I am finding that said withdrawal is still pending. Am unable to contact them.

The same issue as all previous complaints - sketchy and hidden fees that are not explicit to the member On 2.11.21 I was looking to invest in a company. After signing up for a wait list spot, which had no fees involved, I signed up for a 10% additional stock which was free (if a spot opened up and I was moved from the wait list) because I figured it's free stock, why not? Supposedly, after submitting my request, I receive a charge for *** and there was no itemized checkout amount saying I would be charged right then and there for a subscription I did not want. I canceled my credit card and stated fraud as I had no intention of making a purchase today and there were no signs of being charged. I have never seen a company charge someone without an itemized checkout and the amount. As all other complaints on this company, I feel it was worth the time to explain that they need to be forthcoming with these fees. Had they been upfront, I would have the option to choose that additional feature if I decided.

Here is the email back and forth I have been dealing with for almost a year now. I invested $500.00 with start engine to invest with a company named boxabl, after almost 6 months they told me Boxabl was not taking anymore investors.I told them I want my money back, they kept telling me to upload documents because the back office needed to verify information before they could refund my money. I uploaded documents, over and over again. now they keep telling me its an error and they apologize and upload more docs. I keep uploaded documents to prove my identity and they keep requesting more. ALL I WANT IS MY MONEY BACK. First they needed my company documents, so I sent them, now they want a copy of my DL an SSI card NOWAY. I really think they are fraudulent at this point. it's been almost a year, at this point I want my money plus interest. I will be contacting the FCC, and FTC, I am beginning to think they are some corrupt people overseas really trying to defraud us. I WANT nothing to do with start engine...

On *** I initiated a transfer of funds in the amount of *** to my account with Start Engine Secondary, for the purpose of buying available shares. The monies seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth. On November 17 I contacted Start Engine via their "Contact" link on their web site, and received the following reply on *** Hi ***, Thank you for contacting StartEngine and apologies for the delay here! It seems that you funds have settled, but there is a bug preventing them from showing as available. We have escalated this to our tech team to investigate and resolve. As soon as they provide us with an update regarding your account, we will follow up to let you know. Please let us know if you have any additional questions and thank you for your patience while we work to resolve this. Have a lovely day! Best, *** The StartEngine Team. After several communications and no resolution after a month, I have now run out of patience and ask for your assistance in resolving this issue.

I signed up on StartEngine using a referral link that stated that I could "Join StartEngine Today, Receive *** Cash." I joined on February 8, 2022. A few days later, I, and the person that referred me, received the following e-mail: "Hi , Thank you for signing up on StartEngine. Unfortunately, it appears that you were referred by an individual who was not eligible to invite new users under the terms and conditions of our referral program, as the individual who referred you was not invited to this promotion. Unfortunately, this means you are not eligible to receive a referral fee. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working on making sure this does not happen again in the future. Best, The StartEngine Team" At no point during my signup did I receive any hint of this being the case. I only received the promise of getting *** cash after signing up. I fulfilled my end of the bargain, but they are breaking their promise by not paying out the *** cash to me. They sneakily deleted the referral page, but I have a screenshot, which I am attaching to this complaint. I sent them e-mails requesting the payment be made, but they refused twice, copying and pasting the same e-mail that I am also attaching to this complaint.

I started referring people by this site that was claiming to "give *** get *** on *** I was referred by a member who had pay proof that did get paid by them, I followed her instructions to sign up. I referred ATLEAST 7 people (with proof) I had a referral link that Startengine gave me, which they claim they didn't and wasn't valid. The link they gave me was *** Has my first and last 2 initials on it. I had emailed them (have proof) and they said, they would payout via PayPal within 30 days to me and my referrals *** per referral) I got an email today, stating I would not be receiving my bonus even though I opened a trade account their only condition to get the bonus, along with a lot of other people who I'm sure will be filing a complaint. I have all the screenshots of people I had sign up, emails from them stating I would be paid, and then the email saying I was not eligible days later, after my account was opened. I want to be compensated for what they told me I would be getting, my time that I had to go through to get the evidence. I feel as though they had to many people sign up and open an account and now they don't want to pay what they promised. I have attached a few proofs but can provide more if needed.

Hello, On Dec 9th me and my wife decided to try *** to try invest a little extra capital approximately *** U.S. Dollars. As we tried on this website that we came across social media *** We found a recycling company that we were interested in investing as a start up business on their website *** The minimum investment required was approximately *** AsI filled all the info their advertising became trickier and trickier. It asked for what option you would like and on the option for minimum with in their confusing advertising they have a bonus advertisement. It's confusing and how I understood it is if i decided to renew my investment annually that they'll give me a 10% additional share in company's equity. So I continued thinking I was investing in the company that i had selected and money *** was withdrawn immediately. Once I completed and went to my account info it didn't show any share purchased it actually showed that I hadn't completed my purchase. I immediately started to read all fine print and still confusing as it was I did see that I had 48hrs to cancel. So I immediately sent a request to contact them and emailed the multiple times explaining what had happened and requesting cancellation after i called multiple times with no answer and left message. It's two days later and I still have not heard from them other than auto emails. I appreciate any help Product_Or_Service: Investments bonus program Account_Number: Username

I wired for Pre-IPO investment, didn't work. They refused to refund my *** I sent a wire transfer of *** US dollars to StartEngine on *** to invest at *** this is a unique ID given to me by StartEngine as an investor. After some days after hearing nothing from them, I reached out the customer service. I was told that they voided my investment because they didn't receive my wire on time which was not true either. They received my wire which was from my Chase business account. I requested them to refund me on ***, I first contacted them. They needed a wire instructions from me. I provided them on *** through their ticket system. They asked proof of my wire confirmation and I provided them, as well. Through their unsecured ticket system, they asked me like my bank account number and personal information. I did not want to provide but they insisted. I provided to them. Still, they have not refund my money back. The timeline has ended for that preIPo. I used my Business bank account to wire the fund. They asked me to provide them the bank statement with my name and business name on it. I told them it was my business account and my name is not on it. I requested a phone call, and I also tried calling their customer service number which is not answered by a human being. Now they even ignored my emails to them. It has been 3 days. After almost 2 *** now, I started feeling that I have been scammed by StartEngine. I trusted this business because I saw Mr Wonderful on their website. But now, all of my *** investment is no where. I need my money back.

Good day I have submitted my funds to invest in Epilog startup company on Dec 9, 2021 ... By Dec 13, there was a requirement of additional information due to anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and background checks from the Bank. I have Has Given passport *** Bank Brokerage Holdings *** Bank of *** Share Holdings EIN # Letter from US GOV/IRS ISSUED *** Cert. & Holdings Statement letter issued and approved by *** Gov. Securities EXCHANGE Authority Escrow VERIFIED account verifying my name and ADDRESS I have superseded the required docs to verify name and address of myself. Haven't I? ================================