Companies to AVOID as you succeed in your FASTLANE...

[MJ DeMarco]

By request, companies who should be avoided as you succeed.

This list need not be business related.

Please share your experience, preferably with a story.

Entries posted here are the opinion of the author, and not necessarily the owner of this forum, MJ DeMarco, or any of its affiliates.

I'll start...

As you know SONOS is dogshit. I'm sure they make a decent product, but they are backstabbing bitches.

MailCheat(Chimp) by Intuit.
Quickbooks by Intuit
Anything by Intuit, or that Intuit buys.
Anything by Adobe.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

@Lex DeVille - per your request, feel free to link to your PayPal and Siteground horror stories.

 

[Lex DeVille]

@Lex DeVille - per your request, feel free to link to your PayPal and Siteground horror stories.

Gladly!

I used PayPal for nearly 20 years. They recently turned to trash. This was before they threatened to steal $2,500 from user accounts for "misinformation."

In early 2022, PayPal placed multiple holds on my account for unclear reasons. They made me jump through the most insane hoops to get my account unsuspended and to unlock my cash. Shortly after they did it the first time, they did it again with the same client and made me jump through similar hoops.

After that, another client sent a payment for copywriting services. PayPal showed the money as available in my PayPal account and allowed me to withdraw it to my bank. Then something happened with the client's bank and the money didn't finish processing from them to PayPal I guess. PayPal then opened a dispute, demanded I return the money, and billed me a $15 fee for the service. I contacted the client and found out they were not in dispute and that there was an error with their bank. So only PayPal had a problem, and they decided to make it my problem and bill me for it. I returned the money to PayPal and paid the fee. Then I told them to f*ck off and deleted my account. After that I made this video.

I replaced PayPal for client work with HelloBonsai.com.

Siteground web host is another service that has degraded over the past several years. They ditched Cpanel and went with their own internal set up. Their customer service dropped off a cliff. They increased their prices to double the rates of similar services. To top it off, they made simple tasks (like turning off rebills for all domains) hard as hell (by requiring you individually turn off rebills for each domain one by one and by clicking through multiple pages to do so each time). When you have hundreds of domains... it's a problem.

Earlier this year I took my domain names and moved them to Namecheap for way less.

This morning, Siteground billed me for a domain I didn't want to renew. I asked for a refund. They've processed refunds for accidental renewals in the past. This time they said no. Can't do it. I said fine... My hosting is set to renew next month for another $320, so I'll take my hosting elsewhere.

Over the past 8 years, I've paid out tens of thousands of dollars to Siteground for services. But they were willing to lose a customer for just $17.99. So now I've officially moved to ChemiCloud.com and will never use Siteground again.

I'm tired of these shitty companies treating their customers like crap. I'm done with it. From now on I'll vote with my money and move my entire business elsewhere.

 

[Itizn]

Great thread idea.

Don't have a contribution just yet but suggest people state who they pivoted to as their new alternative of choice.

 

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[Happyheart]

By request, companies who should be avoided as you succeed.

This list need not be business related.

Please share your experience, preferably with a story.

Entries posted here are the opinion of the author, and not necessarily the owner of this forum, MJ DeMarco, or any of its affiliates.

I'll start...

As you know SONOS is dogshit. I'm sure they make a decent product, but they are backstabbing bitches.

MailCheat(Chimp) by Intuit.
Quickbooks by Intuit
Anything by Intuit, or that Intuit buys.
Anything by Adobe.

Nominating GoToMeeting.
I had an older account with unlimited storage space for recorded meetings (seminars in this case). This was the reason that I kept the more expensive account.

They changed the storage time to one year without any warning and although I had stored urgently important recordings by other means, everything else was gone. Nothing could be done to retrieve any of the recordings. Umlimited cloud space, but limited time - a deal that sucks.

Now I am in the process to switch to zoom… so please keep me posted on bad experiences with them .

 

[TonyStark]

By request, companies who should be avoided as you succeed.

This list need not be business related.

Please share your experience, preferably with a story.

Entries posted here are the opinion of the author, and not necessarily the owner of this forum, MJ DeMarco, or any of its affiliates.

I'll start...

As you know SONOS is dogshit. I'm sure they make a decent product, but they are backstabbing bitches.

MailCheat(Chimp) by Intuit.
Quickbooks by Intuit
Anything by Intuit, or that Intuit buys.
Anything by Adobe.

Why don’t you like quick books?

And I also agree that PayPal is shit. I’m permanently banned from making accounts with them. They tried to withhold about 30grand from me one time, and also had a lot of shady customers on eBay file fraudulent disputes that PayPal would bill me for. They’re garbage. I stay away from them like the plague

 

[RicardoGrande]

I'm tired of these shitty companies treating their customers like crap. I'm done with it. From now on I'll vote with my money and move my entire business elsewhere.

Appreciate this perspective.
Only on my second year of SG, first year at "full" pricing and thought the 320$ number for a year of hosting was a bit steep.
I'll have to go find a new provide that has good security/migration plugins like SG did, but I've got time for that.

 

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[Walter Hay]

In early 2022, PayPal placed multiple holds on my account for unclear reasons. They made me jump through the most insane hoops to get my account unsuspended and to unlock my cash. Shortly after they did it the first time, they did it again with the same client and made me jump through similar hoops.

After using PayPal for years I found them becoming more and more difficult to satisy, until lo and behold one day I got this message:

Get a quicker payment experience on trusted devices
We've made it quicker to pay with PayPal​

Since we recognise this device, you'll stay connected for quicker PayPal transactions.

OH YEH???
Every time I log in I have to go through the same verification process as always, including receiving a text message to my international phone, costing me time and money as the call travels through various channels. That would not be so bad if the verification code actually arrived first time, but most times it doesn't, and sometimes I get as many as 3 texts that have codes that don't work!

SOLUTION. To avoid the risk of my money being tied up, I have for the past year or more been transfering out my balance via instant transfer (free) every time I get a notification of a payment received. Now most of the time I have a nil balance.

Walter

 

[fastlane_dad]

I like the theme of this thread. I don't think we stumbled into any 'major' hurdles with companies that I can think of the top of my head in 15-20 years of building up various businesses (or my memory is just THAT terrible now )

- BUT @MJ DeMarco we can get a similar thread going on giving out recommendations for services and software that helped us out along the way (and how we used them!) that helped us EXPAND the business 10X over.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

BUT @MJ DeMarco we can get a similar thread going on giving out recommendations for services and software that helped us out along the way (and how we used them!) that helped us EXPAND the business 10X over.

We do have that already, its a treasure trove. It's how I found Canva many years ago.

NOTABLE! - HOT! - Great apps, tools, software... What do you use?

Inspired by @Andy Black mentioning Descript.com in some other thread and it looking like a fantastic solution... I thought we'd put all these recommendations and suggestions into one thread? Easier to find and share. Here are some I've heard good things about/used myself: Descript.com...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

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[Matt_2190]

I agree with Siteground. In the beginning, their customer service was exceptional: they often "went a step further" to provide better service.

Since after the covid they are incompetent and have often done damage. I had a site that was never uptime and every time they got their hands on it got worse.

Changed hosting since then.

PS. Obviously all the sites talk about it very well and say it is the best. But only if you use their affiliate link, of course.

 

[DMass]

@MJ DeMarco interested to hear your issues with MailCheat(Chimp) or anyone else’s issues. I’ve only just started using them as they were recommended to me so it’ll be nice to hear the other side of the argument so I can make a more informed decision.

I agree that PayPal is dogshit, the amount of times I’ve had to verify myself is ridiculous. But there’s no real alternative, at least that I know of.

Fancy creating one @MJ DeMarco?

I love how Mail Chimp gets changed to MailCheat automatically! That is awesome and very funny

 

[Lex DeVille]

@MJ DeMarco

I agree that PayPal is dogshit, the amount of times I’ve had to verify myself is ridiculous. But there’s no real alternative, at least that I know of.

There are several alternatives to PayPal. Which one you choose mostly depends on what you need it for.

For freelancing, I switched to HelloBonsai.com. It's more of an all-in-one solution for freelancers, but they have their own internal payment processing and it comes with fewer fees than PayPal.

Stripe is another common alternative.

Payoneer is regularly recommended for people in countries where PayPal isn't available.

There's also Google pay, Apple Pay, Authorize.net, Cash App and other processors that I know nothing about.

In short, there are plenty of other ways to accept money from people without using PayPal.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Orkin Pest Control is another I crossed off my list earlier this year.

Here is the story of what happened with them:

RANT - Lack of quality for service 2022

Hi Guys, First time poster, long time lurker. A brief introduction is I'm a business owner in the heavy equipment industry. We do heavy equipment (yellow iron) rentals and used sales, as well as some other odd things like RV storage, property rentals. Family owned and run business our whole...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[MTF]

There are several alternatives to PayPal. Which one you choose mostly depends on what you need it for.

For freelancing, I switched to HelloBonsai.com. It's more of an all-in-one solution for freelancers, but they have their own internal payment processing and it comes with fewer fees than PayPal.

Stripe is another common alternative.

Payoneer is regularly recommended for people in countries where PayPal isn't available.

There's also Google pay, Apple Pay, Authorize.net and other processors that I know nothing about.

In short, there are plenty of other ways to accept money from people without using PayPal.

Wise and Revolut are excellent options, too.

 

[Speculatooor]

Windows

Since having switched to mac a few years ago, and having to help my friends/family with their windows issues, the difference is big.

Windows is bloated with data sucking bullshit. User experience sucks. So many unwanted pre-installed programs. Horrible.

 

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[MattR82]

EIG, Endurance International Group, now called Newfold digital I think.

If they buy an internet company that you love the service of, start looking around for a new one.

80+ Newfold Digital Hosting Companies (Formerly EIG)

It was years ago that they bought one of the 2 big website management services, maybe managewp? And it went from being one of the best to garbage pretty quickly. It's not just hosting I think.

 

[TonyStark]

Airbnb is a garbage company. I’ve tried to book trips using them and always have some sort of issue or cancellations. Numerous Reddit posts can attest to that.

On the contrary, VRBO was pretty fun and easy to use.

 

[Antifragile]

Sage 300: Keep your business on the right track and growing strong.

Process orders, accept payments, reconcile your books across multiple companies, pay employees, and manage projects, all with your business software.

www.sage.com

Sage 300. And with that experience… ALL of Sage products fall into “never again”.

- used them for 10+ years from old Timberline
- support and customization is offered through only local offices with people who don’t know what they are doing and bill you too much
- when I finally gave up, switched to a better alternative (Jonas Premier, so far so good!) my staff sent a note to cancel Sage annual subscription… next day…
- I got an invoice for early renewal! Yes! Instead of listening they thought doing the exact opposite was a clever business move.
- when I emailed them a reply … WTF are you doing? We are not renewing; there never was any reply.

But worst of all, their software is garbage.

 

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[NeoDialectic]

EIG, Endurance International Group, now called Newfold digital I think.

If they buy an internet company that you love the service of, start looking around for a new one.

80+ Newfold Digital Hosting Companies (Formerly EIG)

It was years ago that they bought one of the 2 big website management services, maybe managewp? And it went from being one of the best to garbage pretty quickly. It's not just hosting I think.

I have a feeling that this type of thing is the reason many companies go from being great to bad. They silently get bought out by some private equity group. The sad part is that, speaking from personal experience, I don't even think it's all about greed. They just turn into incompetent bureaucratic messes.

 

[David Fitz]

FedEx. I will never use them again. When importing products into the country they held everything for weeks. Took an extra payment of around €1000 out of our account one time. I had to ring and ring and email and email until I finally found the CEOs email online. I said F*ck it and sent an email calling his company scumbags and a few hours later his personal assistant had the problem sorted. Then when deliveries were supposed to be delivered they were always late or a driver would say there was no one home when this was during lockdown when everyone was at home. Switched over to DHL and their service was much better.

 

[Xeon]

EIG, Endurance International Group, now called Newfold digital I think.

This.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

No "don't do business with" thread would be complete without Comcast, or XFinity.

Unfortunately, my move to Utah forced me into doing business with them, and I can confirm they suck balls every day of the week, from shitty internet service, to unresponsive, non-English speaking reps. I swear to freaking God, I have to call them every few weeks with some freaking problem that just repeats. They employ the same type of "reps" as Intuit -- they exist to coddle and check off a necessary business box, not to solve problems.

Why don’t you like quick books?

Because when my payroll hangs in the balance, I don't like waiting on hold for 45 minutes only to talk to someone who is completely incoherent as they read one script after another.

Then when I tried to integrate payroll with bookkeeping, it took 4 calls, 4 hours, and still, the problem was never solved.
They only have service reps there to answer phones and coddle customers, not to ACTUALLY SOLVE problems.

Intuit and Xfinity's Customer Service Philosophy: What do I have to say to get this customer off the phone as quick as possible, even if I have to lie, make shit up, or not actually solve any problems?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

@MJ DeMarco interested to hear your issues with MailCheat(Chimp) or anyone else’s issues.

They were only holding my account hostage, and my lists, they wanted me to pay them $500/mo in ransom to unlock an account I rarely use, or email. Of course, my ransom notice didn't come until after Intuit bought them.

And then don't get me started on "expiring credits" -- "oh, I paid for credits and didn't use them timely so now we will steal them back from you!"

F*ck you.

I paid for them, they're digital, and they should not expire. It's the same type of BS corporations pull with gift-cards, "oh you didn't use your $1000 gift card in one year? Sorry, it's not worth anything now"

Double F*ck you MailCheat(Chimp).

They're just as bad as PayPal.

 

[TonyStark]

No "don't do business with" thread would be complete without Comcast, or XFinity.

Unfortunately, my move to Utah forced me into doing business with them, and I can confirm they suck balls every day of the week, from shitty internet service, to unresponsive, non-English speaking reps. I swear to freaking God, I have to call them every few weeks with some freaking problem that just repeats. They employ the same type of "reps" as Intuit -- they exist to coddle and check off a necessary business box, not to solve problems.



Because when my payroll hangs in the balance, I don't like waiting on hold for 45 minutes only to talk to someone who is completely incoherent as they read one script after another.

Then when I tried to integrate payroll with bookkeeping, it took 4 calls, 4 hours, and still, the problem was never solved.
They only have service reps there to answer phones and coddle customers, not to ACTUALLY SOLVE problems.

Intuit and Xfinity's Customer Service Philosophy: What do I have to say to get this customer off the phone as quick as possible, even if I have to lie, make shit up, or not actually solve any problems?

What do you use currently?

 

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[K1 Lambo]

Gladly!

I used PayPal for nearly 20 years. They recently turned to trash. This was before they threatened to steal $2,500 from user accounts for "misinformation."

In early 2022, PayPal placed multiple holds on my account for unclear reasons. They made me jump through the most insane hoops to get my account unsuspended and to unlock my cash. Shortly after they did it the first time, they did it again with the same client and made me jump through similar hoops.

After that, another client sent a payment for copywriting services. PayPal showed the money as available in my PayPal account and allowed me to withdraw it to my bank. Then something happened with the client's bank and the money didn't finish processing from them to PayPal I guess. PayPal then opened a dispute, demanded I return the money, and billed me a $15 fee for the service. I contacted the client and found out they were not in dispute and that there was an error with their bank. So only PayPal had a problem, and they decided to make it my problem and bill me for it. I returned the money to PayPal and paid the fee. Then I told them to f*ck off and deleted my account. After that I made this video.

I replaced PayPal for client work with HelloBonsai.com.

Siteground web host is another service that has degraded over the past several years. They ditched Cpanel and went with their own internal set up. Their customer service dropped off a cliff. They increased their prices to double the rates of similar services. To top it off, they made simple tasks (like turning off rebills for all domains) hard as hell (by requiring you individually turn off rebills for each domain one by one and by clicking through multiple pages to do so each time). When you have hundreds of domains... it's a problem.

Earlier this year I took my domain names and moved them to Namecheap for way less.

This morning, Siteground billed me for a domain I didn't want to renew. I asked for a refund. They've processed refunds for accidental renewals in the past. This time they said no. Can't do it. I said fine... My hosting is set to renew next month for another $320, so I'll take my hosting elsewhere.

Over the past 8 years, I've paid out tens of thousands of dollars to Siteground for services. But they were willing to lose a customer for just $17.99. So now I've officially moved to ChemiCloud.com and will never use Siteground again.

I'm tired of these shitty companies treating their customers like crap. I'm done with it. From now on I'll vote with my money and move my entire business elsewhere.

Is it true that PayPal can withdraw your funds if they come from the adult entertainment/sex industry?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

What do you use currently?

Gusto for Payroll.
Zipbooks for Accounting.

I love Zipbooks and its a local company here in UT. Gusto is vastly improved from QB Payroll, which was once, Intuit Payroll.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Any company that K Oleary endorses.

 

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[Walter Hay]

There are several alternatives to PayPal. Which one you choose mostly depends on what you need it for.

For freelancing, I switched to HelloBonsai.com. It's more of an all-in-one solution for freelancers, but they have their own internal payment processing and it comes with fewer fees than PayPal.

Stripe is another common alternative.

Payoneer is regularly recommended for people in countries where PayPal isn't available.

There's also Google pay, Apple Pay, Authorize.net, Cash App and other processors that I know nothing about.

In short, there are plenty of other ways to accept money from people without using PayPal.

I am one who would recommend Payoneer, which I have used for years, but unfortunately they are not suitable for eCommerce businesses, and in particular for my business book sales site.

Walter

 

[socaldude]

New Paypal Policy Lets Firm Fine Users $2,500 for Spreading ‘Misinformation,’ ToS Condemned and Called an ‘Abomination’ – Bitcoin News

I haven’t used PayPal in years since they confiscated and held hostage 5 figures from me a few years back. Even after providing evidence.

I’m sure you all get those “updated terms” PayPal emails every so often.

Well now it looks like they can steal $2500 from you for spreading “misinformation”. I kid you not.