Starpower

BEWARE! In August 2022 we contracted with StarPower to install a full AV system in our home. We spent over $70K on this project which was to be completed by Labor Day. It is now November 29, 2022, our system is still not working or completed, with no explanation from StarPower. StarPower management at the store refuses to return our calls or inquiries. Before deciding which service provider to hire, pay attention to the reviews on other sites such as Yelp and the BBB (where I will be filing a complaint) many others have had similar issues with StarPower!

Just wanted to give everyone a WARNING regarding a company called STARPOWER. DO NOT EVER USE THIS COMPANY!!! We paid them to upgrade our M&S Entertainment/Intercom System throughout our house due to it being older. It still worked fine where we could listen to music or use the intercom system throughout our house and patio...but the room stations/speakers were discoloring and looking a bit outdated due to age. Our Doorbell would ring, but you had to mess with the outside button on the wall a bit, due to dirt and grit getting in around the actual button that you press. The ONLY reason we chose Starpower is because of their assurances about their knowledge of the M&S Systems products and how to update the M&S Systems. They had great difficulty with this type of upgrade with the M&S Systems, even after talking with the Manufacturer’s Tech Support for several hours. Maybe they shouldn’t offer these services if they can’t handle the install or don’t have the knowledge of the M&S Systems products. We paid Starpower a lot of money for the actual products and their labor is ridiculously expensive! They’ll tell you it’s $175/hr. for 2 people and then the paperwork they give you all says $165/hr. for 2 people. There’s nothing you ever get that tells you why the extra $10/hr. is added on and it’s some kind of miscellaneous BS charge…I found out. They charged us for (8) hours of labor, up front, and told us that they would credit the remaining part they didn’t use back to our credit card. Well, what do you think happened there? EXACTLY…they just happen to use all (8) hours on a system that should have been done in less than a day…if they knew what they were doing. We also had to pay our electrician to come out and wire (2) Transformers for Starpower to be able to plug in the M&S Master System and a Bluetooth System…another waste of money. BTW…We’re going to have to pay the electrician again to come out and unhook the transformers, that they initially installed, so we can have our painter drywall over the huge hole in our wall. So, here we are over 2 months later and nothing has been done. Our house still looks the same way, as it did, the first day they took our old M&S System out and were supposed to do the new install back in March. We have holes in the walls without any products/equipment being in them, nothing hooked up and nothing working…the house looks terrible. The products are literally sitting in our kitchen and living room in boxes and bubble wrap. We even escalated the situation to the Owner, David Pidgeon, who had us dealing with the VP of Sales, Craig Brown. That got us absolutely NO WHERE! They are very difficult and rude to deal with. All they kept wanting to do was to come out and try to get the system working for a 4th time and possibly 5th and 6th time. They’ve been to our house 3 times to get the system working, with the help of the Manufacturer’s Tech Support, and still couldn’t get the system working correctly. Definitely not going to let them keep trying to get the system working…that should have been taken care of the first time around…or at least with the 2nd & 3rd time they had after that. Our time is valuable as well and they just want to continually keep wasting it. They ordered the wrong parts several times and had to keep reordering them…and then would order a different wrong part again or order something I hadn’t even asked for. We had several parts that were defective and they couldn’t get them working, even with the help of the Manufacturer’s Tech Support. They would stay on the phone with Tech Support for an hour or so and things still wouldn’t be resolved. We were being told several different things by different people that work for Starpower and none of them were the same…very different stories. It seems like nobody knew what the other person was doing. Very, very frustrated and disappointed in the service and with the products that we’d received from Starpower…as well as the length of time this has been going on. We have products we can’t use, install labor that we paid for…for nothing…and a house without a system in it at all or a working doorbell for over 2 months now. BTW…They took our old system and disposed of it without even asking if we wanted to keep it. We could have potentially sold parts from it, but it’s long gone now. They keep taking products from our house telling us that we would get a Return Credit on them and that never happened…and they kept our products. So, they had our products and our money for over a month. We finally got the products brought back, that they took back to their warehouse. It took a couple weeks of trying to deal with them to even get that done. After the fact…I got on the Texas Better Business Bureau website and really wish I had done it before we hired them. I would have RAN the other way and very FAST!!! They’ve done this to other people with other brands/types of products and equioment at several of their locations. They’ve had several complaints filed against them…just in the last year. It’s been very difficult to deal with Starpower throughout this whole ordeal. I went against my better judgement and used them. I should have stuck to a big box/large store that would have stood behind their products, such as Best Buy/Magnolia, etc. NEVER AGAIN!!! Also, I later found out…after talking to a couple neighbors…that they had issues dealing with Starpower’s Appliance Salespeople and various other Salespeople that work for them. Luckily the neighbors had that bad experience with Starpower and chose to go somewhere else and get their appliances, etc. They definitely dodged a bullet not using Starpower for anything! This has been a very expensive lesson for us. We just want to try and help someone else not go through the same thing that we went through or spend the kind of money that we did…regardless of what brands/type of products or equipment you may want. We REGRET it so much! I hope this helps someone not to make the mistakes we’ve made with Starpower.

The experience with Starpower has been a bad one.  Got a few estimates to replace and upgrade our audio visual systems.  Starpower was a couple of thousand dollars less than the high bid, but in the middle of other bids.  Was favorably impressed with their showroom and staff during the initial consultations.  One of the big sellers was their ability to match and modify the present built in cabinet system to provide extra space for components and free up space for other uses. 
Starpower was terrible about showing up on time.  The carpenter was to arrive early in the day--didn't show up till late afternoon.  This became my biggest gripe with Starpower--totally unreliable when it came to being on time and completing the work in a timely fashion.  It seemed as if they felt it was my, the customer's, job to alter my schedule to accommodate any and all changes they made to their work schedules.  Had to move multiple meetings and commitments during the install process to accommodate Starpower technicians/carpenters.  Some of those meetings I had paid admission for various talks/seminars and had to forfeit those funds to be at home while Starpower installed the cabinets and equipment.  In fact on a couple of days, the employees didn't show up till late and didn't leave till well past the dinner hour---most disruptive.  The job was finally finished.  I was told to call them any time and they would come back and fix the system. 
Due to travel and other commitments wasn't able to have them come back out to tweak the system till 29 April 2013.  Had set the appointment up at least a week and a half in advance.  Was told I should be the first appointment on the 29th and that I would be called and given a two hour window for the service call.  Was having problems with not all of the surround sound speakers working, static when trying to listen to AM Radio channels, FM channels not tuning well and some programming of the master remote.  All in all, it should have taken 15 to 20 minutes to tweak the system. 
Got a call at 0915 on 29 April saying they would be here in 45 minutes.  Not as early as expected, but OK.  Ten minutes later, got a call from the service people saying---ooops--sorry, but they had promised some other customer that they would be first and would I mind if they came in the afternoon--perhaps around one?  I was aggravated and made it clear I had appointments in the afternoon and errands to run and that if they weren't able to be here by one o'clock then I'd have to reschedule.   Once again---I, the customer, had to accommodate Starpower---rather than them, the service provider, provide reliable and timely service to a customer.  Sent emails to Starpower customer service and got lots of apologies, but no expedite on the appointment.   They did show up about 1:00 PM and solved most of the problems.  However, the AM antenna still picks up a lot of static.  The tech told me I'd need to buy a "powered AM antenna".  Could get one at Radio Shack for about 20 bucks!!!  Think about this---I have spent close to $7,000 US with this outfit and am told that to make this system work correctly I need to buy a Radio Shack AM radio antenna and install it.  I was furious and was happy to have these folk out of my house. 
Starpower has provided very little documentation for my systems and I have to go online to find info on the master remote and other components. 
Starpower Customer Service Reps have contacted me and profusely apologized for their service.  They have all been quite polite.  However--that does not, in any way, make up for the aggravation and concern I have about their lousy service.  My concern now is that if something fails and I need to exercise my extended warranty/service/replacement warranties on the components--this terrible experience will only continue apace. 
Summary--do not go to Starpower if you want good service.  It seems they have made every effort to go out of their way to inconvenience me, the customer.  If I save one family the aggravation we have endured--the time spent writing this review will be well worth it! 
Bring me a martini!!!