u/DoneRightbyDanielLLC

Howdy!
First, asking here instead of r/starlink in the hopes of getting less-biased opinions.

Second, I have a severe lack of tolerance for bad customer service, I genuinely don't understand how so many people seemingly put up with it.

Ok, on to the point; I've been searching for a suitable replacement for internet service to my RV ( I travel all over the USA for work) since 2023, and starlink keeps coming up.
My primary objections to this are:

1. The up-front equipment cost (I'm seeing $300 - $500 for the equipment)
2. That equipment is not refundable, you buy it, and it's yours forever, whether you have the service or not
3. That equipment ONLY works with Starlink, there is no one else I can switch my service to like I can with a cell phone
4. The one time I talked with Starlink, I had to dig around on the internet, figure out where to go, download and install the app on my phone, create an account, wait an hour for verification, sign up, sign in, wait a day to be able to use my account, connect the app to my equipment (a leftover from a jobsite cleanout), find out my equipment doesn't work anymore, then ask for a chat in the app, then wait another hour, then chat with an agent who ignored everything I said (no, literally, I had to repeat everything I typed into the chat 3-5 times), and spend close to an hour going over the status of my account, then I got transferred, then it started over again, and I never did get any answer to, 'What can I do with the equipment I have right now?'
   So, Horrible customer service
5. The monthly cost. When I look on Starlinks website, the price per month varies from $150 to $400, though I'm not sure why the variance.
6. After the experience of learning that the equipment has to be replaced with every generation, that leads to me wondering what happens when the equipment I bought is no longer usable on Starlink, and how often I have to buy new equipment.

So, for those of you have Starlink, how are you handling all of that?

12AUG26 - Morning sorting, attempted to login to my Zoho account, only to find an error, 'Your account is not active, please contact support'.
We called from our office numbers and found that our numbers are still blocked.
We emailed all of the addresses we have on file, and called from alternate numbers.
After more than a dozen phone calls we finally got an answer of, 'We are now looking into this and the right team will call you back in 2-5 days'.

13AUG26
One agent, Bear R, says my account is deactivated (Yes, obviously, please fix that).

Another agent, Manahil A. A., messaged me through our Facebook page asking what the issue was, but as is typical of them, they did not accept ANY information provided, and after several days of messaging, still does not understand that we cannot login to the account.

17AUG26
I am writing this 'megathread' in the hopes of gaining some kind of assistance from somewhere as I am 'dead in the water'.
So far no team has called me back, and I still do not have access to my data.
Right now I have no bookkeeping, no invoices, and most importantly to me right now, I don't know where my customer balances stand (most of my work is performed through retainer invoices).

So, my questions to you:
Have you ever dealt with this issue? If so, what was the outcome?
Do you have or know of a way to get access to the data other than logging into our account?
What advice or experience would you share to help resolve this matter?

ISO help dealing with a vendor problem;

Zoho has locked my account and refuses to give me my data or access thereto.

As I am based in the USA and they are based in India, I'm seeking help sorting out how best to resolve this

ISO help dealing with a vendor problem;

Zoho has locked my account and refuses to give me my data or access thereto.

As I am based in the USA and they are based in India, I'm seeking help sorting out how best to resolve this

Our refusal to tolerate bad customer service has led to another company being banned from our rosters, Trifecta Wireless.

Difficult from the start, they quickly recovered and moved things along so we could get ourselves a device and test the service.

In the three days we had the device, we could not access the internet through it, we could not access the device admin page, and only one of nine devices was able to connect to the devices own WiFi network.

Trifecta Wireless's 'support' replied to our reports and requests for help multiple times with, 'We show it's work on your end, what's the issue?' Which is not an acceptable response because:

1. Whether it shows as working on YOUR end is not the issue here, that it is NOT working on OUR end is the issue.
2. We provided all of the details up front, including verbose logging of steps and effort from our end, details about location, signal strength reading for local cellular connections from other devices at this location, and screenshots showing the errors and failures.
   Asking us what the issue is after clearly detailing the issue indicates they're not willing to accept information provided.

Then they made it worse by arguing with us about all of these items;
Worse again by blaming us for 'not letting them troubleshoot the device';
Worse yet again by calling our office and implying we're just not smart enough to use a cellular modem.

We had to request a return label and full refund no less than five times, but they did finally comply, and several days after they received the device in return, they issued a full refund. That part, at least, they did right.

The follow up email we got from them saying 'the device is working fine' is just another indication of their inability to find professionalism; again, whether or not it's working fine at your location, where you build/make/create/test/ and have mastery over these devices is not the issue; the issue was, 'the device is not working at our location'.

So, yes, it is our fault for not being willing to accept bad customer service, and it is their fault for using bad customer service repeatedly.

Looking to switch by end of month (July), looking for feedback for what you have that works well and doesn't cause you headaches.

Currently with Visible, I've spent 43 hours in the last 5 weeks actively asking them to resolve issues, chatting, putting in the details, etc.

Prior to that I had USM, but they kept having 'billing issues' and we parted away.

I see Ting has a lot of bad reviews over the last few months with outages and not accepting debit cards, so that may not work for me.

What VZW MVNO do you use that just works?

Edit to add:
To address the comments about me as a customer:

1. Yes, I AM a nightmare to bad customer service, to agents who insist on fighting, arguing, lying, ignoring, and so on.
2. Yes, I am the common denominator, because I refuse to tolerate such mistreatment.
   If more of you had a backbone and also stood up for yourselves, there would be less of this behavior to deal with.
3. In my opinion, the key problem (and where I run into this issue) is when companies choose to use cheap offshore call centers as their 'customer service'.
   You can see my other posts about that subject.
4. I have solid working relationships with 106 vendors in 17 different countries currently, and have had solid working relationships with more than 2,000 vendors in 25+ different countries over the last 15 years of business.
   The common theme is that I work well with those who work well, and I do NOT work well with those who do not work well.
   The problem I run into is the services I need tend to be very commonly needed, and constantly 'cheapened' with systems that don't work, agents who don't help, and leaders that don't lead.
5. As always, what's posted is a skewed version of the truth; I don't post much about the good or great vendors (aside from sometimes recommending them) because there's no need to, we're all busy getting work done, and I don't have to ask for outside help or advice since the company takes care of their own systems, workflows, and customers.

New issue (reported via chat in website), mobile app is locked out, says I have had too many login attempts and they have texted me a link to fix it.

I did not receive said text.

I logged in on the website, started a chat, fought with the robot, got to a human, asked for help, got the usual fluff and nonsense, got no help.

Posting here to see if someone else has a way to fix this.

Visible can't seem to figure out to fix my eSIM; it had been working fine for the last several months, and suddenly on 22JUL the voice portion stopped work, announcement 8o3.

They gave me a new eSIM twice, neither worked, so they sent me a pSIM.

I received the pSIM today @ 1400 MT; it is currently 1438 MT, I'm in chat #9, and they still will not tell me if I do or do not need to delete my eSIM prior to installing my pSIM.

SO yeah, they suck.

Edit to add: This is one single event in a long timeline of issues; I posted this to highlight how terrible the quality of their service is.

The issue of whether or not I need to delete the eSIM first has been resolved, Visible sys YES.

Update again:
Six hours in the chat, three new e-SIMs, and the issue persists.
I can sms in and out fine, I still have data (slow, but exists), but when I call out I get 'Announcement 803'. When I call in, the line gets disconnected right away.
Visible says they're sending me a physical SIM card now.

Update to add:
Downdetector indicates there's widespread issues with voice or service overall with Visible, so it's likely that I'm experiencing the same.

The other issues stand, so I'm looking for alternatives.

OP:

Now I feel really stupid...

Today at 1330 MT Visible shut off my cell service.
- I'm all paid up until 31JUL
- I've made two calls out and received six calls in today.
- Service has been working fine where I am right now for the last several months (Data has been slow on my device, but calls had been working fine)

I've been in the chat with Visible asking them to resolve the other 7 open issues, so this seems retaliatory to me.

Feeling extra stupid since my internet is tied to this account, and Visible doesn't allow them to be separate, so to switch my carrier for my cell phone, I have to get a different internet provider, too.

ETA:
The agent I was just chatting with won't answer ANY of my questions, but keeps demanding my address 'to check for service eligibility', saying my service is tied to an address. This seems to indicate they're saying I can only use my cell phone at one location, which sounds absurd...

Visible's 'Customer care' is the same silly nonsense most other companies have; a bunch of people reading off a script and not resolving issues.

I've gotten this message from 'Visible Care' at least ten times, BUT, they have not yet resolved ANY of the open issues: Hey there, (agent) from Visible here! I completely understand where you're at right now and really wish we could get this sorted for you right away. Just a heads-up that we're here 24/7, so feel free to reach back out whenever you're ready for us to help you out!

I've got cellular and home internet, and both of them have been okay, slow, or just useless since early June (coinciding with the billing issue) and despite me providing all of the details dozens of times, there's still no resolution.

It's made more difficult because the only way to communicate with Visible is through their chat, and that doesn't allow any type of attachment or file sharing.

It's made more difficult again because they'll often ask for files or attachments in the chat, but again, that's not possible.

It's made more difficult again because they'll cut off the chat and that'll lead to me starting over with another agent, who refuses to accept any of the details already given.
Some will go so far as to accuse me of 'not wanting to share the details' or, 'not actually looking for help' (any CSR who says this to a customer should be taken outside and be*ten until the customer gets tired).

It's made more difficult again because some o the chat agents will engage some other team that is not reachable, so we end up with this back-and-forth nonsense with a 'monkey-in-the-middle', and still no progress.

It's made more difficult again because some agents will say these 'back end teams' only communicate via email, BUT, they only SEND emails, they don't accept any reply emails.

It's made more difficult again because if I get this email, I'm supposed to go open a new chat, and then explain everything all over again to the next agent, only for them to 'do the research', ask all the same questions I've already answered, and then engage yet another back end team.

While this is a typical system used in customer service, it's a broken system, because it causes the bulk of the work and management of the issue to be handled by the customer, which is the least qualified person in the mix to manage the resolution of the issue.

Bottom line: Like most companies, Visible cares about their bottom line, and not about their customers.
Unusual item: Visible agents will spend 10-30 times more energy and resources making all kinds of apologetic statements, but their behavior never changes, so you'll get dozens of 'I'm sorry about that', and 'I understand how frustrating that must be', but no actual help or resolutions.

Well, this may be the end of it for me with Visible, and so soon!
I switched my phone service to Visible in March of 2026.

Update to add: just over 3 hours of being harassed and blamed by Visible agents, and it's finally done. Visible won't tell me what the glitch is or was, but they wasted three hours of my day on it.

OP:

Today I was hit with a billing issue, email from them saying there's an issue with my payment on file.

I checked the bank, the account, and the card, no issues.
Replied to the email, asking for details of the issue, I got an auto reply saying I needed to login and live chat. I clicked the link and it takes me to a 'Visible Smiley Face' page, but does not allow me to login.

After some digging I did find an option to chat, where I begged for a human, then got Angelito, who refuses to help, refuses to accept any information, demands I login even though the website won't let me get to the login page (as I reported to them!), and keeps blaming and accusing me.

I filed an FCC complaint, but I expect that'll take a few days, and visible's email says my service will be shut off in 22 hours.

If anyone here has another way to get things done, perhaps an email address or phone number that works (email preferred so I can include the documentation) that would be great.

Otherwise, it looks like I'll be moving my service to another carrier tomorrow, and that's just more PITA I really don't need.

Hello and good morning!

I have recently realized I should be categorizing my expenses a little better in that they should be done by taxable amount or deductible amount; I.E.:
Meals are 100% deductible, while groceries are 50%.
I'm looking for a chart/table/document/guide that explains that, but I'm not sure what to search for; what should I be searching for? What is this part called?

Howdy!

A national Brand of a lighting product wants me to become a dealer in my service area. Seems neat up front, definitely something I could see myself managing, and something I have experience in doing.

The first thing that irks me is they want me to make $5k investment in purchasing products from them BEFORE they invite me to the onboarding/training/marketing/technician support portals.
Is this a red flag, or am I overthinking this?

The second thing is there's already two other dealers in my same area, no details given, but why are they seeking more??
Again, red flag, or overthinking?

Howdy!

** Partly resolved **
TIL that if uncategorize the transaction from the bank feed, I can then match it to the transaction I made in the Project. I did this, and it worked!
I also learned from a commenter here that, if I enter the transaction into the Project first, then when I go to categorize transactions, an option to MATCH instead of categorize should appear, and I *SHOULD* be able to match it that way. I will test this at my next opportunity!

Original post:

I've reached out to Zoho for this as well, but after explaining this to them, their response was, 'Could you please confirm if you would like to record a refund for a customer ?'
No wonder so many people despise dealing with them!!!!

Anyway, the issue:
While categorizing transactions, I cannot add refunds to a project, so I have to add them manually in the project.

Zoho system isn't allowing me to match those together, it's treating them as two different transactions.

So I end up with two transaction that are the same, are duplicates; one is from the bank feeds, the other is from me adding it to a project.

So, first I need to fix the old ones,

11 May 2026 Materials Customer: Home Depot Manually Added $9.26

06 May 2026 Expense Refund Vendor: Home Depot Categorized $9.26

The first one, manually added, is in an invoice already sent out and paid.

The second one is from online bank feeds.

How do I fix this? I need to resolve this matter so i can finish reconciling, but in the future I'll have to find a way to resolve this as well.

I'm looking for a new to me CPA, my last one retired.

Update to add:
Is there a better way to go about doing this?

As I'm searching in my local area, I'm finding plenty, but most of them do not answer the phone, have not returned voicemails 2-3 business days later, or have rude staff answering the phones.

As I'm looking to expand my search, I'm wondering if the 'big national' firms are worth looking at for a single member LLC.

I do plan to scale and add businesses to my portfolio, but right now it's just me and my LLC getting caught up.

I'm looking for a new to me CPA, my last one retired.

As I'm searching in my local area, I'm finding plenty, but most of them do not answer the phone, have not returned voicemails 2-3 business days later, or have rude staff answering the phones.

As I'm looking to expand my search, I'm wondering if the 'big national' firms are worth looking at for a single member LLC.

I do plan to scale and add businesses to my portfolio, but right now it's just me and my LLC getting caught up.

https://www.reddit.com/user/DoneRightbyDanielLLC/comments/1tjyfh1/straight_talk_update_day_84_12_weeks/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/user/DoneRightbyDanielLLC/comments/1tjyfh1/straight_talk_update_day_84_12_weeks/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

I've finally gotten my books reconciled from 2023 through 2025, and boy what a ride that was!!!

From 4-6 months of missing transactions in 2024, improper reconciling done before, and of course a lot of reconciling just not done at all, I learned so much from the last two months of fighting through this process.

The most important takeaway: Reconcile every account the day after the statement for it comes out. Don't wait until later, don't put it off, get it done as soon as the statement comes out.
Most banks say anything you don't catch in 30 days from the statement date is your own thing to deal with, so there's that, but also, if you're reconciling across the board every month, it'll be much fresher in your mind, and much easier to deal with!

HUGE shoutout to the folks in r/Bookkeeping for all the help as I fought my way through this.
Thanks to them I learned about Tabula, a great open source software to pull data from .pdf statements and convert it to .csv.
From there I learned some new tricks with LibreOffice Calc, got the files cleaned up, and then fought with Zoho to get their import tool to work correctly.

If you're behind on your books, now's the time to get after it; the next ten hours you spend getting them up to speed may be the best 40 hours you spend getting your books sorted over the 200 hours it takes! :P