Anyone that has Issues with Monarch Computer Read This !!

[ra990]

MonarchJoe,

The problem that most of your dissatisfied customers face is the lack of post order customer service. Any company can have inventory issues, slow shipping, etc...and in my book, that is all excusable, because I understand totally that sometimes companies really aren't to blame for it (they have issues with their suppliers, and the supplier has issues with their supplies, etc. etc.).

HOWEVER, I cannot excuse your company for holding on to my and probably hundreds of other customers' refunds for no apparent reasons. In this day and age, a refund should not take more than 2 weeks. Over 2 months is just unacceptable. There is no excuse, and by the number of people complaining about this issue, you should realize that these aren't isolated issues. Hold my money for 2 weeks, thats acceptable, hold it for over 2 months and you've lost me and everybody who takes advice from me as a customer for good.

Here's some advice...get some new people in your accounting department, get a few more phone lines, and quit lying to your customers about how they will have their refunds in a few days. I must have been told that over 5 times accross 5 weeks. Thats the 5 out of probably 25 phone calls that were actually answered. Oh, and not one call back or responses to any emails to the so called "customer service" at Monarch.

Good luck with the reform at Monarch.

 

[Zebo]

Hey Joe I appreciate your response and honesty. You may think I'm a total asshole, I'm glad that's representative of how customers are with thier hard earned money. I'm just lending a voice to what you may not hear because they are more proper than I am but they still do leave thier impressions with others on the down low. The main thing is none of this discussion, emails back and forth with customers, etc would be nessesary if monarch just fullfilled orders and RMA's in a timely fashion. A crazed stalking customer like Mr Fox wouldn't get any play in any forums if there wasn't some validity or sympathy to his claims... Timely is why newegg's have 9+ and why y'all used to at reseller. I doubt I'm telling you anything you don't know. Good luck with the changes.

 

[travisray2004]

i ordered my setup though them, and i said on the order not to burn in on my motherboard and heatsink so that i could upgrade the heatsink to my xp-120. So im not really suprized about the dealings that are happening. I got it cheap but i had to do EXTRA work.

 

[ncage]

Originally posted by: kaborka
I got an mobo + Opteron just three weeks ago, and everything was handled perfectly. I'm wondering if the problems were just with the Conroes?

Nope i bought a 700w OCZ GameXtream power supply from them and had major problems. Just to save $2 over newegg which was stupid. I remember ordering from them a long time ago and they were great. They were definitly well below satisfactory this time around. I gave them a very bad rating on resellerrating and put in a complaint to BBB. No im not a cronic complainer. This is the first time ive wen this far and YES they were that bad.

 

[ncage]

Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind

Originally posted by: themusgrat

Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind
excuse me? what in the world is this all about. its an internet store if you want easier refunds buy from B&M or reputable stores like newegg and such.

lol. This is about a company that is stealing (or close to it) people's money. Making an internet store instead of a retail store isn't reason to not do refunds.......... Don't post if you have nothing to contribute.
As for me, I have never had problems with Monarch, but my last build was about 2 years ago, so maybe things have changed.

as i said... its easier to get in a managers face at a b&m store rather than flying across the country/continents. Companies of all the like have been doing this for as long as I can remember. I have never had problems with monarch either. It goes both ways...

If you ever been with any type of retail or business in general, there quite a few people trying to scam/abuse company policies as the company is trying to make profit from the customers.

I mean places such as these forums when one person posts a "how to win the refund/RMA game" everyone and their 3rd cousin jumps on it, counting non-members who also read the forum. It may just a re-vamping of policies and procedures.

Ive been on both sides customer and somewhat of a business consultant for several years. A company in no way will purposely give terrible service as it would mean the end of their business. Besides its start of 4th quarter for business, they are all tightening their belts.

As you can see there is already more than 1,000 "targeted" individuals that will most likely not choose monarch for their next purchase.

Is that a better contribution?

I am sorry to be so blunt but you really don't know what your talking about. You have NO idea what some people have been through. Heck if they shoot me in the back they didn't purposely do this so i should go back. Ok problems with monarch
1) they charge your credit card immediatly. They don't wait to it ships. If its not in stock they charge it anyways
2) i have called 45 min before they close and got "the voice mail box of the person your trying to call is full". Now how prefessional would a company seem that had a voice mail like that?
3) I called to check on my order. Oh "yes sir i have to go across and check in the warehouse". Can i call you back? Guess what? No call back. Then i called back. Oh im sorry about your experience. I will check on that right away and i will call you back. I said are you sure you will call me back? Hey said definitly. Again NO call back.
4) They almost shipped some of my items out to late where i was ineligible for the rebates
5) When you have to get a refund you have to pretty much do a chargeback.

I think what it is is that your a person that LOVES to argue. Do i think its right to sway people from monarch DEFINITLY. I would love for them to have a great experience with the likes of newegg,zipzoomfly,chiefvalue, mwave,tankguys ,ect.

 

[augiem]

I have to chime in on this thread a bit...

I have to add another vote negative for Monarch Computers. Sorry, but it's the truth. I've ordered from them three times in the last 2 years.

My most recent order was during the Conroe launch. I placed two seperate orders:
1) An E6600 retail -- preorder
2.) 2x stick of Patriot DDR2 memory -- in stock (ships in 1-2 business days)

I placed two seperate orders and paid double shipping because I wanted the RAM before waiting for the CPU.

E6600 Pre-order
Ship date of the processors was pushed back to August 31 a week or two after ordering. Okay, I can understand that. But then they decided, sometime after my order, to disallow cancellations of preorders without any kind of email notice or anything.
The credit card was charged IMMEDIATELY on all orders regardless of when they were to ship. So even my E6600, ordered on August 4th, did not ship until August 30th, was charged $350 on the 4th. I actually got the bill on my credit card statement before I got the processor!

Memory fiasco
The 2 sticks of patriot memory I ordered on August 8th and was charged the same day. These sticks which were continually listed as "in stock" were not being shipped, day after day after day. Days turned into weeks. I sent two emails asking when they would ship, both were ignored. On the 23rd, I emailed requesting they cancel one stick from the order. I did not receive a reply. I sent the email again the next day requesting they confirm cancellation, obviously annoyed. They returned email saying they cancelled one stick... So I assumed they'd be shipping it soon... Nope.... nothing... Only after a 3rd angry and incredulous email on the 28th of August did I all the sudden I receive a fedex shipment notice. Give me a break. 3 solid weeks to ship an in stock product, paid for 2-day shipping, was charged the instant I placed the order... And on such a tiny item!

Monarch Message boards
So during these troubles, I tried posting a couple of times on their message boards. I posted one about the bad experience with the memory and being surprised by the sudden implementation of the no-cancellation policy on the CPU's.. MY MESSAGE WAS PROMPTLY DELETED from the board without a single word.

The guy who answers messages on the board also is not very polite. Read some of his responses during the Conroe period -- he gets defensive and then locks the threads. Pathetic.

To sum it up from a customer's perspective:
Customer service -- They do not care
They'll charge your credit cards immediately
Obscenely long wait to receive a single in stock order
And if you ask on the board and have any hints of negativity, they'll delete you.

Believe me, after this last dealing with Monarch I have finally come to peace with paying tax on my orders in CA -- it's just not worth the trouble to save a few bucks. Newegg, Ewiz, Zip Zoom, AJump -- All of them have been beautiful experiences compared to Monarch.

Augie

 

[ra990]

The rebate thing has happened twice to me. I placed two orders for OCZ RAM with a rebate (from Monarchs website) that needed to be postmarked two and a half weeks after the day I placed the order. Orders hadnt shipped by the time there were 2 days left for the postmark date. Obviously not interested in buying the RAM without the rebate, so I called and cancelled and was told that this was not their fault. Tried very hard to convince me to buy it anyway. Eventually, after talking to them like 10 minutes, they finally cancelled the orders.

Of course, no refund was given from Monarch even after 45 days! I had to call my bank and issue a complaint in order for them to do a chargeback. It is still being investigated, although the bank has preemptively refunded my money. Like I said, JUST NOT ACCEPTABLE.

 

[regalboom12]

Originally posted by: MonkeyFaces
Thanks! Maybe if support like this keeps up, I can get some compensation from them. My mom has $80 worth of extra interest since monarch decided to keep her money for that long. Seriously, I don't know why monarch would go through the trouble of making people wait so long for refunds, unless they are hoping that their customers are idiots who won't care for $100's of dollars missing from their accounts. Even if they don't care for one disgruntled customer, I hope they have learned how to answer their emails and phones. They seem to put customers who are expecting a refund onto an ignore list. Even worse, I contacted Hard Forum's resident Monarch representative and he never responded to me. When I got fed up and issued an ultimatum of just respond to me or else I will contact the BBB, I got a big fat ban from that forum.

Have you e-mailed MonarchJoe (joe@monarchcomputer.com)? I would take him up on his offer of: "If you are having an issue with a Monarch order, we encourage you to contact joe@monarchcomputer.com who along with Sterling has been specially charged with seeing that no customer falls through the cracks."
Let us know how it goes, if they are improving we will know, as it has been said before actions speak volumes. (paraphrasing Zebo)

 

[ActuaryTm]

Legitimate issues aside (and there no doubt are), the original message is spam, and Mr. Fox/Reynard/etc. has certainly been making the rounds.

 

[tvdang7]

dang ive bought 5 opterons from em. and it came to me with in 2 days and i paid for ground shipping also .but after this thread ima be more cautious. i bought these around january through march.

 

[nicepun]

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm
Legitimate issues aside (and there no doubt are), the original message is spam, and Mr. Fox/Reynard/etc. has certainly been making the rounds.

That's fine. People need to know what's going on. If I had the time I would have done the same thing after I got shafted.

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm
Legitimate issues aside (and there no doubt are), the original message is spam, and Mr. Fox/Reynard/etc. has certainly been making the rounds.

If you have nothing to add here you should read the forum rules.

SPAM is Defined by This :

What other kinds of posts are not permitted?

* No SPAM! This includes:
o Links to muli-level marketing schemes such as pay-to-surf or pay-for-referral sites, whether paid in cash or premiums.
o No links to auction sites. We do not consider auctions to be Hot Deals. Posting a link to your own auction offer may be reason to lock your account.
o No links to deals, promotions or offers by your own business or your employer. This is the "No Dealers" rule. We do not intend our forums as a free sales floor for your business. If you want to promote your company on AnandTech, contact our sales department about buying a banner ad.
* No links to gaming sites, tobacco products or pornographic or sexually explicit materials.
* No links to offers of OEM software without qualifying hardware or to software licenses without a qualifiying installation disk (CD, etc.).
* No group buys. Sorry, but these deals have been costly to our members from both honest mistakes and outright fraud.
* No contest threads.



You have been crapping on this thread from the start, and making comments that indicate that you have personal Interest in this thread, and you attempt to crap upon it for various reasons. I would wonder if you are part of the "Campaign".


What about COURTESY?

No thread crapping. If the subject matter of a deal does not interest you, do not post negative comments about it, or about other members, in the thread.

Possibly the worst examples we have had of this have been in posts for free religious items, such as bibles, etc. If you want to discuss religion, or any other such non-computer topic, do it in our Off Topic forum. The discussions in that forum cover a wide range of topics, but needless flaming and rude, mean-spirited posts are not welcome there, either.

Stick to discussing the deal. Do not post needless rude or trivial comments about someone else's posts. Flaming can only hurt someone's feelings. Nuisance posts, such as "In before the lock," "******" or other needless bumps just recycle bad threads and force good ones off the first page of the forum.

Think before you post. Rude posts can kill a good deal. For example, posts for deals on sexually related items such as condoms and lubricants are ok, but if others cannot refrain from posting lewd or childish remarks, that would be reason to lock or delete the thread.

When are negative comments allowed?

* If you know a "deal" is a scam.
* If the post contains improper links, such as click-through referrals, etc. If you know a better link for the same deal, post it in the thread.
* If there is any other reason to warn others about an offer or link. For example, many sites offering free magazine subscriptions have been known to continue billing credit cards long after the subscription was cancelled. Also, if you know a vendor has a bad reseller rating, you are doing your fellow members a favor by warning them


I have not publically aired my personal issues here other than stating supporting factual information from Other Websites that have been cited, and personal experience from a phone conversation.

That is hearsay yes... but this is not a Court of Law..... Simply Public Opinion Forums that thankfully are Neutral.

Read the TOS and Rules........Keep On Task , and Properly Directed.... Or Butt Out !!

We have Managed to do that for 5 days now, and despite your crapping we have shown that there are valid issues here. You are not a moderator here yet you attempt to serve that function.

160 posts and 5300+ reads...in five days...Must be something behind this..

 

[regalboom12]

Originally posted by: Mr Fox
160 posts and 5300+ reads...in five days...Must be something behind this..

Yea the something is most of us realzie that Moanrch are good people who make mistakes like the rest of humanity (other than you i guess) and that they are making a lot of good progress, also the somehitng is everyone seeing how you spent a LOT of time trying to hurt Moanrch on as many forums as possible, and you have the nerve to say "You have been crapping on this thread from the start, and making comments that indicate that you have personal Interest in this thread, and you attempt to crap upon it for various reasons. I would wonder if you are part of the "Campaign". " to actuarytm??? Glass houses my freind, you should learn that one.

 

[Interitus]

Just thought I'd chime in here...I know there's more people out there that have received great service from Monarch and even in the midst of all this turmoil I wouldn't hesitate to order from them again.

I have ordered probably 9-12 combos from Monarch in the past year or so. The most recent being an Opteron 939 setup for a friend. I have been amazed with the shipping and communication from them. I feel more connected to them as a customer than I have ever felt through Newegg, ZZF, or any of the other major players in the parts biz. In 10+ orders I have called Monarch once post-order. It was on an Abit 939 board that was acting funny. To be honest, I wanted an RMA because for the life of me I couldn't figure out what was wrong with this board. The person I spoke with on the phone was very polite and suggested a few things to try before the actual RMA was processed. I calmly assured the person on the phone that I wasn't an amateur at building PC's and I had ample knowledge about troubleshooting a problem like this. I went through all the steps I had taken with the board, all things I noticed while troubleshooting the problem. In the end, it turned out to be an issue with the power supply. The representative actually informed me of an issue with this particular power supply and the Abit board. Through my searches I hadn't come across any hardware issues noted. Sure enough not but 3 days after I received a new PSU, I started seeing others having this same problem. The new PSU worked like a charm and the board still runs like new.


On a different note...Most of the issues I've heard people bring forward with Monarch involve new releases and shipping delays. If the lack of communication issues listed here in this thread are genuine, then I do sympathize with the consumers. Such severe lack of post-order service and communication isn't excusable. But at the same time I admire those here in this thread representing Monarch for their determination and their willingness to help. While Monarch might have some issues currently with their customer service, it does say something about the company as a whole to take the time to come here, face the flames and offer their help and support to those of us who haven't had the best of experiences. I have had delays in shipping through Monarch as well, but just remember they're a business. While they might struggle at times I'm sure they're just as dissatisfied with negative reviews as you the consumer are while reporting them.

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm

Originally posted by: Mr Fox
The posts here have been roughly 80% Negative, and 20% positive.

Personally, I see nothing wrong with raising legitimate issues, concerns, and experiences; however, let's maintain a bit of accuracy.

Of the 52 responses in this thread with personal experience, 28 have been positive or neutral (in this context, neutral should be inferred as an amalgam of both good and bad experience, but would order again). 24 responses have been negative, and would not order again.

Roughly an even split, as the recent ResellerRatings would indicate (though I completely concur with allisolm that ResellerRatings are not always a good predictor as far as company reliability and customer service are concerned).

Your Mathmatics are truly Skewed...... If you are truly an Actuary... you really need to read much more in-depth within the posts.

I agree that at the point of your post their was 52 Responses that offered personal experiences.

But the actual accounting is as follows :

37 - Negative - Poor Experience - Never Buy Again.

11 - Positive - Had Good Experience - Buy Again.

4 - Neutral.


There were 13 posts that started on a Positive Note and ended with a negative saying they would not buy there again.



3 = Number Of Times that ActuaryTM has Attempted to piss on this thread.


That is the Second Time that you have Engaged Keyboard... Without Engaging Brain.

And the third time that you have attempted to piss upon this thread to that point... then there are two further attempts in the last day..... for Five Total....



15 = Number of posts that thought that this was Good Subject Matter thanking OP.

 

[inthell]

sad the guy canceled his order and they still sent him the RAM! Monarch must be run by idiots or monkeys or both?

 

[regalboom12]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

sry just picturing a bunch of idiot monkeys bumping into walls... first thing that comes to mind is people who put so much faith into first time posters. They MUST be telling the truth LOLLOLOLOLOL

 

[ra990]

regalboom, I hope you have to cancel an order with Monarch soon. When after 3 months you realize, "Holy crap, I never got the $xxx.xx back from Monarch! What the hell?!" then I would love to hear from you. Until then, have fun.

BTW, Mr. Fox, thanks for starting this thread.

 

[regalboom12]

I have been buying with monarch for nearly 6 years, and yes during those 3-4 months there i got hurt too. I have said as much, but i gota tell yea, 2 other online people burned me worse and i never heard from a real live person about it like i did with Monarch; and a B&M really cost me money and they couldn't care less. THAT is why i am a Monarch fan, they have hurt me and cared that they did. i hope i am not babbling and this is as clear in writing as it is in my head LOL

 

[commOdog]

is their a rebate on this?

 

[robertk2012]

I have always been happy with my purchases from monarch. People dont take the time to start threads and post good comments normally.

 

[Pepsi1337]

Originally posted by: MonarchJoe
I want to know what we did wrong, and I want to know what I can do to earn your trust back.

Your company claimed to me that it was the norm that pre-order shipment dates get delayed. They said it happens all the time. If this is true, then posting the shipment dates online knowing full well that it is most likely gonna be delayed is wrong to me. If you know certain items never meet their shipment dates, don't post the dates.

If you don't think your company has enough experience and expertise to know which shipment dates to trust and post under the Monarch name as your shipment dates, then fine. My mistake, I learned my lesson.

If you do think your company has the experience and expertise to know which shipment dates to trust, then show it by only posting the reliable shipment dates under the Monarch name and under the Monarch reputation.

How can you earn my trust again? By proving to me that you've fixed these delayed shipment problems. Computer stores are plentiful so I would be a fool to risk purchasing from a company that I had a bad experience with unless I see overwhelming evidence otherwise from the community. I don't want and I won't take anything of monitary value to trust your company again. Trust is earned by experience.

 

[RelaxTheMind]

Originally posted by: ncage

Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind

Originally posted by: themusgrat

Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind
excuse me? what in the world is this all about. its an internet store if you want easier refunds buy from B&M or reputable stores like newegg and such.

lol. This is about a company that is stealing (or close to it) people's money. Making an internet store instead of a retail store isn't reason to not do refunds.......... Don't post if you have nothing to contribute.
As for me, I have never had problems with Monarch, but my last build was about 2 years ago, so maybe things have changed.

as i said... its easier to get in a managers face at a b&m store rather than flying across the country/continents. Companies of all the like have been doing this for as long as I can remember. I have never had problems with monarch either. It goes both ways...

If you ever been with any type of retail or business in general, there quite a few people trying to scam/abuse company policies as the company is trying to make profit from the customers.

I mean places such as these forums when one person posts a "how to win the refund/RMA game" everyone and their 3rd cousin jumps on it, counting non-members who also read the forum. It may just a re-vamping of policies and procedures.

Ive been on both sides customer and somewhat of a business consultant for several years. A company in no way will purposely give terrible service as it would mean the end of their business. Besides its start of 4th quarter for business, they are all tightening their belts.

As you can see there is already more than 1,000 "targeted" individuals that will most likely not choose monarch for their next purchase.

Is that a better contribution?

I am sorry to be so blunt but you really don't know what your talking about. You have NO idea what some people have been through. Heck if they shoot me in the back they didn't purposely do this so i should go back. Ok problems with monarch
1) they charge your credit card immediatly. They don't wait to it ships. If its not in stock they charge it anyways
2) i have called 45 min before they close and got "the voice mail box of the person your trying to call is full". Now how prefessional would a company seem that had a voice mail like that?
3) I called to check on my order. Oh "yes sir i have to go across and check in the warehouse". Can i call you back? Guess what? No call back. Then i called back. Oh im sorry about your experience. I will check on that right away and i will call you back. I said are you sure you will call me back? Hey said definitly. Again NO call back.
4) They almost shipped some of my items out to late where i was ineligible for the rebates
5) When you have to get a refund you have to pretty much do a chargeback.

I think what it is is that your a person that LOVES to argue. Do i think its right to sway people from monarch DEFINITLY. I would love for them to have a great experience with the likes of newegg,zipzoomfly,chiefvalue, mwave,tankguys ,ect.

I dont like to argue I just personally ordered from them before say 2 years ago or so, but yet I dont even remember if it was a good or bad experience. Something I will say up front is that I really do know what I am talking about. Seriously... I really really really know quite a bit about business and customer service.

I really DONT know what everyone has been through but I definately relate being scammed by several companies(especially pricewatch companies). There is no real science to it. Needless to say most of those companies are no longer in business and all of them have one less customer. Reason why I am not so easy to be swayed in either direction is because some of the worlds largest companies get a high ratio of "dissatisfied" to "satisfied" customers (hp, best buy, dell, etc...).

If you didnt quite catch my point of that post... Ill put this in an even more bold statement. I am neutral to the thread. If a company mistreats customers it will eventually fold and go under. There are many things you can do to complain about a company and places to file complaints that do a lot more than simply posting in a forum.

The OP and some of the comments are fine its just the others that want to ARGUE and call each other stupid. If you seriously read my post it does not state that I am on any side. I am stating "if you dont like a company or if you even have a doubt in doing business with them... DONT".

I would love for them to have a great experience with the likes of newegg,zipzoomfly,chiefvalue, mwave,tankguys ,ect.

I agree... newegg is my personal favorite...
but...

I wouldnt be suprised if from what I see people doing to a few of those companies return/RMA policies... that they end up tightening down on their end too...

 

[MonkeyFaces]

I will keep you guys up to date with my situation to see if Monarch Computers really is keeping up with their promise to improve customer service. Since i'm going to get my mom to initiate a chargeback tomorrow, I asked monarch if they could recompensate the interest of my $240 order which has been stolen from me for 3 months at a 15% interest rate. It may sound like suggesting a compensation credit of around $100 is a little steep, but that's how long they have been keeping it. I will give you guys an update if I get anything at all (or if I dont). However, as of now, reluctance to purchase anything from them would be prudent since they are more than willing to charge your credit card in 5 seconds and wont refund your money if you cancel anything. Consider this, not one person in this thread has ever said that they received their refunds from monarch at all. So far, there's been people with 6 months resorting to a chargeback, 2 weeks resorting to a charge back, four months resorting to a chargeback, and me, for 3 months resorting to a charge back.

 

[vadp]

Wow!!!
That's horrible!!!
Keep the thread going.
Monarch people need to get exposed for what they are!