"***** Review removed *****"

"Attempted to purchase product, didn't realize it was a pre-order. E-mailed to cancel and got no response. Called, was told it was cancelled and would take 30 days for a refund! Purchased item elsewhere, and was then e-mailed and told that no cancellation would be accepted because it was a pre-order! Avoid at all costs!"

"I placed an order for an Athlon 64 X2 4800 cpu at Monarch Computer System's web site on 7/25/06 @ 4:03pm MDT. Later on that evening I decided to cancel the order. I tried to contact them on the phone, but alas it was outside of their normal business hours. So at 8:30pm EST I sent them an email asking them to cancel the order. The next morning at around 10:45am EST (45 min after they opened for business) I checked the order status at Monarch's web site and it indicated that the order was cancelled. Two days later, a charge for the order amount appears on my credit card. I called them and they told me that they charge the credit card immediately when an order is placed and that they would issue the credit shortly. As of today, it has been 8 days since I placed/cancelled that order and they still haven't posted the credit to my account. I called them today and now I'm told that it can take up to 30 days for the refund (credit) to post to my account. 30 DAYS!!! I don't know what Visa's policy on this but I plan to find out. First of all, I have never heard of a merchant charging a credit card for a purchase before the order it ships, which is obviously what Monarch did in my case, since I cancelled the order 6 hours after it was placed. This has become pretty much standard policy with most reputable internet retailers. Then there is the issue of having to wait up to 30 days for a refund in the form of a credit to post to a credit card. This is totally unsatisfactory, which brings me to the Better Business Bureau. I just looked up Monarch Computer Systems on the BBB web site and they have an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered complaint(s). I do a lot of business on the internet but I will never make a purchase from these folks again."

"I ordered an AMD 4800x2 from them at a great price. This is my first order from them and my ship to address is different from my bill too. Both addresses are on file with my Credit card but they still held my order until I called them. That really wasn't a problem though. I was supposed to get it on friday which I didn't. I looked on the invoice and the ship too address was wrong. I most likely inputed it wrong so no big deal, I called them and the person who anwsered the phone was zero help. He told me that he couldn't do anything and I needed to email them to correct the problem, so i did. He told me they answer emails quickly and they would take care of it. Well they didn't, I never got a email back from them and It had been 2 working days. I finally gave up on them and called FEDEX myself and they were very helpful and got the address corrected and got it to me. I'm happy with my product just not with the customer service. I will not order from them again because of it. "

"DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH MONARCH COMPUTERS.
My whole ordering process from this company was bad from the start. I had ordered a CPU motherboard combo. I received quick notifications that they received my order, and charge my bank account. After that a week went by and I heard nothing. I had attempted to contact the company via e-mail and telephone for a week. I continuously got no reply by e-mail and no answer when calling on the phone, only answer I got was voice mail message saying their voicemailbox is full and cannot take any more messages (granted I only left 1 voice message). Finally after a week I got a hold of somebody, and asked them what was going on with my order, and was told "it looks like your order is scheduled to ship today." To me that was a typical answer...At that point I should have just cancelled my order. But I had been advised to contact the better business bureau prior to making this phone call. Since it was a friday I would give them until Monday to give me some kind of notification. Luckily, on Monday I received a tracking number.
After getting the product I ordered, I open the shipping box and I see an empty heat sink box (which I wasn't supposed to get), and I see the motherboard box bent upward. One piece of scotch tape was holding this box closed. I open the box and the motherboard with the CPU mounted and the heat sink still mounted was stuffed into the motherboard box along with a mess of other stuff in the box thrown in loosely. I am was not happy to see this..and was no impressed. The motherboard user manula looks all mangled, and the motherboard has a ton of marks and scratches on the bottom of it. For this I plan on returning my order and getting a refund, and I will never do business with Monarchcomputers again. Their lack of customer service and contacts is terrible. I tried getting details on my order and all I was given was an order number - this order number told me nothing...it could have been someone elses order number for all I knew. "

"The worst business ever! 1 weeks to approve payment, another week to receive product..slow process, too hassle, product defective, would not be able to return or get refund. Worst customer service, hold for 40' to talk to technical support...never do business again"

"Ordered a video card on 7/7. My CC was charged right away, however no mention that what I ordered was backordered. I finally called a week later after not receiving my order and find out they don't even have it in stock and it's "on order" from somewhere else. I should also mention that it took 3 e-mails and 8 phone calls to actually communicate with someone. I ended up cancelling my order on 7/17 after reading horror stories about this place and the fact that my card was still "on order".

Absolutely the worst customer service I have ever seen. I ran an online company all by myself for awhile, and even my customer service was better than this place. They never respond to e-mails and very rarely does anyone answer the phone (usually just asks you to leave a voicemail). On some calls that I attempted, the voicemail system was full but it didn't matter much anyway because nobody EVER called me back. To actually talk to someone, you just have to keep calling their 800 number repeatedly and hope someone picks up.

Also, still no refund for my order. Apparently, they have a policy that states it can take 30 days for a refund. If I don't see it on the 30th day, I'm calling my CC company and asking for a chargeback.

If you order from this place, good luck (you will need it!).


Update 8/18/2006: It is now well over 30 days and I still have received NO refund. I contacted the company on the 30th day, and the person indicated that they would refer the matter to a their "credit department" (aka likely the other guy working in the back room). It's now 3 days later, and still no credit showing up. Believe me, it's not that hard to issue a credit using a merchant account (I have done it personally, so I know this). I am going to contact my CC company and the BBB regarding this matter. This has been THE worst company that I have ever had the displeasure of ordering from. I can't believe they are still in business. "

"I recently purchased a motherboard and CPU combo from Monarch (AMD Athlon 64 X2 based), and was informed that it could take up to a week and a half to ship due to high demand. After a couple days of a rather generic 'order status' page telling me my order had been sent to the warehouse for processing, I e-mailed support at Monarch and explained that I had lost a computer earlier and that I needed the parts as soon as I could get them. While I did not recieve a reply, the next day, Monarch shipped the parts and upgraded my shipping from FedEx Ground (5-7 days) to FedEx 2-day air for nothing at all. I recently recieved the parts, and they all work wonderfully (the techs did a very decent job at assembling and testing the combo). I will definetely consider buying from this company again."

"Very unhappy. I am sorry that I did not read this web site on Monarch before I bought from them. I agree with others that the communication with the comapany blows. I oredered a video card on the 15th - it is now the 31st and the item still has not been shipped. First of all the web-site did not show the item out-of-stock but when I called for an update I was informed that they were waiting on its arrival shipment before it could be sent to me. OK I can deal with that - he told me "barring any unforseen issues" the item will be shipped. It is now the 31st and it has not shipped yet. I could understand if it was a custom part or system - 2 weeks is not out of the norm - but for 1 video card? I'll shop at another site from now on. Perhaps if they would keep me more informed of my orders progress then I may not be so irritated. STAY AWAY FROM MONARCH!

"

"On Sunday July 23rd, I ordered a replacement motherboard for my main system which went down a few days prior. I had ordered from Monarch in the past but forgot how slow they were to ship.

I put the MB in my cart and checked out - opting for 2 day air shipping so I could receive this item and get it installed and get my main system back up and running before the weekend.

My order appeared to be sent to their warehouse bright and early Tuesday morning, and I was still hopeful that I would get this MB on or before Friday. Friday morning rolled around and there was no change in my items status so I emailed them to check status. I got no reply.

I was finally told what the hold up was on Monday. The item was not in stock. They offered me a different brand of motherboard, at normal price.

I passed. I required an exact replacement.
I didn't appreciate the hold up of their shipping. And then they didn't even have the item. If they had let me know this 3 days after I had placed the order, I could have ordered elsewhere and still been able to hold to my required schedule. But it took them 8 days to tell me they didn't have an item in stock. Unacceptable!"

"This place sucks never ever buy from them. I purchased a part and ended up not needing it, before they shipped it out, it was on back order, and Idecided to cancel the order. It is a week from when I ordered it and the charge is still on my credit card. The sales rep told me it would be a month, a freaking month. NEVER EVER ORDER FROM THIS PLACE."

"Extremely horrific customer service and experience when ordering from Monarch. An order placed 7-19-06 has not shipped 12 days after. Upon contacting Monarch they said the item was back ordered but failed to notify me of this. The sales person said the order would ship the next day but it still has not. When I tried contacting them via e-mail, voicemail, and their online forums, I still had not heard anything. It was only until repeated calls did someone finally pick up. The person then informed me that other items were still back ordered. I promptly canceled my order and will my business else where."

"I have to say one good thing: The prices seemed right.
Now the cons: It has been 11 days since I"ve placed my order. I only ordered 3 parts (MB, GPU, CPU). Just like anyone else says, credit card immediately charged but long uncalled for delay on shipping. Tracking system is poor as it only tells you when you've ordered and what type of shipping (I guess to make you feel good they put 2Day FEDEX, but it actually takes about 8 or more!). I called in order to find out the status of my order and I was told on July 31st that the order hadn't been shipped yet and should arrive on Wednesday the 2nd of August. What are they doing, making it themselves? I could've purchased this set from Newegg and had it last week or I could've gotten everything I needed from the Computer Show. I could've driven to Georgia and got it by now. I have never experienced this type of slow shipping process ever and only for 3 separate parts, not a combo. To me it's unacceptable. To those who have positive experiences consider yourself lucky. For those who need parts fast, I would suggest alternate vendors (newegg). Their advertisement might be good but their service needs serious expansion if they are going to compete and deal with internet volume sales. And please don't think that I'm being cynical on this poor little ole "small company," there is obviously a disconnect between their billings, orders, warehouse and shipping departments. Get it together!

UPDATE: After calling back on the 1st of August, a cs rep told me that my order had not shipped and that there was a delay because my CPU needed to come from the manufacturer. Thanks for telling me. Now they do not have a projected date to send my stuff. After giving them as polite of an earful that I could, I canceled my order. Now I'm waiting 30 days to get my money back. What have I learned? Everything that glitters isn't gold. I placed an order for the same stuff from a rival company and they've already processed my order and shipped it and it will be here tomorrow (that's one day!). This company obviously takes the customers money and then orders the parts under the false pretense that they have it stocked. Unacceptable. Never again. "

"Excellent across the boards. Great tech support. Helped me out. Good prices. Was just a great buy and experience."

"Hardware is high quality. Customer Service is poor. I had a few issues with a Hornet system I bought from them and I got the "brush off" when I emailed them for support. I had three problems.

1. The +12 voltage is only around +10.
2. I have opened the case only about 3 times and already the paint is starting to chip on several areas of the case.
3. The front LED Temp readouts are in Fahrenheit instead of Celsius.

When I emailed them to inquire about these issues I was told:

Look in the BIOS to see if your voltages are ok. (I had already done this).

I should try to match the color of the case and get some paint on my own to touch it up.

As far as I know you cannot change temp readouts from F to C. (Maybe it is just me, but I have always seen temps for computers in Celsius. Why should I have to convert from F to C in order to get a feel for the temps in my case).


Overall, I feel the customer support is very poor and I will not buy from them again unless it is something that will never require their support."