"Buyer beware!!! I placed an order in late July for a cpu and graphics card...after about 2 weeks and I still haven't recieved my items, I called them to find out what the problem was. They said (and it made no sense at all) that the graphics card I bought was out of stock and they were not going to carry it any more...but they had to wait for the card to come in before they chould at least ship the cpu. That was about the dumbest thing I have ever heard....but, when I asked about why they didnt send me an email or phone call about there grachics card problem, they just mumbled some lame excuse.

So, I told them that I was building a computer and these 2 parts were the last items I needed to finish and that I was pretty upset because I waited those 2 weeks for nothing....I wanted a refund. On Aug 7th I recieved a cancel order number...since then, nothing.

Almost 4 months have passed and they have about $880 of mine. After a LOT of phone calls, they just said that "I must have fallen through the cracks". So, I have since then filed a compalint with the BBB and disputed the charges with my credit card company (which takes 3 months for the investigation). So it looks like Visa will stongarm them to return my money sometime in Jan.


So again, buyer beware. "

"Please do not order from this company. There are much better ways to spend your time and money. If you are a novice computer user - there are better companies to build you a computer. If you know how to build a computer yourself, buy from newegg (www.newegg.com). The tech support you will receive from your parts manufacturer is no worse (and probably often better) than what you will receive from Monarch.

Technical competance:

I bought a complete system from Monarch in August of 2005 that they built and shipped to me. So far I've had 3 hard drives, 2 motherboards, 2 optical drives, and 1 replacement set of memory (provided that I receive it).

Customer Service:

Here's the upside of their customer service. Yes, it is based in the United States. The downside? You will be reminded of this fact repeatedly by a happy pre-recorded voice as you wait on hold (average hold time for me has been 35 minutes). Once you do get in touch with tech support they are friendly. Good luch with that however. The 24/7 support I paid for hasn't worked in weeks due to some mix up with the vendor they use to answer and direct calls (according to a technician I spoke to). So how do I get help? I call during my work day.

Worst Case Scenario:

I'm living it. Currently, 6 weeks and counting to fix my inoperable computer. Now it will certainly be 7 weeks, since the memory they promised to deliver did not come today even though the technician I spoke to assured me he was going to overnight it to me. Didn't happen, so I called the store and guess what? No service. Everyone's gone for the Thanksgiving holiday until Monday.

In Closing:

Monarch = lots of headaches. If there was honesty in advertising their slogan would be "Monarch - What's Convenient for Us Is What's Good For You" or even "Monarch - What the *%$#@! do you want now ?" The good part out of this is that I've now learned how to be my own tech support. I'm just trying to get them to honor the warranty I paid for. Btw, one of the people in charge over there is a guy named Stirling. Ask for him by name. It's the only way I've ever gotten my issues resolved."

"After a previous good experience of buying a bare bones system I decided to let Monarch build my next one because the price was good. Five weeks after placing my order I have no computer. Their online order status page states my system is in stage 2 (apparently a code name for "limbo"). After several unanswered emails and long waits on the phone I finally got to speak to someone last week. That person checked on my order and told me the tech had a bad motherboard and was going to install a new one and my system should ship early
this week. That time has come and passed, the
computer has not shipped, my emails have not been
answered yet, I'm tired of waiting 30 to 60 minutes on the phone with no answer and finally,
I have lost confidence in Monarch. I do not trust
Monarch. I have initiated a "dispute of charges"
with my credit card company and hope to settle this issue soon and take my business elsewhere."

"AVOID AT ALL COSTS-WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE IN THE WORLD

After dealing with these complete idiots for over four(4) months, trying to troubleshoot the computer, get the new parts and sending the old ones back(Over TWO MONTHS AGO, I finally gave up and was forced to charge back two(2) advance RMAs with Monarch. They specifically acknowledged receiving the parts back over two(2) months ago and said it would take "up to 30 days" to get my credit posted. Outrageous to begin with, and then they NEVER posted the credit on either exchange.

The people are lier's, cheats and frauds.

These people are heading down the toilet, and quickly. I would not spend a dime with them. You are likely to lose your money.

They make a routine practice of charging your purchase, or "Advance replacement", to your credit card immediately, but then do not deliver system or parts for a LONG time.

Calls to their customer service go unanswered. Messages left with Voice Mail are NEVER returned. You must threaten drastic action just to get through to someone.

The "Answering Service" said to me, "Don't yell at me, I don't work for those idiots. All I do all day is get yelled at by people because they cannot get through or calls are not returned."

I purchased """""24/7"""""" , """""Customer Support"""".

It turns out they have ONE(1) 24/7 technical support person. Their "Head of Customer Service" is his backup.

I would never buy anything from these people again and would not recommend them to a friend.

Recommended:
No


"

"It has been a month today that I have been waiting on a mainboard and processor combo from Monarch Computer.

I have made every attempt to call and email them about the status. I am starting to believe that no one works there anymore. I have only had two successful phone calls with less than desireable results. From November 15 on I have not been able to speak to anyone on the phone. I have waited on speaker phone for near an hour to speak if lucky. They will not return my phone calls or email inquiries about the order.

I have now contacted my credit card company and have disputed the charge. I have no choice, but to dispute the charge becasue they refuse to answer the phone. How am I supposed to be a happy customer if they do not communicate and you can not get them to respond to inquires of a long over due delivery of goods?

As I look at the rest of the reviews here I can see numerous similarities of problems as compared to mine. I CAN NOT recommend this company to anyone. "

"Horrible. My PC has had a few problems for the first 6 months I had it, I dealt with it, didn't blame Monarch, and still supported them. Keep in mind, this is a $3000 system. Finally, my power supply died, frying my motherboard and memory in the process, so I RMA'd the system. It broke on Labor day weekend, my RMA request was responded to in early October, they received my system on October 10th.

After trying to get a simple status update, ship date, etc etc etc, my system was mailed back to me on Dec. 1, 2006. That is nearly 2 full months after they received it. My motherboard is not a limited part, most suppliers have it, same for my memory and psu. Anyway, getting past all of that, I was excited they finally sent it to me. No, wrong, they mailed it to the billing address (Missouri) from the original order. The shipping address (NYC) has never changed -- my system was originally sent to it in March, my *two* replacement motherboards were mailed to the same address, my RMA sticker was mailed to this NYC address, and my RMA'd system was mailed from this NYC address.

When I received notice my RMA had shipped, I checked the address, which was Friday, Dec. 1 at 9pm. I called Monarch 6, 7, 8 times, but their '24/7' line just went silent, so I left a message for their sales dept, tech support and general depts. I emailed 3 different email addresses. I submitted the online form for help. I tried posting on their online board, but anyone who had asked for their status on the Forums have been blocked. All I wanted to do was help them out, inform them that it was on its way to the wrong address. At the time I called them, sent these emails, etc, UPS hadn't even picked the package up from them yet, so it would've been a relatively easy fix has a single person checked the phones, email, forum, online form...

It's currently 10pm Monday night, Dec. 4. I've heard nothing. I tried calling and all mailboxes were full. I checked my emails, no update. I tried posting on the forum, but still blocked (and, no, I left only even-tempered, factual messages, nothing inflammatory or inappropriate...I'm a business student, I know better than that).

Monarch does not respect its customers. It is happy to take your money, but not happy to supply the products, and it is even less happy to service those products (that I *bought* 2 year support for).

For a highend system (or even cheap system), go with Dell, Falcon Northwest, Voodoo, but PLEASE do not go with Monarch. This process has honestly added an additional stress to my life that simply should never have been there. Also, note, this is a problem as of the last 9 months -- they used to be an amazing company, but have lost the business of a large chunk of their, previously, largest supporters as of 2006."

"Ordered a Breva 2 SLi from them. It came after 45 days and multiple calls with no SLI, the wrong sound card, and the wrong power supply. I asked them to take it back and fix it and they told me they're system was down. After a week of their system being down I told them I will send it back and I wanted my money back. They told me they would not recieve it PERIOD"

"I just found this website because of my recent problems with Monarch Computer.
This is a two part saga.

In April 2003 I ordered a complete system from Monarch. After waiting for almost a month to get it, the first day was filled with blue screens and the boot process broke within a few hours of running the machine. I sent it back to Monarch right away. ($$) Almost two months later I had a working machine (SATA problems with config). However, from the time of order to the time I was up and running my machine would have cost me more than $400 less in the three months that went by that I didnt even have the computer.

Now, it's September 2006 and my motherboard fails. I send the machine to Georgia on Sept 11th. Today it is November 20th, and I still have no computer. I got one mail from them the first week I sent it out. I had to wait on hold an average of, no kidding, 43 mins the half dozen or so times I called in for an update. Today I was on hold for one hour and twenty minutes before I spoke with a human. Thats why I'm writing this. I just want my computer back and working!!!!
"

"On October 17th I ordered a very expensive custom built workstation server. After I had paid for it they no longer answer my phone calls or emails. I now have grave concerns as to whether this company is a legitimate business and will follow through with its commitment to provide the product I had paid for.

I'll give them 10 days after which if I have not received the computer I will contact my credit card company and try and recoup my loss.

In my opinion and on a scale of 0-10 for customer service they rank something less than 0. This is one you'll want to stay away from."

"The purchase was very easy to complete. However, I got the 2nd day shipping. Imagine my surprise when it took 2 weeks to ship. Thankfully it only took three days to actually ship to me.

At least I got my money's worth. I mean, the product I ordered said "Not for Resale" on the box. But at least the program did not install correctly, even though I tried 3 different times on two different computers. Thankfully there was a downloaded version of the program, and the key worked on it.

So all in all, I paid this company to send me a CD key for a Not for Resale version when I could have just ordered from the program creator and gotten the same money's worth."

"Placed order for hard drive 10/25/06 with FedEx two day air shipping. Emailed several times asking why my order was stuck as"submitted to warehouse". No answer. Emailed a third time. No answer. Finally shipped 11/10/06. Product works fine. Customer service is slipping at Monarch. I used to get emails answered before and products shipped "on time" with them."

"I ordered memory for my computer that no one else had in stock! While my order was processing I found another vendor that had the same product only for less money; Monarch checked it out and price matched on the spot. Now that's customer service and a very powerful marketing tool.

There was an issue with my order processing that was a simple misunderstanding of mine, so I e-mailed Monarch for an answer. Sterling went out of his way to get a hold of me on his time and on his personal phone, after hours on a Friday night.

Monarch's customer service department has gone out of it's way to make me a return customer.

Thanks MonarchComputers!"

"Around 08/02/2006 I ordered some computer parts from Monarch computer Systems. After a week of no status, I called the company, and was told that the motherboard I wanted was on backorder. I tried to cancel the order over the phone, but they told me I have to send in a email which I did. I sent 3 emails, which I never got a reply too. About a week later Monarch called me, and told me that the motherboard I wanted was in stock, and was already being shipped. I told them that I already ordered, and received my parts from another company. I also stated at this time that I sent in many emails, to cancel my order. The agent I spoke with tried for 10 minutes to change my mind of the refund. I told them no, and finally was told that once I received the items they would send FedEx to pick up the parts, and once the received them back they would issue a refund.
The parts were picked up, and sent back to Monarch. I was told when I called to check on the status in September that a refund could take up to 30 days. This was find with me at the time. I waited, and waited..... around the first week in October I call Monarch again, and was told the my refund was issued the day before I called, and I should see it on my statement in a couple days. So I waited again, and again. I have called this company every week in October, and each time I was told the same. That "Yes, your refund has gone through, and you should see it on your statement. Each time I spoke with someone, I told them, about my many calls.
It is now November 15,2006 2 months after I have returned my items to Monarch, and I still have no refund. I have called almost everyday this month, and get sent to a voicemail service right away. I have left many voicemail messages, and have never received a call back. I am still awaiting a refund. I am been very nice each time I call, I never raise my voice nor do I treat anyone I have ever spoke with poorly. Thank you for reading, and your understanding. Thanks

"

"I purchased a motherboard + CPU combo right when the Core 2 Duos came out and was told that there would be next to no delay with my specific combination because the E6300 was in less demand than the others. They had told me it would ship within the week, and after a week and a half of no notification, I contacted them. They told me they would ship it after a long weekend, on a Monday, but again, I had no notification. I finally get through to someone who tells me it will be shipped out on Wednesday for sure, and of course, nothing happens. I try email because I can no longer afford to wait 3 hours on hold, and I get a response saying that it will be shipped out Friday.
It actually got shipped Friday, but I had nothing but trouble getting the motherboard to work. I've doubled checked compatbility and spent about $100 shipping RAM back and forth and buying other types of RAM until Monarch finally conceded it might be a memory slot failure.
The motherboard soon stopped booting up and I sent the RMA in. I get it back in exactly the same condition with no note as to whether what was fixed and I still cannot get it up and running. Repeated emails and calls have been ignored since then. It's been over 3 months, and a few hundred dollars over budget and I still have not gotten anything up and running.

Terrible customer service (they do NOT return calls, even if they ask you to leave your number).
Terrible tech support (impossible to get a hold out of them).
Please avoid this company!"

"DO NOT BUY!

I have dealt with dozens of other companies online and haven't had a problem. THEY HAVE NOT YET REFUNDED MY MONEY FOR A COMPUTER CASE THAT WAS NOT IN STOCK, AND THEY NEGLECTED TO TELL ME IT WON'T BE IN STOCK!

If they don't refund my money in the next 2 days, I'm starting a claim with my VISA card company.

It shouldn't take 2 weeks to refund your money!"