"Upgraded shipping to get items to me by the weekend when they didn't ship as quickly as expected. Very happy with the transaction."

"Made on online order from monarch on 2005-08-29 for a OCZ 520 Modstream PSU that had a rebate that was up until 8-30. Thought everything would be cool and thigns would arrive in due time.
Well for starters they had some trouble verifying my credit card, and isntead of having a phone system i had to go back and forth over email before my order could be processed. So order goes to processing, takes 3 days, and my order gets shipped on 9/1. Well with labor day weekend that 2 day shipping turned into 7 DAYS! Finally get my package on 9/7 and unfortunately had to wait till the weekend to install. Unfortuneatly i didnt realize that warrenty had to be postmarked by 9/10 and thus i loose out on that now :(
I consider this a poor experience because Monarch defiantely didn't allow for proper processing time with their rebates and shipping practices.

EDIT 9/20 - Recieved a call and email within a day of positing my review here. Shawn at monarch was more than willing to listen to my concerns and to try and help me out. This company is going out of their way to make customers satisfied, and now i am one of those satisfied customers. Monarch is now a store I'm defiantely willing to deal with again."

"Was a completely painless experience. The order arrived before it was actually expected due. Excellent job, highly recommended."

"Ordered a custom Furia Desktop and paid for Rush build. Original order was delivered on time and build quality was good. However, 10 days or so later the system failed due to power supply or MOBO issue. This was not really Monarch's fault. Their support forum was very helpful but could not fix the problem. I had to return the system and they issued an RMA. Here is where there service began to slip. It took 19 days to get a working system back and only after I threatened to insist on a refund. Their communication during this time was poor as I had to contact them to get any update. Plus, on two different occasions I had Monarch employees guarantee it would ship back to me without it ever happening. Finally a manager got it overnighted to me. It is back and in good condition... but I dread the thought that I may ever need service from them on it in the future."

"My order for a custom Furia was placed on August 8, 2005.

I had the many of same issues that people have reported in the Monarch forums over the last month or so:
1. Monarch's Online Status website showing the computer was in Step Two..... for 13 business days.
2. No proactive e-mail with the exception of the initial invoice/order confirmation. The lack of communications and delays made me question my decision to buy from Monarch.

Now for the good points of my review:

1.I emailed Order and Status Depts. several times, and got replies from Chappel and Rob W. stating the system would ship early in week of Sept. 5th.

2. Monarch not only shipped the system on Sept. 6th, but upgraded it to 2-day FedEx without me asking!

3. My Furia arrived on Sept. 8th in good condition, despite the FedEx rough handling, holes punched in the box, etc.... BTW, make sure you check your system for loose parts, cards etc, before you plug it in... I could tell the trip to my house was NOT smooth!

4. So far, the computer has exceeded my expectations in build quality and performance...I've run burn-in tests, benchmarks, etc. and all is great.

5. I was missing a free game CD which was part of the order. I e-mailed Monarch's Sales Dept. and got a quick response and a promise to send the item ASAP.

5. I'm very happy with Monarch now, and I hope this continues.

Bottom line is it took a month for me to receive the system (20 business days), communication was not great, but the final result was what I expected from Monarch, and that is what counts.


PS: I'd like to thank Chappel, Rob, and Benjamin for their help through the process... it's obvious things were hectic and customer services suffered, but these folks took an interest in my problems"

"You couldn't possibly order from a better Buisness than Monarch Computer.
Rod"

"rick and david in the parts dept took care of me and handled the order very well. they are all nice people to deal with over at monarch.

i was promptly assisted with all my questions...and of course we all know that in customer service, a little goes a long way.
thank you guys and gals. --Bz--"

"I ordered a custom system from Monarch on August 22. My system has been in "Stage 2" for 16 business days now according to the online order status form. Throughout the past week, I have had limited success contacting Monarch through the methods they specify on their website.

This evening, I was finally contacted by a representative from Monarch who stated that the build of my system was "running a few days late".

I previously ordered a system from Monarch just over two years ago, and the service was top notch. They followed through on all of their stated claims, and the computer has run flawlessly this entire time.

Update: After being totally frustrated toward the end of the build process (because of not having my phone calls and e-mail returned), Sterling from Monarch contacted me about my system. According to him, they made my order a priority, and shipped it out the same day via overnight shipping (at no charge to me).

Although it did take them 21 business days to ship my order (received it 09/26/2005), the system was in great shape when I received it.

I think this is a busy time for Monarch, but you should be aware that they may take a little longer than the stated 8-13 business day window to ship your order; however, if you are willing to wait a little longer, you will receive a great product."

"Computer configuration and customer service developed into something approaching a true artform. Unsurpassed selection, competitive pricing, and a no-holds barred desire to make sure that the customer is completely satisfied. Trust me, they will do everything they can and more to ensure your satisfaction. This is not your run-of-the-mill-garden-variety computer systems designer, this is the very best of pure science combined with the creativity of art. First class, all the way. "

"This is my first purchase from Monarch Computers and what at first was a little bit of paranoia on my part was quickly put to rest by Sterling. There was only a slight bit of mis communication and Sterling had called me up and left his own personal cell phone and took care of it right away and even changed the shipping to overnight at no charge. This definately was nothing short of one of my best online transactions. He took care of the problem with me on the phone and assured me that everything was done right and had people jump on my order right away. This is probably the best customer service experience for me in such a long time. I definately recommend monarch computer to anyone. The prices and deals cant be beat and package that up with A+ service and you have a combo you can never lose on! THank you so much Sterling keep up the good work!!!"

"Well, this is my first purchase from Monarch, I hope it goes well. I hope it's worth the ~$150 that I saved as opposed to going with NewEgg.

I ordered a motherboard combo (4200+, 2x1GB OCZ Platinum, Asus A8N-SLI), vid card (eVGA 7800GTX), a PSU (Antec NeoPower 480), HD (WD 74GB 10k Raptor), case (Antec), and case fans.

9/11 - submitted order

9/12 - got email that order had been sent to order processing for bank verification

9/13 - saw on website that my order had been submitted to the warehouse for build

9/15 - received 2 emails from FedEx, one tracking a 20 lb. package, and the other tracking a 36 lb. package, both 2-day shipments. I hope that's my whole system. If so, it could be here by Saturday and I would have less than a week turnaround, but more likely it will get here on Monday. The web site still says my system is in the warehouse.

9/16 - Monarch's website is updated to "Shipped" status and the tracking numbers are available on the status page. Although the packages are in the delivery city, they will not be unpacked from the air freight until Monday. So far, this has been a very pleasing experience. Now I hope that there isn't any DoA merchandise or missing parts.

9/19 - everything arrived intact. I spent the night assembling it and actually got POST on my first try! The case is huge btw, but that's good with the massive vid card. 3 of 5 fans running and almost no sound. CPU running at 36C and mobo running at 34C. Mobo was assembled nicely with CPU and RAM verified and burned in at Monarch.

My only beef with the whole thing is the AMD 64 X2 stickers that I bought for $2.99. You get 3 wimpy stickers like the ones for WinXP on cases. I thought maybe I would get a cool 3x5" sticker or something, but no. Not a big deal. But save yourself 3 bucks and just use the one in the retail AMD package.

Overall, this was a great experience for me. Although the searching capabilities on the website are sorely lacking in comparison to NewEgg and others, the bottom line is - eerything arrived accurately, within a very reasonable time, with no damage, and with sufficient packaging. I would definitely buy from Monarch again. Too bad they aren't competitive with the LCD and Plextor DVD burner prices - guess it's time to go back to NewEgg :) But this way, I know I have two good places to shop."

"I purchased a video card on 8/22. I contacted the company via telephone (several times, left a message once, no answer on subsequent calls) as well as via email before the product was shipped requesting to cancel the order.

They never returned my phone call and shipped the item anyhow. I refused the package. Monarch got the package on 8/31 and as of today 9/14 no refund has been posted, nor has there been any communication.

Horrible.

Update: 9/19 Monarch has time to edit their response here on resellerratings.com, but I still have no refund, nor will they return emails sent from a different address (since they blocked the first).


EDIT:
Monarch initially posted this reply, and has since edited it to it's current form, here is the original:

9/15/05 8:34 AM
This customer placed thier order and it shipped in the promised time. We received no cancelation request. FedEx had to attempt delivery 3 times before the customer was there to sign for it. The phone # provided by the cusotmer is disconnected.


My response to their original post, so that you can see the truth.

Monarch has lied in their reply, here is the proof:
http://www.fedex.com/Tracking?cntry_code=us&action=track&language=english&tracknumbers=693728739152&initial=x&

I fail to see where fedex had to deliver three times before I supposedly was there to sign for it (keeping in mind that it was refused and sent back).

Yes, the number I provided was my old phone number, I completely forgot about it, however I did leave my new number on their voicemail - the one I never got a reply to.

Also, Monarch refuses to speak with me via email, after this horrible experience, I don't want to speak to them on the phone. I'd rather it all be documented, but I guess that's not possible now as they've blocked my email address. ( Sender address rejected: Blocked)

Horrible, stay away."

"Well, so far not so good, credit card was processed for full amount before the order was sent out. Ok I can live with that. The order went out about 4 business days later, yeah! good stuff... See what happens. Waiting for refund to my credit card for my previous RMA."

"Ordered a complete system totaling around 1600 dollars on August 23 of 05. Kept checking the status of the order and found that it was in step 2 for over 21 days. I made a few phone calls to Monarch to ask when it would be shipped, I was given the 13th as the shipping date. I called again today because I had not yet seen an email with shipping info. I was disconnected two times while waiting for info on the order. The third time I was told to give my phone number and I would be contacted. After this failed I called back and finally talked to an individual who for some reason could not set even a tentative shipping date. Not only has the order taken 21 days before even being shipped, it has also never been given a shipping date. The problem is that I am going to school in a little less than 2 weeks and Monarch clearly states on its site that builds take 8-13 business days as well as 5-7 to ship. 21 days before even shipping is unacceptable in my opinion.

**Updated 9/15/05**
Received a call from Monarch Manager Sterling. We discussed the issue and he resolved it. He readied the computer, and overnight shipped it to us. We received it today at about 10:30. Overall I am very happy with my purchase and would do business again with Monarch. Way to go!"

"Sure I liked the storefront, and the fact that they had what I needed, and that the prices were good, and that I could preview shipping--all well and good. It's the least you should expect.

What set it apart, in my opinion, was the fact that when I called to ask about my order five minutes after placing it, I: 1)got a human on the phone after three rings, who 2)spoke clearly and intelligently and knew exactly what I needed to know and who 3)was friendly and helpful and unbelievably enough 4)called me back a few hours later to update me on the issue I'd asked about! Unbelievable. The way things ought to be.
"