"My experience with Monarch has been very positive and I find that their prices are competitive, i.e., the equivalent of Zip Zoom Fly and/or NewEgg, and sometimes better. Some of their bundled packages are absolutely amazing in terms of value versus price. Their only problem, if there is one, is a lack of marketing Identity. Monarch is a well kept secret in many respects and once people discover them, they will, in all probability, become one of the stalwarts in the the industry. "

"OK, have never used them before now and I wont ever again. I should have taken everyones advice and stayed clear. I needed a DFI CFX and at the time Newegg decided to stop Paypal payments! So I went to Monarch, bad choice. I ordered on the 13th, Friday, got an email right then, but never heard anything till the 17th, when I called! I had wrote 5 emails with no responce, they said they had my email wrong, but they sent me one right at the start?

I was then told that it would ship soon, well I asked, "when is soon"? She said "sometime by the end of the day", ok! Well it did not ship till the 18th. well I picked and paid for 2 day shipping thinking that on fri. 13th that it would ship out and be here tues. or wed. at the latest the next week. Well I didnt get my board till the next monday the 23rd. Ten days with 2 day shipping, WTF! Ten days, I could have drove there in 4hrs and picked the dam thing up!

Now I got my board and spent 4 days trying to get it to work and nope it was DOA, Man at this point I didnt want to wait 4 months for a rebate. I called and got a superviser and after telling him my whole story and how PO'd I was, I got to upgrade to a dfi nF590 AM2 board and I sent mine back and now Im waiting to see whats up!

Now if they get my new AM2 out quick, I really cant say too much, but if I have to wait for a month to get it, boy I will hit the road and go there. If I have to do an 8hr round trip, I will not leave empty handed! So, I guess I will wait but for now I will never get anything from them again!

Newegg is the main place I go and of course they fixed the Paypal deal now and I wrote them too and said thanks, after telling them my whole story at Monarch. But I have had issues with them too, but I have used them for over $10000.00 worth of stuff, over the last 2-3 years! So I have got alot of stuff and there is bound to be a few mistakes here and there!

Monarch better get there crap together or they will be up S__T creek! All the forums have a Monarch complaint thread, its kinda funny though!"

"Only 3 days after receiving my item, they changed the pricing on my item. Called and e-mailed to get a pricematch. Did not honor it.

Was hesitant after reading the reviews, and should have listened. Their customer support is virtually non-existant. Good luck getting a hold of them. D-

"

"Don't believe any positive reviews you read about this company.

I placed an order for a custom system on 8/29/2006. A month later, after no updates from Monarch, I called to check on the status of my build. The first excuse was that the hd was bad and needed to be replaced. I called back a week later, at which point I was told that the replacement HD was on backorder, so I had them swap it for a different HD.

Called back a week later and was told that there were configuration issues.

Finally, after over a month and a half, I decided to cancel my order. I've been on hold numerous times for over an hour each time, and the only time I've been able to reach someone on the phone is when I call the sales department (go figure).

I had a brief email exchange with Joe, who tried to convince me to keep my order, but who hasn't responded to any of my emails since I decided to cancel it.

Still waiting for my credit. I've filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, disputed the charge with my credit card company, and will be contacting the Attorney General of Atalanta soon.

UPDATE: 11/1/2006.
Despite repeated requests to cancel this order along with several emails to the manager of customer service - Joe, my order suddenly went into a "ready to ship" status yesterday. I attempted to contact customer server one final time and amazingly enough actually got through to Randall who proceeded to tell me that there was no way for him to cancel a customer order and that I would have to speak with Joe. However, when I told him that I had already disputed the transaction, he immediately said "Well, I'll stop the order from shipping since you've already decided to dispute it and we'd just be wasting money on shipping".

I'll say it again...don't order from these guys and don't believe any positive reviews you read."

"Stop doing purchase from this website.
I placed an order on 06/27/2006, then cancelled it on 06/29/2006. But I don't get any refund till now. It's almost 4 months. So many emails and phone calls did not get any response. Who can tell me what should I do?"

"I have been a customer of monarch for a very long time, and have been purchasing pc parts and compoments for a while. I was in need of a new system, and wanted to get something small, but with performance. A pc basically to be used at home and to be able to easily take to LANs.
I decided to go with the Hornet Pro. The ordering process was suprising simple. All upgrades were clearly listed with the price. I just had to select the items I wanted, and not worry about compatibility issues. After I tweaked the system exactly to meeet my school and gaming needs, I submitted the order.

The hornet was completed and shipped in the timeframe that was stated online. When I received the unit, I was impress how well it was packed. The hornet itself was packed in a hornet box with padding, just like a typical computer case. That boxs was then packaged in a larger box with more padding. The hornet arrived without a scracth or dent. The unit fired up just fine, and works like a charm. Everything just works. This was definietly a great pc buying experience. No hiccups or surprises. Everything went verly smoothly.

"

"Boardline fradulent. Monarch computer will charge your card the day of your order and then submit your order to the warehouse - where nothing will happen. I placed an order for a Intel Core 2 Duo/motherboard combo on the 10/10/06. The website said that the items were in stock and would be shipped in 3-5 days. E-mail regarding the order were not answered. Calling Monarch to ask about status resulting in being put on hold for 30 minutes and finally being told that the order would be shipped that day or the next. Rechecked two days later and still no ship notice. Called again to check status (only 20 minutes waiting on hold this time) and the rep said that they were waiting on parts to come in on Monday or Tuesday. Told te rep to cancel the order - he said that I had to submit one via email. I did and called back within the hour. The final straw? Monarch said that they would refund my money in 14 to 30 days! Avoid at all costs - they are living on the float of your money."

"Great experience. Product shipped two days after ordering, arrived two days later. Arrived in excellent condition. Would shop here again."

"Really sad to see Monarch close down. It was a great company for quite some time. I personally called it the Mini-Newegg.

I think I was about the last person to receive my order.

Goodbye Monarch. "

"I ordered a heatsink and fan on 9/27/2006. I recieved a box on 10/6/2006 with a case fan attached to a 5 1/4" unit to hold 3 hard drives, addressed to me and with a packing slip for a guy in NH inside. Contacted Monarch Computers and was told to leave it for Fed Ex. It was picked up by Fed Ex on 10/10/2006. Quick communication from this company to get their stuff picked up. If they had bothered to put the correct items in the box originally It would not have been a problem. Here I am almost 3 weeks later with no heatsink and fan and not a peep from these guys. I had 2 personal recommendations before this for Monarch and never expected this disaster. I strongly advise you to read all the reviews before you buy.

UPDATE-
I finally received my Heatsink and fan. At least they did complete the transaction."

"I bought a video card and memory from these people. I paid extra for fast shipping and they took more than a week to ship, even thought they charged my credit card the day of the order. The memory was defective. I contacted customer service but because I did not pay extra for a warranty from the store they will not do anything about it. They say talk to the manufacturer. It took me a week to even get anyone on the phone. They ignore e-mails and phone messages and just do not seem to care about customer service at all. They advertize a low price but them make you pay a higher price if you want any support at all. Over all a very bad experience!"

"They shipped me a DOA mobo. I paid $13 for a heatsink that I didn't want so that they could test the motherboard and processor. I doubt they ever tested it. I had to RMA the board through ASUS because monarch only offers a 15 day warranty.

The best excuse the customer service reps could give me was that the motherboard had "gone bad" or "simply failed" during shipping. They then threatened me with legal action if I continued to complain about it in their forums, and told me that I didn't have to place an order with them.

They have low prices, but what's the point if you end up spending a dollar to save a dime?"

"Run away from these fraudsters. I bought parts worth 2 grand and they wouldn't ship'em for a week. I called them to complain and they have given me a tracking # and have shipped some of the order that day. My guess is that the guy was preparing the shipment as we spoke on the phone. The night after, I got the invoice showing that 2 items are on back-order?! Called the next morning and they have claimed that it was a mistake and will ship that day and will get everything by Friday. I demanded they upgrade the shipping. They didn't ... The next night I got another trackign info saying that one of the two 'backordered' items was backordered again. I called the following morning and was furious. The dumb CS told me that the package got damaged 'before' it left for fedex and they had to resend it that day. It didn't happen so I called on Thursday and asked them to overnight the last part since I was promised to get eveyrthing BY friday. They did in fact overnight it but after the cut-off time and I got it on Monday. Regadless... 6 calls and such hassle is not worth the 'savings. AVOID!"

"Store lowered price of the item a day after my purchase. Even though it hadn't arrived yet, they refused to adjust my purchase price. In my opinion, Monarch Computer is a bottom-rung computer store that does not prioritize customer satisfaction. I would take my business elsewhere."

"Store could use some efficiency improvements. There is a large delay in the billing process, and it takes a couple days to ship from the warehouse. However, the wat was worthwhile given the price I paid for my new motherboard ($50 cheaper than Newegg which is extremely fast at processing orders).

A minor gripe with their billing process. They couldn't confirm my shipping address (my fault), but they billed my credit card immediately (two days before shipping address was verified). While I don't mind billing before shipping (as long as it ships within a couple days), this seems to contradict their security policy of shipping only to verified addresses to prevent fraud.

Phone service is worth commenting on also. The first time I called, their automated phone system looped me back to the main menu instead of forwarding my call to their sales dept. However, the 2 people I spoke (two separate occasions for this order) were extremely friendly and helpful.

To summarize, their automation has much to be desired, but the people behind the scenes have been wonderful. A great place to order from on the condition that you can afford to wait a little longer to receive your order."