Monarch Computer Bites the Dust?

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FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Monarch Computer Bites the Dust?

Monarch Computer seems to have fallen on some hard times in 2006. They were not too happy with us when we evaluated a system of theirs back in May. They pledged then to fix all their support issues repeatedly, but we never saw that happen. We then saw constant complaints about Monarch’s customer service in our forums and at that time we decided to end their advertising contract with HardOCP. It just did not feel right telling our readers to rely on Monarch any more. After that we heard rumors of them going bankrupt, but those rumors could not be substantiated. And finally this week Monarch is not answering phones or returning many of their customers’ emails. Here is what Monarch had to say when asked when asked for an official statement on the condition of their business:

I emailed the owner and legal for the answers to your below questions regarding the recent issues at Monarch so hang on and I will contact you with an official update ASAP.
Click to expand...

That is certainly not a good sign and no reply as to the state of your business is surely scary for customers looking for support. I think most of the people that have had issues with Monarch are just about out of patience. We will let you know what else transpires.

You can Digg this story here.
 
Ouch, they were pretty good for prices too. I wonder how such a big company can just fall apart like that and be so unreliable.
 
Kind of a shame, I remember buying stuff from them out of Computer Shopper. Then again, if you can't give proper customer service you probably don't deserve to exist any more as a company. I for one have never had a problem with Monarch, but in the past few years I've only bought a couple video cards and a sound card from them, pretty easy to not screw that up imo.
 
i was just up there 2 wks ago. they had hot deals on their lian li's (V1200 for 110bux)

nobody said anything when i was there... maybe i should head back up there soon and see whats going on...
 
Yes.. I'm very interested and will keep an eye on this. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars with them over the years through home and work purchases. I have always relied on them in the past. I even won their last contest they hosted on [H] and got some cool prizes. But, my last order I placed with them through work, I haven't been able to get a hold of them, and its been over a month. I'm over $600 out and can't get a refund, an email response, or a phone response. This will be my last time ordering from them. If they come under new ownership, I will reconsider if they turn out to be reputable again. I have existing warranties on mobo/processor combo's with them, and it looks like they are no good now. :(
 
While it sucks to see a former great online store bite the dust, it's actually about time they put the key on the doors after the blatant abuse with the refunds and using the money as float since a few months.

A honorable owner should have closed the doors a few months ago, give time to rearrange the business then reopen with a much better store.
 
ouch for them... business is hard .. competition in their industry is huge and price driven ...

maybe they will liquidate :D
 
I just ordered a Silver G70 Lian-Li Full Tower case from them about 2 1/2 weeks ago, and I got it but let me tell you, there was no email at all to tell me I had even made a purchase. It wasn't until several days later I got a "your item has shipped" email.

I was very worried.

On the other hand, I got the case for $125 shipped. It is $200 anywhere else.
 
It'd be great to hear what's been going on with them. It seems like not that long ago when we used to jump on the [H]ot Deals every day here.... then it's been heading south since then. Hopefully everything is resolved for the people that have made orders there in the past few months. They should make things right before going under.
 
I never ordered anything from them based on the reports of horror stories. Granted every e-tailer has disgruntled customers but Monarch had more than its fair share. And then they were busted on resellerratings.com for posting fake reviews of themselves. You treat you customers like crap and want to stay in business? I for one am glad they are gone. Now I'll never have to read another "Hot Deal from Monarch" thread again!
 
I was going to put my core2 Duo system with them over the summer to support the [H] and because they had a decent presence in the Hot Deals forum. But something rubbed me the wrong way a bit for paying for extra Warranty stuff. I know that other e-tailers are doing this now too, but fortunately for me, they never had all my parts in at the same time. I wound up going with the Fly...used to be an Egg guy until they opened a warehouse in NJ. Sales tax combined with occasional gouging for new products (and the Zip does this at times too) made me have to drop the Egg. It was about a month later I saw threads popping up about Monarch complaints...I'm glad I dodged a bullet there.
 
Just checked their site, and they have practically NOTHING for sale. Their site is now a pale shadow of what it used to be. I'd say they're history.
 
malicious said:
maybe they will liquidate :D
Click to expand...

With their current trend that might be a risk in itself.

Sad to see them go down, though I have not used them in the past year or two I did purchase a computer years ago via computer shopper when they were still pretty small. The web is a dog eat dog world unfortunatly, would be interested to see how this turns out.
 
malicious said:
ouch for them... business is hard .. competition in their industry is huge and price driven ...

maybe they will liquidate :D
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same... and then thought to myself... even if they did, would you trust them enough to buy anything?

Such a shame, monarch used to kick ass.
 
I would only chance something from them on liquidation if I did in person pickup.
 
I purchased my Athlon 64 X2 4800 processor from them, when AMD dropped the prices drastically a few months ago. Got it for around $300, when everyone was still selling them in the $500-$600 range. No problems on the order or delivery, it went through just great.

This was a featured Hard/Hot-deals promotion.
 
I did lots of business with them over the years. Still have some systems out in offices with service contracts. Too bad.
 
Its a hard time for computer parts vendors in general - I worked for a smaller Atlanta area shop part time, however, it circled the drain for a year or two before finally closing its doors just a few months ago.

Distributors are ruthless, which I know for a fact Monarch still did/does a lot of business through Atlanta distrubitors, as they would often order every peice of whatever the new item of the day was, leaving the rest of us with none to sell. The distributors, of course, aimed towards satisfying their high volume customers, so those of us ordering 1-2 video cards of each type at a time would get the short end of the stick.

Several Atlanta area distributors have gone under over the past few years, or simply closed the Atlanta branch, though a few new ones have appeared. As their mindset is once you buy it, you own it no matter what, its very difficult if you make a couple of bad business decisions such as purchasing a wad of CPU's to have the price drop out from under you, you're looking at a rather substantial loss. Do this a few times and you go under.

I could also comment on the razor thin margins in the business - no reasonable business person would ever get into the computer parts business as a small (like the one I worked at) or midsize (like Monarch) dealer, as the consistant battle to try to make more than 10% on any given product is a huge struggle at a low volume.

Another huge impact factor has been the price drops on the HDTVs, Xbox360's, Wii's, PS3's and other hot ticket consumer electronics, as the average consumer's enterainment dollars are limited, they'll be spending $1,000 on a nice new TV (like I did a few weeks ago) instead of $1,000 to upgrade their computer that runs Windows XPloder just fine.

After taking a peak at Monarch's site, it certainly seems like the grim reaper is in the house....
 
Once upon a time well over five years ago I think I used Monarch. I had a great experience. I think they wehre really small then at least I got that impression. I used them for a while with very few problems. As they grew they began getting worse and worse. Started with ordering something and not shipping for a few days. Then it was ordering something and it not shipping for a week. Then it was slow shippping and partial and or wrong orders. The customer service went from friendly to down right rude. About a year ago I used them again. I figured they might have improved besides their price was like $30 cheaper than the next cheapest supplier. I ordered a video card from them for a friend. I waited a week. A week later my friend is calling, "Hey I didn't get my video card yet and they charged my credit card I checked." They haven't even sent me an email. So I shot them an email it was like 8pm on a Friday, calling was out. I didn't get a reply at all. I sent another email. No reply again. So now it's a Wednesday. I call them I'm on hold for 2hrs. I hang up call back, I get the "we are now closed" message. I send another email(borderline rude). I get a reply the next day, so and so who handles that department is on VACATION for the week. I call, on hold for an hour this time. "Can someone else help?" "No I'm sorry you'll have to call back next week". "Can I just cancel the order please." "No you have to talk to so and so." "Maybe your boss can help me?" "Sorry, he's on vacation too." "Can anyone who worth a sh*t help me?" "No Sir I'm sorry." "You sure are sorry, you worthless pile of crap", etc... You get the idea. So the following monday I get an email. "The credit card number you supplied does not match the address on the account." WTF, I check other vendors they are now all out of stock! I jump through hoops with them and the bank. Finally it'll ship out this afternoon. Glad that's over with. Nope sorry get an email next day sorry we are temporarily out of stock. I call to cancel the guy is a jerk about it but says they'll have more in 2 days. I say this is because you didn't tell me about the credit card issue for 2 weeks. The guy coulda let me believe that. Nope he says no it was sold out when you ordered it. There was a stocking error. If he was there in person I woulda ripped off his head and shit down his throat. 2 days turned into 4 days and finally it shipped. My friend payed for next day air they shipped it ground. Called back they refunded the difference. Then to top it off, DOA. They gave me a hell of a time about that. Then finally they said, nope we don't do returns on that item you have to go to the manufacturer. It says so on our website. Luckily BFG rocks! They did a cross ship and got a new card in 3 days. So long story, I don't care if they are $50 cheaper. I won't order from them EVER again. As a matter of fact, unless it's a HUGE price difference or they are out of stock. I only order from Newegg now. Newegg rules!
 
Wow, I wonder what that means for people like me who purchased extended warranties on products through them.
 
it just goes to show you how important well managed systems are to the life of a business ...

growth is both a blessing and a curse depending on your ability to manage it..

the only difference between newegg and monarch are the systems they choose to use and their ability to adequately manage those systems...

Newegg's product isn't a cpu or a video card it's the whole newegg buying experience from start to finish

Newegg's ability to duplicate that experience over and over again creates their brand position in the minds of consumers...

this is the same with Mcdonald's or any other successful business.

my .02

mal
 
Ingonuts13 said:
Wow, I wonder what that means for people like me who purchased extended warranties on products through them.
Click to expand...

well if they go under i'd say you are farked
 
First, I must express my sadness for the shut down of a company. The more companies, the better the prices are. However, being a former one-time customer of theirs, and having had nothing but a nightmare experience with them, I am not sad it's them. Making a bad impression on customers, especially first-timers and having that bad experience compounded by even more bad behavior in subsequent emails from them because I told people (here) about my experience, makes my brief sadness turn into manic happiness. I cannot help but feel in my heart a similar feeling to what someone expressed here earlier.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out Monarch." Good riddens in my opinion. Sometimes price isn't enough.
 
thy did me good for a long time

then they did me bad

it took posting in here, calling, emailing, etc, and finally attacking their hot-deals thread to get a refund.

Good riddance for bad rubbish
 
Posted this in the other thread here today, but I'll repost.

This is sad. They are about 22 miles from my work. If nobody manages to contact them maybe I'll run over there. Perhaps the local Fox5 news station who likes to rip into ripoffs like this would like to be in on this. I'll send them a link.

EDIT: You can reach the Fox5 I-Team at [email protected] and tell them your story of being ripped off, enough voices will likely get them to investigate, they love stories like this. They also have a # of 404-898-0242

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/p...=65&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

There is a Digg thread on this too pointing to the story here. Digg it folks and spread the word..

http://www.digg.com/hardware/Monarch_Computer_s_Going_Bankrupt
 
I was lucky...I got some great deals from them and never had a problem......bummer this has happened and I hope everyone is able to work out their problems with them:(
 
Wow, this would mean for a change the bad guys would die first.

They pissed me off enough to say that.

The only disappointing part is that people will say it was due to market conditions. When it clearly was due to pissing off one customer after another and never fixing a single thing.
 
Sad to see them go, I just hope I get some sort of use out of my warranties through them.
 
rahlquist said:
Posted this in the other thread here today, but I'll repost.

This is sad. They are about 22 miles from my work. If nobody manages to contact them maybe I'll run over there. Perhaps the local Fox5 news station who likes to rip into ripoffs like this would like to be in on this. I'll send them a link.

EDIT: You can reach the Fox5 I-Team at [email protected] and tell them your story of being ripped off, enough voices will likely get them to investigate, they love stories like this. They also have a # of 404-898-0242

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/p...=65&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

There is a Digg thread on this too pointing to the story here. Digg it folks and spread the word..

http://www.digg.com/hardware/Monarch_Computer_s_Going_Bankrupt
Click to expand...

Or call Clark
;)
 
Spectre said:
Or call Clark
;)
Click to expand...
Either way if folks want their money they better get moving before this company does something like cleans out their merchandise, leaves town, and sets up an ebay account to dump their inventory.
 
Ouch, I bought most of my hardware from them over the last couple of years.

Does anyone know of a vendor with good prices that doesn't charge CA tax?
 
GOOD RIDDANCE!

I have spent a lot of money at Monarch, and when they had no problems with my order, I couldn't have been happier. Great price, decent shipping time, quality products.

Then came my last order from them. Ordered a CPU, next day shipping, ordered on a monday, needed it for a big project starting on the friday. They charged my credit card immediately, of course, yet kept contacting me saying they couldn't verify my shipping address with my credit card. This is supposed to stop fraud, which I understand, but then why charge the card first. Doesn't that negate the fact?

After checking with my CC company they had a bad number, fixed it on tuesday and said it would take immediate effect. Monarch didn't clear it until Friday! Well I cancelled the order on friday before it was even sent to the warehouse. Then I got the 'it takes 30 days to refund a CC' bullshit. I wait the 30 days, nothing, 45 days nothing, 60 days, nothing. No one answers my calls, no one replies to emails. I do get a hold of someone on 3 seperate occasions, each one saying it will be taken care of in the next day. Nothing.

Finally I got my CC to refund the money, never heard anything from Monarch.

They went from a great alternative to Newegg, especially for cpu/mobo combos, to a shady company I wouldn't touch with my neighbors credit card.

Guess, what goes around comes around. Karma's a bitch monarch.
 
With all the sub-standard service and borderline unethical money "floating" tactics, I say good riddance. They've got what's coming to them.



Buh Bye !
 
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