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Monarchcomputer using customers money as a float, anyone have recent experince
- Thread starter hardwarephreak
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Limp Gawd
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Ryokurin said:Confirmed that the guy from Tennessee is correct. Keep in mind that Tucker is an Atlanta Suburb. if he lived in say Chattanooga, its only a two hour drive.
If you want bigger Kyle, let me know.
Ryokurin, Thanks for posting those pictures. That clears up some of the confusion. That poster that I quoted on page 14 seems to have it wrong. He stated they are going out of business, when the fact is they are just closing their retail store-front. It's been rumoured that Monarch probably will move to just building systems since their hardware for sale stock has been very limited recently. But in any event, I do appreciate the pictures, I knew someone that lived near Tucker Ga would clear things up.
Have a nice weekend.
SSS
I just made it over here from reseller ratings. Monarch accepted my complete PC in for RMA motherboard replacement in early September. I was told 10 business days. I was told over and over that it was fixed and ready to be shipped. (After the common >45m hold time) In early December I got a pleasant toned lengthy email saying that I wasnt forgotten and that they were still working on it, and I could expect it soon.
After seeing the pictures you guys posted, I have lost hope. Im literally devastated because my hard drive was full of my personal info, pictures of both of my daughters births, family outings. I could go on, but Im tearing up.
I came here for advice and hugs.
After seeing the pictures you guys posted, I have lost hope. Im literally devastated because my hard drive was full of my personal info, pictures of both of my daughters births, family outings. I could go on, but Im tearing up.
I came here for advice and hugs.
seanbear said:
I'm shopping at Brick and Mortar stores for the rest of my life!
A pretty large amount of smaller shops do so with AMEX cards because they take a higher percentage of the sale as a usage fee. Most cards do 2-3%, amex is around 5% They are not supposed to but plenty do.
General Crespin
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Mudhen00 said:
Go to a lawyer.
swatbat
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Mudhen00 said:
Can't comment on Monarch's policy but most vendors say they are not responsible for data loss when you ship the system back to them. Many will image the system overagain if they have any thought that it is a software issue. I really hope you have a backup of those pics.
General Crespin
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swatbat said:
I think he's more worried-annoyed that they STILL have his computer.
swatbat
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General Crespin said:
Mudhen00 said:
Sounds like the guy is worried about his data but I'm not him so I can't comment in his place. Either way it is not looking good for him.
CyclopsSlayer
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Over the last few years I had bought from Monarch several times, 3x Combo assemblies, RAM, HD's, PSU etc... never had a problem.
Then last Oct I was in the market for a 4th Combo and had a question regarding the options, repeated phone calls unreturned, no email answers, decided to piecemeal the order from other suppliers. Turns out that was a lucky choice.
Sad to see them go belly up. They had always done right by me in the past.
Then last Oct I was in the market for a 4th Combo and had a question regarding the options, repeated phone calls unreturned, no email answers, decided to piecemeal the order from other suppliers. Turns out that was a lucky choice.
Sad to see them go belly up. They had always done right by me in the past.
General Crespin
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swatbat said:
That's what I meant, just didn't word it right.
Nazo
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I hate to say it, but, SwatBat is probably right. Chances are they won't even bat an eye at wiping out all the data on there in an instant. It's sad to hear of such important data being lost though. In the future, you may want to get one of those external enclosures with a harddrive (my preference are the 2.5" notebook variety as they use less power, can take more punishment, and are smaller, but they do cost more.) With that kind of thing you can back up everything that matters. Unfortunately, it won't help get back what's lost. )-: (BTW, I've experienced a total data loss on a few occasions before without proper backups. I'll never get back some of the stuff I lost on those occasions. At this point, I'm almost paranoid about anything that matters and make TWO backups of some things that I could even replace fairly easily. It's a hard lesson to learn.)
Just do your research first is all and don't obsessively choose any one over the other just because it is brick and mortar or just because of any other reason other than "it offers you the best shopping quality." Oh, and just to be clear, "research" doesn't mean resellerratings alone -- that's just a starting point and some of what you read there must be taken with a grain of salt, but it still can be useful for finding out stuff you may not find elsewhere. I'm reminded of this stupid commercial where the person says "I always do my research on the internet first" and then he says that CNet recommended the product, so he stopped researching right then and ran to get it based on that alone. When I say research, I mean actually get out there and look carefully.)
Right now, Newegg is "it." For now. Honestly I think someday they will get too big for their own good and go the route that Best Buy went, but, for now, I'd recommend it over any brick and mortar store.
Just for kicks sometime, look up Best Buy in Reseller Ratings. Brick and mortar stores aren't automatically in any way better. You just have to do your research and keep up with things because good companies go bad over the years and you have to be ready to switch the moment that they start to -- the idea is to switch BEFORE you get roped into a situation like this whole Monarch business. Anyway, what I can tell you about B&M stores is that in every one I've been to, selection is limited beyond reason (just a few of their favorite brands -- favorite being defined as "offered them the best deal to sell their products") and prices are outrageous. I've seen them sell a few things like video cards actually at twice what they sell on all online stores.seanbear said:
I'm shopping at Brick and Mortar stores for the rest of my life!
Just do your research first is all and don't obsessively choose any one over the other just because it is brick and mortar or just because of any other reason other than "it offers you the best shopping quality." Oh, and just to be clear, "research" doesn't mean resellerratings alone -- that's just a starting point and some of what you read there must be taken with a grain of salt, but it still can be useful for finding out stuff you may not find elsewhere. I'm reminded of this stupid commercial where the person says "I always do my research on the internet first" and then he says that CNet recommended the product, so he stopped researching right then and ran to get it based on that alone. When I say research, I mean actually get out there and look carefully.)
Right now, Newegg is "it." For now. Honestly I think someday they will get too big for their own good and go the route that Best Buy went, but, for now, I'd recommend it over any brick and mortar store.
the only sites i personally trust now are (that i've had experience with)
newegg
jab-tech
svc
buy.com (can be iffy)
tankguys seem to go above and beyond in terms of helping me (but then again so did monarch at the beginning)
monarch has since been removed
newegg
jab-tech
svc
buy.com (can be iffy)
tankguys seem to go above and beyond in terms of helping me (but then again so did monarch at the beginning)
monarch has since been removed
I personally stopped giving my business to Monarch when they tried to pull a bait and switch on me a few yrs. ago...
I used to live approximately 1 hrs drive from there, and the sales rep there was completely rude and inadequate...
my sympathies to those who are still currently struggling to get answers from them...
I used to live approximately 1 hrs drive from there, and the sales rep there was completely rude and inadequate...
my sympathies to those who are still currently struggling to get answers from them...
NAZO said:
I understand that, but If I'm unhappy they at least have to look me in the eye when they hose me. I've had much better luck in the service department when I have an actual location where I can go to voice my problems and concerns.
Also, your advice on doing your homework is spot on. Review sites like this one (Thank you guys!) and Reseller Ratings are immensely helpful. BBB is also and excellent resource.
PS: Apologies for thread crapping. I got a little off topic.
An actual location may be nice, but when a part like an Ante NeoHE 550w power supply (just an example off the top of my head that I've seen in the past month) can be gotten online for $80-110 is $159 at Best Buy, for me, it isn't worth buying brick and mortar. Or how about $33 for a USB printer cable that ought to cost you $10? That's the standard price at Best Buy around here.seanbear said:
As you said, it's about service. Most of my stuff comes either from Newegg and ZipZoomFly, who have given me excellent service. I've also done some ordering through Outpost.com (Fry's online outlet), occasionally through Buy.com, and a couple recent transactions through Dell (LCD panel and graphics card) that have gone really well, plus some smaller outlets (SVC, FrozenCPU, Plycon) and done great (Plycon's service has been especially good).
You can have bad service locally too, and I've seen that from several B&M stores. Even when you get to "look someone in the eye" they may have a lousy manager who could care less about your problem, and more about making sure his store's sales figures look good to the district or regional manager.
The second part of your post makes the most sense: Do your homework. You can find plenty of online vendors that do a great job if you're willing to look. I only buy locally when I have an immediate need, through a small computer shop; the rest of my purchases are online, and I haven't had any issues.
I ran into a fellow ex-employee today while I was out and about and discovered that Monarch has indeed been bought out. Whoever bought them wanted the rights to sell the Hornet system (since it was I believe a custom chassy).
Anyone who you knew who worked there is gone, from what I heard from this individual.
I feel bad for the company that bought them, as they owed quite a bit to several vendors, and the IRS as well, but that's because apparently someone didn't file the form that says "hey, not everything we sell is in GA, so most of it we don't need to pay tax on it."
Since everyone there is gone now, I'll say that anyone who did a chargeback up until maybe Septemeber, I was the guy who responded. Ditto with BBB. Sorry if I pissed anyone off with my responses, I was just following the company line. Ditto if you got sent to collections. Speaking of collections, if I get a bored day I'll post a copy of a letter we got from a guy we sent to collections. It's not related to the topic at hand really, but it's at least funny.
Anyone who you knew who worked there is gone, from what I heard from this individual.
I feel bad for the company that bought them, as they owed quite a bit to several vendors, and the IRS as well, but that's because apparently someone didn't file the form that says "hey, not everything we sell is in GA, so most of it we don't need to pay tax on it."
Since everyone there is gone now, I'll say that anyone who did a chargeback up until maybe Septemeber, I was the guy who responded. Ditto with BBB. Sorry if I pissed anyone off with my responses, I was just following the company line. Ditto if you got sent to collections. Speaking of collections, if I get a bored day I'll post a copy of a letter we got from a guy we sent to collections. It's not related to the topic at hand really, but it's at least funny.
hardwarephreak
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Ju-No said:
Seems you answer a good many questions here. The part that especially concerns me is the part where you say that you were just following company line. Any chance you could fill us all in a bit more about the "company line" and what it exactly was. I have a feeling it will be eye opening, and at the same time make people cringe a little.
General Crespin
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Ju-No said:
Thanks for clearing some of this up for us; is there any chance you can tell us if MCS' problems started before or after this buyout/acquisition? Thanks.
Stuck_In_Afreaka
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I am still having big issues with Monarch myself... I am waiting on around 400$ of refunds for broken or wrong goods being shipped to me almost 3 months late. I need to contact that place to find out what I can do about getting my money back, I cant seem to get a hold of Monarch at all and they never reply to any of my emails. Please tell me someone has got some good news when it comes to reimbursements???
General Crespin:
The problems at Monarch started a good while ago, things started getting bad at the end of 2005, and during 2006 it just got crazy as the year progressed. Chargebacks just went up and up and up.
The rumblings I heard was that MCS had outside financing, which more or less was how they paid for the expansion they experienced. Then they didn't renew the financing because the head honcho decided he wanted to go it alone. So then we were wokring with a lto less cash. Refunds were stacking up, and we could maybe process ~$2000 a day, and then only if we got authorization, which generally didn't happen. We kept cataloging them, but they just piled up in an empty cubicle.
We had less cash, so we had a limited amount of inventory on hand. (On a side note, we had wayyyy too many cases in the warehouse (for some reason the head of purchasing was proud of the large number of cases we offered). Toward the end of my tenure there, the store had what seemed like a hundred cases, covering every available counter space, and they were just the scratch and dents.). We kept a good stock of commonly ordered items, but all the somewhat uncommon stuff that was listed as "in stock" on the website was really ordered in a just in time manner from several ATL distributors.
In the end there just wasn't any cashflow. The buyout is the end of MCS as it was known. No one that anyone here might has known is there anymore.
hardwarephreak:
"Seems you answer a good many questions here. The part that especially concerns me is the part where you say that you were just following company line. Any chance you could fill us all in a bit more about the "company line" and what it exactly was. I have a feeling it will be eye opening, and at the same time make people cringe a little."
The company line was to hold on to as much cash for as long as possible. When people would call in about refunds, they were told "oh, I'll forward it to the credit dept and expedite that since you've been waiting so long" or a myriad number of excuses. The Terms and Conditions were modified to refunds taking up to 30 days, it used to be 14 days.
With chargebacks, there were a few ways to hold on to cash. If it was from AMEX or Discover dispute I would wait until the last day possible to reply, especially if it was a cancel refund, where they were definetly due their money back.
In most cases I just warped the T&C to try and hold on to cash. If they bought a refurb item and returned it, I would say they weren't due a refund since reurb items were non-returnable and non-refundable. We would be happy to send them item back when the chargeback was resolved in our favor. That actually worked sometimes. Same deal if someone sent something back without an RMA.
I felt bad doing it sometimes (except on refurb items, it's pretty much clear that you're on your own in that case, or when peopel tried to return an item they bought a long freakin' time ago), but it was my job.
It basically turned into a "screw everyone you can" during the death throws. Screw customers by holding cash. Screw distributors by getting all the parts you can and lying about when you'll pay them. They evern screwed me in the end. I had about 2 weeks of PTO saved up, and I turned in my 2 weeks notice, but during the last week just couldn't stay anymore, so I turned in a form to use 2 days of PTO for the last 2 days. When I got my alst paycheck I got a typed note stating that I hadn't fulfilled my 2 weeks, so I forfited my PTO, and they included my PTO form with a nice big "REFUSED" written on it. They'd never previosuly refused a PTO request.
Oh well, my new job is better. Aside from a longish commute I have better coworkers, I learn more, and the pay is better.
The problems at Monarch started a good while ago, things started getting bad at the end of 2005, and during 2006 it just got crazy as the year progressed. Chargebacks just went up and up and up.
The rumblings I heard was that MCS had outside financing, which more or less was how they paid for the expansion they experienced. Then they didn't renew the financing because the head honcho decided he wanted to go it alone. So then we were wokring with a lto less cash. Refunds were stacking up, and we could maybe process ~$2000 a day, and then only if we got authorization, which generally didn't happen. We kept cataloging them, but they just piled up in an empty cubicle.
We had less cash, so we had a limited amount of inventory on hand. (On a side note, we had wayyyy too many cases in the warehouse (for some reason the head of purchasing was proud of the large number of cases we offered). Toward the end of my tenure there, the store had what seemed like a hundred cases, covering every available counter space, and they were just the scratch and dents.). We kept a good stock of commonly ordered items, but all the somewhat uncommon stuff that was listed as "in stock" on the website was really ordered in a just in time manner from several ATL distributors.
In the end there just wasn't any cashflow. The buyout is the end of MCS as it was known. No one that anyone here might has known is there anymore.
hardwarephreak:
"Seems you answer a good many questions here. The part that especially concerns me is the part where you say that you were just following company line. Any chance you could fill us all in a bit more about the "company line" and what it exactly was. I have a feeling it will be eye opening, and at the same time make people cringe a little."
The company line was to hold on to as much cash for as long as possible. When people would call in about refunds, they were told "oh, I'll forward it to the credit dept and expedite that since you've been waiting so long" or a myriad number of excuses. The Terms and Conditions were modified to refunds taking up to 30 days, it used to be 14 days.
With chargebacks, there were a few ways to hold on to cash. If it was from AMEX or Discover dispute I would wait until the last day possible to reply, especially if it was a cancel refund, where they were definetly due their money back.
In most cases I just warped the T&C to try and hold on to cash. If they bought a refurb item and returned it, I would say they weren't due a refund since reurb items were non-returnable and non-refundable. We would be happy to send them item back when the chargeback was resolved in our favor. That actually worked sometimes. Same deal if someone sent something back without an RMA.
I felt bad doing it sometimes (except on refurb items, it's pretty much clear that you're on your own in that case, or when peopel tried to return an item they bought a long freakin' time ago), but it was my job.
It basically turned into a "screw everyone you can" during the death throws. Screw customers by holding cash. Screw distributors by getting all the parts you can and lying about when you'll pay them. They evern screwed me in the end. I had about 2 weeks of PTO saved up, and I turned in my 2 weeks notice, but during the last week just couldn't stay anymore, so I turned in a form to use 2 days of PTO for the last 2 days. When I got my alst paycheck I got a typed note stating that I hadn't fulfilled my 2 weeks, so I forfited my PTO, and they included my PTO form with a nice big "REFUSED" written on it. They'd never previosuly refused a PTO request.
Oh well, my new job is better. Aside from a longish commute I have better coworkers, I learn more, and the pay is better.
General Crespin
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Thank you.
thats sickening knowing that the $600 i was screwed out of as you so nicely described...i cant believe (well i can) that mcs would actually try to screw people especially people who THEY KNEW was in high school (fuck sterling). jesus im pissed off.
hardwarephreak
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Yeah, thanks...I knew that having an entire company behave that way had to have been top down instruction. I order from all of the same distributors that Monarch did, and the reputation was less than stellar.
One last question for you...did the directives to screw people over come from the owner or middle management (if there was any). Just curious who instructed who to do what.
I completely see your point about it was your job, lots of people do things they don't like to pay the bills, I'm just glad to see that in the end your ethics stepped in and got you out of there.
One last question for you...did the directives to screw people over come from the owner or middle management (if there was any). Just curious who instructed who to do what.
I completely see your point about it was your job, lots of people do things they don't like to pay the bills, I'm just glad to see that in the end your ethics stepped in and got you out of there.
Well ethics and seeing the company going down had me looking to jump ship.
It wasn't said in the words I stated, but that's what it amounted too. Those orders could only come from on high, there was no middle management. The leadership structure had the head honcho (Trey and Sterling's dad) at the top. He was the dicision maker. Sterling was in charge of purchasing, and Trey didn't do much of anything but drive a car the company paid for, arranging advertising, and coming to work maybe 3 days a week, but in the end they both answered to their dad.
In the end, it didn't matter if the person was in college, high school, or an elderly woman on a pension. They wanted to get the money immediately when the order was placed, regardless of wether or not they acually had access to the product.
Was the $600 on a CC? If you never recieved anything, the CC company has to let you do a chargeback. CC give you a lot of right in an online transaction, and they often circumvent any Terms and Conditions you agree to.
It wasn't said in the words I stated, but that's what it amounted too. Those orders could only come from on high, there was no middle management. The leadership structure had the head honcho (Trey and Sterling's dad) at the top. He was the dicision maker. Sterling was in charge of purchasing, and Trey didn't do much of anything but drive a car the company paid for, arranging advertising, and coming to work maybe 3 days a week, but in the end they both answered to their dad.
In the end, it didn't matter if the person was in college, high school, or an elderly woman on a pension. They wanted to get the money immediately when the order was placed, regardless of wether or not they acually had access to the product.
Was the $600 on a CC? If you never recieved anything, the CC company has to let you do a chargeback. CC give you a lot of right in an online transaction, and they often circumvent any Terms and Conditions you agree to.
Guys be serious. If you fall for everything Ju No has told you so far you're not thinking with the right side of your brain. He wants you to believe that he is a guiding light of sorts, out here posting the "truth" about Monarch out of some sense of the goodness of his moral and just heart. In truth he is a bruised ego looking to soothe said ego by becoming e-famous.
First, think very hard about what this guy Ju No has told you. He claims he knew early on there were issues with the company (and this could be entirely true as he worked for the department where the problems originated) and he has listed several claims in here that he purposefully misled both banks and customers in order to keep them from getting their money back. I was employed by Monarch before this tool came along and long after he left. I have a lot more knowledge about what was going on and I never lied to customers to screw them over as he claims to have done. And don't fall for the "company line" BS either. I've done collections and BBB for them as well and the ownership NEVER told me to lie in order to screw someone over. If Ju No did so he did so of his own volition. Also consider this, if someone tells you to defraud someone and you decide to go along with it in order to make money off that company, are you not also guilty of fraud? Yes you are. Being told to do something illegal by someone who is your boss does NOT give you legal grounds to do so. You have the option to quit, and you have he option to report the company to the authorities. Per his own admission Ju No worked for months lying to banks and customers without ever quitting until he had other employment lined up. THEN he took off without reporting any illegal activities to the FTC, BBB, OR Attorney General. Instead he posts here ANONYMOUSLY. One of you who feel you were screwed over please, sue Monarch. I guarantee Ju No will not identify himself to you so you can subpeona him. Feel free to ask me however as I know exactly who he is and I would be happy to divulge this information so he can have his ethics tested in front of Judge and Jury under oath. This is the kind of individual you're listening to. Who would stand around on company time trying out bad jokes in order to further what he believed would be a career in comedy and also shopping around for another job on line. Remember, Company time is the CUSTOMER'S time. When you waste the company's money (as he often did) you waste the customer's money as well. After all, the purpose of a company is to make money by selling goods, services, or IP to customers at a price. To that end they hire and compensate employees with the money their customers give them in order to make the materials and satisfy the customers needs. Ju No willingly took the company's money, took YOUR money then lied to customers WITHOUT the company's knowledge so HE could profit. THEN and only AFTER he found gainful employment elsewhere he left several customers in the lurch by NOT completing the work required to give his replacement enough information to help the customers currently in dispute. In fact, he turned in a two week notice without EVER INTENDING TO WORK OUT THE TWO WEEKS. THere is a reason you supply a company with a two weeks notice. They need to hire and train a replacement employee sufficiently to fill the need, in this case responding to chargebacks. THIS guy decides he wants to use PTO, which is ONLY to be used for vacation and sick time (with a doctor's note), instead of working the last week to help ANY of you or any of Monarch's customers. If he was ethically opposed to what he was doing, why would he not use that time to help some of these customers get their money back? What kind of person EXPECTS a company to approve PTO time (which is their option) when they won't even work out the two weeks notice THEY supplied to the employer? Keep in mind, this is ALL information he gave you here, with the exception of the ironically laughable mention of his failed comedic ambitions. Many emlpoyees who worked hard for the company and did work out their obligation where given their PTO time as severence. Myself, I lost significant PTO time as I stayed on as long as they could afford me and, unfortunately by that time they didn't have the money to give me my PTO.
When a company has a significant downturn it is no laughing matter. A company has no ethics, no morals, only guidlines within which to operate. Their sole purpose is to make money and improve the economy by offering gainful employment and paying taxes. So when ANY company the size of Monarch goes out of business it is bad for the customers, bad for the employees, bad for the owners (with certain exceptions like LLCs which would not include Monarch) and very bad for the local government who now not only lost a source of income but must also pay out unemployment to many employees. The current owners at Monarch are trying to do everything they can to satisfy their obligations to the letter of the law in order to LIMIT THE DAMAGE. Since Ju No has not seen fit to report any illegal activity we can assume either 1.) He is a tool who took your money, lied about it and doesn't have the balls to do anything to stop it or 2.) NO ILLEGAL ACTIVITY occurred. I'm not saying that there aren't people out there who have a right to feel screwed over. It happens sometimes and it is very unfortunate.When you give your money to a company to receive a product you need to understand that there are a LOT of people withint that company that touch your money. If a mistake is made you might not get what you ordered. You have the option to dispute this per the terms and conditions of the bank that issued the credit card you used. The BANK, not Monarch, will then determine whether or not you get your money back. If you dispute the purchase and the bank decides against you, get pissed at the bank. I worked there as long as Monarch was able to pay me so I could help get them to the point where they could limit the damage, AND I worked for significantly less money than I normally would have made. I had job offers for more money. I came close enough to taking one of them that I actually turned in my notice. Unlike other less scrupulous individuals I let the company hiring me know that I needed to work out my two week obligation. When Sterling approached me and filled me in as to what was going on, and why he needed me to stay around longer I couldn't say no even though it meant dipping into my personal savings to stay afloat. I realized that there was still work I could do to help as many customers as humanly possible. To those that say "fuck Sterling", I used to dislike the guy myself, but I've gained a lot of respect for him recently. Where one owner, another key officer, and several other employees said "What needs to be done to fix this is too hard, I'm out" STERLING (and the other remaining owners) stuck around and fought to help the people he had to lay off and the people who stuck with them obtain gainful employement elsewhere as soon as the company was unable to pay them. I'm under NDA, as Ju No was. Unlike him however I will honor that here. I'm not currently a Monarch employee so I can't tell you what has happenned since I left, and I can't give you anything I know that is under NDA and it breaks my heart because there is so much more I could say to allay some of the criticisms. I CAN say that NONE of the current owners at Monarch are trying to screw ANYONE. THey are doing what they can to fix the problems caused by a mistake. This mistake was a major one, was the overriding cause of the company's problems, and incidentally was caused by the department that Ju No worked in. No I'm not blaming him for the mistake, but he certainly DID NOT contribute to correcting the mistake or alleviating the problems caused by it and he WAS in a better position to do so that any other employee currently there.
For those of you currently out money I am sincerely sorry. I wish there was more I could do or more that I could have done. As it is I am significantly poorer myself and out a LOT more PTO time than Ju No was. I don't hold it against the owners of Monarch because I know they are STILL doing everything they can and I know they are doing it at significant risk to themselves. None of them are going to get out of this with your money. They may not even get out with their own money. There is no evil empire, there is no conspiracy to defraud you. So please, go to your bank, go to the attorney general, go to the FTC, give them a wholly honest accounting of what happenned to you and let THEM, the AUTHORITIES, determine what action needs to be taken. All you are doing here is spreading FUD, which can harm the company's chances of being able to help ANYONE. You guys believe what you want to believe, but if you chose to believe someone who admittedly lied and defrauded customers WILLINGLY and for his own personal gain and was stupid enough to use his MySpace handle to post BS anonymously then I don't know that I could tell you anything here to assuade you. Good day.
Oh and Ju No, I called you a tool earlier. I'm sorry if this hurts your feelings but it is true. You need to take a step back and take a serious look at yourself. Personally, I don't know how you live with yourself. You're a cheat and a dishonest individual who can't seem to make a living honestly. I hope you fix this before your current employers figure this out, because its a cold hard world out there and you are a sorry individual with a weak mind and even weaker body.
First, think very hard about what this guy Ju No has told you. He claims he knew early on there were issues with the company (and this could be entirely true as he worked for the department where the problems originated) and he has listed several claims in here that he purposefully misled both banks and customers in order to keep them from getting their money back. I was employed by Monarch before this tool came along and long after he left. I have a lot more knowledge about what was going on and I never lied to customers to screw them over as he claims to have done. And don't fall for the "company line" BS either. I've done collections and BBB for them as well and the ownership NEVER told me to lie in order to screw someone over. If Ju No did so he did so of his own volition. Also consider this, if someone tells you to defraud someone and you decide to go along with it in order to make money off that company, are you not also guilty of fraud? Yes you are. Being told to do something illegal by someone who is your boss does NOT give you legal grounds to do so. You have the option to quit, and you have he option to report the company to the authorities. Per his own admission Ju No worked for months lying to banks and customers without ever quitting until he had other employment lined up. THEN he took off without reporting any illegal activities to the FTC, BBB, OR Attorney General. Instead he posts here ANONYMOUSLY. One of you who feel you were screwed over please, sue Monarch. I guarantee Ju No will not identify himself to you so you can subpeona him. Feel free to ask me however as I know exactly who he is and I would be happy to divulge this information so he can have his ethics tested in front of Judge and Jury under oath. This is the kind of individual you're listening to. Who would stand around on company time trying out bad jokes in order to further what he believed would be a career in comedy and also shopping around for another job on line. Remember, Company time is the CUSTOMER'S time. When you waste the company's money (as he often did) you waste the customer's money as well. After all, the purpose of a company is to make money by selling goods, services, or IP to customers at a price. To that end they hire and compensate employees with the money their customers give them in order to make the materials and satisfy the customers needs. Ju No willingly took the company's money, took YOUR money then lied to customers WITHOUT the company's knowledge so HE could profit. THEN and only AFTER he found gainful employment elsewhere he left several customers in the lurch by NOT completing the work required to give his replacement enough information to help the customers currently in dispute. In fact, he turned in a two week notice without EVER INTENDING TO WORK OUT THE TWO WEEKS. THere is a reason you supply a company with a two weeks notice. They need to hire and train a replacement employee sufficiently to fill the need, in this case responding to chargebacks. THIS guy decides he wants to use PTO, which is ONLY to be used for vacation and sick time (with a doctor's note), instead of working the last week to help ANY of you or any of Monarch's customers. If he was ethically opposed to what he was doing, why would he not use that time to help some of these customers get their money back? What kind of person EXPECTS a company to approve PTO time (which is their option) when they won't even work out the two weeks notice THEY supplied to the employer? Keep in mind, this is ALL information he gave you here, with the exception of the ironically laughable mention of his failed comedic ambitions. Many emlpoyees who worked hard for the company and did work out their obligation where given their PTO time as severence. Myself, I lost significant PTO time as I stayed on as long as they could afford me and, unfortunately by that time they didn't have the money to give me my PTO.
When a company has a significant downturn it is no laughing matter. A company has no ethics, no morals, only guidlines within which to operate. Their sole purpose is to make money and improve the economy by offering gainful employment and paying taxes. So when ANY company the size of Monarch goes out of business it is bad for the customers, bad for the employees, bad for the owners (with certain exceptions like LLCs which would not include Monarch) and very bad for the local government who now not only lost a source of income but must also pay out unemployment to many employees. The current owners at Monarch are trying to do everything they can to satisfy their obligations to the letter of the law in order to LIMIT THE DAMAGE. Since Ju No has not seen fit to report any illegal activity we can assume either 1.) He is a tool who took your money, lied about it and doesn't have the balls to do anything to stop it or 2.) NO ILLEGAL ACTIVITY occurred. I'm not saying that there aren't people out there who have a right to feel screwed over. It happens sometimes and it is very unfortunate.When you give your money to a company to receive a product you need to understand that there are a LOT of people withint that company that touch your money. If a mistake is made you might not get what you ordered. You have the option to dispute this per the terms and conditions of the bank that issued the credit card you used. The BANK, not Monarch, will then determine whether or not you get your money back. If you dispute the purchase and the bank decides against you, get pissed at the bank. I worked there as long as Monarch was able to pay me so I could help get them to the point where they could limit the damage, AND I worked for significantly less money than I normally would have made. I had job offers for more money. I came close enough to taking one of them that I actually turned in my notice. Unlike other less scrupulous individuals I let the company hiring me know that I needed to work out my two week obligation. When Sterling approached me and filled me in as to what was going on, and why he needed me to stay around longer I couldn't say no even though it meant dipping into my personal savings to stay afloat. I realized that there was still work I could do to help as many customers as humanly possible. To those that say "fuck Sterling", I used to dislike the guy myself, but I've gained a lot of respect for him recently. Where one owner, another key officer, and several other employees said "What needs to be done to fix this is too hard, I'm out" STERLING (and the other remaining owners) stuck around and fought to help the people he had to lay off and the people who stuck with them obtain gainful employement elsewhere as soon as the company was unable to pay them. I'm under NDA, as Ju No was. Unlike him however I will honor that here. I'm not currently a Monarch employee so I can't tell you what has happenned since I left, and I can't give you anything I know that is under NDA and it breaks my heart because there is so much more I could say to allay some of the criticisms. I CAN say that NONE of the current owners at Monarch are trying to screw ANYONE. THey are doing what they can to fix the problems caused by a mistake. This mistake was a major one, was the overriding cause of the company's problems, and incidentally was caused by the department that Ju No worked in. No I'm not blaming him for the mistake, but he certainly DID NOT contribute to correcting the mistake or alleviating the problems caused by it and he WAS in a better position to do so that any other employee currently there.
For those of you currently out money I am sincerely sorry. I wish there was more I could do or more that I could have done. As it is I am significantly poorer myself and out a LOT more PTO time than Ju No was. I don't hold it against the owners of Monarch because I know they are STILL doing everything they can and I know they are doing it at significant risk to themselves. None of them are going to get out of this with your money. They may not even get out with their own money. There is no evil empire, there is no conspiracy to defraud you. So please, go to your bank, go to the attorney general, go to the FTC, give them a wholly honest accounting of what happenned to you and let THEM, the AUTHORITIES, determine what action needs to be taken. All you are doing here is spreading FUD, which can harm the company's chances of being able to help ANYONE. You guys believe what you want to believe, but if you chose to believe someone who admittedly lied and defrauded customers WILLINGLY and for his own personal gain and was stupid enough to use his MySpace handle to post BS anonymously then I don't know that I could tell you anything here to assuade you. Good day.
Oh and Ju No, I called you a tool earlier. I'm sorry if this hurts your feelings but it is true. You need to take a step back and take a serious look at yourself. Personally, I don't know how you live with yourself. You're a cheat and a dishonest individual who can't seem to make a living honestly. I hope you fix this before your current employers figure this out, because its a cold hard world out there and you are a sorry individual with a weak mind and even weaker body.
i really appreciate you taking the time to post that.Actual1ty said:
On the subject of sterling-
I really respected him because i really believed that he wanted to help me at the beginning with my purchase (which he did). As of late, he has screwed me over though with that RMA, along with Traci. Granted, I have no idea whose fault it is directly, but all I do know is that $600 is out of my pocket.
Anyway, I appreciate that post alot.
I left my last job to work for Monarch because the owner was a crooked son of a bitch who had serious issues. I didn't stick around to make sure I had another job lined up first before I left.hardwarephreak said:
Ju No didn't even have to quit. IF he had been told to lie or cheat he simply could have said "No, I'm not going to lie or cheat anyone." If he had been fired for that he could've immediately filed for unemployment and also sued Monarch.
Doing the right thing usually means doing the hard thing. Ju No did the easy thing. He claims he lied to banks to keep your money and he took it to profit for himself. He has done nothing for you to get your money back.
I'm genuinely sorry that you're out money. I have not read this entire thread so I don't know any of your details. Keep your chin up, Monarch still isn't done even though its impossible to get them on the phone right now. They are still working on getting the RMAs they have in house taken care of and fulfilling other outstanding obligations. I'm not saying everyone is going to get taken care of but they are doing what they can. I hope you eventually get this settled.jcll2002 said:
I've lost money to online purchases too, and I know it sucks.
Trying to be e-famous... rrrright.
I didn't lok for a job on company time. I didn't surf career builder or monster looking for employment, and never took a call from a headhunter on my extention.
In truth there was no direct order to screw the customer, but the implication was just that. For chargebacks I was supossed to look for a way to use the T&C to hold on to money as long as possible. I was being snekay and using loopholes, not breaking the law. This was more unjust, but it was not illegal, so i don't have anything to report to the Attorney General or FTC.
If someone was taking MCS to court and wanted to call me as a witness, then I'd tell them who I was, no problem. It's not a vendetta, I'm not out to slam anyone. They wanted to know if Monarch was using customer's money as a float, I just reported what I know.
If the new owners are out to fix the problems (and there are problems, what is the resesller ratings score right now?), then good for them, i hoep they succeed. I'm just answering questions people are asking, and on some topics, offerring up rumblings I heard. Is some of the suppossition or rumor? Maybe, but I thought I pretty much gave those items a fair tag and labelled them as such.
Of course I wasn't gonna leae until i had other employment lined up. I'm a risk adverse person. Towards the end of my time there most everyone I considered a friend was looking for outside employment.
You honestly didn't like my jokes?
Good thing I'm not actually trying to be a comedian.
I didn't lok for a job on company time. I didn't surf career builder or monster looking for employment, and never took a call from a headhunter on my extention.
In truth there was no direct order to screw the customer, but the implication was just that. For chargebacks I was supossed to look for a way to use the T&C to hold on to money as long as possible. I was being snekay and using loopholes, not breaking the law. This was more unjust, but it was not illegal, so i don't have anything to report to the Attorney General or FTC.
If someone was taking MCS to court and wanted to call me as a witness, then I'd tell them who I was, no problem. It's not a vendetta, I'm not out to slam anyone. They wanted to know if Monarch was using customer's money as a float, I just reported what I know.
If the new owners are out to fix the problems (and there are problems, what is the resesller ratings score right now?), then good for them, i hoep they succeed. I'm just answering questions people are asking, and on some topics, offerring up rumblings I heard. Is some of the suppossition or rumor? Maybe, but I thought I pretty much gave those items a fair tag and labelled them as such.
Of course I wasn't gonna leae until i had other employment lined up. I'm a risk adverse person. Towards the end of my time there most everyone I considered a friend was looking for outside employment.
You honestly didn't like my jokes?
Good thing I'm not actually trying to be a comedian.
topcat989
Extremely [H]
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2001
- Messages
- 33,068
Ju-No said:
nice to see that Karma still functions occasionally.
You can't squirm off this hook man. If you were adverse to screwing people over you had options.Ju-No said:Trying to be e-famous... rrrright.
I didn't lok for a job on company time. I didn't surf career builder or monster looking for employment, and never took a call from a headhunter on my extention.
In truth there was no direct order to screw the customer, but the implication was just that. For chargebacks I was supossed to look for a way to use the T&C to hold on to money as long as possible. I was being snekay and using loopholes, not breaking the law. This was more unjust, but it was not illegal, so i don't have anything to report to the Attorney General or FTC.
If someone was taking MCS to court and wanted to call me as a witness, then I'd tell them who I was, no problem. It's not a vendetta, I'm not out to slam anyone. They wanted to know if Monarch was using customer's money as a float, I just reported what I know.
If the new owners are out to fix the problems (and there are problems, what is the resesller ratings score right now?), then good for them, i hoep they succeed. I'm just answering questions people are asking, and on some topics, offerring up rumblings I heard. Is some of the suppossition or rumor? Maybe, but I thought I pretty much gave those items a fair tag and labelled them as such.
Of course I wasn't gonna leae until i had other employment lined up. I'm a risk adverse person. Towards the end of my time there most everyone I considered a friend was looking for outside employment.
You honestly didn't like my jokes?
Good thing I'm not actually trying to be a comedian.
1.) Quit the job and find another. Even with a degree from your crappy little school you should not have had a problem finding one.
2.) Tell Richard you're not going to screw over any customers and let him fire you in which case, you get unemployment benefits until you can find another job.
3.) Take the easy way out and continue to take money doing something you believe to be wrong.
You say you're risk adverse; I say you're a puss who doesn't stand up for what he believes.
My point stands, you are a fairly spineless individual and the people here really can't trust what you have to say. Further, you really don't have enough knowledge about what was going on to report anything here of value.
WHat you had to say about Trey bears this out. You said he did nothing but collect a check and drive a company car. I seriously dislike Trey and believe he deserves to be slammed. However, the guy left HIS previous job as a sales rep and started a company from NOTHING. He busted ass to make Monarch a nationally recognized brand. Whatever he did at the end, you didn't even work in the same Suite as he did so you really have no cause to slam him here, and you did slam him here.
I'm out for the night. I have some work to do.
Silversink
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- May 18, 2001
- Messages
- 271
Actual1ty said:
I've said many times to take the info from a few 'new' posters here and elsewhere with a grain of salt.
As far as what Actual1ty posted above, I'm sorry but this is about the biggest steamiest pile of cr@p I have ever read in my entire lifetime.
So your here to exclaim to all that all of Monarch Computer Systems problems and fall from grace with a lifetime Resellerrating of 8.44 to it's present six month rating of 4.49, your telling us this is directly caused and manipulated by Mr JU ON and his PTO time hogwash?
Ju No willingly took the company's money, took YOUR money then lied to customers WITHOUT the company's knowledge so HE could profit.
Your also going to exclaim that he allegedly took off two weeks, I'm just speculating but you mentioned his job was to deal with charge-backs in some fashion, this is why the customers that may have been owed money were not getting refunded. All one has to do is go to Resellerratings.com and see that many many people have initiated credit card charge-backs well before and for a lot longer duration that Mr Ju On could have caused with his PTO two week period.
OK you wrote this:
I was employed by Monarch before this tool came along and long after he left. I have a lot more knowledge about what was going on and I never lied to customers to screw them over as he claims to have done
So why didn't you help the customers that may have been owed money, before I personally threw the Monarch rep named Monarch CSR off the Overclockers.com forums, he also played much the same song as you're singing, I wouldn't be surprised if you're the same person. At Overclocker's forum he blamed some Monarchs employees, blamed the phone system etc etc, now your blaming Mr ju on for all the dozens upon dozens of negative Resellerrating complaints. (Got news for you, these problems are vast and are over a period of months, so that rules out Mr Ju On and his 2 week PTO time theory.
I do have one question for you and it's one that I know you will not answer, but I'll ask it anyway:
Is it Monarch Computer Systems method of operations or policy, or if this was regularly conducted at Monarch to not refund the customer until the customer initiates a Credit card charge-back. Does Monarch just sit on the complaint and just refuse to respond to the credit card companies dispute, if you don't dispute the charge-back, they most likely sided or defaulted to the person that initiated the dispute, IE; the customer.
That scenario happened alot at Monarch didn't it,
This is a YES/NO answer to my question. No more PTO excuses ok?
BTW
jcll2002 said:
Jcll2001, I've told you and your dad that step #1 is to verify through UPS that you can prove Monarch received the products you sent them for RMA refund or replacement, until you prove they were received at Monarch, your probably out of luck, the credit card company will probably want your UPS receipt or have you track down the tracking numbers, all UPS shipments can be traced.If your forced to conduct a charge-back, your credit card company will want this info. Just have your father call UPS.
I've helped many members at OCForum receive thousands of dollars with Monarch disputes, in your situation, step one is track the package.
NoxTek
The Geek Redneck
- Joined
- May 27, 2002
- Messages
- 9,300
It very much appears that "Actual1ty" signed up here for the express purpose of doing some damage control.
I'm not flat out defending either party but I will say that JuNo has managed to be calm, forthcoming, and avoid any name calling when speaking about what must be a really awkward situation. I haven't gotten the impression that he is out to trash Monarch with reckless abandon, and if anything it seems like he is regretful that the company he worked for is going down in flames. What the hell would motivate him to post here? I sure wouldn't want to be 'e-famous' for admitting some of the things he has, and I highly doubt that is his intention. He also hasn't voiced anything negative about specific people in the company that he worked with from what I've seen - just admitted to general business practices and the work ethic he was working under.
Actual1ty joins the forum a few days ago on what looks like a serious damage control mission. His first post is basically targets Juno as if he knows him, worked with him, and has a serious grudge... draw your own conclusions there. Threats of giving out Juno's personal information (which are AGAINST THE RULES OF THE [H]ARD|OCP FORUM) and other petty cajoling make any credibility Actual1ty's posts could have had go right down the toilet.
People reading this thread should take ALL "insider information" posts with a grain of salt. Wether they be from Actual1ty, Juno, or anyone else claiming they know juicy details.
I'm not flat out defending either party but I will say that JuNo has managed to be calm, forthcoming, and avoid any name calling when speaking about what must be a really awkward situation. I haven't gotten the impression that he is out to trash Monarch with reckless abandon, and if anything it seems like he is regretful that the company he worked for is going down in flames. What the hell would motivate him to post here? I sure wouldn't want to be 'e-famous' for admitting some of the things he has, and I highly doubt that is his intention. He also hasn't voiced anything negative about specific people in the company that he worked with from what I've seen - just admitted to general business practices and the work ethic he was working under.
Actual1ty joins the forum a few days ago on what looks like a serious damage control mission. His first post is basically targets Juno as if he knows him, worked with him, and has a serious grudge... draw your own conclusions there. Threats of giving out Juno's personal information (which are AGAINST THE RULES OF THE [H]ARD|OCP FORUM) and other petty cajoling make any credibility Actual1ty's posts could have had go right down the toilet.
People reading this thread should take ALL "insider information" posts with a grain of salt. Wether they be from Actual1ty, Juno, or anyone else claiming they know juicy details.
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