You see, I decided it was time for me to get a new computer - my current one is a couple years old and starting to have issues, so I saved up to buy some nice shiny new parts so I could build myself a new machine. I decided to go with monarchcomputer.com for the motherboard/CPU combo, as that's who I got my current motherboard from, and zipzoomfly.com for the rest of it, as I've bought stuff from them before with no issues.
But this time, it appears that my computer-building efforts are cursed.
I placed the orders on August 10. I wanted to build the computer on that coming Wednesday, so I went for the faster shipping from Monarch, because I knew it would take a couple of days to build the combo. However, as of today, eight business days later, my order is still listed as "in processing" despite the fact that the order page says that motherboard combos ship in "2-4 business days". I've been emailing their order status department almost every day and have yet to receive a response. So, today I tried to call their 1-800 number (which the website says is for orders &c only) and it just rang and rang and nobody answered.
Then there's zipzoomfly.
The order shipped in good time and arrived on the morning of the 16th. There were two boxes: one had the case, the other parts and software. I opened the case, everything perfect. Opened the other box, found a couple pieces of styrofoam, some packing peanuts, and a power supply. Just the power supply, none of the other parts or software.
I called their customer support line and couldn't get through - it told me all their representatives were busy and to leave a message. Preferring not, I hung up and called back, and this time got through to a very bored-sounding individual named Mike. Mike had me verify which items were missing from the order, then told me to fax them the packing slip from the box and they would "look into it" and "get back to [me] in a couple business days". I faxed it to them and waited.
Two business days went back with no contact from them. I called yesterday and was completely unable to get through to anyone, so finally left a message. (I called three or four times and either was immediately shunted to voice mail, or waited on hold for several minutes and was then shunted to voice mail.) Nobody called back. Once again today I tried again, with the exact same result as yesterday. No contact, no replies to my messages.
I suspect that someone removed items from the box while it was in transit, as Box A with the case had a computer-printed address label with tracking number, and Box B that was mostly empty had a hand-written address label and separate tracking number (which said "relabel" on it). Maybe I should be blaming FedEx for the whole problem. However, the fact still remains that it's close to impossible to get a hold of anyone at zipzoomfly and I'm currently out a couple hundred dollars for parts that I didn't receive.
All I want is to build a nice new computer. Is this too much to ask? :P