Monoprice Rant!

[ErinH]

monoprice is really pissing me off!!!

They sent me the WRONG ORDER and it arrived last Tuesday. The real kicker is that before they'll send me the correct order, I have to return the wrong one... and I'm on a deadline to get these wallplates, etc installed in my house by inspection this week.
On two occasions now I have been told I will be contacted by the RMA department shortly. I've requested an RMA and have not gotten any feedback from their RMA office except for the email below after making the 2nd contact with MP...


MP.com to me:

"June 18th, 2009

Dear james hardison,

Thank you for shopping at Monoprice.com.

please review the reply for the submitted RMA #(removed by me) which has been added by our representative.
When "Replying", please click on the below link instead of replying to this email.

Ellie Park wrote :
Truly sorry to hear that you''''ve received entired wrong order.
Would you able to advise us what items you''''ve received and if there''''s any invoice in the box, please let us know.

I apologize for this inconvenience caused you.

Please click the below link in order to view or update its replies.
RMA #(removed by me)

Should you have any question, please email at ellie.park@monoprice.com. Thank you so much for shopping at MonoPrice.com.

Regards,

Ellie Park
Monoprice, Inc.
Tel. 909-989-6887"

I've contacted CS twice now. I finally sent another email to the RMA dept who sent me the email noted above. Actually, yesterday, after still having not heard anything further after this email, I contacted CS again and I was told "someone from the RMA department will contact you today" by CS online. ****'s pissing me off...

Me to MP.com:

"Ellie,
I still have not received my RMA validation. I need my correct order ASAP as I am going through an inspection in my new home this coming week. I have always purchased from your company with no issues. I've never had to deal with a return out of my 20+ orders and now the one time I am, it seems it's an awful lot of trouble to go through when the mistake was made on your company's end. Now I am dealing with the brunt, and the delay of waiting for an RMA validation, where I will then be returning the wrong order back to you before you can send me my proper order. That just seems like a very big waste of time, especially for someone who has expressed to your online customer service (twice, now) and in the RMA request that this is something I need resolved ASAP. This makes the fourth time I've contacted your company about your mistake and have yet to get any sort of resolve. I've pushed your company to friends, family, and most importantly audio/video forums... and I'm starting to regret doing so now that I've had to deal with a return process. I feel like I'm getting the cold shoulder. This is not acceptable to me and I would hope not standard practice for your company".

If the above at all sounds rude (which I tried to not make it as bad as it could've been), try to realize this is the fourth time I've had to contact them...

/rant

 

[Adam]

Bummer!

Would they let you just return it for a full refund, including shipping? If so, you could place a second order. Before Monoprice started selling wallplates, I ordered mine from Parts Express and was really happy with them. Parts Express is more expensive, though, or at least was when I bought them last year.

 

[ErinH]

Bummer!

Would they let you just return it for a full refund, including shipping? If so, you could place a second order. Before Monoprice started selling wallplates, I ordered mine from Parts Express and was really happy with them. Parts Express is more expensive, though, or at least was when I bought them last year.

I was fine with doing that, too, but the first time I talked to CS I was instructed to do it as a 'replace'.

Hell, even if I could have chosen the 'return' option, I still would have to wait for the RMA dept to get back to me... and I'd be in this same situation I'm willing to bet.

Yea, never a problem with PE. I just can get more from monoprice all at once. Again, this is the first time I"ve had an issue with them, but they sure are making it a VERY painful and annoying experience. Probably some of the worst and most inefficient CS I've ever dealt with regarding audio/video returns. The most aggravating part is that it's THEIR fault... they sent me the wrong order and I'm paying for it. I paid $44 for some stupid ipod/Blackberry cases, rca jacks and some SATA connectors that it seems I'll be stuck with because they haven't gotten back to me at all on this other than to say "we'll get back to you" (essentially). Whoopee!

 

[Adam]

Hopefully they get back to you in time, but with your schedule, it doesn't seem like it all could get done in time. That probably makes this experience worse than it normally would because you are pressed for time, so every day that they delay is a huge deal.

 

[Adam]

Sorry, man, I just can't stop myself.

(No offense, hopefully.)

 

[Rickster71]

That sucks; I guess everyone gets their shot with crappy CS.

Can you go to the Depot and get blank plates or temp plates, just to get you through inspection?
I don’t know what your exact situation is. Just throwing that out there.

 

[ErinH]

Adam, you're a bastard!


Rick, yea, that's an option, I guess. I really don't know what they're expecting. Since it's all low voltage, maybe they'll ignore that for now. I'd doubt it, though.

 

[PhillyDan1969]

Really sorry to hear about your customer services issues with monoprice.com. Hopefully they fix the issue and make it up to you in some way!!!

Having said that I can't help but say that I love monoprice.com, I have returned several items to them and never had any problems with their RMA policy!!! Yes I openly admit to being a monoprice.com fanboy!!!

 

[bandphan]

Ive made several bulk orders with them with most averaging 100-200pcs. One occasion an order showed shipped complete, however it was short several units. Upon emailing and stating the same, Monoprice sent out the shorted units with additonal units free of charge. Sorry for the troubles Erin, try calling sean and let him now your issues, im sure he will work it out.

Sean L
General Manager
Monoprice, Inc.
Tel. 909-989-6887

 

[dougg]

Local Codes...........

Except for the cable and speaker "in wall Wire rating", inspection of any Voltage under 50 volts is not required in our Inspection Code. If it is the case with you, cover them with Blank covers and call it in.
Dougg

 

[griffinconst]

Except for the cable and speaker "in wall Wire rating", inspection of any Voltage under 50 volts is not required in our Inspection Code. If it is the case with you, cover them with Blank covers and call it in.
Dougg

That has been my experience also. We wired a house for built in speakers and then the customer ran out of money before buyng the speakers. We just left the speaker end hanging in the wall and covered the other end with blank plates.
I think Home Depot has those same connection plates you need. Maybe buy those so you can finish your job, at least that would take the pressure off.
Good luck to you.

 

[BMXTRIX]

As long as you don't have an open hole in your wall, you will have no issues passing inspection. Low voltage cabling is constantly left behind walls unterminated, and all they care about is not seeing the hole.

For my home I have half a dozen places where there are wires which are just dropped behind the wall with no opening to even access the cables, there are speaker wires in the ceiling which are just sitting there, and there are plates on the wall which I can access cables, but they are not terminated.

Low voltage vs. high voltage is completely different for home inspection.

 

[j_garcia]

That has been my experience also. We wired a house for built in speakers and then the customer ran out of money before buyng the speakers. We just left the speaker end hanging in the wall and covered the other end with blank plates.
I think Home Depot has those same connection plates you need. Maybe buy those so you can finish your job, at least that would take the pressure off.
Good luck to you.

You could always just get some blank off plates as well, but as BMX Trix said, I don't think you need the wall plates to pass inspection.

 

[bandphan]

As long as you don't have an open hole in your wall, you will have no issues passing inspection. Low voltage cabling is constantly left behind walls unterminated, and all they care about is not seeing the hole.

For my home I have half a dozen places where there are wires which are just dropped behind the wall with no opening to even access the cables, there are speaker wires in the ceiling which are just sitting there, and there are plates on the wall which I can access cables, but they are not terminated.

Low voltage vs. high voltage is completely different for home inspection.

Not here in south florida

 

[BMXTRIX]

Not here in south florida

That's VERY strange as typically cable connections, phone connections, etc. aren't made to the house until after people move in, so you are left with unterminated wiring outside the home.

I have no idea what all the local codes are, but I think it really depends on the level of clueless of the person inspecting the home. The more clueless they are, the more they nitpick stupid things like low voltage.

More on topic - it's a shame that you have been having Monorpice issues. They are usually so good about every aspect of their business. I haven't had to call/return things yet, but my brother did with a bad HDMI cable and he said the experience was excellent.

Hope they make it right shortly. I think I would have asked for a full refund and ordered completely new product from them so they have your credit card payment on hand, but get the product out right away.

 

[ErinH]

on day 6 now and still no word back...

Wish I had used the CC. I'd throw a chargeback at them and just re order. Now it's too late to do anything.

 

[dougg]

Is it a Local code....

(Quote) Not here in south florida

Question the Inspector about it being a Local code. N.E.C. defines any Voltage less than 50 Volts as low voltage and null in Inspections. The installed cable has to have a Rating for fire only, not terminated by N.E.C. Specs. As mentioned i would ask to see the Local Code on Speaker, telephone CATV etc! I always ask to see the Code if it is different of the N.E.C., just do it in a Polite way. As mentioned the Inspector may not know all the Code.
Doug S.

 

[bandphan]

on day 6 now and still no word back...

Wish I had used the CC. I'd throw a chargeback at them and just re order. Now it's too late to do anything.

did you call Sean?

 

[BMXTRIX]

The installed cable has to have a Rating for fire only, not terminated by N.E.C. Specs.

Doug - Good info and reminder.

I heard, when I provided the cabling for my home build, that lots of people show up with cheap zip cord which is not CL2/3 rated for in-wall use. It gets worse inside commercial buildings where air handling occurs in the ceiling and cabling must be plenum rated.

I find it extremely obnoxious how difficult it actually is to get copies of the laws which the public is supposed to follow. Seems like 'the man' works hard to create a class division between those who know and those who don't, and because those who don't know have such a hard time finding out the truth, they are left unable to argue from intelligence.

Good info! Thanks.

 

[Monoprice_Sean]

Response from Sean Lee @ Monoprice, Inc

Dear Erin Hardison:

My name is Sean Lee, General Manager, from Monoprice, Inc. I am truly sorry for the irresponsive response and lack of reply. If it is not too late, I would like to resolve this issue immediately. Please kindly give me a call @ 909-989-6887 or email me order number or RMA number to sean @ monoprice.com, so that I can help you out further on this matter. Or, if you would let me know your phone number, I will give you a call.

Again, I deeply apologize for what happened and any inconvenience it may have caused you. I'll do everything I can to correct and improve our colleagues' customer service mind and skill in order to prevent it happening again. Thanks again for your understanding and keeping us as one of your business partners.

Best regards,

Sean Lee
General Manager
Monoprice, Inc.
Tel. 909-989-6887

monoprice is really pissing me off!!!

They sent me the WRONG ORDER and it arrived last Tuesday. The real kicker is that before they'll send me the correct order, I have to return the wrong one... and I'm on a deadline to get these wallplates, etc installed in my house by inspection this week.
On two occasions now I have been told I will be contacted by the RMA department shortly. I've requested an RMA and have not gotten any feedback from their RMA office except for the email below after making the 2nd contact with MP...


MP.com to me:


I've contacted CS twice now. I finally sent another email to the RMA dept who sent me the email noted above. Actually, yesterday, after still having not heard anything further after this email, I contacted CS again and I was told "someone from the RMA department will contact you today" by CS online. ****'s pissing me off...

Me to MP.com:



If the above at all sounds rude (which I tried to not make it as bad as it could've been), try to realize this is the fourth time I've had to contact them...

/rant