My HORRIBLE experience with MacMall

So 2 weeks ago or so someone here mentioned that macmall is selling the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac for $129 - $100 rebate, with a $6 upgrade to 2008 when it comes out.

So i called them (Remembrance Day sale, took me an hour and a half to get to them on the phone, and their website was down), placed my order, and gave both my shipping address (in California) and my billing address (Toronto, Canada). Then I called a day later to confirm and ask them to send me a copy of the receipt/confirmation # to my email. Another 45 minutes on the phone, and they tell me that the billing address was wrong. I found out that they had both shipping and billing address as the same. I told them to fix it, and then they tell me they can't process a Canadian credit card unless they get more information. SO they ask for a copy of my driving license, credit card, student ID, a monthly statement of my VISA, and also ask me to fill out a form which they'll send me and will include both billing and shipping address. I tell them fine, and I ask them to update the shipping address to a new address. Done. I wait for the email with the form, nothing. NExt day, another 45 minutes on the line, talk to the rep, and I'm sent the form. I fill it out, with the updated shipping address and my billing address, along with the copies of whatever they asked for. I call everyday for 2 days only to hear that the guy I emailed everything to is out for a couple of days. I give up and don't call them for a few days. Call them back on the 3rd, told that it was shipped on the 27th. Weird, it was overnight shipping, haven't received package. I wait another day and give them a call again (today), this time i call macmall instead of their credit department. 5 miinute wait, not bad. They tell me it was sent and charged to the 1st shipping address i provided (the one which later got updated to another address). WTF???? I hate you, fix it and send it again. "Ok, i'll transfer you to customer service." Gawd. This time, I wait for a good 50 minutes, explain everything again, give out the correct addresses, and then I'm told she'll see what she can do and puts me on hold. 10 minutes later, and that would be NOW, I'm still on the phone waiting for the customer rep to come back.

I hate these people, I really do. Avoid them. Spend the extra $10-20 and instead have some peace of mind. I should've checked their ratings online before I did anything. It's awful.

 

Yikes. I've had bad things about MacMall, and this just confirms it. Too bad really, they have good prices.

 

update: rep comes back, tells me she can retrieve the item and give me a *refund*. Ahem. Wait, what? No, why? "we can't ship to Canada." GOD OH GOD OH GOD I SAID THE SHIPPING ADDRESS IS IN MISSION VIEJO, CALIFORNIA. Unless California is planning to join Canada, it's in the U.S. of freaking A. "oh, yeah..... but the billing address is in Canada, right?"
....
....
Random thoughts come to my head. A shotgun, pointed at my head, or even her head! Throwing myself off a cliff, etc.....

"YES, but i was asked to provide further documents to verify my Canadian VISA, which I did. I provided this and that and etc."
- "Oh, right..."
- "please hold..." NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
...
...
...
- "thank you for waiting, we can retrieve the item and send it to the other address."
- "good. Can you at least give me back the shipping fees?"
- "yes we can probably do that. Please wait while I process this information...."
A single tear of joy, a silent and lonely moment of ecstasy, a glimmer of light... can barely speak, or type...
"thank you," i say, in a voice low enough to pass as an expression of gratitude given to a **** $2000/hour prostitute after a special 2 minutes."

**** The above star indicates the time when, after waiting for 3 minutes for the rep to come back on the line and confirm the new shipping and billing process, I hear a click followed by what I thought was the sound of the same shotgun I imagined a couple of minutes ago: beep, beep, beep, beep ....

@%()!()_%&_(%&

 

wait she hung up on you at the end?

 

yup!
..................

 

Wow, that's just extremely bad.

 

update: I don't know if I should cry because this is hilarious or just sad and frustrating. probably both.

So i call macmall again, talk to some senior account executive (which I think is the fancy term for sales rep), explain everything (and "everything" takes a good 5 minutes, slowly and word by word). I told him how the last time i called i was hung up on at the very last second. I told him about the mix up with the shipping addresses. Everything.

- "Ok Sep, please hold the phone."
Here we go again.
...
"Hi. Have you received the package? It was shipped on the 27th and you should've received it on the 28th." WHAT? DID YOU NOT LISTEN TO WHAT I JUST TOLD YOU A COUPLE OF MINUTES AGO? WHY THE HELL WOULD I BE CALLING YOU IF I RECEIVED THE PACKAGE?
- "No I haven't, the shipping address ..." Here we go again.
Another 10 minutes, and again, there's light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not even transfered to customer service, he's taking care of everything. Yay!
"Ok Sep, this will take just another second."
"Thank you."
20 seconds later, the phone's ringing at the other end of the line.
"Mike speaking, how can i help you?"
What? Mike? wtf... "Hi Mike, I was just talking to a senior account executive about an order that they messed up and for no reason i was transfered here."
- "Oh ok, please hold."
Ring ring. Good, he probably transfered me back. a minute of rings. FInally, a lady answers the phone. "Operator, how can I help you?"
- "......." SIlence.
- " Hello?"
- "Hi, I was just ..."
- "Hello?"
- "HELLO, I WAS JUST..."
Click. OH GOD NOT AGAIN..................................

Call them back, raise my voice to some guy who sounded very nice and gay! Explain everything, EVERYTHING. He asks me some stupid questions again like all the previous ones, as if he, just like the previous ones, didn't listen to a single word I just said. It's like my file in front of them doesn't have the proper information on it, or it's too messy for them to read. But finally, at the end, he fixes everything, said he tracked the shipment, it was rejected by the receiver and will be at the warehouse by the 6th, will ship on the same day to the correct address and it will arrive on the 7th. And I'll get a full refund for the shipment ($17). DONE!
"THAAAAAANK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU, thank you thank you thank you."
- (with a smile, while I keep making random noises out of sheer joy) "yes Sep, now you can take a deep breath and smile. Smile Sep, because there's an angel on the other end of the line watching over you." I keep stuttering. "Yes, smile." Too happy to think if this is totally weird, funny, or what.
Done. No, NO. One more comment: "And again, if there's a problem with the order, you can always call your angel."

Ummmmmmmmmm, hahahaaaaaaa.
Oh lord. You freaking can't make this stuff up. You really can't.

 

I don't know if I should laugh with you or feel sorry for you. This was quite a frustrating experience I would say, but also funny to read at the same time. Your experience would be a great help for other people looking to purchase from MacMall.

Are you sure those people weren't customer service reps in India lol?

+rep for making me laugh lmao!

 

No I can't be sure. I know that with the last guy (the 'angel'!) the first time we called i kept talking and he kept saying "hello, Sep?" He couldn't hear me properly, and I don't think it was my landline phone. He called me back on my cell phone in 10 seconds, and it was fine. Perhaps a bad connection.

The accents weren't very indian either.

 

loler. I read about macmall's a$$tasticness here all the time. I'm not sure how you didn't catch it. And now after reading your post I wouldn't touch them with a 10ft pole.

 

Well, I guess they went downhill the last time I used them. 10+ years ago, in case you were wondering.

Oh well, no company's perfect, and some places can become lemons just because of people hired and people that are allowed to breed in the same gene pool......ahem....I mean, move up the corporate ladder.

 

Feel so sorry for you, dude. It is a horrible experience to be on the phone for hours!

 

seems their "good" prices are just a makeup for their poor CS.

ill pass

 

after the first phone call, i wouldve just canceled the order. Customers shouldnt have to jump hoops just to give a company money.

if a company makes me do that, its on to Option B, no regrets.

While its a shame this is happening, the customer, even in this case, is somewhat to blame for "just putting up with it".

make a statement, cancel the order, and go somewhere else.

 

what's even more troubling is that i could've had the same deal at my university!!!! I didn't know this was a Microsoft rebate, i thought it was a MacMall rebate or something. They were selling it for $129.99 ( - $100 rebate). My uni was selling it for $119.00 - the rebate at that time. No shipping charges, no hassles, and I would've had it installed the same day, But now, i have to wait another 3 weeks before i go to L.A. and get the stupid CD.

Bite me.

 

was that directed at me? or at the process? sounds like you really got the run around.

i cant imagine ever putting up with that myself. Then again, i refuse to deal with incompetent people that want money for something i need.

 

Haha, no it wasn't directed at you.

 

i was gonna say, dont you have more phonecalls to make, and paperwork to fill out hehe
better luck next time!

 

It's very easy to deal with these companies, starting a post here should only be your first start. You should go and post your reviews and/or comments at ALL the reseller review sites, then file a BBB complaint and another federal or industry organization, local newspaper and programs love these types of stories. Track down the owners/managers, in this machell, and write a formal letter to them, document every call, statement names etc. Blow these incidents as much as possible so they will feel the pain. It's the only way they will learn. The internet is a great equalizer.

 

geez, that actually doesn't sound "very easy"!!! I have a thesis to write, and a forum to participate in!

 

Your right its not. I did this with a pontiac recently. While i recommend this on more expensive purchases, buying a copy of office for 200$ just isnt up there in my book in terms of "spend X more hours "blowing the situation up"!"

YMMV, but my time is not worth all that for the measly savings

what happend to the pontiac you ask? Well after months of deliberation, i got sick of making all the phone calls. I bought a honda (first foreign investment)

not giving a company your business is the same result as putting it up their butt, and it saves time by not using the BBB method. Its just not justified in this case.

If you have no job, no kids, no worries, so be it, invest the time itll take to complain to the proper people. If you have things to do, file MacMall under your list of "theyll never get my mula"

 

Which Honda, may I ask?

 

I debated going with MacMall or not. I went with Apple. =] My computer arrived while I was at school and I should have just presigned for it but I didn't (1 Day early by the way).. Now I need to go pick it up!

 

actually, sorry to be the contradictory person here, but i bought a 37" Vizio LCD (refurb) from MacMall for 500 DOLLARS! Yes, it's refurbished, however it's the latest model and looks/works brand new. The employee even included a 3 year mac-mall warranty AND a 2 year Vizio Warranty with the purchase, NO JOKE! Anyways, to make this "apple worthy", I purchased a mini dvi->dvi cord and dvi->dvi cord from the Apple Store, so now I have a 37" Vizio in 1080p (hi-def) computer Monitor :] :] , i even do my homework in bed (using the tv thats right in front of me as my screen) and get work done with ONLY a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse. It's neat...haha, im a loser an i'll stop talking.

 

Well, nice to hear there still are some satisfied customers for MacMall .

 

ahah yes..true. it's been a while Sam, nice to see your a moderator here now (i was here during your 3,000-4,000 post era) how did that happen so quick?

 

Haha, "the 3000-4000 post era", sounds like so long ago, eh?

I turned into a moderator I think three weeks ago. Yeah, it was exactly three weeks ago. NBR launched the new Image Gallery, and cashmonee has been busier lately, so I was brought in to keep an eye on both things .

 

good deal Sammy.. good deal.