It’s not often that I feel the need to write something that calls out a vendor like this. This weekend, and into today (Monday), I had quite possibly the worst purchasing experience I’ve ever had.
I’ve been mulling over the purchase of a new MacBook Pro for quite some time. I’m a big time Windows user, but know plenty of folks with Mac’s who swear by them. On Saturday I finally decided to bite the bullet on a new 15″ MacBook Pro with an i5 processor, and a high-res anti-glare screen. MacMall just so happend to have 2 in stock! Perfect!
I get my order in via the Internet at 2PM EST, I select overnight shipping in hopes to have the laptop in on Monday. At 8:21PM EST I get an email from MACMALL stating I need to call them back to verify my credit. At first I’m thinking “OK, whats the deal”…but I decide that this is probably just for security reasons so I call them. Turns out their credit department closes at 8PM EST, so I can’t have my credit verified until Monday, which means no laptop until Tuesday. I’m a little annoyed at this point, so I ask the customer service rep to guarantee me the laptop will be here Tuesday. The rep tells me she can’t, because now they’re out of stock and won’t have them until May 11th. We go back and forth on this trying to figure out how the whole things work, but long story short, I cancel my order. I go to MACMALL’s site and sure enough the config I want now shows as out of stock.
A few hours later, I’m back on their site. I refresh the page for the config I want, and it now shows as “ships next day” again. REALLY confused, I call them back. They now claim there is 1 in stock, and if I order it they can GUARANTEE it’s mine. Even though I’m beyond upset @ this point, I really want the laptop, so I go ahead and order it, and plan to call in Monday AM when they open at 9AM EST to verify my credit. The customer service rep ensures me she will look after my case, and make sure the next shift does too. YEA, right!
Today is Monday. I call in at 9AMEST, and after spending 15 minutes with someone on the phone, we finally get my credit verified, and another customer service rep guarantees me it will ship today. Turn the clock forward 30 minutes, I refresh my order status on their page and my order is now showing as “Back ordered”. WTF!
I call them back and get the run around from the customer service rep about how she’s sorry and don’t know how this happened.
I’m awaiting a manager call back at 11AM EST. To be continued.
Still waiting for an update on this.
Here’s the update… MACMALL is shady. They ended up calling me the next day, offering me a $50 “credit” for my troubles, and then claimed the laptop was in stock again. After dealing with all of their BS, I told them to keep their $50 and I bought the MBP a few weeks later direct from Apple. I got a better price on a refurb i5 MBP, and didn’t have to deal with these idiots. I’d do a review on my MBP, but there’s tons out there. It’s a sweet machine.