What an EPIC FAIL by MacMall *UPDATE*

[signal4]

Ok so I pre-ordered a 21" fully loaded Imac as well as the Apple care from MacMall on the 28th of November. About half an hour later I get a call from a guy from MacMall saying that if I went ahead and added the super drive to my order he would upgrade my shipping to FedEx 2 day and give me the $100 restaurant.com giftcard. I asked him when do they expect to have my BTO Imac instock. He said that they were expected on the day that they were released on the 30th. Seeing that I might get my new Imac on the next Tuesday I told him sure.

Well that Tuesday came and went and my order was now saying back ordered so I called him up. He said that they didnt get them but were now saying that they would have them instock and shipped GUARANTEED by Dec 17th !. As this is a Xmas present and with the 2 day shipping it was no big deal then.

Since then I have been reading on here that people had been getting their orders expedited I did a live online chat with MacMall on the 12th of December inquiring about my order and if they were still shipping on the 17th. They live chat operator told me that it wouldnt be unit the 26th till they received them. Before I could finish my response they ended the chat with me.

I immediately called the person whom I ordered the computer with since I saved his number that he had called me from. I explained to him about what I had just found out and asked him why this was so since he had guaranteed me. I also told him that people had been saying that Apple had expedited their orders and they had ordered the exact same computer I did. He stated that Apple had pushed back the order and that now it looked like the 26th. I told him that I couldnt wait that long and that Im probably going to have to cancel and order through Apple. He told me that they might be receiving a shipment on Friday the 14th but could not guarantee it. He told be before I cancel to call back on that Friday to see if they got it in. In the the back of my mind I was thinking how can you not know if your getting or not getting a shipment two days from now but I gave in to the benefit of the doubt.

Well I called him that Friday on the 14th and no answer. I left him a voice message to call me back... As you might expect I did not get a call back.

This morning I called him back and left another message. I waited an hour with no response and attempted to live chat which was not working. I then called customer service and inquired about the order. She told me that they were expected on the 26th but that now it was not a guarantee and that it might be later. I explained the entire story so far and she apologized and said that the person I had called was off today. Since someone on here had mentioned that they had ordered through MacMall as well and that they had been told around mid Jan I was done playing into their games. I told her that Im going to cancel and order through Apple. She said only a supervisor can cancel orders and she would send him an email. I told her to just have the supervisor contact me by phone and I would talk to him first and if they wanted to compensate me in some way ( I was thinking upgrading the shipping to overnight since they are now offering free 2 day shipping with Imac purchase) then I would hold off from canceling. I hung up and rechecked my order about 5 minutes later and it went from back ordered to cancelled and never received a call from the supervisor.

So because MacMall gave me the complete run around this Imac is probably going to be a delayed Xmas present. What makes me even more angry is that I suspect that they knew all along it it was going to be a long long time before they got them in and was just saying whatever to keep my order and if they had just been upfront I could have ordered from Apple a long time ago. I ordered right away from Apple so hopefully I might (and its a big might) get lucky and it gets expedited.

And for those of you who are thinking of making sarcastic comments back to me ( as there are notorious people on here who do that to anyone about anything) Im just going to give you the big GO TO HELL right now in advance !


UPDATE 12-19-2012

Update 12-19-2012

Ok so here is the update.... I received a call this evening from a MacMall supervisor. Perhaps they had read this.... He turned out to be the kind of supervisor one would want to hear from. He stated that they did not realize that I had wanted a call back. I explained to him my conversation with the operator and perhaps she had misunderstood me.

He stated that the problem with my order was that I had ordered the wired numeric keyboard. He stated that they did get a few units of the Imac that I had ordered in today but with the wireless keyboard. I talked to him and he offered to send me the Imac that I had previously ordered but with the wireless keyboard and have it over nighted. He also said that he would additionally send me the wired keyboard at half off but it was back ordered which would turn out to be an additional $25.

I told him that was perfectly fine and re ordered. After I hung up he called me back about 20 minutes later and said that he had personally called the warehouse and the wired keyboard was in stock there so tomorrow I should have my Imac and the wired keyboard !!! He also gave me a FEDEX tracking #.

Look like Xmas is back on ! lol.. I will give a two thumbs up to this supervisor for correcting this epic fail !

[Ryan.Tanner]

This is a completely honest question and totally not meant to sound rude but it will probably sound rude.

Why order from anyone else but Apple when supplies are in shortage? Were they giving some crazy bundled offer?

[signal4]

Fair Question !......I have ordered from them before with no problems at all. Plus I save money on sales tax and I think of a pre order as get your order in now like so that the day its released they would already have it in stock and it gets shipped.....But since this was supposed to be an Xmas present Im now willing to pay the sales tax through Apple and maybe still have a chance.....as now I know there is no chance through MacMall

[Ryan.Tanner]

Interesting, I am curious how the sales tax would differ.

[bflowers]

Originally Posted by Ryan.Tanner

This is a completely honest question and totally not meant to sound rude but it will probably sound rude.

Why order from anyone else but Apple when supplies are in shortage? Were they giving some crazy bundled offer?

I suspect the Sales Tax. Which, just so you know, even if a company doesn't operate a physical store in the state, you technically are responsible for paying that tax. Should you be audited, I hope you have records of everything you purchased online, and records of paying the taxes for those items.

[signal4]

Ryan ... I am in Texas like you. My experience is that when ordering online from somewhere outside of Texas there is no sales tax added......except from Apple of course

[Charcoalwerks]

Originally Posted by signal4

Fair Question !......I have ordered from them before with no problems at all. Plus I save money on sales tax and I think of a pre order as get your order in now like so that the day its released they would already have it in stock and it gets shipped.....But since this was supposed to be an Xmas present Im now willing to pay the sales tax through Apple and maybe still have a chance.....as now I know there is no chance through MacMall

That sucks man. I've ordered two Mac Mini's in the past from them before and the guy I dealt with was great. He used to throw in Applecare and on one he gave me a free iLife disc so I could upgrade as it was a previous gen Mini. That guy is no longer there, go figure.Of course this was back in 2008. I haven't dealt with them since.

[Kirkle]

I've order through MacMall as well. No sales tax, and no service. I'm amazed they gave you any information on your order at all : I've never been able to get anything out of them.

[slffl]

This seems about right.

If you want great service and to get your stuff asap, then buy from Apple. If you want to save some money on tax, etc., deal with shady salespeople, and never know when you'll get it, then order from MacMall.

I ordered a new 27" BTO from MacMall and I'm afraid I'll come to regret it for trying to save some money.

[TouchMint.com]

Originally Posted by slffl

This seems about right.

If you want great service and to get your stuff asap, then buy from Apple. If you want to save some money on tax, etc., deal with shady salespeople, and never know when you'll get it, then order from MacMall.

I ordered a new 27" BTO from MacMall and I'm afraid I'll come to regret it for trying to save some money.

Yea I talked to them on the phone and they said they wont get them from Apple until mid jan. Who knows when they will start shipping them...

[rainbowsofwhite]

Originally Posted by signal4

Ok so I pre-ordered a 21" fully loaded Imac as well as the Apple care from MacMall on the 28th of November. About half an hour later I get a call from a guy from MacMall saying that if I went ahead and added the super drive to my order he would upgrade my shipping to FedEx 2 day and give me the $100 restaurant.com giftcard. I asked him when do they expect to have my BTO Imac instock. He said that they were expected on the day that they were released on the 30th. Seeing that I might get my new Imac on the next Tuesday I told him sure.

Well that Tuesday came and went and my order was now saying back ordered so I called him up. He said that they didnt get them but were now saying that they would have them instock and shipped GUARANTEED by Dec 17th !. As this is a Xmas present and with the 2 day shipping it was no big deal then.

Since then I have been reading on here that people had been getting their orders expedited I did a live online chat with MacMall on the 12th of December inquiring about my order and if they were still shipping on the 17th. They live chat operator told me that it wouldnt be unit the 26th till they received them. Before I could finish my response they ended the chat with me.

I immediately called the person whom I ordered the computer with since I saved his number that he had called me from. I explained to him about what I had just found out and asked him why this was so since he had guaranteed me. I also told him that people had been saying that Apple had expedited their orders and they had ordered the exact same computer I did. He stated that Apple had pushed back the order and that now it looked like the 26th. I told him that I couldnt wait that long and that Im probably going to have to cancel and order through Apple. He told me that they might be receiving a shipment on Friday the 14th but could not guarantee it. He told be before I cancel to call back on that Friday to see if they got it in. In the the back of my mind I was thinking how can you not know if your getting or not getting a shipment two days from now but I gave in to the benefit of the doubt.

Well I called him that Friday on the 14th and no answer. I left him a voice message to call me back... As you might expect I did not get a call back.

This morning I called him back and left another message. I waited an hour with no response and attempted to live chat which was not working. I then called customer service and inquired about the order. She told me that they were expected on the 26th but that now it was not a guarantee and that it might be later. I explained the entire story so far and she apologized and said that the person I had called was off today. Since someone on here had mentioned that they had ordered through MacMall as well and that they had been told around mid Jan I was done playing into their games. I told her that Im going to cancel and order through Apple. She said only a supervisor can cancel orders and she would send him an email. I told her to just have the supervisor contact me by phone and I would talk to him first and if they wanted to compensate me in some way ( I was thinking upgrading the shipping to overnight since they are now offering free 2 day shipping with Imac purchase) then I would hold off from canceling. I hung up and rechecked my order about 5 minutes later and it went from back ordered to cancelled and never received a call from the supervisor.

So because MacMall gave me the complete run around this Imac is probably going to be a delayed Xmas present. What makes me even more angry is that I suspect that they knew all along it it was going to be a long long time before they got them in and was just saying whatever to keep my order and if they had just been upfront I could have ordered from Apple a long time ago. I ordered right away from Apple so hopefully I might (and its a big might) get lucky and it gets expedited.

And for those of you who are thinking of making sarcastic comments back to me ( as there are notorious people on here who do that to anyone about anything) Im just going to give you the big GO TO HELL right now in advance !

Sorry to hear about your situation.

I had the exact same "painful" experience happen to me when the original iMac was released.
But it wasn't MacMall though, it was NextByte (in Australia) also an Apple reseller.
Since then, I've never gone with a reseller ever again.
They are just absolutely, stupidly hopeless.

Nowadays, I like to ring Apple, have a pleasant chat and place my order.
An added bonus with ringing, is you've got an Apple rep to email any further questions, queries etc.
They just offer unparalleled customer service.

Order now, it won't be long until you have it sitting on your doorstep!

[einmusiker]

Originally Posted by bflowers

I suspect the Sales Tax. Which, just so you know, even if a company doesn't operate a physical store in the state, you technically are responsible for paying that tax. Should you be audited, I hope you have records of everything you purchased online, and records of paying the taxes for those items.

Incorrect, some states do not charge sales tax at all, New Hampshire for one, some states don't charge sales tax on certain item like clothing, Minnesota, and some states don't charge ST on items ordered online if that state doesn't have a physical location in the state.

Originally Posted by signal4

Ryan ... I am in Texas like you. My experience is that when ordering online from somewhere outside of Texas there is no sales tax added......except from Apple of course

The Republic of Texas... must be nice

1. You might have been better off ordering from both apple and macmall and just canceling whatever couldn't deliver first

2. Maybe try ordering from Apple now and see if they can even get you one before xmas, if so cancel macmall, if not cancel apple.

3. The salesman definitely played you

[signal4]

Ok so here is the update.... I received a call this evening from a MacMall supervisor. Perhaps they had read this.... He turned out to be the kind of supervisor one would want to hear from. He stated that they did not realize that I had wanted a call back. I explained to him my conversation with the operator and perhaps she had misunderstood me.

He stated that the problem with my order was that I had ordered the wired numeric keyboard. He stated that they did get a few units of the Imac that I had ordered in today but with the wireless keyboard. I talked to him and he offered to send me the Imac that I had previously ordered but with the wireless keyboard and have it over nighted. He also said that he would additionally send me the wired keyboard at half off but it was back ordered which would turn out to be an additional $25.

I told him that was perfectly fine and re ordered. After I hung up he called me back about 20 minutes later and said that he had personally called the warehouse and the wired keyboard was in stock there so tomorrow I should have my Imac and the wired keyboard !!! He also gave me a FEDEX tracking #.

Look like Xmas is back on ! lol.. I will give a two thumbs up to this supervisor for correcting this epic fail !

[bflowers]

Originally Posted by einmusiker

Incorrect, some states do not charge sales tax at all, New Hampshire for one, some states don't charge sales tax on certain item like clothing, Minnesota, and some states don't charge ST on items ordered online if that state doesn't have a physical location in the state.

Technically, in the majority of the the states that do charge sales tax, you are responsible. As I said before, just because a company doesn't have a physical presence doesn't exempt you, is simply exempts them from having to do the collection. Try calling your state's Dept of Revenue, and ask if you get a freebie if you order online. Be sure to give them your name, address, and social, so they can audit you later.

[DerekS]

I tried MacMall once when the very first MacBook Pros came out.

Their price was marginally better than going direct - but I soon discovered the reason is that they were taking orders and didn't have product to ship.

I ended up getting it in an Apple Store and canceling the order; haven't been back.

[einmusiker]

Originally Posted by bflowers

Technically, in the majority of the the states that do charge sales tax, you are responsible. As I said before, just because a company doesn't have a physical presence doesn't exempt you, is simply exempts them from having to do the collection. Try calling your state's Dept of Revenue, and ask if you get a freebie if you order online. Be sure to give them your name, address, and social, so they can audit you later.

how many times have people been audited in that situation... go ahead I'll wait... yeah good luck with that...

[Outrigger]

Originally Posted by bflowers

Technically, in the majority of the the states that do charge sales tax, you are responsible. As I said before, just because a company doesn't have a physical presence doesn't exempt you, is simply exempts them from having to do the collection. Try calling your state's Dept of Revenue, and ask if you get a freebie if you order online. Be sure to give them your name, address, and social, so they can audit you later.

Yes, I can see your state spending money and manpower because you made online purchases that don't collect taxes.

[krravi]

Originally Posted by signal4

Ryan ... I am in Texas like you. My experience is that when ordering online from somewhere outside of Texas there is no sales tax added......except from Apple of course

So, considering that there is no sales tax in TX, what happens to the sales tax charged by Apple? Do they keep it?

[signal4]

Hi.... there is a sales tax for Texas....I think its like .0825 ..... but ordering online from somewhere outside of Texas ....you arent charged sales tax.

[FlthyMcNsty]

They have to charge tax because the have stores in Texas. Even if you are buying from the online store, if a company has a presence in a state they must collect tax for that state.

[Gelite55]

Yea the money saved isn't worth the fight with Macmall. They are truly a classless operation compared to Apple.

[signal4]

Originally Posted by FlthyMcNsty

They have to charge tax because the have stores in Texas. Even if you are buying from the online store, if a company has a presence in a state they must collect tax for that state.

That makes perfect sense then why Apple would charge sales tax with online line orders and other online orders from other companies would not.

[GoCubsGo]

Originally Posted by signal4

That makes perfect sense then why Apple would charge sales tax with online line orders and other online orders from other companies would not.

Regardless, I think with any newly released product, ordering from Apple is best.

[Kirkle]

From what I've read, MacMall is the only company allowed to buy Apple computers in bulk and sell them at a discount.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacMall

This is interesting given the fact that MacMall is apparently also the most hated organization in the world.

Read through some of these reviews and try to think of a company that has been so harshly reviewed by so many customers. Obviously, they aren't literally the worst reviewed company around, but the consistency of negative comments is fascinating.

[jf1450]

Screw the taxes, I'm sitting here with baited breath for the OP to say it arrived. That'll make my day. :-)