RATINGS SUGGESTION

[michaels39]

I have a suggestion in the area of rating companies that build custom PC's,specifically those who also sell seperate components.
I think there should be a seperate rating for custom systems,seperate from feedback from customers who only purchased individual parts.Simply packaging a part and shipping it doesn't require a high degree of expertise on the part of the company,but could result in deceptive ratings.They may be great at selling parts,but lousy at building a good system.I'm begining to suspect that many parts suppliers/system builders wouldn't have nearly the ratings they have if they were rated solely on the reliability of their systems.

Ratings are the indicators of customers' satisfaction or dissatisfaction of their purchase experiences with those stores; they aren't meant to compare stores of dissimilar services or goods {e.g., store A builds systems and store B only sells parts].

Ratings are not deceptive because each company is rated on its own merits, services, and goods - one cannot compare apples to oranges. However, if you're comparing apples to apples then yes of course, the ratings will be helpful.

I.e., a person is either satisfied with what they paid for or they aren't.

Our survey questions are designed to cover all a customer's common experiences before, during, and after the purchase transaction. The survey answers provide insight as to whether that merchant is a reputable merchant, or one that would best be avoided. Always read the best detailed written opinions in addition to the scores to get a better bigger picture.

[NoRefund]

Not that I think that michaels39's idea is really feasable, but I do agree with him, and Lara missed the point here a little.
The idea is not how to compare two different companies (which I think RR is doing a very good job at) but to rate the same company in different areas. The example given here is that the same store provides two services:

1. Packaged goods retailer
2. Assemblling of a product such as a custom PC
(an example of such company is Monarch)

Lets say there are no problems in area #1, but they are doing a horrible job in #2, now much more people are buying #1 because parts are cheaper, so lets toy with the numbers a little:
ratings of "10" for 50 parts bought
ratings of "2" for 5 system bought
Total rating will be [(10*50) + (2 * 5)] / 55 = 9.27
However it is obvious that you don't want to buy a custom PC from this company (this example is actually not too far away from Monarch current reviews)

But Lara is right in that this is solved by reading deeply into the actual user comments.
- NR

[michaels39]

Actually,it was Monarch that started me wondering how accurate the rating system was in specific areas.On the face of it,their rating seems quite high,but after months of searching for a dependable place to build a custom system,I have serious doubts,mainly from daily reading in their own forums.The number of complaints of non-working systems,long delays,and poor support seem to be increasing greatly.While their prices and selection of individual parts are great,I'm not comfortable at all with the idea of investing $2000 + in one of their custom systems,despite their overall rating.

[NoRefund]

I had the same experience (I'm posting a review about it as we speak) from my experience, I'll make it easy for you - don't use Monarch.