Shipped Defective Products  
Tech Support Staff Member Mike, insulted me  
called me a liar. Joe, Customer Care, was very unhelpful. Night Attendant On until 3:00 PM, so no calls can go in. Would not take defective products back for exchange, had to RMA with Manufacturer.. offered me no help.  
 
A real Nightmare. A true example of incompetence.  
Would NEVER buy there Again.  
I advice the same to anyone.

Well, I really wanted to write a positive review. Scroll down a bit and you'll see I've given them good marks before.  
 
But unfortunately, although they were off to a good start here too the usual complaints you see littered through this posting list are all quite true and will make me think twice about ordering from them again.  
 
As I said I'm a repeat customer...first order from them was fine, got everything timely, well shipped, and as ordered. So I came back this time with a bigger order for most of the guts for 3 new PCs (I'm just a home user but building for myself and some of my less tech-savvy friends).  
 
Order was over a weekend so not going to be processed until the following Monday. Got a call Tuesday that some parts were out of stock. Guy was polite and apologize for not calling Monday. No big deal...we agreed that he'd upgrade the no-longer-carried Athlon1800 I ordered to a 2000, (to match one of the others ordered), switched out two of the cheap GF4-MX type cards from the out-of-stock brand to another (Albatron->Chaintech), and I dumped the out-of-stock DVD (just set to quantity 0). He even let me say 'hey, as long as we're doing this can I upgrade the TwinX-2700 for TwinX-3200'?.  
 
So the call and support thus far are fine. But then....  
 
My invoice I can check online shows some of the changes, but not all. So I email them, to doublecheck 'was what was shipped including *all* these changes?' and listed them. No response. Mildly annoying but I'll wait and see what I get.  
 
No package. I wait until 22 April, and FedEx shows they've received it, but nothing since the package arrived at their sort facility in Portland on 19 April. Call Fedex for a trace. Get told..."uh, we can't find it, you need to assume it's lost, and contact the shipper".  
 
NOW the nightmare begins. I call BuyMstar, and spend 40 minutes on hold before hanging up in disgust. While on hold I type an email explaining the situation. I was very polite about it...I know that if Fedex lost it it's not their fault...but I need to go through THEM to get a replacement, and notify them they need to file a loss claim against Fedex.  
 
Call again periodically over hte next few 24 hrs. Actually leave a message in someones' inbox finally, but again no response.  
 
Fortunately FedEx calls again the 2 days later saying "guess what we found" and delivers the package that day. Box was pristine, well-packed, and the contents were all as ordered. In fact the swapped out video cards have 128 MB DRAM instead of the expected 64, so I guess I came out ahead a tad on the order alteration. All changes including the Twin-X upgrade were accounted for and hand-marked on the invoice.  
 
So I'm only mildly worried now that if I have problems with any of the parts, I already know these guys are impossible to get a hold of. So I build all three systems and get lucky...for the most part.  
 
All parts are functional. However, the ordered Athlon 2600 XP was supposed to be the newer Thoroughbred core type, "with 333 FSB" -- although retail packaged as such, it has the OPN on the chip ending in "C" for 266 MHz rather than "D" for 333 MHz. Now again, this is not really BuyMstar's "fault" since it was in (apparently unopened) retail packaging but mismarked. But again....do you think there's any hope of getting in touch with these clowns?  
 
On hold 20 minutes. Give up.  
On hold 30 minutes. Give up.  
On hold 48 minutes. Give up. Throw phone through wall. Had to really restrain myself from posting this review then while that pissed off and wait instead to see how things turned out.  
 
Finally called AMD directly. In about 2 minutes they got the Serial info off the chip, had me read the heatsink/fan serial number and doublecheck some packaging details before saying "yep, that should've been a 333 FSB in that packaging" and giving me an RMA. (The only reason the call took that long is because they wanted to know why I didn't try RMAing through the reseller first.)  
 
Should get the replacement part by the end of the week, so I'm jumping the gun a little by posting my review now, but really BuyMstar has 'opted out' of involvement by basically having crap followthrough, so why not.  
 
BuyMstar has great prices, no denying it. Their packing is fine, and I really don't see the shipping delay as being their fault in this case. But what was and is inexcusable is that if you have any problem of any kind, they simply Do Not Exist after the sale. In my case I had functional but mispackaged products. I shudder to think about what would've happened with non-functional or missing parts in my order.  
 
I really don't know if I'll order from them again. If I do it will be price motivated, but knowing damn well that I'm taking a gamble that they just happen to be on the ball somewhat at the time it's shipped, and after that I plan on working with the mfgrs not them.

This review was modified by its author, rtremski, on 5/5/03 2:51 PM.

I am so disappointed with this company. I had ordered something 2nd day and it took 8 days just to ship it. I have called this company so many times to get some info on my packages and there has not been once where my hold time was less than 35 mins. I asked for a tracking number and got a false number. Bottom line, I will never buy from this company again, and I dont recommend anyone else buying from them.

This review was modified by its author, benwah, on 4/16/03 8:16 PM.

I bought 2 mother boards and 2 AGP graphic cards and it took only 2 days for the package to arrive my house (free shipping). It was super fast.  
PT-San Jose

I'm pretty happy with the price i got for the A7N8X Deluxe retail. I'm not too happy with the shipping method they used. Originally, i wanted the OEM. I called last tuesday and made the change to get the retail and was told that it would only cost $10 for shipping (Which i assume was ground), and would ship on the same day. It actually shipped on friday and I just got it today AND they charged me $18 for 2nd-day shipping...thanks for not telling me.

I purchased the LinkSys Wireless Router and the Wireless Notebook PC card and both were shipped on the next day, as I was notified via e-mail from Mstar. I expect all to be fine on arrival since they were the retail versions.

DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY!  
I wish i read this board before making my purchase. The other reviews about their customer service department are dead on !  
I bought a hard-drive, DOA, and their online RMA system wouldn't work (big surprise). I then sent an email with their RMA form cut&pasted,(ensuring they got all the info needed), and guess what? NO RESPONSE!  
Well, a week later I sent them another email complaining. It's been another week, still haven't heard anything. I Guess i'll be getting the runaround on the phone now...  

My Asus A7N8X Deluxe board was DOA. I exhaustively tested the mobo. On-line RMA processing did not work; the website would not accept/process the data. Never got an email acknowledgement. Soooo, I called on my nickle. Took a long time on hold to finally reach the "RMA Dept." Was switched to 4-5 different people including "tech support" in the process. A man who answered the phone said the RMA website had been having problems. I was told by "tech support" I would be charged $25 if they tested the board and it worked. I wonder what the odds are on them claiming it is good? Their RMA response also says I will be changed a restocking fee. For DOA merchandise??? Get real folks.  
I chose them because they had a good price and I have ordered from them once previously ok. Now that I have had a problem, I am very leery of their customer service and their new skimpy 15 day RMA/return policy.  
++UPDATE++  
The company now says that for THEM SENDING ME A DOA MOBO, they will only refund me $118 for a $139 purchase. I hope others can learn from this and do business elsewhere with customer friendly companies. In my opinion, Mstar had their chance to stand behind the product and make things right, and they chose not to. I won't buy from them again.  
SECOND UPDATE MAY 21,2003  
Company's website is down and "they are not processing orders at this time." Never credited me for the RMA. What a joke of a business. I hope the comments here led to their problems. If you can't get your money from them, here is their DNS info:  
Domain Name: BUYMSTAR.COM  
 
Administrative Contact  
Stella P Hartono: stellahartono@go.com  
Stella P Hartono  
420 W. Lambert Road #B  
Brea, CA 92821  
US  
Phone  
Fax  

This review was modified by its author, babalu, on 5/21/03 4:10 PM.

I was very disappointed with MStar. Every dealing I have had with other companies in the past 10 years shipped items out same day if ordered prior to shipper leaving in the evening. It took 3 business (5days) to ship my order. I attempted to call MStar voice and was on hold 30 minutes without a human response whatsoever before I hung up.. even the receptionist had an answering service. I also sent an email which to this day STILL hasn't been responded to.  
 
MStar has the worst customer service I have ever seen with a mail order/online computer company. The ONLY thing good about this purchase was the price; however, I will purchase from another retailer next time even if I have to pay more.

i have made two recent purchases through mstar and have had no problems. the only thing that i didn't like was after placing my first order for amd 2.4 retail and an asus a7n8x deluxe i had to call after my order had not been shipped after 3 days when the web site states that orders ship on the same day. the associate picked right up and told me that the board was on back order. no big deal- i just would have liked to have been notified. if someone spends a good deal of money with you, you should at least keep them notified of what is going on with the order. other than that there were no issues. everything works great- and mstar has great prices. will make next purchase with them.

This is my second software order through MStar.  
 
My first order was shipped 3 days after online ordering, and everything came as expected and well packaged.  
 
This second order hasn't arrived yet, but it took seven days to get it shipped from the time of ordering. Considering that most software packages I received came from a year-old stock (based on service pack version), all these items were likely in stock, so I guess the order preparation is taking a little longer than it should if everything was fully automatized.  
 
To summarize, happy so far with the company, but  
expect some delay in initial shipping.  

I waited a couple of days before posting so that I could calm down a little. I am not angry anymore, but I feel obligated to let people know that this is not a company I will ever do business with again.  
 
I ordered an ATI AIW 9700 Pro and an Athlon XP 2200+ - both retail. The price was very good. First, it took a couple of days for the order to ship. Kind of a pet peeve of mine, but not a big deal. When it finally arrived, the retail packaging of the Athlon 2200+ appeared as if it had been opened. I inspected the chip, and it showed no signs of being removed from the packaging. It worked fine, so I let this issue go. But the packaging had been opened (cut with a scissors, actually), so I was a little miffed.  
 
The ATI card was DOA. I went online to obtain an RMA. Despite being told that I would receive a number within 24 hours, I waited over 3 days to get my RMA. I shipped the package back. I didn't hear anything from them. I checked the tracking number and saw that it had been accepted a couple of days earlier. Very odd that they sent no communication notifying me that they were shipping a replacement. I started making calls. Their voicemail box is always full after hours, and during business hours, nobody ever answers. I started getting really annoyed. Their website claimed their hours were 9am-5pm PST, but their voicemails says 10:00-4:00. Which one is it? Consistency is not really hard, and when I am dealing with a $500+ order, I feel it is unacceptable to have to guess the status of my returns and their hours of operation.  
 
I then started to email via the site. Everything I sent either bounced or was ignored. After a week had passed, I was very angry that I had shipped them a $380 card and had not heard a word from them since. I sent them an email stating that they had 24 hours to provide me with the status of my return before I get my credit card company involved. Like all my other emails, it too was ignored.  
 
My credit card company said I needed to wait a couple of weeks before they stopped payment. Frustrated, I called up the always busy voicemail, and started punching random buttons until I landed in someone's voice box. I left a very steaming message letting them know that they have lost me as a customer forever. Within 2 hours, I was provided with a tracking number. It turns out that it had shipped the same day I had started with all my email messages. It is a shame that I had to stoop to this level to find out what was going on.  
 
End of story, I received all my merchandise, but the lost time and the unprofessionalism of the company far outweighed the $30 I saved by not going with another vendor.

I placed the order on wed the 18th. I was only able to contact MStar on the phone twice & called at least 50 times.. they don't have a working voicemail system. I was told the order would go out the 19th & I would have it friday the 21st. I ordered & paid for second day air. I didn't get the package friday & had to track & meet the fedex driver 30miles from my home because of the mistake. I have yet to beable to get a hold of anyone at MStar. I won't order there again.  
However, the product was recieved in good working order with an invoice.

I ordered a radeon 9500 non pro card. I called first (and surprisingly got through)to verify that it was indees the red PCB card with the l shape memory. Then, I ordered the card on the website. A few days passed and I finally got the card. It was the wrong one. I got a 9500 black PCB card. The one on the website still showed the red, but now the price jumped to $200 for the card. I tried to call, but like everyone else, there was no answer. All voice mail boxes are full. I sent 4 emails, and even one through the website. All of them bounced back to me on the 14th. Now I am stuck with a card that I did not order. If I wanted the black pcb version, I could have bought it elsewhere for $30 cheaper. My only other option would be to drive 4 hours to their address. Ofcouse, now the card is no longer on the website. I will not buy any further products from this place unless this changed. I still want a refund on the incorrect product that they sent me. I hope all of you luck if you choose to deal with these people.

Order placed on Saturday did not get processed until Wednesday or Thursday then shipped even later. I was forced to refuse the delivery and cancel another order through M Star. Very difficult to reach on the phone. Was told I would have a refund in 3 or 4 business days, now it's two weeks later and the credit card company is taking care of the matter. I will NEVER shop here again.