Honestly, yeah, macros aren't very good in this game. If it can be done manually, do so every time. For whatever reason, there's a bit of lag when using a macro, so if you press a macro and press another button, the sequence gets easily interrupted. When I use a salted earth macro, you better believe I'm mashing it several times before it goes off.

Macros with text? You could very well give off the message, but not perform the action.

Your best bet is to just communicate with your party at the start of the instance and say what you'll do and what to watch out. I tell my healers I superbolide first thing in a mass pull, for example (which btw i recommend since it cuts out the confusion of timing and HP bars and such.)