Worried about being ripped off? When renting from the Rent A Center you had better be a lawer of have one close by.
The worry free guarantee is a joke and a classic case of false advertising.
I had been renting a living room from one of the 5 rent a centers within a mile of each other here in west Cleveland, coincidentally they are all located next to a good will or used clothing shop due to them taking the shirt off of your back. So the living room, a piece of junk, was rented in December of 07 supposedly brand new and at first I loved it. Within a month or two it started to look as though I had it for years. The cushions were so cheep they had butt dents in them by month 3. Still I made my payments and the guys at the store sent a repair person to re-stitch the pillows and take a look at the creaking and snapping sound it was now making by month 4. She fixed the pillows and informed me not to sit on the couch as much, good advice, when I contacted the store they offered to apply part of my $700.00 to a new piece of junk. I kindly said no and they came to pick it up, I'm out $700 now by the way you get no gurantee you will be happy with the stuff. Are you worried yet? No read on..
I was also renting a play station 3 and a wii at the same time, wow over a thousand dollars for a wii alone once paid in full, I knew I was overpaying but hey, its worry free guaranteed. So I took my biweekly raping and paid the $230 every two weeks. That included the sofa by the way. When I was told by the manager I wasnt paying for insurance, it had slipped by them and that I had to have it for my protection and theirs. So they back charged my account and I paid the insurance up to date. Now when you sign the agreement and have to initial a hundred times they seem to skip over the insurance details, heck I had been renting for months and once I was told about it the manager didn't sit me down like when I originally signed he just took the money and end of story. Well as luck had it while moving to a new address the two game systems were stolen from the on site storage unit in my driveway. I contacted the store to see what I should do, he informed me I simply needed a police report and he would take it from there, worry free right? Awesome right?
Well Read on..
Well I did exactly what the store manager told me to do; I went to the police department and made the report. Someone disengaged the door lock, raised the roll away door and made off with the goods. Seems like a cut and dry case, problem solved! Wrong!!!
I took the report into the store and handed it to the assistant manager who called his boss right away before I left the store. After all the worry free guarantee made it all better, I was even thinking about renting something else when he came back and told me that it was my fault there wasn't a forced entry therefore I had to keep paying. He even suggested changing the police report to make it go away. Well you can't change a police report and I wasn't instructed when I inquired, on the proper wording of the report. Turns out something has to be broken before the insurance would cover it but they had a great deal for me. I would only have to pay them $700 more dollars or the ACV actual cash value. Wow what a deal worry free just pay me.
Now it gets interesting, I'm supposed to resign for stolen equipment and make payments on the stolen equipment until its paid off. I was pushed into useless insurance and the when I asked for advice on how to proceed after the theft they screwed me again. My police report didn't say they broke the lock off, there is only a slide bar. Now I'm being strong armed into signing a stolen rental agreement for hundreds of dollars on equipment covered by insurance.
The store manager said he went to bat for me, if he did I can't tell. He's the one pushing for me to sign this thing, in fact by saying if you don't come in today the deal is off pretty much says it all, we suck and there is nothing you can do about it.
I'm not paying for equipment that was stolen, sorry the pod doesn't have a door knob or window to break, they are bad news and expect bad things if you rent from them. The worry free doesn't extend to you or me, just the company.
Now I asked my lawyer about a lawsuit and he seems pretty confident they are exercising shady business practices and not giving enough details on the inshurance they are selling you.
They might screw me but not before it costs them a butt load in attorney fees and court costs, I will see to that. Ill picket the store, file a report with the BBB and turn this in to the Attorney generals office. If in the end I still get hammered for the money, I will go bankrupt. I would rather give it to a sleezy bankruptcy layer then let these scum bags collect a dollar.
Worry free, not on your life.
0 comments