This complaint is against the company in general, but also against the attitude of most Aaron's managers. Let me start by saying that I am a former employee of Aaron's, and I have seen the thuggish behavior exhibited by many managers and at least one district manager. The way they handle customers is at times a bit jarring. The manager can act as your best friend until you are even a day late on a payment.
I personally have never been late on any contract at Aaron's, so this is not personal experience from the customer side of the phone. This is experience from watching managers on the Aaron's end of the phone or doorbell. I was a product technician, so I had to go along on a few collections, and I can tell you they are some of the rudest and most obstinate people that knock on those doors.
After breaking my leg at work, I stopped working for Aaron's last year. This year, in a different town from where I worked, my wife and I decided to get a new couch, since the current one, bought from Aaron's 19 months ago, was falling apart. I was getting a small amount of money from a settlement, so we decided to get a sectional from Aaron's (literally because every other furniture store that we could afford was closed that day). Because I knew we would be able to pay it off with the settlement checks, I asked for the payoff amount.
They told me the incorrect amount, or the correct amount minus the $150 in tax, and I have paid $950 in the last three weeks for the couch. When I asked for an updated payoff amount, this time they gave the correct amount after tax, and it was more than I thought, so I asked why the difference in price. The manager was very rude. I complained, and the district manager called me back and apologized, so I was at least satisfied that they appreciated my business.
This time when I went in, I asked about switching couches, because my wife and I were not as happy with the sectional as we thought we would be. Even though I have paid an additional $820 beyond my first month's rent, which we are still on, by the way, they told me that if I returned the couch and got something else, I would forfeit the $820 that I have paid over. As a former employee, I have seen managers do a transfer for an upgrade. Evidently, if they will get more money they do not mind breaking what they claim is policy, but if they get less, they will steal it out from under you and say you should have looked at the contract better.
So I looked at my contract, and in the small, and I do mean small, print, in legalese, it says you do indeed forfeit the money. The thing is, my contract is a lease agreement. It is a six-month contract for lease with an option to buy, for $235 less than I have already paid. According to them, even though I paid over the contract amount, I would still lose even that additional $235 (or thereabouts). So, in other words, if at the end of the six-month contract I decide not to renew and let them take the couch, I would still lose that additional money!
So, let's review:
1) Rude general manager
2) Wrong payoff amount when asked for originally
3) In the name of "company policy," they threaten to keep additional money I was paying toward the couch
Now, in order not to lose over $800 that I have already paid in addition to the monthly fee, I have to pay off the couch, even though I no longer want it. Since it is a company policy, there will be no relief. The only way to get any kind of change is to have it come from the top, but at the customer call center, all they can do is direct you down to the regional level.
Aaron's Sales and Lease managers are a bunch of thugs who have no problem distorting the truth to get what they want, which is more money. This is a free enterprise economy, so I know that money is the driving force in most businesses, but Aaron's leans more toward usury than honesty. They keep information from you until you sign, and then they force you to keep to something they rushed you into signing in the first place. "Read the contract" is the only thing they seem to say about complaints, and yet they rush you through after making you wait for an hour, making you happy they are rushing at all. That is pure manipulation.
I asked the right questions during the contract run-through, and they gave me incorrect answers (either by accident or design, I am not sure). I have a two-year-old I was keeping an eye on at the same time, so the least they could do was answer questions honestly when asked. Instead, they want to lock you into a contract with misinformation, and when you are dissatisfied they say "Too bad!" and have a nice little laugh at customers who should have read through the nearly impossible to translate without a lawyer legalese. I have seen it from working there, and now I see it as a customer. It is not just a few bad seeds here and there. You do not become a manager without learning to become a thug.
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