I was a store manager for Rent-A-Center on 2 occasions. I have also been an account manager, credit I/O, and acting sales I/O. I worked for Rent-A-Center for over 2 years. I am not one to "bash" ex-employers or cause trouble for no reason. That is not my goal. I want to tell you all how it REALLY is. That is, how it is that employees are supposed to treat POTENTIAL customers as well as current customers. And how managers are encouraged to treat their employees.
For the record, I trully believe that the idea of rental companies like Rent-A-Center do serve a much needed purpose for average consumers. These companies offer a way for people without a lot of money and good credit to get the things they want. (Notice I did not say NEED. They cater to the WANT of the general public.) It is when the company starts to worry more about the "numbers" then the individual customer that things start to go bad for everyone. When I say "numbers" and am in reference to how many customers are on rent in one store, how many ITEMS are on rent in that store (known as BOR) and the average monthly income from each item (or APU). Dont kid yourself... These numbers (and a few others I wont go into right now) are ALL that Rent-A-Center cares about.
I wish I could give you all my email address, but that is not allowed by this board. There is a lot of information that I have and would like to share with all of you. I will try and keep this as short and to the point as I can.
1. Rent-A-Center will tell a perspective customer anything they have to in order to get the sale. This will include giving you "specific" price nformation on the product you want. Take a good look at the price tag on the product. There are 3 prices there. The one on the upper far right is the "90 days same as cash" price. Lets say the product is an Ashly Durapela living room set. Price is 700.00. That would include the couch and either a chair or love seat. That 90 days price is only good for 90 days. Pretty simple, right? Here is where it gets dirty. We wont tell you straight out that the 90 days starts on the day you sign the agreement. NOT the day you actually recieve it. And we will never tell you when your 90 days is up when you come in and make a payment unless you ask. We are also instructed to tell customers that we cant access that part of the system right then. Keep that in mind when you get something from them.
Price in the upper left is the amount you will pay on that item if you go through the entire length of the agreement. This means that instead of paying the 700.00 for the living room, you will end up paying about 1350.00. That is a hell of a lot of money.
The price in the upper middle is the amount of maney that Rent-A-Center will make ABOVE the 90 days same as cash amount if you go the full term of the agreement. This amount is usually the same as or a little more than the 90 days price. Employees are taught to talk about the 90 days price to the custome as if every customer is going to get it paid off that soon. Keep in mind that this tactic is not criminal, but is still immoral (in my opinion.)
This is just a fraction of what we as Rent-A-Center employees are required to do. Never let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.
To touch on how RAC treats its staff.
I guess the one way to sum it would be the olod saying "If you want to get along, you better GO along".
As a manager I was expected to be at my store "when required". Had I know when I took the position that would mean 13-16 hours a day, 6 days a week I would not have accepted the promotion.
Rent-A-Center managers are paid salary. This amount depends on your stores BOR (rented item count). Salary amounts are based on a 40 hour week. If needed we are supposed to work up to 50 hours (if short on personell, or whatever.)
I, along with the other 6 managers in my market, never worked less then 65 hours a week. This can be proven by looking at our store alarm code logins every day. For myself, it was every day in at 6:45 am and out at around 9:30 pm. All these hours are uncompensated hours. Why did I do this? Good question. The answer is simple. I had to do this to get everything I was supposed to get done completed. Though I was never told directly to work these hours, it was made clear to me by the market manager that if I could not get the things done that are expected of me, I was to FIND A WAY. Affter saying that, we went on to tell me how many hours he used to work at his store when he was a store manager in Las Vegas.
After 3 months of this crap I requested to be demoted to a different position (any position). I was told that demotions are NOT an option. Yet the manager in redding ca requested to be demoted for the same reasons as me and recieved it. The only difference between that manager and myself is gender.
Anyway, after a couple of weeks of almost begging, I quit.
So, if anyone has any direct questions about Rent-A-Center that I can answer, please post here. I have a lot of information and would love to share it with you all.
Steven
Brownsville, California
U.S.A.
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