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i worked for rent a center and i know first hand of their bullying scare tactics and over all shiester buisness practices. let me put your mind to ease if you are being harrassed for non payment of your items

1) if you fail to pay they can not come to your home and demand payment.

2)they can not enter your home and seize the items.

3)they can not wait outside your residance to confront you about payment.

4)they can not call your referances and enquire about you for non payment

5) you are not required to give them the items back.

6)they must stay away from you and your home and freinds. if they want the items back by law they are to leave you alone and file a small claims action for the items. this process can take up to 6 months or more. in the mean time the items depriciate in value. you do not have to attend the small claims hearing. what will happen is the judge will dissmiss their case against you and inform them that like a credit card this is a credit issue and they need to put it against your credit rateing. if they are doing any of the things i mentioned in 1-5 you can call the police and tell them they are harrasing you and/or scareing you your family and freinds. also, BIG NO NO RENT A CENTER CAN NOT CALL YOUR WORK FOR YOUR NON PAYMENT!

Location: San Diego, California

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Essie Gdf

It's been since January of this year that I haven't paid RAC due to my job & I been struggling hard & the lady said they had a warrant out for me but I called downtown police they said they have no warrant out for me

Johnston Ynh

Well that one thing you said that they canโ€™t stick around your residence and demand payment. They do that.

I had a dryer payment that was 2 or so days late. They blew up my phone non stop, threatened to get a warrant to seizure the dryer, THEN proceeded to bang on my door non stop for 15 min at my front door then went to a non working door down my driveway, down a hill and through the brush and knocked on that door for another 15 min. We Couldnโ€™t take the harassment anymore because stress causes seizures as Iโ€™m epileptic so we told them to come get their dryer. They wanted for a standard dryer over 1200 dollars and I found the same dryer at lowes for 450 dollars.

Now donโ€™t think I donโ€™t pay because before the dryer I paid off a gaming laptop and a ps4 from them and I even explained the situation to them that my pay didnโ€™t fall for another few days due to a job change. They break those rules you say about constantly and Iโ€™ll never rent from them again. Before getting the dryer I got a stove from them because I had just moved into a home after being evicted from previous home due to them selling the house without my knowledge and had moved in an emergency situation.

They take advantage of the disadvantaged every single day and charge them mountains of fees. Itโ€™s ridiculous and a rip off and they shouldnโ€™t be allowed to practice this crap.

Guest

If your only 3 weeks late on a payment and they come out and deny payment ( not to mention your almost done paying on it ) and get the TV is their anything I can do? The guy who came out said his boss wouldnโ€™t accept payment and has to have TV back. He was gonna accept payment but she texted and said get the TV and donโ€™t accept paymentโ€ฆ like weโ€™ve made all the other ones.

Johnston Ynh
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-2102698

It donโ€™t matter if itโ€™s almost paid off. They will harass you and pound on your door forever and get that tv.

They also canโ€™t deny payment as they are doing because you are attempting to pay.

Donโ€™t let them bully you please read my above comment it might give you insight of what they did to me. Hope you got to keep your tv

Guest

Rent a Center and places like that are just financial traps for the poor.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-2048816

So, they would have to take me to court first before they can have anyone come in my house for their stuff? I do plan on paying them, but like I said they want the whole thing.

Johnston Ynh
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-2048853

They will hang outside your door and pound on it forever trying to get their items then call the cops to try to gain entry. Seen them do it before but they still canโ€™t enter your property without permission regardless if cops are there.

Then if you donโ€™t give up the tv they will take you to small claims court. I really hope you donโ€™t fall for their bullying tactics and they just love to take advantage of the disadvantaged. I once got a smart phone from them and missed the payment and they literally can lock my phone and I canโ€™t make calls or anything which you would think itโ€™s illegal but itโ€™s not.

I donโ€™t think they should be able to do that seeing how you need a phone in case of emergencies but they lock that *** Luckily they canโ€™t do that with tvs and other electronics though. I hate rent a center

Cregg Jes

I have not paid rent a center and they are threatening on calling the sheriff on me. Can they do that?

I am over a month late. I am trying to come up with what they want which they wont settle for less than that, but i need time. I am seeing yes they can and no they cant.

I just dont know which to believe. I havent gotten sued from them or anything

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Cregg Jes

Just don't answer the door when they come, and block their number. when you have the money just pay online and they will stop. Trust me its what i did

Johnston Ynh
reply icon Replying to comment of Cregg Jes

They can but they canโ€™t enter your property. Itโ€™s a bullying tactic to get their items.

Iโ€™ve had friends who have had the cops called on them and she left a note outside her door so they didnโ€™t start pounding on her door. Saying something about not being home and please donโ€™t knock because of a delicate situation could be triggered. She was only a week late with her product too. Ended up having to pay for medication and had to wait a week to pay and even told them that.

They can call the sheriff all they want they STILL canโ€™t enter your property and i would explain to them that the process is lengthy and you are aware they still canโ€™t enter your property and you wonโ€™t allow them to take it and just tell them to take you to small claims courts.

My friend said she even went to the stupid court date and they sided with her not rent a center because of their harassment and bullying she even had proof that she was going to pay but had to wait a week. They wouldnโ€™t accept her payment either which the judge didnโ€™t like and ended up siding with my friend.

Guest

Hi, Iโ€™m currently the Credit Manager(past due accounts) at my local Corporate RAC. RTO laws are fairly universal with only a handful of states differing from the rest of the country.

Yes, our employees are legally allowed to do โ€œhome visitsโ€ to inquire about past due payments and/or payments. No, they cannot enter without homeowner/tenant permission, that is breaking and entering. No, employees cannot out right threaten you with legal action as in: โ€œIf you do not take action โ€œaโ€ then we will sue/call the cops,โ€ etc. However, we can inform you of our legal options, and inform your reference(s) of our options.

Per current company policy we can contact a reference(s), but on a limited basis. Yes, we can come by/call your job, but that shouldnโ€™t happen until AFTER we have reached out to you and made attempts to contact you by phone, in person, or via reference(s), and you still arenโ€™t contacting us/answering at your home. Yes, we begin calling you on your due date, unless you request to not receive a reminder call on your due date. However, if you are a customer that regularly makes late payments this request CAN be rejected.

Yes, we will continue to call you(at least twice a day) until you answer/return our call and set a commitment(a day/time you will be in to make your payment, and let us know what happened). Per company policy we cannot commit a customer more than 7 days past due(unless the commitment is to return the merchandise) without the consideration of the Store Manager(they will have to accept or deny the commitment). We cannot commit a customer for Fri/Sat. After 5 days your account is โ€œin collectionโ€ which simply means we are now attempting a pick-up, OR a payment, rather than just a payment.

If you miss your first renewal payment(first payment after down payment) that is an automatic collection/return(it sets a tone for our business relationship with you, how can we trust you to make further payments on time if you canโ€™t make the first payment?) - thereโ€™s no getting around it, and itโ€™s in the agreement contract. After 15 days of non-renewal and no contact, we will send a letter saying you have a few days to return or make a payment(if you have a good long-standing relationship with your store and communicate, this may not happen). After that, if you refuse to contact, make payment, or return the merchandise, yes we have several legal options. We have replevin(court ordered return of merchandise), payment(court ordered demand of payment in an amount up to the judge), and garnishment are the most common.

No, cops will not be called but a constable will come out if you do not comply with replevin. If you refuse the constable then yes we can get a warrant for entry. If you do not show up to court you will have a bench warrant, sorry. We CAN file criminal(because there is money and merchandise involved ie financial damages to US).

Regarding charge-offs(when we just write your account(s) as a loss): we do these monthly, but that doesnโ€™t mean your account will charge off after 30 days late. We look at how much money is left in the account vs how much you paid into it. Your account may not charge off for a year if there is too much money left in it. If you do skip out(merchandise never recovered/paid out), you will be denied by any Rent-A-Center in the future, unless you can pay the remaining value or return the merchandise, even then you can still be denied further services.

All you have to do is answer the phone when we call, or preemptively call us to let us know your payment will not be on-time. We are happy to help out a customer when you keep in contact with us. We have little reason or obligation to help you out if you donโ€™t pick-up the phone or answer the door.

Also, if you do have the money to outright buy that tv, computer, appliance or furniture etc from Walmart, Loweโ€™s, BestBuy, etc then do it. You will save more in the long run.

Cregg Jes
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-2048123

What happens if if they do leave you a voicemail threatening you on calling the sheriff against you?

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-2048123

Iโ€™ve rented before and paid off all items, multiple times. Iโ€™m in a new agreement and made my first 5 payments via autopay.

I am paying week to week and I am late right now for my first payment.. today is day 4 of being late. Tried to pay my past due amount plus late fee and the assistant manager wonโ€™t accept the payment unless I include my next payment which is not due yet.

Doesnโ€™t say anything about that in my agreement. Can they do that?!

Waylan Xbf
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-2048123

I started a contract 4/2020. I owe 1500 with a 750 buyout option.

I am 3 pmts late. In your opinion, what are the next steps if I do not pay for 2 more weeks?

Bricen Xbs
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-2048123

Can they come knock on my door after 8pm on a Friday night after I told them Iโ€™m paying Saturday? Also, can they call me 20 times a day from different numbers?

Can they attempt to pull money out my account 6 times a day with different amount? Iโ€™m also sending them a cease to desist because at this point they are harassing me after I told them what day Iโ€™m going to pay.

Johnston Ynh
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-2048123

I wish you knew exactly what they do. They do threaten you with the cops and harass you even at like 2 to 3 days late, even if you try to make arrangements to pay even if you are on time normally they will still harass you because of lack of communication between employees.

In pa they apparently can do a crap ton to you and use bullying tactics and have seen people win their case because of these illegal tactics they take. Iโ€™m sure you have people who donโ€™t care and wonโ€™t pay and just steal the items but for the people who have their items almost paid off and they miss the payment they act like you never pay and harass you all the same. They take advantage of poor people because of their desperate situation in needing things like stoves, fridges, or have no furniture because of an emergency they are in. Mh friend was threatened with a warrant and everything she has proof of this as well.

They do some shady *** to get their items back. I once got a cell phone from them and was only like 2 or more days late because my pay didnโ€™t fall even kept in communication with them making sure they knew my situation and they were able to lock my phone. Thatโ€™s right. I couldnโ€™t make calls at all on it even in an emergency situation.

I was happy because I got a new phone and gave theirs back as they are setting a very dangerous precedent with their phones. You might also save money just buying the items outright but not everyone has that luxury being why they come to RAC and most of the time they donโ€™t really explain how the payment thing works and wonโ€™t explain to you that you are paying 3 times as much.

My friend is quite illiterate and they took advantage of that. Shady shady practices going on there.

Duy Agu

This sounds to good to be true..

Guest

Is this statement legitimate? By the former Rent-A-Center employee????

Johnston Ynh
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1946182

Not really Iโ€™ve seen them knock for 15 min on my door and 15 min on a non working door to get their items over a few days late. They do threaten you with the cops and do lie about getting a warrant to get their items.

They do break the rules on a daily basis so donโ€™t think a lot of what the old employee says because itโ€™s different everywhere with their rules.

Have had them lock a phone I was renting all because I missed a payment by 2 or so days even after I told them of my situation. That is very dangerous I couldnโ€™t even make any emergency calls in it.

Alexandru Xhe

How often are they allowed to come to your house?

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