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A family member of mine signed a contract with Rent A Center on a 42" LCD with $30 down. They thought it would be a great surprise for the family since we've been talking about purchasing a new flat screen for the holidays. I also was excited about the decision since the TV would arrive in about 1 day and would be ours to keep as long as we kept up with the weekly payments of around $30 a week. Like I said I was excited, but I was also a bit concerned since she doesn't have experience with educating herself before making such purchases. Naturally in defense of her I needed to see her contract.

The first thing I saw was the astronomical price that Rent A Center had charged her! In order to get the TV at the lowest price possible it needed to be paid off in 90 days, which was about $1300. This meant that the weekly payment that was once $30 or so had quadrupled! The other option would have been to continue the minimum payment, but that meant that when the payment plan was done she would have dropped $3000 on a TV that usually goes for about $600 at most retailers.

I called Rent A Center to see if we could renegotiate the price. They said no, so I told them she would be cancelling the contract. They refunded our cash with questions asked and other attempts to sign another contract as predicted. Rent A Center, like most places would try to match the deal if they had an advertisement to compare it with, which she didn't do, so yes it was her fault for getting into the deal without doing a little research. Obviously in this situation it wasn't in the best interest for the sales rep to only think about making as much commission as possible and disregarding savings that could have been passed on to the customer. Rent A Center employees should also take into account family or friends that may be advising the customer before trying to take advantage of a deal. Without Rent A Center's practice for honest business, the company and the sales rep lost a nice sale and chunk of commission, and future sales and commissions from us will result in $ZERO. Plus I will let anyone know who mentions them that they will suck any penny from you when given the chance, are rude, etc, etc.

To sum it up, this company is inclined to prey on the weak, low credit consumer who has limited education. Rent A Center understands that people will not be able to keep up on the payments at some point (that's if you get a deal like this), then you would realize it, then you would cancel your contract and be forced to return the merchandise. Termination of the contract doesn't effect them one bit since all they needed was a few months of your payments. At that point they will take your returned merchandise and start the whole process again by saying it is new and sell it to another sucker. And I have a feeling that most people who do get involved takes them some time to realize that the costs outweigh the value before returning the merchandise, which I'm glad I caught it day one. Then again some people are willing to get screwed, which I hope most aren't.

If you do decide to do business there make sure you check out other options and bring advertisements from other retailers to get the best deal possible. You will not get retail price since they need their commission, but you try to get as close as possible. But I really don't recommend any buying or renting of their products. Your best bet is to save and buy it straight up, or purchase on credit (if you can get it) with payments that you know you can afford.

P.S. We bought a 42" with cash like we should have the day after cancellation.

Location: Buffalo, New York

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XStormX J

Is this the line that Rent a Center is training you people to say to everyone? Our merchandise is clearly marked to show whether itรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs new or used and priced accordingly.

Please call our Customer Care team at 1-80*-***-**** and give them the details about what happened so they can address the issue. Hope this helps. This line of CRAP that you all tell the consumer needs to be stopped. I'm going to do my best to make sure that Rent a Center is investigated by the proper authorites.

Every District Attorney's office has a division that takes complaints, investigates consumer complaints and they DO press criminal charges against companies who FRAUD consumers.

I am going to make it my personal mission to make sure Rent a Center is investigated. DO I HEAR YET ANOTHER CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT BREWING FOR RENT A CENTER????????

Guest

i said it before and i will say it again,bottom feeder employees at rent a center do not get commission correct,but go ask your store manager how much "commission" he gets every month.But its called bonus ***.and lets not even talk about district managers,regional managers,so on and so forth.GROWTH AND % COLLECTED,sound familiar.Yeah thats how bonuses are calculated.Another mindless rent-a-center employee....PATHETIC :sigh

Guest

Bro we don't get commission... Read contracts before you sign them!!!

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