My Personal Experience with Rent-To-Own Programs

Rent-to-own is just another way of saying 'buy me even though you do not have thae appropriate funds.' This happened to me and my spouse after our computer received the 'I Love You' virus later within its cycle and it totally destroyed our system. With hardly any money coming in and barely able to make ends meet, we had to make a decision if we wanted to use the last of our tax refund to put towards the purchase of a new computer or if we simply wanted to wait another two or three years while we saved what we needed. In the end, after much thought, we had decided to go down to our local Aaron's Rent-To-Own outlet and take a look at what the center had to offer.

This had not been my first personal experience with these programs. When I was in my twenties, I had a cousin who had lived with me that was wanting a new stereo system for his room in the house and had went down to the local Rent-A-Center to check into it. Of course, the salesmen at the center were very persuasive and had sold him the largest and most expensive model of stereo system that they had to offer: a Kawai Stereo System with 500 megawatt subwoofers! Needless to say, our home was not the quietest place to be around while he took a lot of time playing with his new toy. After about two weeks of the windows vibrating as well as the thin walls of our house, my father made another suggestion that he actually get something that would futher his computer skills as it was something that he had always wanted to learn. In the end, he did purchase one only to spend more time and money on upgrading the system with new hard drives, motherboards, memory, and so forth so that he could have the biggest and the best. Today, he still does these upgrades as a hobby, but he vowed to never go through the rent-to-own programs again.

In this later time when me and my spouse were in desperate need of one (so she could continue with the household budget and myself in my career as a struggling writer), we took a moment to check to see what Aaron's had in stock. Overall, their selection was minimal and consisted of only a few desktop models while the majority were laptops. At first, I was skeptical as while they had some very good brands (such as Dell and HP), I still was not quite sure. It was then that we were approached by a sales agent who asked if they could help us find something. Between the two of us, we gave the rundown of what it is that we needed and what we wanted our system to be able to do. It was at that moment the person showed us a Dell Dimension 3100 model with an LCD screen. Our last system had been so old that I looked at the thing like it was the next step into the future for me. So, without another thought, we agreed that the model fit out needs and we signed the contract. What we did not know, however, was exactly how much that the little darling was going to cost us, and that was when the problems really began occurring.

Now, while all rent-to-own outlets may not function as bad as the one in our city, there were still a great many things that were not told to us when we first decided to make this latest (what turned out to be a large) business venture. When renting-to-own, the price that you see for any item whether it is furniture, a new television, a stereo, or even a computer is that the price per week is only the suggested price. The fact of the matter is that only half of what you pay is going toward the actual purchase of the item. The other half is going towards the interest rate (which can be 5 % or sometimes higher) that the outlet charges for convenience. If one were to think about it, they have to make money and the sales reps that work in these stores more often than not work on a commission rather than any set amount of pay per hour. When you sign their contract, you have stated to them that you are willing to pay whatever they set as a base price for the item without doing any kind of research on your own to find out if this item is exactly what you want. For our computer, the typical two-week period payment was almost ninety dollars! So, if you are good at math, that means that we were paying nearly two hundred dollars a month to Aaron's just so that we could have a computer to use. The contract was for two years at this rate, which means that we paid nearly $1,800 for a computer that we could have ordered directly from the manufacturer for nearly $600 (with monitor included). That is exactly three times less from what you do for rent-to-own!

Next, there were other issues that had arose where we had to wait nearly a week to receive our system as the store did not have the correct one that we wanted. We had asked for one that had at least 512 memory so that if we wanted to do gaming that our system would be up-to-date with what most programs ran on. In the end, we still ended up with the wrong amount of memory (256) and found out later that what they had given us was a floor model that they had been trying to get rid of for the last two years that was not selling for them. They, of course, apologized for the inconvenience and stated that if we wanted more memory, they would have to send it in to Dell to have it upgraded and that it may take up to two months to get it back and we would have to pay extra for that upgrade. Needless to say, I was a little upset but also knew that because I had signed the contract that I felt a certain amount of obligation to work with them and decided to take what they had available. In hindsight, I had wished I had went ahead and waited those two months and paid the extra so that we could get what was needed.

After all was said and done, I found another problem: no software. In some cases where you rent-to-own these systems, they pre-load the software and leave their advertising up as a screensaver until the bill is paid off (believe it or not, it is a requirement of the contract). Under normal circumstances, they are supposed to supply the software package in the event of something such as a systems crash to the customer so that they may have it on hand. Again, they did not have the package. They actually had to send one of their sales associates to Portland to the main corporate store, get the software, and then deliver the software to my home (which, of course, took another week for them to get everything together).

Once the dust had settled after a month and my two-year contract was up, I was finally able to enjoy our new tool and get down to business. Or at least, so I had thought. About six months later, my system had picked up a virus from the Internet that had included several Trojans, Hydras, Spyware and Malware. This wa scuased due to the fact that the antivirus and firewall that was installed were only the trial models and were only good for a year. And guess what? That year had already come and gone! If we wanted more protection, we were going to have to order the full package at a cost of nearly $300! After much talking, my wife and I decided to go ahead and format the hard drive and start fresh as we had all the software that we needed now and it should not have been a problem. Answer: buzz! Try again and thank you for playing! Whenever you rent-to-own for computer, one thing that they do is lock the hard drive so that it cannot be formatted in the event that they should ever have to repossess it for non-payment. So, that menat calling them back once again for assistance. It was then that I found out that they did not have the unlock key for the hard drive and that I would have to call Dell to get the information. At long last, I finally decided to give up. I had my Internet disconnected as I was at least able to use the system for my writing pleasures and playing games. Thanks to this event, I was two years without Internet service due to all of the viruses.

Rent-to-own is a very simple process to do, but there are many costs and prices that come with this. Before making any snap decisions and getting that much-wanted new item, take these ideas and tips into consideration:

- Do I really need it? If your existing appliance, electronics and furniture are still in working order, you might want to reconsider renting-to-own and maybe save for what you want before signing your life away on a contract. If you miss a payment, you will be out of all that money as well as the item that you wanted. Think of it as a legalized form of loan sharking. The only difference is that they don't break your knees when you miss a payment.

- When you go to the store, have a list of questions handy to ask the sales associate on any purchase that you make. There is the rrae occassion where the product that you are thinking of getting may have had a previous owner and heaven knows what may have happened with it during that time. Ask for a history of previous owners and check to see how may it may have had. When these items are returned, they usually only do enough to make the item look nice so that it is visually appelaing in order to make a sale.

- Never settle for second best. If they don't have exactly what you are lookig for, look elsewhere. Do research online at the appropriate places that they have and check on what kinds of items that they have in stock. In most cases, they only show you what 'might be available' as most of these places are nationwide chains and they tend to only show what is typically on hand at the immediate moment.

- Always read the fine print. There are usually a lot of clauses on the paperwork that they do not tell you about that could get you into serious trouble if not checked. Look for raises and hikes in interest rates and pricing that they would love for you not to discover. If they do appear, ask the sales associate about them and make sure you know exactly what you are getting into. These guys care about money, and this is where you have to make them work for it!

- Compare prices between rent-to-own and the competition (the manufacturers). If they are offering a better price, stick with it. It is better to have the money and not need it than to not have the money and do need it. If you have to save for it, just make an adjustment to your budget to compensate and it will make it that much sweeter. As your mother used to say: 'Save your penniess for a rainy day!'

In closing, I would just like to say that everything in here is only from my own experiences. There may be others that have had great success with these programs where I have not. Before you take too much of what I say to heart, take a look at these websites and make your own determination:

www.aarons.com

www.rentacenter.com