The roughly 100 complaints the state received was a relatively low number given the roughly 45 stores the company operated there. With 15.000 customers and thousands of customer contacts annually. He said many other types of businesses received far more complaints.
“We discovered a lot of the complaints
Were from people who had very dubious backgrounds or dubious claims.” Dominicis said. Adding that most of the safeguards the state demanded in its settlement were already part of the company’s policies.
May of APRO said that some of the problems rent-to-own customers experience are due to overzealous employees who violate company policies. “They step over their bounds.” he said. “They get in trouble for it and rightfully so. You don’t overstep the bounds of people’s lives over a TV.”
Who handled the case against Rent-A-Center
Holds the companies responsible. “They have to have policies and procedures in place to make sure they don’t have employees who harm consumers.” he said. He noted that the company sued the state in an effort to stop its investigation. which he said was based on more those roughly 100 complaints. some of which are detailed in affidavits the state posted online.
“If I was late with the payment. Rent-A-Center employees called me on my cell and home phone numbers several times per day.” a former Rent-A-Center customer said. “The employees called minutes apart from four or five different phone numbers. including cell phone numbers. They often left phone messages with profanity.”
States Take Action
Concerns about industry practices have led most states to regulate the industry. with even the rent-to-own industry endorsing some laws. Most telegram data of the statutes mandate disclosures. prohibit unreasonable fees and the imposition of mandatory property damage or loss insurance. and give customers who miss payments the right to reinstate an agreement within certain periods. You can find your state’s law and compare the laws on the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations website.
Some states. including Connecticut and Ohio
Cap the amount by which the total payments can exceed the so-called cash price of the item. the price the rent-to-own retailer would charge someone who came in and bought the item outright. Usually the total payments are limited to two to nearly two and a half times that cash price. But rent-to-own stores sometimes can avoid the cap by setting an unreasonably high cash price to start with.
We saw a 32-inch TV being offered by one
Ohio rent-to-own store at $599. $150 more than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. A customer who completed all the payments would unlocking growth: mastering boomtown real estate leads shell out $1.169. or 2.6 times MSRP. Some rent-to-own stores have policies to match competitor’s prices. But two of the price-guarantee programs we reviewed. including Rent-A-Center’s. apply only to other rent-to-own retailers and not to traditional stores. where the prices are typically much lower.
To prevent inflated cash prices. some states
New York. and West Virginia. cap not only aero leads the total cost of the rent-to-own transaction but also the cash price on which it’s based. For example. depending on the type of merchandise. the limit in California ranges from 1.65 to 1.9 times the wholesale price the rent-to-own store paid to buy the product. In national ads we reviewed for some items. the fine print indeed specified installment payments and total costs in states with such limits. But the deals still weren’t very attractive.