Before You Buy from Rent-A-Center, Read This
Considering getting furniture or electronics for your new home?
Your local Rent-A Center may seem like a cost friendly solution. Before you make a purchase, a piece of advice…
Don’t.
Seriously, don’t do it.
I get it…when you move to a new apartment, studio, house, etc. the emptiness of it all can make you want to get everything at once. I encourage you to hold off until you know for sure what you need. Then, create a strategy to get what you need piece by piece.
It is no coincidence that Rent-A-Center’s are most often located in low income neighborhoods. Additionally, they are known for low payment options that may seem attractive up front but does 7,000 payments of $7 make sense for an entire apartment of less than ideal furniture, appliances and electronics? $49,000?! Make it make sense.
In addition to paying double or triple the price of what you’d pay if you saved up for a sofa, Rent-A-Center is known for shady business practices including added fees after the sale, customer harassment and debiting your account well after you’ve paid in full. They’ve even been successfully sued for this.
I’m a Designer. I know and have collaborated with dozens of Designers. There are many places we use to secure furnishings.
None of us in the industry use Rent-A-Center in our projects nor is it on any recommendation list we’ve provided to clients…EVER
Quit buying cheap furniture. Cheap, poorly made furniture will cause you to have to replace the item sooner than necessary.
A few weeks ago, my Mom bought a new bed for my sister. She went to our local Bob’s Discount despite my telling her not to.
She’s practical (Hi Mom!).
She had a store credit for a another defective item and wanted to use that credit.
You know how where this is going right?
Less than 2 week’s after the bed was delivered and assembled by a Bob’s team member, the bed broke. It wasn’t assembled correctly and several bolts were missing. Months later we are still dealing with less than ideal customer service trying to be made whole for the bed.
Cheap can be expensive.