Complaint Review: Rent-a-center

i am also an employee at rent a center,
i see this situation all the time and it is indeed usually at fault with our service centers not paying attention rather than the employees at the store.

although yes, you should of backed up your computer. it's no one's business what you decide to do with your computer.
and if you should need 'service', you get just that and not something you don't ask for.

sounds to me that the store manager isn't doing his job correctly.
have you tried to speak with the district manager? and if you have and that didn't help. the regional director?
i would try those if you haven't.

if you were MY customer, i would probably just charge off your computer and take a hit on profit, rather than letting this go to court and make a big scene.

out of all honesty, i don't think you would win in court due to our detailed contract which states once you are late on a payment, you surrender all rights to the merchandise and we don't have to take another payment and request return of our merchandise.

but other than that, good luck talking with someone at home office in plano, texas.
if it makes you feel better, you think they don't care about customers.
try working for them. ;)

p.s.-
not all employees are sh**heads.
i dont think you will find the first customer out of my 264 who thinks im an a-hole. good luck!

Why in the world would anyone wipe a hard drive to replace a DVD burner??

I am not questioning your integrity FrustratedCustomer just questioning the reasoning at Rent A Center. Usually all you have to do is remove the drive and put in a new one (after loading drivers if necessary for new burner). Are you sure you got your computer back. Maybe they just swapped PC's on you.

Well i am an employee. You should back up files once a week even before the burner died, what would be your excuse if the hard drive died, they do not lsat forever. Seriously though when RAC sends an item off to service we put the items in on the service screen. the paperwork that gets sent out to the service dept states on it your name, serial #, item #, and the problem wrong with it if it is known.

1 of 2 things happened. the service dept messed up.(happens at least 2x a month for my store) or the mgr whom wrote up the srevice report put in there to restore the hard drive. The only thing i could say is to ask to see the service log on your computer. (i do not know if they would show u) I am not positive but i think we save a copy of the report that goes out with the item and we get a report back with the item stating what they did and any extra comments, $ etc.
honestly i think it would be best to ask what your epo is and pay it off.

You are correct, I should have backed them up, I didn't. I did not expect my files to be wiped. I could not burn the files to dvd or cd because the burner did not work. I trusted that they knew what they were doing. I think it was a little more naive and less "idiot".

Secondly, I took over payments from an ex-fiance that had rented the computer and I used. When we separated, I decided to keep making payments and the paperwork was switched over to me.

And not that it's any business of anyone out there, I have been financially strapped because for the past five years I have taken off work, sold my home and did nothing but help rehab my 19 year old daughter who was permantly disabled and the alternative was to put her in a nursing home, she was never expected to walk or live independantly with her severe brain damage and damage to her legs. Her accident happened 2 weeks after my sons death. She was in a coma for 2 months and hospitalized for 7 mths and never expected to live independantly. She beat the odds and last year moved with the help of an attendant and I have gone back to work. In the last year while trying to get back on my financial feet again I have continued to make payments, and created the non-profits and was applying for 401(c)3 status(tax-exemption) which requires a business plan. I should have backed it up, that still does not exempt Rent-a-Center from responsibility does it.
Another FYI, be careful who you call an idiot. Being financially challenged does not mean one is not intelligent. And the two non-profits are named for my children, Meagan's Foundation for person's living with TBI, and Adam's Foundation for Education and Prevention of Suicide.

By the way, you sound like a Rent-a-Center employee.

"I have created two non-profit foundations and the business plans were on the hard drive, along with ebay store formats, customer information, 100's of pics, some of which are irreplaceable, 1000's of files......". I mean even a complete computer idiot like me knows to back up their files just in case something should happen. The second thing I find hard to believe is that someone who can call "my lawyer" is actually renting a computer from a place like rent-a-center. It actually make no frickkin' business sense to walk into a place lke that. The "I have three payments left" statement leads one to believe that the OP actually did "rent" a computer from one of these places and is just about finished paying it off. When you can buy a computer for a quarter of the price of what you'll rent one for and probably get it on a 12 or 18 month no interest payment plan AND write it off over a period of years AS a business expense, it makes NO sense to rent it from a rip off rental center. It sounds as if the OP is gonna try and recoup their lost funds on the computer by claiming that they "should compensate" me. Who's trying to rip off who? The judge will say, IF the files were so irreplaceable, why didn't YOU take steps to protect them AND back them up yourself?

My address

To whom it may concern:

I have three payments left on a computer rented at Rent-A-Center located at 1038 S. Oliver, Wichita, KS 67218, phone 316-686-4600.
Since it was still under warranty I brought the computer in to repair the non working dvd burner. They lent me a computer while it was being repaired. Upon return of my computer I had been renting, I discovered the sevice center had wiped my hard drive or what they termed "restored" it to factory settings. I called RAC and one of the employees gave me the phone number of the service center before the manager, Craig Peterson, got on the phone. He apologized and offered an unqualified compensation. I told him that was the least they could do. I hung up in tears. I have created 2 non-profit foundations and the business plans were on the hard drive, along with my ebay store formats, customer information, 100's of pics, some of which are irreplaceable, 1000's of music files as well as personal and financial information, etc.

I did not hear from Craig for a week. He waited, I believe until I had a payment due (3 payments left) to try and contact me again. Then he and the other empoyees were threatening. I called my lawyer. He said he will be contacting them within the next week, and wait on making a payment until he has spoken with them, which would make me late on payments. Getting the lawyer involved, will cost me money as well, but I believe RAC is in the wrong and feel as though they are not taking responsiblity for their error.

I believe they are totally at fault here and should compensate me. I have approximately $150 to $200 dollars left in payments on the computer. I can pay it, but I feel as though I will have no recourse when I do. I realize I am breaking the contract when I don't pay the rental fee, but they were negligent. I spoke to the service center and the written instructions to them stated to repair the dvd burner and there was no additional information. The service center stated that they were doing exactly what they routinely do for rental return computer repairs and that there was nothing in the written instructions to indicate that my computer was a current customer computer, so they followed routine and "restored" the computer, virtually wiping out my hard drinve. The instructions should have noted that the computer was a current customer computer NOT a rental return. I realize I am renting the computer, but my information should still have been protected when it was going in for a simple periphery repair. The hard drive should not have been touched.

I no longer wish to deal with the store manager Craig Peterson. I have sent a formal written compliaint to him as well with a request for compensation to waive the balance in rental fees owed on the computer, but have had no formal reply.

In an effort to raise this to a visable level I will be contacting:

August E. Whitcomb Vice President - Public Affairs

Dwight D. Dumler Vice President - Assistant General Counsel and Compliance Officer

Ronald D. DeMoss Vice President - Assistant General Counsel

Robert F. BloomPresident and Chief Executive Officer ColorTyme, Inc.

Theodore V. DeMarino Senior Vice President - Operations

David G. Ewbank Senior Vice President - Operations

C. Edward Ford, III Senior Vice President - Operations

Kevin Hollaway Senior Vice President - Operations

Michael J. Kelly Senior Vice President - Operations

Michael P. Kilbane Senior Vice President - Operations

Stephen F. Klinedinst Senior Vice President - Operations

Gregory Matheny Senior Vice President - Operations

Fred G. Mattox Senior Vice President - Operations

Michael R. McNamara Senior Vice President - Operations

Charles J. White Senior Vice President - Operations

Jim York Senior Vice President - Operations

Tony F. Fuller Senior Vice President - Information Technology and Chief Information Officer


If there is any assitance you can offer before this becomes a law suit, I would appreciate it.