Rentsmart Ripoff - not sure what to do?

[Deleted User]

Hello - I'm hoping that someone might be able to help me regarding Rentsmart.

Around 3 years ago I took out a rentsmart agreement for a laptop for my business.

There is a whole heap of negative threads on here about Rentsmart, but my concern is of a slightly different nature (although - as an aside - I agree wholehearedly with all the criticism that Rentsmart is getting).

As part of the Rentsmart process I received a final invoice to settle the account, for £96. Bearing in mind that the laptop would have been £400 to buy new 3 years ago, this means I will have paid £996 for the pleasure of using this laptop (at £25 per month) in total. This is all 'interest-free rental'.

Ignoring that for a moment, I was told a few months ago that the final invoice payment would come out of my bank account and then my account would be settled; I would own the laptop outright and no more payments would be taken.

Today, I called Rentsmart as no final payment was taken - instead my direct debits have continued. I started getting telephone calls chasing the invoice. I have made 2 direct debit payments of £25 each, beyond those that I was expecting to make (e.g. I have made 38 payments total on a 3 year agreement).

After speaking to them today I asked for a settlement figure, as my expectation was that I would need to pay the £96 minus any extraneous direct debit payments that have been taken from my account (so, 2 x £25 = £50, leaving £46.

I've just been told though that I am not able to reclaim the overpayments I have made and that I still owe £96 because it is an ongoing rental contract and the Direct Debits are still mandatory until the final payment is made.

So, had I not phoned them, I would have continued to make payments towards a product and these payments have done nothing to reduce the balance or money owed.

In other words, it is a rental agreement in perpetuity which can only be escaped from once you make a final 'release' payment (of £96) - if I hadn't made the final payment, I could carry on paying indefinitely for the laptop.

I'm not sure what I should do next - other than try to dig out a copy of the rental agreement (which I'm trying to find). I find it hard to believe that it's possible for Rentsmart to argue that they are entitled to keep overpayments made to my balance when I was specifically informed that a final payment would be taken to settle the balance.

Please could someone suggest what I should do - or whether it is worth following this up with Trading Standards? I understand that I am just one of a few thousand people who have had similiar nightmare experiences with this one company.

I feel incredibly stupid for taking out this rental agreement in the first place, but was informed by the staff in PC World that it was the best idea for a start-up business. I was told that I could reclaim the VAT back, making it more cost-effective, but in the end found that I could not do this as my business was just too small to be worth registering for VAT. Worse still, I ended up obtaining a further desktop PC on the scheme (which also expires next month), so I've pay over £2k for approximately £700 worth of IT equipment. I feel rather foolish.

[Deleted User]

Just to add a further bit of info - this agreement was signed by me personally as a sole trader; the agreement however is governed by the Consumer Credit Act as a result.

[Deleted User]

Actually, I think you can ignore me now. I've gone through the contract and it is clear that there is no basis on which they can withhold the payments, so I'm writing to them to demand them back.

tombruton87

what you are paying an extra £1300 for is all the extra services. Such as the insurance. You will have made the persons day when you went though on the plan and get accepted. Most ppl who go for it are crack heads and get declined. When you do a bit of simple maths it really doesn't work out. Unless your a very small % of companies that can take advantage of tax relief. PS the vat back makes no difference as you can claim this as a consumer.

Lesson to remember never take money advise off somebody who is trying to sell you somthing