Currys / PC World Rentsmart Agreement

SophieDurrant_2

Hi,

Not sure if I am in the right place here, but hope someone will be able to help anyway.

I am sure I have been mis-sold a rentsmart agreement by Curry's / PC world and I wanted to know what I can do about it.

What happened was I went to buy a new laptop (in 2011) and was planning on paying for it there and then. The sales person told me that a better option would be to take out a Rentsmart agreement where I pay for it over two years and then at the end of that two years I would be entitled to an upgrade, or just stop the payments and keep the laptop. That sounded Ok to me so I went with that. The sales person filled in all the forms etc and just got me to sign where needed.

Now, two years on and the payments are still coming out of my account, so I called Rentsmart to find out why and they told me that I am on a 48 month agreement which is designed for small businesses, they have me down as a sole trader and I still have 24 months left to run on the agreement. I am not entitled to an upgrade at any point. They also told me that the amount I pay each month includes insurance, which the sales person at Currys / PC World did not tell me about either.

I feel like I have been conned, I know it was probably a bad idea to let the sales person fill in the forms and not read before I signed them but at the time I had no reason to believe that he was selling me something different to what he was telling me.

I have called Curry's PC World and am waiting for somebody at the store to call me back, but I just wanted to be in a position wher I know what my rights are in case they try to tell me they can't do anything!

Thanks,

Cycrow

i assume you still have all the forms that you signed ?

first thing to do is to look through them to find out exactly what you have signed for.

If you did intact sign for 48 months, it might be difficult to get out of it, as it would be you word against the salesman.

If the signed agreement doesn't match what they are saying, then they are in the wrong and should sort it out

InkZ

Do a search on this forum, there are loads of threads about Rent Smart and people in the same situation as you.

I'm sure I've seen this on Watchdog as well.

opinions4u

The key information on a credit agreement is how much, how long for and how much interest.

I urge anybody who can't be arsed reading the small print to at least read this information.

iolanthe07

Rentsmart was featured by the BBC a couple of weeks ago in one of their consumer programmes (can't remember which one, but I don't think it was Watchdog). The conclusion was that they are to be avoided, iirc.

ewcia232

I also got conned in rentsmart deal, but i've complained to FOS and citizens advice, I got a response that fos has contacted pc world and rentsmart, but they have 3 months to reply, so i'm waiting...someone had been succesful in winning the battle with pc world so I think you should put complaint to fos like I have. Type "pc world rentsmart" in search bar and there you will find older thread about this. I tried to paste a link but as new user I can't...

claret_mike

It wasn't watchdog, it was "Your money, their tricks"

Actual details on this can be found here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01b85c4/features/infinity

Stoffy

I have been quite active on the thread below regarding Rentsmart:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2271093

Long story short, I fought them and with the help of the FOS I got a full refund of anything I thought was an overpayment of the original deal.

I went to buy a £899 macbook but ended up paying over £1700 in total. Anyway, I fought it and got a refund of just under £900 from DSG Ltd (PC World) .

They agreed it was a missold and I included as much evidence in the letters I was writing to the FOS. I highlighted all posts on here where others had been told the sale lies by the salesmen. It's blatent misselling at its finest and I encourage anyone who's ever been conned into signing up for this to fight it.

Bear in mind it won't be a quick process - DSG dragged my case out for nearly a year before admitting fault.

Hope you're able to sort this

iolanthe07

Excellent result; well done. It is so good to hear that these people sometime lose.

Meg11

Hi, I'm experiencing the same problems as everyone else, misled and mis sold by pc world. My husband was told to lie about having a business to take advantage of the benefits. He is dyslexic and struggled with the paperwork. It was a present for me so I wasn't aware until a while after. Anyway, contacted Rentsmart- they said can't cancel and it was the fault of Pc World. So I contacted them. They are not interested in the slightest so next stop the FOS. This is awaiting their decision. In the meantime I am so enraged that I have a list of places to contact as I'm convinced that the more noise that everyone makes the sooner this company can be stopped from blatant mis selling. The Daily Mail, Hertfordshire Trading Standards and Watchdog are first on my list. After all the claims going through for PPI and the recent headlines in the Mail about M&S Energy being mis sold, PC World are doing nothing different in my opinion. These other companies have been exposed in a big way, let's expose them the same and get this sorted for everyone. I am determined to see this through.

Poshtart13

Hi.
Like others before me this is the first time I have posted on a forum but am hoping someone can help!

Two years ago my husband and I went into our local PC World store (Worcester) and were persuaded to rent a laptop on their rentsmart scheme. My husband was the sole trader of his own business although the contract is actually in my name. I think it is too late to cancel the contract on those terms and outcomes to an end next month - I have checked and double checked and the length of term is stated as 24 months everywhere!

However, there are a couple of things I find confusing:-

1) the PC world receipt shows a cost of £211.20 against "whatever happens" cover but the paperwork states in several places that "as part of the lease agreement you will be provided with the "whatever happens" product support, which will apply throughout the term of the lease agreement, there is no additional charge for this service."

2) we have been paying £39 per month over 24 months - a total sum of over £900 - for a laptop worth £399.99 in October 2011. Even allowing for the £211.20 charge of £211.20 this comes to about £610 so can anyone tell me what the difference of approximately £300 is for? There is no mention of it anywhere.

3) we were also told we would be able to purchase the laptop for about £25 at the end of the term but there is no mention is made of this in the letter received today - we can just upgrade, return it or carry on renting it for the same price but without the whatever happens cover.

As an aside, I did have to contact the help desk at whatever happens for a problem I had - I ended up having to phone on six occasions before the problem was resolved having been told conflicting things with each phone call!

Thank you in advance for any help or advice anyone can give me.