MSE News: Vulnerable consumers pay triple high street prices for Rent-to-Own goods

forgotmyname

Compulsory maths may work. But when they put down they only intend to make 1 or 2 payments and then they will have moved address and taken the goods with them can they still buy the goods?

jobdone1

As well as loads of scamming on gumtree i nearly fell foul of that.

Naughty_Noonoo

I have a cousin who uses this method. He moans about the cost yet he says that he has no other option. However, he somehow manages to pay for his cigs, booze and scratch cards up front.

redux

CRT TVs on eBay for £5, or even 99p

Freeview box if the TV has no digital tuner, also from 99p

d70cw6

is anyone surprised by this?
luxury items charged at high APRs to people with poor credit worthiness.
colour me shocked.

Credit-Crunched

I work, my partner works.

When we moved into our first home, we could not afford any new equipment.

So we purchased a used fridge used freezer and an old CRT TV for the grand sum of £40 all in.

Over time, we upgraded our white goods, having saved, forgone certain luxuries, and only purchased what we needed, within our budget, and no credit.

The title is disingenuous to vulnerable people, there is a difference between Mr & Mrs Jones going to brighthouse to get a 57" Ultra HD tv at 4 x RRP because they want the luxury, and a vulnerable person.

SnowTiger

I wish the journos at MSE would be a little more careful with the emotive language they use.

Is someone who pays £26.00 for a week for a Samsung 55" Curved Ultra HD Smart TV or someone who pays £10 a week for a Playstation 4 really "vulnerable"?

Even the items mentioned in the article, a tumble dryer and an expensive freezer, are not (usually) essential items.

I note the word "vulnerable" was coined by MSE itself for this article and isn't even from a quote.

I don't own a tumble dryer or freezer here, so I guess I'm "vulnerable".

dealer_wins

redux wrote: »

CRT TVs on eBay for £5, or even 99p

Freeview box if the TV has no digital tuner, also from 99p

Frugal 2nd hand TVs and tuners arnt shiny enough for the benefit brigade lol

MacMickster

Credit-Crunched wrote: »

The title is disingenuous to vulnerable people, there is a difference between Mr & Mrs Jones going to brighthouse to get a 57" Ultra HD tv at 4 x RRP because they want the luxury, and a vulnerable person.

[STRIKE]Vulnerable[/STRIKE] Gullible consumers pay triple high street prices for Rent-to-Own goods

Fixed that title.

Seriously, this is a complete non-story. As long as second-hand shops exist then the customers of these rip-off merchants are making a free choice to buy from them. They have a sense of entitlement to the latest shiny new TV, games console etc and nothing else will do. If they had a good income they would probably still bankrupt themselves by purchasing luxury cars and holidays on credit.

You can't save the foolish from themselves.

jaydeeuk1

I hate the way 'vulnerable' is banded about.

Surely brighthouse et al are the vulnerable ones as there's a good chance the type of clientèle they attract won't bother paying, hence the higher costs. I don't see the problem making money from the stupid, greedy and entitled types.