Aarons rent to own

My mother was looking to buy a new clothes dryer and surprise me for Mother's Day.
She made the mistake of going to Aarons not realizing they were a rent to own store.
She was sold a dryer and told it was was $1500 new but since it was used for 3 months she would get a discount price of $708. She paid cash.
We got delivery of an old used dryer that the MSRP is $579 new.
Yes she paid more for an old dryer that was leased out for many years by the surface scratches on the top of it.
It's sitting in our living room waiting for them to resolve this.
The franchise we bought it from told us all cash sales are final and had us speak to a manager at another store and we were told they can price their products whatever they like, it's not regulated like the price of oil. It's called a MSRP, the S is suggested. You can take us to court but you will pay our court fees. He also felt the price we paid was a fair price. What?
There is an online hotline number to file a complaint and the send a request for a regional manager to get in contact with us. We file it about 3 days ago and have yet to hear from anyone. I called again and was told the next step is to take it to small claims court.
For now, just wanted to share this experience and give you all a heads up on this retailer.

That's rotten :( sorry you dealt with that. Maybe post to their Facebook group?


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I may post on their FB. Good idea.
I talked with the owner of the store and to resolve this he is willing to give me a discount if I purchase something else at Aarons.
Yep, purchase something else used and get a discount that will still have you paying above MSRP, but only by a little this time.
No thanks. We would never buy rent to own knowingly and even more now and certainly not from Aarons.
Terrible business practice and people who care little for their customers.
Steer clear my friends and warn anyone who's even thinking of going there.
Checking the complaints I see the chain had a lawsuit settled regarding bedbug infested furniture settled.

I'm sad for people who, for whatever reason have to rely on renting furniture and appliances.
We made do until we were able to afford it.
It just makes me sad to know how the poor get ripped off and treated.
The elderly now is in the same situation. They are prey for unscrupulous businesses.

well on the bright side if she did rent to own the $579 dryer would have probably cost $5790 in the end, so $708 is a good deal.

I feel bad for your mom in that she thought she was doing such a great thing for one of her kids and she was totally taken advantage of. Myself I would haunt that company with emails and phone calls. Doesn't work often but some do fold and just do what we know what is right and give you your money back Good luck

Tommycoupons, you have a good point there sadly and I have to start looking at it like that because it's just frustrating thinking about this. You gave me the first laugh for the day too.
Thatdone, my mom feels really down about this. She's sorry for trying to surprise us and instead causing all this headache and seeing my frustration talking to these people which is like talking into the wind, they don't hear you and they don't care to.
I've really never experience managers and owners of a company not attempting to appease a customer, especially when something is so obviously wrong.

global news has a section calls trouble shooter that's specific for consumer complaints

So frustrating! Did you write a complaint on better business bureau? Once i filed a complain against a business and not even i got a response from BBB, they also resolved the problem between us and the business.

Maybe try CBC Marketplace, they like looking into stuff like that and it would make a good show
But in general, all of those rent to own places are rip offs

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Originally Posted by amira84

So frustrating! Did you write a complaint on better business bureau? Once i filed a complain against a business and not even i got a response from BBB, they also resolved the problem between us and the business.

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Not much the BBB can do, he is right, it is not illegal to make a higher price (look at Amazon "regular" prices) as long as he didn't charge higher than the store personally advertised it is not a BBB issue. They may still contact him, but won't push it

Thanks Purdee for the suggestion, it looks like trouble shooter is Edmonton based. I called Pat Foran the consumer advocate here. Amira, I will place a complaint with the BBB because even though like FallenPixel says, you can price items as you like, there should be a policy in place for returning it if you're not satisfied. Also the term of purchase should be clear and in writing.
Nothing on our bill says final sale. I never heard about the before but they have thousands of store in North America. They should have better customer service.

Sorry for your troubles..too bad didn't pay with a credit card, maybe you could have gotten money back.

Yes, I think we may have had a better chance if we paid with credit, especially if the payment didn't go through yet.

So sorry this happened to you and your mom. It's ashame how so many people are being taken advantage of! I know your mom wanted to surprise you, but I always tell my mom to check with me before she makes a big purchase, she is almost 80, and has limited access to the Internet for sales etc. Also my mother-in-law is also 80 and she brought her car in for an oil change, and they scammed her for a 101 inspections, told her the back brakes needed to be done, she ended up paying over $500.00 and she only went for an oil change!!

That is a shame SavvyLady. If nothing else I hope they get that they have to check companies out and be more wary.
Back in their time there were more honest salespeople and they still have that trust. Hopefully it was a small price to pay to prevent a bigger loss down the road.