Rent-a-center ripoff Flint Michigan

they can make your life miserable in the future. I should know because I have worked for a cash loan company and all that will happen is that you will go on something called Teletrack which means nothing. most short term loan companies will check that and see if you still owe others as in example RAC. they cannot report this to a credit bureau, but they can take you to court and you will need to pay the court costs and the balance however, they need to verify your home address and where you work to do so. Just send them a letter of cease and desist and advise them you are aware of your rights under the fair debt collection and you will seek relief if they continue to bother you or your references.

They can and will probably do what is called a replevin, where their lawyer will get in contact with your local county authorities and judge and have an order of entry issued by your local county sherriff's.You should receive a collections letter before this, or compliance letter. Here in Illinois they can do a replevin even when you are not at home. meaning they can come to your home with the county sherriff and a lock smith and open your home legally retrieve the merchandise and lock your door.

I've seen several arrested example one lady who used physical harm against the store manager, where he filed charges against her while doing a replevin. Rent a Center & Arrons' hate replevins because the average replevin can cost big bucks to just file + the cost of the lock smith. Also do not destroy the merchandise or throw the merchandise away , or even scar up the merchandise out of anger, I seen a woman be arrested for such and she still had to pay for the merchandise. But in the overall you cannot be arrested only if you do damage to the property or to the employee.

I have read many comments about how you can or cannot be arested. One thing that has been over looked is what state you are in. I am in Kentucky and our rent to own laws are very favorable to consumers. We can take persons to court in a civil manner but only up to $750.00. To pursue felony charges here you have to prove intent to defraud a rental company. which is very difficult if a person has made a few payments. If you can prove fraud you can here file a case of "Theft by deception".

Heres the kicker. Rent A Center has rules on when you can file criminal action against anyone, and it applies to every state and every store because it is a corporate regulation. You ahve to have all signed contracts, delievery list, have to be so far past due, not have made more than (i cant say) payments, a certified mailing to customer, copy of drivers license or fedral issued or state issued ID, complete call logs, meet certain Remaining value guidelines, have store manager, market manager and corporate approval.

I am going to make a guess that 75% off customers do not have all that mention above in their folders. Missing drivers license, unsigned contracts, no del checklist.

The above applies to all states not just mine.

Alot of the problems come when customers contract gets what we call re-typed. That is when a customer is past due and the store manager re-types the agreement. As in it will show the customer returned the merchandise and rent a center gave it back to them on the same day. Now you have the problem of an unsigned contract and lieing to a customer to get them to re-sign it. Many customers have been re-typed an are unaware of the issue. It chetas the customer out of hundrends of dollars.

A good way to check the contract is look at your orginal contract (if you kept it) and above the name is a agreement number. Every time you make a payment the agreement number is on the receipt. If they do not match, rent a center can not prove you have merchandise.

i am a former employee and E/A of rent a center. I was accused of setting fraudulant accounts, even though property was returned to store. They say I had an intent to steal it that I set them up. Now consider that there was many payments made and a sizeable amount put down on delivery. Whats anyones opinion on this matter? No the accoutns were not fake, payments were being made and they have property back from customer.. Any ideas on what could happen. They are threatning felony fraud charges

Hello,
my husband works for a rent to own company and i no for a FACT u wont be arrested,they can how ever if u have the furniture wich u dont but they can kick your door in and take there s**t with a officer present but if u werent on the contract as a co applicant u have nothing to worry about,jus dont answer the phone or door or u can tell them ur callin the cops for harrasment they will stop,ne how they wont go threw all the court proceddings for 2004 they will jus write it off....

A friend of mine is a manager at RAC. I told him about this site and we began reading "all" of the complaints. Here it is in his words..... Number 1 if "fair market value" has been paid on the product they are not going to take it to court. (not willing to loose that money also) Number 2 they CAN NOT have you arrested, but can bring the police to the home where the product is said to be and the police will ask to search the property. Number 3 They can only call and send letters until you send written communication asking them not to contact you. Number 4 If you did not sign anything (rental agreement) then you have no responsiblity. Number 5 should you go in and make only one or two payments or if "fair market value" has not been paid then yes they have no problems coming after you. In all honesty though 95% of the time they DO NOTHING BUT KEEP CALLING YOU AND YOUR REFERNECES. Now with all that we are having a hard time understanding why you gave any information of your own. If you were really going to just make a payment your info is not needed. Infact anyone can go into any RAC and make a payment for anyone they want; without even giving there name.....Someting seems wrong with intial post.

I was an accounts manager at Renter's Choice in FL. And I have been thru this issue of whether it is theft or not in other states on other matters.

**The deciding factor everywhere I have been is whether or not the merchandise was given willfully or taken without consent of the rightful owner.

Renting furniture from RAC and places of that nature are usually rent to own. Which means they willingly gave you possession of the items and therfore cannot be theft.

Some states do have a theft by concealment law, but it is a misdemeanor which means you cannot be arrested or taken to jail. You will get cited and have your day in court.

Change your phone# and put up a no trespassing sign in your yard. Take down any name displayed outside, if any.

Good luck!

First, let me tell you guys that I used to be a store manager for Rent-A-Center and formerly an Asst. Mgr. for RentWay. I will help clear all this up.

In the first post, Shelitha said that she had to put her name on the account because she makes payments for her friend sometimes. This sounds like a misunderstanding. They do not do that unless she lived in the same house, then yes, RAC usually requires the adults in the house to be on the agreement. Or maybe the friend didn't have any references and they wanted Shalitha to sign on as a co-renter.

There is also a difference if Shelitha's name was just added in the computer or actually on a rental agreement. Sometimes a few lazy employees would add a name in without ever getting the signatures. Whatever the case may be, she needs to ask herself if she actually SIGNED anything. If she signed an agreement with her friend and that friend took off with the stuff, then yes, she could be arrested. But for $200, not very likely.

I have never heard of "theft by conversion", but I'm in NC, the laws could be different where she is. The laws vary from state to state and I would recommend calling the local magistrate or DA's office to see what the specific laws are in her area. Feel free to tell them your story and see what they tell you. You dont have to give them your name. To the people claiming that she can not be arrested, you are just plain wrong. I have personally gone to the magistrate's office and filed criminal charges on several customers for "Failure to Return Rental Property" and one for "Secreting Rental Property". I had to put my hand on a bible and have the warrants sworn out on behalf of RAC. After the warrants were served, the customers got arrested, they got bonded out, and they set a court date for the criminal charges. However, these were cases of intentional fraud for a couple grand each(one was about $8K!). Typically the company is not going to pay an employee to sit in court all day over $200.

You are correct in saying that you cannot be arrested for things like credit card debt or buying things through a store's financing options. That would be a civil manner. The difference is RENTAL PROPERTY as someone already stated. Think about like this, say you went to Enterprise Car Rental, and rented a car for a week. If you took off with that car and didnt bring it back, then you STOLE it. That's criminal. You think they wouldn't put out a warrant for your arrest? Basically the same thing with rental furniture or TV's or washing machines or playstations or whatever. When you RENT something, YOU DO NOT OWN IT! At least not until you exercise the purchase option and that final payment is made.

If you BOUGHT the car and didn't pay the finance company, then they will just come repo the car and leave some ugly marks on your credit report. Then, they could take you to small claims (civil) court if you still owed them more money. OK, I hope you guys can finally get that.

Here's the kicker, if she never signed anything, then they are just blowing smoke up her a*s and she can tell those guys to go F**K themselves. LOL
The only other thing is, if she actually signed the contract, they could easily sue her in civil court because the amount is a small one. We rarely ever did that unless the customers were just real assholes and we wanted to piss them off and make an example of them. Again, sitting in court all day for $200 really isn't worth the time.

In my opinion, I think she should tell RAC where the friend and/or merchandise is. It saves a whole lot of time and trouble for everyone.

Another thing, no way the taxpayers end up paying for anything. It is the store that eats the cost on these rip-offs. Our P&L's reflected an average of a 2% to 5% loss for this kind of fraud every month. In turn the store ends up charging more money to the customers for the service provided. Which then makes people complain about how much money they charge. The stores only make an average of 10%-25% NET profit. Yes, they charge 4 to 5 times what their cost per item is, but figure in the huge overhead and all that goes away. Store rent, payroll, trucks, gas, insurance, theft, SERVICE COSTS(omg...does everybody break their stuff on purpose?), pest control (they gotta fight all the roaches they bring back in), replacement remotes, etc. I've seen customers just outright destroy merchandise and throw it in their yards. You'd be amazed at some of the insane costs these places have to pay out. But anyway, I'm straying from my subject....

It costs nothing to file criminal charges against someone, but the taxpayers don't pay that either, what do you think court costs and fines go to? Unless you consider the sheriff officer's salary. Hmmmm?? Now civil court does cost, last I checked it was like $70. But, the customer ends up paying that cost when he/she is found guilty. Oh yeh, they're always guilty too. If they signed that agreement, they pretty much gave up any legal rights to anything. The rental corporations have teams of attorneys drum up those contracts. Once signed, the customer must pay for it or return it, its as simple as that. I worked for RAC for almost 4 years, we never lost a case. I worked for RentWay for 2 1/2, again, never lost one.
One final note.......I'm soooo glad I don't work there anymore!

RAC will file charges with the DA, and the DA will prosecute. The taxpayers will foot the bill, not RAC. The victim of a crime does not pay for justice in our society. $200 or $2, it does not matter. A guy in California got life without parole(3 strikes) because he stole a cookie. It is still a crime, no matter what the cost of the item.

If RAC thinks they have a case let them prosecute. I am sure a prosecuting attorney would do it. But like I said, it is 200 dollars. How much do you think RAC is going to spend on attorney's fees and court costs? It is just not good fiscal sense.
Look if you owe the money then pay it. But if you are not legally bound then let them take you to court. You will have them by the short and curlies if they can't prove their case.
Either way, tell them to get lost.

To answer your question and so many other rebuttals, the answer is yes. The exact law that Rent-A-Center and all of the other RTO's (rent to own) companies is missaplication of property. Look it up. It is section 14.4 in the penal law for every state. This is a felony charge, and fines up to $1000 and/or 1 year in jail. You see, these companies know what people do when this stuff is rented and they don't want to pay for it. You move it to a friends house and claim it stolen, or the friend puts it somewhere and disappears. Who pays for it? I can tell you from expierence, it is not the RTO. It is the taxpayers for whatever county they file charges in against the defendant. You people make me sick. Nothing but a waste of time and money. That is why these companies exist. They feed off of low life scumbags such as yourself and many others who try to defraud a company. Do yourself a favor give the merchandise back, or just pay it off. Stop wasting taxpayers money and energy. And tell your "friend" to get a job and put the crack pipe down.

To answer your question and so many other rebuttals, the answer is yes. The exact law that Rent-A-Center and all of the other RTO's (rent to own) companies is missaplication of property. Look it up. It is section 14.4 in the penal law for every state. This is a felony charge, and fines up to $1000 and/or 1 year in jail. You see, these companies know what people do when this stuff is rented and they don't want to pay for it. You move it to a friends house and claim it stolen, or the friend puts it somewhere and disappears. Who pays for it? I can tell you from expierence, it is not the RTO. It is the taxpayers for whatever county they file charges in against the defendant. You people make me sick. Nothing but a waste of time and money. That is why these companies exist. They feed off of low life scumbags such as yourself and many others who try to defraud a company. Do yourself a favor give the merchandise back, or just pay it off. Stop wasting taxpayers money and energy. And tell your "friend" to get a job and put the crack pipe down.

To answer your question and so many other rebuttals, the answer is yes. The exact law that Rent-A-Center and all of the other RTO's (rent to own) companies is missaplication of property. Look it up. It is section 14.4 in the penal law for every state. This is a felony charge, and fines up to $1000 and/or 1 year in jail. You see, these companies know what people do when this stuff is rented and they don't want to pay for it. You move it to a friends house and claim it stolen, or the friend puts it somewhere and disappears. Who pays for it? I can tell you from expierence, it is not the RTO. It is the taxpayers for whatever county they file charges in against the defendant. You people make me sick. Nothing but a waste of time and money. That is why these companies exist. They feed off of low life scumbags such as yourself and many others who try to defraud a company. Do yourself a favor give the merchandise back, or just pay it off. Stop wasting taxpayers money and energy. And tell your "friend" to get a job and put the crack pipe down.

To answer your question and so many other rebuttals, the answer is yes. The exact law that Rent-A-Center and all of the other RTO's (rent to own) companies is missaplication of property. Look it up. It is section 14.4 in the penal law for every state. This is a felony charge, and fines up to $1000 and/or 1 year in jail. You see, these companies know what people do when this stuff is rented and they don't want to pay for it. You move it to a friends house and claim it stolen, or the friend puts it somewhere and disappears. Who pays for it? I can tell you from expierence, it is not the RTO. It is the taxpayers for whatever county they file charges in against the defendant. You people make me sick. Nothing but a waste of time and money. That is why these companies exist. They feed off of low life scumbags such as yourself and many others who try to defraud a company. Do yourself a favor give the merchandise back, or just pay it off. Stop wasting taxpayers money and energy. And tell your "friend" to get a job and put the crack pipe down.

I know that from my former neighbor's situation, as he apparently refused to give it back or pay the rental payments. He ended up on felony probation, got tons of fines and had to make restitution. I'm not sure of the value of what he converted but it was obviously enough for them to take it seriously. The $200 they are after from the OP would most likely be settled in Small Claims, unless some district manager decided to make an example of her, who knows? I [personally wouldn't want to risk it and go through the expense and embarassment.

The court case involved a person SELLING the rental furniture. This is illegal, even though he intended to keep up the payments. Conversion refers to selling, pawning, trading, etc. the property, converting it to money or other property. These situations are more serious because the company doesn't know where the property is any more and if they do find it, they have to deal with someone else who thinks that he owns it now.

Simply refusing to give it back, while the company knows where you live, is not going to be prosecuted as theft by conversion. The rental company can go to a civil court and obtain a judgement and "writ of replevin." This court order allows the company to bring the police to your house and take the furniture back, by force if necessary.

The OP should help the company recover the furniture; once it has been returned she will probably never hear from them again. She never signed anything agreeing to pay for it, in fact she did a big favor getting it back.

In a retail PURCHASE situation, the consumer cannot be arrested for failing to pay or returning the property, even if the seller or finance company has a security interest in the property financed. Rent-a-Center does NOT FINANCE..they RENT to own..the property belongs to RAC up until the time the renter pays a certain amount, THEN it belongs to the renter. Converting RENTAL property to personal use or selling RENTAL property is a CRIME. In some states, it is classified as larceny, others it is called "theft by conversion." Read the link below about a military man who converted property owned by ColorTyme (as well as doing a few other things)and was convicted:

http://www.armfor.uscourts.gov/opinions/1997Term/97-5006.htm

Likely on smaller amounts, they likely would not prosecute..BUT THEY CAN. At the very least, they can put the items on the local police "theft registry" and the DA can decide whether or not to pursue criminal charges. My former neighbor, who did skip with their property got 3 years FELONY probation. Your advice about using a shotgun is also rather foolish, making a bad situation even worse.

Like I said, you cannot be arrested and jailed for being in debt. Don't let RAC intimidate you.
They are the ones accusing you of fraud so make them prove it in a court of law. If they can then I guess you pay. If not, then you sue them for malicious prosecution.
Besides, it takes TWO trials to find you guilty. The first to prove you owe the money, the second to try to get you to pay. One is a criminal court and the other is a civil court. RAC is going to spend many thousands of dollars and wait many years just to get 200 bucks? I don't think so. Company's that do that don't stay in business too long.
Anyway, you're NOT going to jail. Trust me, jails are full everywhere with REAL criminals so don't worry about it. Cops aren't going to waste their time and jailers have other things to worry about.
Just remember not to answer the phone or answer the door if they show up. Make them tell you everything in writing.
Oh, and get a shot gun. Staring down the business end of a 12 gauge tends to make people pay attention.

The term is not "buyer", the term is "renter" ..BIG difference as far as legal rights and consumer protections go. A "buyer" cannot be arrested..a "renter" who converts merchandise BELONGING TO SOMEONE ELSE (in this case, Rent-A-Center, until all rental payments are made and then it is considered purchased), CAN be charged with theft by conversion. Whether or not RAC actually goes through with it would probably depend on the amount left owing..if a small amount, probably not. As I stated before, I had a neighbor once who skipped out and was arrested and convicted..he will tell you differently.

The term is not "buyer", the term is "renter" ..BIG difference as far as legal rights and consumer protections go. A "buyer" cannot be arrested..a "renter" who converts merchandise BELONGING TO SOMEONE ELSE (in this case, Rent-A-Center, until all rental payments are made and then it is considered purchased), CAN be charged with theft by conversion. Whether or not RAC actually goes through with it would probably depend on the amount left owing..if a small amount, probably not. As I stated before, I had a neighbor once who skipped out and was arrested and convicted..he will tell you differently.

The term is not "buyer", the term is "renter" ..BIG difference as far as legal rights and consumer protections go. A "buyer" cannot be arrested..a "renter" who converts merchandise BELONGING TO SOMEONE ELSE (in this case, Rent-A-Center, until all rental payments are made and then it is considered purchased), CAN be charged with theft by conversion. Whether or not RAC actually goes through with it would probably depend on the amount left owing..if a small amount, probably not. As I stated before, I had a neighbor once who skipped out and was arrested and convicted..he will tell you differently.

The term is not "buyer", the term is "renter" ..BIG difference as far as legal rights and consumer protections go. A "buyer" cannot be arrested..a "renter" who converts merchandise BELONGING TO SOMEONE ELSE (in this case, Rent-A-Center, until all rental payments are made and then it is considered purchased), CAN be charged with theft by conversion. Whether or not RAC actually goes through with it would probably depend on the amount left owing..if a small amount, probably not. As I stated before, I had a neighbor once who skipped out and was arrested and convicted..he will tell you differently.

I WORKED IN COLLECTIONS AND THATS WHY I GOT OUT OF IT THEY SAY ANYTHING. IF ALL OF YOUR INFO IS ON THE ACCOUNT AS A BUYER THEN YES THEY CAN SEND YOU TO COLLECTIONS, BUT IF YOU ARE JUST ON THE ACCOUNT AS SOMEONE WHO PAYS THEY CAN NOT COME AFTER YOU. IF THE FURNITURE WAS AT HER HOUSE AND NOT YOURS THEN SHE IS THE PRIMARY FOR THE ACCOUNT AND IT IS HER FAULT NOT YOURS. TELL THEM TO F- OFF AND CALL HER!!!!!!!!

I think things have gone a bit off track here. Shelitha initially asked if she herself could be arrested and jailed due to her friend skipping out on a RAC agreement. Unless she was listed as an accountholder on the original rental contract she can't be held legally responsible for the theft of the goods. What puzzled me was when Shelitha wrote that on occasion she had paid her friend's bill and she "put her name down" I don't see why RAC would need a person's name who was simply dropping off a payment. I question whether Shelitha had "bought out" a friends rental furniture with a promise to keep payments up and now is concerned that payments have stopped and word will get around as to the current wherabouts of the merchandise. The other thing is regarding refernces. I used RAC when I was in college and remember I needed to have 3 references in order to complete the rental application. If Shelitha was listed as a reference then yes she can be called and harassed about her "Friend's" late payments. But at the end of the day she can always get them to stop using a good ol cease and desist letter. RAC does use a bit of strong arm tactits when it comes to collections but then again they do deal with a subprime customer base. There was a girl I worked with who got a big screen tv, vcr and stereo system along with an entertainment center. She just up and moved w/o notifying RAC who never could track her down afterwards due to her falsification of her personal info. She still had the stuff last time I was in contact with her.

You can't be arrested for withholding merchandise/payment on a RETAIL installment agreement, but RAC and other "rent to own" companies don't offer a retail sales agreement..it is a RENTAL, and the renter doesn't have the same legal rights as a purchaser. In many jurisdictions, if the renter keeps the merchandise and doesn't pay the rental payment, that is called "theft by conversion" and can be a felony depending on the value of the merchandise at the time of the conversion. I have seen RAC swear out a criminal complaint against a neighbor and he was arrested and convicted. Would RAC do that for $200? Can't answer that. Can they? Most likely yes.

Since RAC is a rent-to-own, I don't understand why they required Shelitha's name to be added to the account. Did you sign the rental agreement? If you did, you are stuck if your friend skipped out with the furniture.

You can't be arrested for withholding merchandise/payment on a RETAIL installment agreement, but RAC and other "rent to own" companies don't offer a retail sales agreement..it is a RENTAL, and the renter doesn't have the same legal rights as a purchaser. In many jurisdictions, if the renter keeps the merchandise and doesn't pay the rental payment, that is called "theft by conversion" and can be a felony depending on the value of the merchandise at the time of the conversion. I have seen RAC swear out a criminal complaint against a neighbor and he was arrested and convicted. Would RAC do that for $200? Can't answer that. Can they? Most likely yes.

Since RAC is a rent-to-own, I don't understand why they required Shelitha's name to be added to the account. Did you sign the rental agreement? If you did, you are stuck if your friend skipped out with the furniture.

You can't be arrested for withholding merchandise/payment on a RETAIL installment agreement, but RAC and other "rent to own" companies don't offer a retail sales agreement..it is a RENTAL, and the renter doesn't have the same legal rights as a purchaser. In many jurisdictions, if the renter keeps the merchandise and doesn't pay the rental payment, that is called "theft by conversion" and can be a felony depending on the value of the merchandise at the time of the conversion. I have seen RAC swear out a criminal complaint against a neighbor and he was arrested and convicted. Would RAC do that for $200? Can't answer that. Can they? Most likely yes.

Since RAC is a rent-to-own, I don't understand why they required Shelitha's name to be added to the account. Did you sign the rental agreement? If you did, you are stuck if your friend skipped out with the furniture.

You can't be arrested for withholding merchandise/payment on a RETAIL installment agreement, but RAC and other "rent to own" companies don't offer a retail sales agreement..it is a RENTAL, and the renter doesn't have the same legal rights as a purchaser. In many jurisdictions, if the renter keeps the merchandise and doesn't pay the rental payment, that is called "theft by conversion" and can be a felony depending on the value of the merchandise at the time of the conversion. I have seen RAC swear out a criminal complaint against a neighbor and he was arrested and convicted. Would RAC do that for $200? Can't answer that. Can they? Most likely yes.

Since RAC is a rent-to-own, I don't understand why they required Shelitha's name to be added to the account. Did you sign the rental agreement? If you did, you are stuck if your friend skipped out with the furniture.

The OP says she co-signed the contract. Her "friend" skipped out(stole) the furniture and left Shelitha holding the bag. Either she has to come up with the money, the furniture(it's rented and as such, still belongs to RAC), or be prepared to go to court. Theft is simple to prove. Do either of them OWN it? No. RAC owns the stuff. If someone stole your property, you'd call the cops and have that person arrested. RAC is within their rights to do the same. This(and the enormous profit margin) is the ONLY reason rent-to-own places exist. Your typical furniture store sells the stuff to you and you either finance through a 3rd party or pay in full at time of purchase. In such a case, you could be sued or arrested, depending on the value of the merchandise. They call it "theft by conversion". Shelitha needs to help RAC find her friend and get an attorney just in case they can't.

Sorry to hear about your dealings with these rats. 200 bucks is not gonna get you tossed into the can. They can threaten you all they want. It will not happen. People don't get arrested for being in debt. If that were true then every time you used your credit card to buy something there would be a cop right there to cuff you.

Don't deal with these people on the phone or in person. Make them send you everything in writing. Once you put them on notice, in writing, not to contact you anymore, if they continue to harrass you then you can sue them. Send everything certified mail of course.

Since they are the ones claiming that you are committing the fraud it is up to them to prove the intent to fraud.

In short, don't let them intimidate you. Tell them to get lost and if they still pester you call an attorney.

RAC stands not for rent a center but Rip off Another Customer.
Good luck!