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“Ripped off by a Curry's Rentsmart agreement”

written by JPaulR1 on 27/02/2016

- We paid £1,161 for a £299 washing machine
- Rep takes advantage of a new mum
- Rep incompetent
- We don't own the machine
- Appalling customer service

I'm very disappointed to report that we have been missold a washing machine rental contract by Curry's. I have only recently reviewed the agreement to find that it is an agreement designed for businesses.

We paid £1,161.40 to date to rent a washing machine that costs £299 to buy.

My wife had our little boy with her after a difficult child birth. She needed to source a washing machine for our flat, went to Curry's to buy one and was sold a hassle free agreement where we could rent the machine for a fixed monthly sum with a service contract to take away any problems that may arise in the future.

The rip off sales rep:
When buying the unit the sales representative at the Poole branch was aware of the situation, location of where the machine was needed and by all account took advantage.
- Supplied a complex contract for her to sign (knowing that there is no way she will read this with a very young baby by her side!),
- failed to highlight a 40% increase of rental rate if we did not provide insurance details
- failed to highlight that the deal is designed for a business which she is not
- failed to record the details correctly so that the machine could repaired through the aftermarket "Anything Happens" contract.

The first time we needed to use the "Anything Happens" service contract we were unable to get the service engineer out because the address on the contract did not match where the machine was located. Spent hours trying to speak to an appalling customer service. I'm sick of dealing with Curry's.

After further research this evening I have found a BBC "Your Money Their Tricks" story on this exact method of ripping off customers.

After chasing Curry's for a few weeks to get this issue resolved they offered us a sum of money to cover the cost of the remaining contract (£116) but are very happy to leave us ripped off by £862 (to date) and we still would not own this washing machine because it is a rental! There was also no mention of who will pay the cost of returning the machine which by all accounts this could be to Rentsmart in Manchester! This offer was declined as it is a horrible way to fob us off after being missold a very expensive deal to a new mother with a crying 1 month old baby. The matter is being taken further.

What a horrible company with nasty people in store and in customer service.