Complaint Review: RAC Rent A Center - Vancouver Washington

My Toshiba Satellite laptop was a pre-leased item when I got it.  I had very little problem with it, except for the occasional shut down, which was not very often.  Overall, the PC worked great for my school work needs and I kept it in good, working order.  It only needed service one time for the CD Rom tray which was broken by a child.

I paid for 12 months on this contract for a used computer, and just after paying it off, the laptop shut off in the middle of school work with no indication of problem beforehand, and to never power back up again.  I was a renter of other merchandise from this store and also continued paying the $14 per month insurance to cover if anything went wrong with ANY of my merchandise, and was informed by RAC that it also covered my laptop.

After witnessing RAC pick up furniture from other renters that was broken because of rough housing, televisions damaged due to rough play by children, and other furniture damaged from human accident, I rushed the laptop to RAC as soon as they opened the next day.  This allowed it to be there for the following pickup and delivery to the repair department.  (When you pay a monthly amount on insurance for a cell phone, you can drop it in a pee filled toilet and the cell company would fix/replace your phone!)

A week later, the store didn't call me, I had to call them.  They did not have my laptop back, only a report stating that if I wanted it fixed, it would cost me nearly $400 to do so.  What was I paying insurance for?

I obtained furniture and a television from another source and called to have RAC pick up everything I was renting from them - even if I only had a couple months left.  I refuse to be their customer in any way, shape, or form.  When they brought my laptop back, I unwrapped the saran plastic wrap from it only to find it had been dropped, crushed, or stepped on in transit and my screen and frame to the screen were now damaged and cracked.

They cited the cause of my shut off as being "something sticky was spilled into the laptop".  First of all, this was NOT the case.  It shut off out of the blue.  Secondly, I am diabetic and IF anything at all had been dripped (as I drink from a closed top container) into the laptop, it would be tea or water - nothing sticky, as sugar is NOT part of my diet!

To top all of this off, I spoke with a man from another company who used to be the manager above the store manager from RAC.  He informed me that the Toshiba has a 2 year warranty - one which RAC NEVER offered information on, even after my 1 year time was paid off.

So here I sit, with a brand new laptop that I had to put money out on in order to do school work, and a broken Toshiba.  I have no idea what to do with it at this point.  I tested the memory and hard drive, which still work.  At most, I would have needed a motherboard and chip.  It certainly wouldn't cost me $400.  However, with the screen messed up and all cracked now, I don't see how it would be worth it to even try and salvage my laptop.  I'm out more than $1200 on a $700 laptop and have a huge headache from the ignorance, lies, and ridiculous nature in which RAC conducts or fails to conduct business.

Note:  I HAVE called the store and tried to get the cracked screen situation examined.  I have been put on hold, asked to call back, told I'd be called back, and hung up on - all by various employees, including the manager.