Worry-Free Guarantee!

Are you in need of an adrenalin boost?  Whatever the reason, the AG's office is here to help.

How, you ask?  By offering reading material that is sure to spark your "fight or flight" response.  Specifically, you should note the claims recently filed by our Consumer Protection Division against Rent-A-Center, Inc.  The press release can be found here.  For a more intense experience, however, you should read the sworn statements by some of the victims, which document a consistent pattern of terrorizing children, trespassing, attempted home invasion, and all-around intimidation. Rent-A-Center employees would even spread misinformation to third-parties, such as coworkers, bosses, neighbors, clients, and babysitters. In one instance, the employees would falsely claim to have a court order to gain access to a house; in another, they would pretend to call the police and tell children that Child Protective Services would come to take them away from their families.

This sounds like a scene from a bad horror movie, but unfortunately it merely one of many complaints our office received:

"In addition to making repeated phone calls to our house and to [my husband's] work, Rent-A-Center employees... would make several visits per day to our house. If my husband was not at home, I would not let the men in the house because I was afraid of them. The men would often yell outside the door that they knew I was inside.  On one of the visits... when I didn't answer the door, I heard one of the men walking around the outside of the house, apparently to look in the windows."

Yelling "We know you're in there!" while stalking around a house, peering inside at a helpless woman and her young son... these bear more resemblance to the actions of a mentally unbalanced Jack Torrance ("The Shining") than to the professional conduct of employees upholding their company's motto: "Worry-Free Guarantee!"

Posted by Alex Binz