Buyer Beware Part 2

So, once again we are stuck at the rent-to-own store. My friend decides that she wants a laptop for portability. The first “offering” from the store was an IBM think pad, which normally are very nice machines. However, XP needs more than 128 MB of ram to run. The machine was choking just running the OS, so back it went. Then yet another machine that had similar oddities. Finally, they sent her out of town to another store to an hp pavilion with a p4 running 256 MB Ram. She brings it to me for initial setup only to find a disk error. This time the rental store actually seemed to care about her satisfaction, after evaluation they sent the machine back to hp. Roughly a week later, she finally got the machine back. I ran the normal setup that I do: windows updates, spy ware removers, anti-virus, etc. The machine is stable and humming right along, she’s happy, and get this… They have decided after all her trouble, she gets yet another “price break” on this machine too.
In conclusion, I still don’t agree with the whole “rent-to-own” scheme. They do not seem to have any technicians for simple repairs, but are finally willing to stand behind the customer to make things right. So if you feel the “rent-to-own” option is something you are considering, be careful. Do your homework on what specs you feel are right for you, talk to other computer users and ask around. Owning a computer should be enjoyable not another frustration. (Thinking “if only it were that easy.”) P.T. Barnum has been quoted by history as saying “one born every minute.” Do your homework and you can say “wasn’t me.”