Renting a laptop

[fustercluck]

Was thinking about renting a laptop for vacation, i rented one from Rent-A-Center a couple of years ago, it was nice but kinda pricey, and they wouldn't let me rent it for less than two weeks. Uhh...so anyone have good info on renting laptops? That is all.

 

[imported_Mike]

Go to circuit city/best buy and buy an open box. Do not buy a new one, you must buy an open box. Return within 14 days for full refund.

 

[John]

I'd recommend buying a used notebook from our FS/T forum or eBay to avoid rental costs. You should be able to pick one up with a P3 500, 256MB ram, 14" LCD, etc for around $250.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: CheapArse
Go to circuit city/best buy and buy an open box. Do not buy a new one, you must buy an open box. Return within 14 days for full refund.

Your username is fitting...... :disgust:

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: John

Originally posted by: CheapArse
Go to circuit city/best buy and buy an open box. Do not buy a new one, you must buy an open box. Return within 14 days for full refund.

Your username is fitting...... :disgust:

...and my suggestion hurts who? The store doesn't take a hit, the employee doesn't take a hit. It doesn't affect anyones else prices....whats the problem?

 

[John]

Originally posted by: CheapArse

Originally posted by: John

Originally posted by: CheapArse
Go to circuit city/best buy and buy an open box. Do not buy a new one, you must buy an open box. Return within 14 days for full refund.

Your username is fitting...... :disgust:

...and my suggestion hurts who? The store doesn't take a hit, the employee doesn't take a hit. It doesn't affect anyones else prices....whats the problem?

Obviously you've never owned or managed a retail establishment.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: John

Originally posted by: CheapArse

Originally posted by: John

Originally posted by: CheapArse
Go to circuit city/best buy and buy an open box. Do not buy a new one, you must buy an open box. Return within 14 days for full refund.

Your username is fitting...... :disgust:

...and my suggestion hurts who? The store doesn't take a hit, the employee doesn't take a hit. It doesn't affect anyones else prices....whats the problem?

Obviously you've never owned or managed a retail establishment.

This is true, care to enlighten me are we just going to sit back and judge?

 

[John]

Originally posted by: CheapArse
This is true, care to enlighten me are we just going to sit back and judge?

Buying something with the intention of returning it after you're through using it is no better than thievery in my opinion. People with little or no morals usually engage in this practice.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: John

Originally posted by: CheapArse
This is true, care to enlighten me are we just going to sit back and judge?

Buying something with the intention of returning it after you're through using it is no better than thievery in my opinion. People with little or no morals usually engage in this practice.

Did you read my original statement? I was pretty darn specific in it and I hope you caught that. The correlation between buying an open-box product to return it later and thievery is just not there in any logical sense of the word.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: CheapArse
Did you read my original statement? I was pretty darn specific in it and I hope you caught that. The correlation between buying an open-box product to return it later and thievery is just not there in any logical sense of the word.

I read everything you posted, and it's quite obvious that you adhere to different standards. To each his own I suppose.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: John

Originally posted by: CheapArse
Did you read my original statement? I was pretty darn specific in it and I hope you caught that. The correlation between buying an open-box product to return it later and thievery is just not there in any logical sense of the word.

I read everything you posted, and it's quite obvious that you adhere to different standards. To each his own I suppose.

I don't have a problem with us having differing opinions on the morality of an issue...kind of irrelavent on a msg board. My question keeps coming up about how it hurts the store?

Margins in computers are razor thin to begin with, if non existant. Most retail stores will have a negative profit margin at the end of the month if you were to look strictly at laptops/desktops. A lot of times stores take a hit when someone buys a laptop new. This is why the accessorize the sh!t out of them & push warranty down your throat. When they take a notebook back, they take another hit becuase they now have to reduce the price to sell it. The open box price is now further from the break even point. Some of the cost is collected back in the standard 15% restocking fee.

A lot of stores don't even list all the open box laptops/desktops they have in their inventory. Buying an open box product does not add to the negative margin on the unit so the store doesn't take another hit. The employees are all paid by the hour, regardless of what they sell.

Am I missing something?

 

[fustercluck]

I like how any thread i make always ends up in arguments 😛

I don't need to buy a laptop, that would really be a waste of money for me. I would like to be able to game on it while on vacation...infact that's the only thing i would use it for. Mostly easy to run emulation type stuff though. Any place that might be better to rent a laptop over another place?

 

[DaWhim]

Originally posted by: John

Originally posted by: CheapArse
This is true, care to enlighten me are we just going to sit back and judge?

Buying something with the intention of returning it after you're through using it is no better than thievery in my opinion. People with little or no morals usually engage in this practice.

how is that a thievery? I do that sometimes. heck, I can even return it to american express, if the store is not going to take it back. that's the cost of doing business - customer safisfication after all.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: CheapArse

Originally posted by: John

Originally posted by: CheapArse
This is true, care to enlighten me are we just going to sit back and judge?

Buying something with the intention of returning it after you're through using it is no better than thievery in my opinion. People with little or no morals usually engage in this practice.

Did you read my original statement? I was pretty darn specific in it and I hope you caught that. The correlation between buying an open-box product to return it later and thievery is just not there in any logical sense of the word.

You seem not to understand, cheaparse, that your suggestion is dead nuts unethical and therefore unwelcome, no matter how successfully you think you have rationalized it.

Your suggestion of retail fraud has no place on this forum.

It belongs in the shadows of IM, much as a suggestion that beating off to nude baby pictures of Dick Cheyney in the solitary safety of your mother's basement also "hurts no one" and therefore can and should be posted here.

This is not about your right to disagree. This is about your suggestion being below the minimum level of acceptability.

Plus, as an aside, you really don't want John irrevocably mad at you. Trust me on this.

 

[cmp1223]

If you're only gaming, why not buy a PSP and a few games? You could always use that later too! I think there is even a web browser for it now b/c it has wifi.

 

[jspeicher]

Originally posted by: CheapArse

Originally posted by: John

Originally posted by: CheapArse
Did you read my original statement? I was pretty darn specific in it and I hope you caught that. The correlation between buying an open-box product to return it later and thievery is just not there in any logical sense of the word.

I read everything you posted, and it's quite obvious that you adhere to different standards. To each his own I suppose.

I don't have a problem with us having differing opinions on the morality of an issue...kind of irrelavent on a msg board. My question keeps coming up about how it hurts the store?

Margins in computers are razor thin to begin with, if non existant. Most retail stores will have a negative profit margin at the end of the month if you were to look strictly at laptops/desktops. A lot of times stores take a hit when someone buys a laptop new. This is why the accessorize the sh!t out of them & push warranty down your throat. When they take a notebook back, they take another hit becuase they now have to reduce the price to sell it. The open box price is now further from the break even point. Some of the cost is collected back in the standard 15% restocking fee.

A lot of stores don't even list all the open box laptops/desktops they have in their inventory. Buying an open box product does not add to the negative margin on the unit so the store doesn't take another hit. The employees are all paid by the hour, regardless of what they sell.

Am I missing something?

you owned him. gj.

 

[Harvey]

I'm with John on this. Businesses are in business to make a legitimate profit from their investments in merchandise, operating space, employee salaries, etc. These are ongoing expenses that continue regardless of whether they make any sales. It is the literal embodiment of the concept that time is money. They are NOT there to provide a free lending library of hardward on their dime.

Return policies are in place to provide customers with a known means of dealing with defective and otherwise unsatisfactory merchandise. The generosity of such policies by some companies is yet another investment by these companies, in this case, in customer relations, and it does cost money.

IMHO, CheapArse's suggestion is an ethical abuse of this generosity. If he believes he is right, and he practices what he preaches, I hope some day, some company catches his greedy ass caught in a wringer and squeezes out every penny he's stolen from them and others along the way.

I know there are also unethical companies that abuse their customers and/or employees, but that is not the subject, here. If abuses by ethical dwarfs like CheapArse are practiced and condoned, all that can happen is that businesses will be forced to stop their more generous return policies, and the ones who will suffer the most are honest customers who have valid problems who would otherwise get their problems resolved sooner and with less hassle.

CheapArse, your problem is obvious! 😛

 

[fustercluck]

A PSP and a few games would be nice...anyone got one in Tucson they don't need? 😀

hmm, wonder if it's possible to rent a PSP anywhere like at hollywood video or blockbuster...I doubt it. Anyone know?

edit: Woah, Rent-A-Center has PSPs for rent! At least on their website, that could be the answer i'm looking for, rent a PSP and some PSP games for vacation. I'll have to look into it more first.

 

[cruiser1338]

I actually agree with CheapArse. It might be unehtical and wrong, but it's not hurting anyone. You buy it open box, you return it open box, no difference. Chances are that maybe you'll get store credit when you return it or something, so the store will still win.

Either way, who wants to pay to rent anything. You lose money. Nothing is more important than the customer having money. If you rent, you lose money, and have nothing to show for it. CheapArse's way saves you all your money, and when you go into the store, maybe you'll see something you actually want to buy. Win-win.

 

[Injury]

Why don't you just see if someone will let you rent one in FS/FT?

Someone GOTTA have a lappy sitting around doing nothing that they could make an easy 50 bucks off of or so.

 

[fustercluck]

I'm leaving for vacation in two days so buying something in the FS forum probably wouldn't do me much good.

Anyone know off hand if you can rent PSP games at blockbuster or hollywood video? The PSP is non existent on either of their websites, but i thought i've seen them there before.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: CheapArse
Go to circuit city/best buy and buy an open box. Do not buy a new one, you must buy an open box. Return within 14 days for full refund.

Way to rape a deal and then get it pulled.

I get so p!ssed at people that buy a 'guest room' at wal*mart then return it all once the guests leave.

I like being able to easily return things that I bought and were "MESSED UP"...

 

[MX2]

Originally posted by: jacktackle
I like how any thread i make always ends up in arguments 😛

I don't need to buy a laptop, that would really be a waste of money for me. I would like to be able to game on it while on vacation...infact that's the only thing i would use it for. Mostly easy to run emulation type stuff though. Any place that might be better to rent a laptop over another place?

You wanna go on a vacation and sit around and play games😕

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: Perknose

Originally posted by: CheapArse

Originally posted by: John

Originally posted by: CheapArse
This is true, care to enlighten me are we just going to sit back and judge?

Buying something with the intention of returning it after you're through using it is no better than thievery in my opinion. People with little or no morals usually engage in this practice.

Did you read my original statement? I was pretty darn specific in it and I hope you caught that. The correlation between buying an open-box product to return it later and thievery is just not there in any logical sense of the word.

You seem not to understand, cheaparse, that your suggestion is dead nuts unethical and therefore unwelcome, no matter how successfully you think you have rationalized it.

Your suggestion of retail fraud has no place on this forum.

It belongs in the shadows of IM, much as a suggestion that beating off to nude baby pictures of Dick Cheyney in the solitary safety of your mother's basement also "hurts no one" and therefore can and should be posted here.

This is not about your right to disagree. This is about your suggestion being below the minimum level of acceptability.

Plus, as an aside, you really don't want John irrevocably mad at you. Trust me on this.

I am just trying to understand John's point of view. Im really not trying to rationalize anthing by saying "no one gets hurt, so why should you care" or some other kind of attitude. I conceed my ignorance in the area of retail fraud, and I still don't see how it is fraud. I tried asking John this since he provided information that he managed or owned a retails store with no reply as of now.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: Harvey
I'm with John on this. Businesses are in business to make a legitimate profit from their investments in merchandise, operating space, employee salaries, etc. These are ongoing expenses that continue regardless of whether they make any sales. It is the literal embodiment of the concept that time is money. They are NOT there to provide a free lending library of hardward on their dime.

Return policies are in place to provide customers with a known means of dealing with defective and otherwise unsatisfactory merchandise. The generosity of such policies by some companies is yet another investment by these companies, in this case, in customer relations, and it does cost money.

IMHO, CheapArse's suggestion is an ethical abuse of this generosity. If he believes he is right, and he practices what he preaches, I hope some day, some company catches his greedy ass caught in a wringer and squeezes out every penny he's stolen from them and others along the way.

I know there are also unethical companies that abuse their customers and/or employees, but that is not the subject, here. If abuses by ethical dwarfs like CheapArse are practiced and condoned, all that can happen is that businesses will be forced to stop their more generous return policies, and the ones who will suffer the most are honest customers who have valid problems who would otherwise get their problems resolved sooner and with less hassle.

CheapArse, your problem is obvious! 😛

I've never bought an open box item with the intention of returning it later. In fact, I have only bought 2 open box products in my entire life. 1 of them I did buy to resell as it was such a good deal. The other was my new tv. 🙂

As I said before, I don't believe I am right and I conceed my ignorance on the area of retail fraud. I see buying something new with the intention of returning it and buying an open box product with the intention of returning two different things. Im just trying to understand the situation, my head is no where near my ass...but thanks for contributing to the flame... :roll: