Big Vern

Anyone used a furniture rental company??

We're coming out to NC in about 6 weeks Although we're bringing a fair amount of stuff with us, as we intend renting a house initially we thought we might also rent some furniture. That way we can save some money for our own stuff for when we get round to buying a house...

We thought we might use Cort or someone like them.

Anyone had any experiences or problems they could share with credit rating troubles, dodgy service or small print in the agreements ??

Webbie

Hey Big Vern !
Coming over to join the elite expats in NC are you ?

Don't bother with furniture rental. - There is a company called Rent-A-Center http://www.rentacenter.com/ where you can rent furniture without credit. (But I think you need to be in a job to show them that you can make the payments.)
But don't forget that you are moving to NC and this is furniture central. (High Point NC, just down the road from me.)
There are hundreds of discount furniture stores everywhere.
But - I would recommend to have a look for a store called "Habitat for Humanity" http://www.habitat.org/ they are a charity that sells furniture and household items.
You can find some very nice bits of furniture in there. Plus their prices are seriously cheap.
I picked up a desk for my office in there for $15 !
Give them a look.

Manc

Yeah, I concur, Rent A Center and other places like that are extortionists.

Better to make do with some cheap charity stuff until you can afford to splash out on your own decent stuff.
Otherwise you'll be paying off your sofa till the cows come home

ladyofthelake

Saw a programme a while back with a family on it who were in really bad financial trouble, and the show was trying to show them the error of their ways. It turns out that, amongst other ridiculous spending habits, they were paying out $99 a month to rent the kid's bunk beds :scared: How stupid is that??

NC Penguin

I've been renting since I moved to NC (hello neighbour!) nearly two years ago. Despite only renting, we purchased our furniture (sofas, armchair, beds, tv).

I don't think you'll save much if anything by renting furniture frankly. Just don't buy any oversize pieces. Save those purchases for after you've bought the house.

As others have mentioned, Highpoint in NC is the self proclaimed furniture capital of the US. However, there's probably at least a few discount furniture stores in the area you'll be moving to.

Wherebouts in NC are you moving? I'm in Durham, NC. There's plenty of Brits around here!

Pulaski

Surely you mean "..... paying off your sofa long after it has fallen apart?"

Seriously though, stay well away from the Aarons and Rent-a Centers unless you are seriously desperate!

Big Vern

Thanks for that - I'll give renting furniture a BIG swerve...we should have enough furniture to get by with for now.

Webbie, Penguin - yes, we're coming to join the NC elite...
All being well we will be moving to the Charlotte area - the company I'll be working for is based in Cornelius. Apparently it's very nice around there and Lake Norman...anybody know that area at all..??

Pulaski

Yep, I live just a few miles away, though I don't often actually go to that neighborhood - but it is considered a nice area, and relatively expensive, especially near the lake, so you might want to look in neighboring areas when you come to buy as their are plenty of nice neghborhoods within a few miles where houses are much cheaper and just as nice.

superpat

Hi Big Vern. We rented furniture for a month (from Cort) while our stuff was in transit. It was really expensive - iirc, $2700 for up to 3 months for a 2 bedroom houseful of furniture. That may have even been a special 'corporate rate'.

I'm not sure I'd have bothered if work hadn't been picking up the tab - I'd probably have shipped a bit more by air and bought a few other bits.

If your not waiting for furniture to arrive from the UK, then I wouldn't bother renting here at all.

Cheers,

Pat

Lesley1020

I am so glad I read this thread - someone wrote don't rent from Aarons - are they that bad?

I can't afford to ship my furniture over and in any event am renting my house out furnished, - so until I had a few months wages under my belt etc, I was intending on renting the main items. They quoted me $150 a month for a bed, sofa, chair, dining table & chairs, lamps, dresser etc. I thought that was pretty good??

All the money I am taking with me I need to use for buying a car, so furniture is going to have to take a back seat for now - but I am just concerned now about choosing Aarons. The main ones in Memphis seem to be them, or Cort.

Anyone had any experiences with either?

Rockgurl

I'm renting furniture, as I wasn't sure how long I'd be staying here. I had furniture in London and my wife has furniture in CT so it seemed silly to buy even more. I honestly can't remember the name of the company, as my agency arranged it all, but I pay $75 a month for everything, including a double bed, sofa, table and chairs, bedside table, chest of drawers, coffee table, tv stand and side table...even 2 lamps as well! They are in really excellent condition and it suits me as when I leave I just call them up and they come and collect. It would have cost me a fortune to buy everything, and then I would have had the hassle of getting rid of it all again, and then I would have lost money too. Now all I have to think about are 5 boxes.

Lesley1020

Sounds good to me! If you remember the name of the place at all let me know - that's like half what I've been quoted!

Thanks.