TV Rental

[Panter]

Does anyone out there still rent TV's?

I'd like a new, flashy flat screen thingy to go on the wall 'cause we've got a couple of large fish tanks that take up most of the front room but I'm way too poor to just go and buy one.

Then I thought about rental. It seems a good idea to me especially as most electrical items these days seem to have fairly short lifetimes.

So, I googled "radio rentals" and they don'r eem to exist anymore. In fact, I found very little info at all.
Are there any large, national firms out there that anyone can recommend? or is it just a dying industry now?

 

[rich p]

Does anyone out there still rent TV's?

I'd like a new, flashy flat screen thingy to go on the wall 'cause we've got a couple of large fish tanks that take up most of the front room but I'm way too poor to just go and buy one.

Then I thought about rental. It seems a good idea to me especially as most electrical items these days seem to have fairly short lifetimes.

So, I googled "radio rentals" and they don'r eem to exist anymore. In fact, I found very little info at all.
Are there any large, national firms out there that anyone can recommend? or is it just a dying industry now?

I think you're confused Panter - funeral director is a dying business.

ps. There is a small local independent shop near us that still does rentals but I don't know about nationally. I would have thought that the rental fees on a new big screen would pay for one in less than a year anyway. You might be advised to buy one on extenden credit , nought % etc.

pps. I think your gorgeous again in pretty pink

 

[Tim Bennet.]

www.forbesdirect.tv

 

[marinyork]

Radio rentals merged with Granada I believe and are now called something completely different and most of their business has moved away from rentals.

If you want a plasma then fair enough (I'd not trust it either). Otherwise I can't see the point as LCDs are budget and there's always someone flogging off decent sizes -32", 37" oe 40" at reasonable prices. The warranties aren't that bad either and some companies like samsung do extended warranties that yoou don't have to take out straight away.

 

[domtyler]

Take a look at somewhere like Dabs who do some pretty unbeatable deals.

Rentals just don't make sense when you can buy the product this cheaply and use cheap credit deals like buy now, pay next year. Why do you think RR/BoxClever etc. went out of business in the first place?

 

[marinyork]

Take a look at somewhere like Dabs who do some pretty unbeatable deals.

Rentals just don't make sense when you can buy the product this cheaply and use cheap credit deals like buy now, pay next year. Why do you think RR/BoxClever etc. went out of business in the first place?

Yes! Dabs aren't the cheapest but they normally have a sales item tvs on semi-permanently (every weekend) and their dabs value tvs are quite good. They've also got about the biggest range. On different weeks some fantastic deals on there on more expensive brands. You don't want them to last forever, LCD dominance will end in the next few years most likely.

 

[Panter]

pps. I think your gorgeous again in pretty pink

Now I'm really worried, I changed to my current avatar last night


Thanks peeps, comments appreciated.

TBH We can't/won't do credit (long complicated story) and from what I've seen even on the Dabs site the bigger TV's seem to vary from £750.00 for a LCD non HD to £1000.00 for a HD plasma which is just a bit too much.

If the rental was, say, £40.00/month it would still take ~2 years to break even and then I'd never have to worry about the thing breaking down as I'd just call the rental firm out.


I'll try that Forbes link (thanks Tim) tonight as I don't have all my account details handy.

I do see what you're all saying about buying but we just don't have the cash at present and I like the idea of not having to worry about it, plus of course being able to upgrade whenever suits.

 

[meenaghman]

not just dabs..

Have got stuff from
www.aria.co.uk , www.empiredirect.co.uk and www.ebuyer.com
Often they have a few specials on.. Be careful with those who quote ex VAT and check on delivery prices. Aria do a dead pixel check (pay extra) as part of the service on LCD TVs.
www.richersounds.co.uk also can have offers but often more for store than internet.
BTW you'll find that wall mounts are nearly as expensive as some TVs. IF you do decide to buy a new one, and get one from the likes of currys etc.. bring along prices from the internet, get them to match. get them to throw in wall mounts / freeview boxs or good quality AV cables. Prepare to walk away if they don't deal.

 

[domtyler]

Box Clever are still going actually:

www.boxclever.co.uk

 

[buggi]

my mom used to rent all the time until about 2 years ago when we finally managed to persuade her that it was a complete waste of money. you can easily buy a tv on HP from a reputable shop for the same amount of money per month as renting one.

most TVs break down because the tube dies. but as most new tv's no longer have a tube, its not a problem now anyway.

also, tv's come with a guarantee that usually last as long as the period you'd be paying for it. so still, it's better than renting, especially when you consider that when my mom wanted to stop renting the shop offered to sell her the tv for about £150! hardly a bargain considering how long she'd had rented it (about 4 years... so she'd already paid for it a hundred times over), so her choices were to buy it, carry on renting or go out an get a brand new tv for the price they were offering to sell her the rented one for.

needless to say, she had a new one from Curries and paid for it over 6 months. now she's payment free with a tv that's working fine.
if you rent a tv for 3 years, you've probably paid 3 times as much as if you just went out and bought it, and that's why not many places rent anymore

 

[palinurus]

Mrs.P and I used to do it. Since we'd invariably move every year or so (damn these shorthold tenancy thingys) it was one more thing we didn't have to take with us.

Latest landlord hasn't shown any signs of wanting us out yet (even with our illegal cat and several bikes and bits of bikes taking over his shed). So we bought the last one from the company we rented it from for a small fee.

Naturally it broke down a couple weeks after.

 

[domtyler]

I think our TV was actually about £250 from Tesco about five years ago. It is a 28 inch wide screen CRT Bush. It is still going fine without a problem and has a perfectly good picture. Will probably upgrade at some point in the future but it has cost us about £4 per month so far and getting less with each month it keeps going.

I guess my point is, going by what you have said, are you sure you need a 50 inch Plasma in your life at the moment? I know it's none of my business though so I'll shut up now!

 

[Aperitif]

Given that rental is a sort of 'temporary HP', you might as well go and see all the tellys at a John Lewis somewhere or the other, "buy" one on suitable repayment terms, get it delivered and set up etc and enjoy the 'benefit' of a five year guarantee. Then "buy" another - assuming of course, that your original comments were 'wont', not 'can't' do credit - (which, of course, is not my business.)
Of course it will cost more than Dabs or Richer but compare with rentals, not purchase.

 

[fossyant]

Do watch out for the cheaper LCD's as the picture isn't up to much - well it's good, but I still think my Panasonic 28" wide 100 Htz 'tube' still knocks the pants off most stuff - I got the TV probably 18 months before the LCD's got affordable (i.e. about £500) - the Panasonic had been reduced from £650 to about £450 which was way more than the wife would want to pay, but I went and did it - it's been fantastic - fab picture, great sound etc. the only problems we've had have been digital related - i.e. if you don't run the channel update, sometimes the sound drops out...eh...

My sister has a new HD 42" something, paid a fair bit for it (£1k), but the picture quality isn't as nice as my old 'TV'

 

[Panter]

Mrs.P and I used to do it. Since we'd invariably move every year or so (damn these shorthold tenancy thingys) it was one more thing we didn't have to take with us.

Latest landlord hasn't shown any signs of wanting us out yet (even with our illegal cat and several bikes and bits of bikes taking over his shed). So we bought the last one from the company we rented it from for a small fee.

Naturally it broke down a couple weeks after.

I'm sorry and its obviously not funny, but.....................

The way you wrote that I ended up spraying coffee over the monitor
Sounds like my luck

I guess my point is, going by what you have said, are you sure you need a 50 inch Plasma in your life at the moment? I know it's none of my business though so I'll shut up now!

I'm pretty sure we do, although the Wife isn't quite so convinced
In reality, I guess a 36" LCD would probably be fine.


Ok peeps, you've convinced me. I'll have a nose around the shops and see what the prices are like at the moment