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I just saw a flyer from a rental center, offering a 65" LED Smart HDTV on weekly rental. $37.99 per week for 130 weeks, full payment is $4938, but buy it outright for an advertised $2963. Another retail store has them listed at $1298, and currently on special at $998.
There is no credit check, just phone and they will being one over, which suggests that most of the renters of this set are in a class that can be called economically marginalized.
If you were the owner, a shareholder, a manager or an employee of this rental center, how morally comfortable would feel collecting $5,000 from people who can least afford it, and possess little economic savvy, for a product that can be bought anywhere for a quarter of that price? Would you sleep well?
By the way, think about your own job. Would your employer be able to hire you, without taking advantage of less wily people?
How so?
A 65" smart TV is no where near being a necessity!
If the people cannot afford it, they should not be buying it or even renting it in the first place.
And they should never be doing business with places like that.
Plenty of businesses take advantage with high mark-ups. If they price themselves too high, they are out of business.
What you say here is no different.
I would bet that very few people go the full 130 weeks. The TV is probably repo'd in months....
If you were the owner, a shareholder, a manager or an employee of this rental center, how morally comfortable would feel collecting $5,000 from people who can least afford it, and possess little economic savvy, for a product that can be bought anywhere for a quarter of that price? Would you sleep well?
I just saw a flyer from a rental center, offering a 65" LED Smart HDTV on weekly rental. $37.99 per week for 130 weeks, full payment is $4938, but buy it outright for an advertised $2963. Another retail store has them listed at $1298, and currently on special at $998.
There is no credit check, just phone and they will being one over, which suggests that most of the renters of this set are in a class that can be called economically marginalized.
If you were the owner, a shareholder, a manager or an employee of this rental center, how morally comfortable would feel collecting $5,000 from people who can least afford it, and possess little economic savvy, for a product that can be bought anywhere for a quarter of that price? Would you sleep well?
By the way, think about your own job. Would your employer be able to hire you, without taking advantage of less wily people?
Are they adults who expect to be afforded the rights and privileges of adults?
Then they are responsible for their own actions, and that includes the ability to do basic math.
If they want that tv so bad they are willing to pay $3000 more for it for the convenience of paying 30 bucks a week instead of a lump sum, that's their business.
My own job? I am the employer and the employee and we take advantage of no one. Everything is outlined in no uncertain terms and pay is for productivity. If we fail to be paid, I take the hit and still pay my employees. That's my responsibility as an employer.
How many are really so 'ignorant' that they really can't see that a $1K TV 'could' ultimately cost them $4-$5K? -- My guess is that the company is depending instead on the same folks who imagine that they will be able to payoff their credit card/s next month, even though they can't afford what they are buying on credit this month! (Is that ignorant, stupid or just greedy?).
It's easy to blame the CC companies and others who offer 'easy credit' to people who can't really afford it --- just like the country blames those 'greedy banks' for the housing problem. But, IMO, the real 'immorality' rests with folks who insist on spending money they don't have -- with no real plan or ability to pay it back!
All on the up and up since all the details are publicly available. If you want to see practices that are morally questionable look into what your government at all levels does to/for you.
I had a similar issued when I worked at a Jackson Hewitt office. The majority of the customers are very low wage earners, often getting the earned income tax credit. First, it made me angry that so many of the people were taking the rapid refunds, which charged fees of several hundred dollars, but they didn't care because it was free money. It didn't matter when you explained that they were only getting the money a week faster and losing so much. They didn't care. Next you had the people that had a ton of kids and sold the rights to claim the kids on other's tax returns. They would come in with their friend/neighbor/relative/whoever and have you do both returns correctly. They would then start moving kids to the other return until they were happy with the extra refund (typically the other person had no kids, and the first one had maxed out on their EIC, so it was bumping the no-kid person into the EIC). They would then exchange cash right in front of you. Oh, and they were using rushing to get their returns done so that the children's other parent couldn't claim them first, because the IRS puts the burden of proof on the second filer and usually the other parent is too afraid of getting audited or no proper documentation really exists to fight it. Then you had the poor people who were just terrified of doing their own taxes. They often had super easy returns with just a W-2 or two, and could easily have done it themselves for free through one of the IRS partner website. But they didn't know that. Which leads you to, finally, the people that run those places. They're open for a few months of the year just to prey on these people. They push the refund loads hard. They happily turn a blind eye to the illegal dealings while they line their pockets with the fees. Meanwhile, the people that work there are making minimum wage and know nothing about taxes. They take a 3 day course that focuses on the very basics and how to use the software, which just walks you through everything. They are told to sell the refund loans, allow the illegal dealings, and not tell the scared people that they can file their own return for free. Oh, and those guarantees that your return is done correctly... they're not worth the paper they're written on. The tax burden is ALWAYS on the taxpayer, even if the fault is the preparer's. And they always push everything off onto the taxpayer anyway, so the quality assurance that they think they're paying for is a joke. Especially since the business will close its doors on April 15 until next year, and good luck getting through to the main office on the phone. It really makes you hate everyone.
Basically your saying you witnessed fraud Right in front of you and you did not report it. Of course the person is responsible for accuracy of formation they provide but the preparer can be charged if the knowing submits false information. Only a fool would prepare what they know is a false return and sign their name has having prepared the return because there is a reason they require preparer to sign and it a legal reason. PBS just a documentary on this last week. Comaies and their employees are charge every year with tax fraud schemes.
I just saw a flyer from a rental center, offering a 65" LED Smart HDTV on weekly rental. $37.99 per week for 130 weeks, full payment is $4938, but buy it outright for an advertised $2963. Another retail store has them listed at $1298, and currently on special at $998.
There is no credit check, just phone and they will being one over, which suggests that most of the renters of this set are in a class that can be called economically marginalized.
If you were the owner, a shareholder, a manager or an employee of this rental center, how morally comfortable would feel collecting $5,000 from people who can least afford it, and possess little economic savvy, for a product that can be bought anywhere for a quarter of that price? Would you sleep well?
By the way, think about your own job. Would your employer be able to hire you, without taking advantage of less wily people?
You're missing something crucial here. People who are receiving entitlements such as Medicaid are not allowed to have more than $2000 in their bank accounts without their benefits being yanked away and sometimes near impossible to get back. Thus, those recipients must find a way to eliminate that money.
Usurious or exploitative retail outlets do the job just fine!
Now I am not one to think that food stamps, Medicaid, or section 8 housing benefits should be eliminated, as many people are poor through no fault of their own. However, the system needs reform so that recipients of benefits do not become "trapped".
I had a similar issued when I worked at a Jackson Hewitt office. ....They take a 3 day basics and how to use the software, which just walks you through everything.
I'm assuming that was somewhere other than California. Here you have to take full semester classes, ongoing classes, be registered with the state and be bonded to do taxes. If you'd taken a full class, you would have discovered that knowingly helping a customer commit IRS tax fraud can get you jail time.
As far as the other subject, I was helping a customer with a complaint a bit ago, and he showed me a contract he'd been given for a "pink slip loan" on his car. The interest rate was 980%.
I wouldn't knowingly want a job scamming stupid people, but I also don't have a lot of sympathy with people who sign contracts without reading or understanding them.
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