This company is dishonest ! Stay away from Conn's Home Plus. They have very anti-consumer practices. They almost screwed me big time.
I only planned to buy something if it was interest free. Because I know their credit carries a high interest rate. They offered me 12 months 0% APR with no down payment on any purchase of at least $1,000. I knew if I missed just one payment, all of the interest would be due retroactively. So I planned to buy only what I could afford to pay off in a year. I must have said this to the salesman a half dozen times.
I spent an hour looking at things. They use high pressure sales tactics. They kept quoting minimum payments. I said my payment would be more than the minimum, because I'm paying this off in 12 months so as not to incur interest. I finally decided on a mattress and bed. The total invoice with delivery and tax was a bit over $1900. Supposedly interest free. First payment due in November.
They printed up a long multi-page contract, full of boilerplate language, tucked underneath the top sheet for me to sign. When they gave me a pen, I didn't immediately sign. I started looking over the contract. I noticed they tacked on property and credit insurance fees. I told the salesman to get the manager because this was a used car lot tactic, I didn't agree to pay for insurance.
The manager walked over and tried to flim-flam me. I told her I would need to get my lawyer to read this contract because I don't want to get screwed. She said, we're not trying to screw you sir. Let me explain, blah blah, more nonsense. She tried to say the insurance is only if you don't pay it off in time. But i showed her they had already added the insurance to the amount I am financing, listed on the "Retail Installment Contract". That number was a higher amount than the total listed on the "Invoice" or "General Information Summary Page". All of this is contained within the same general contract. It appeared to all be designed/written to purposefully confuse the consumer.
Then I asked them to show me where in the contract it says I have 12 months interest free financing. When I read the "CASH OPTION ADDENDUM PAGE" (This tricky crap is not even in the main contract, it was an addendum) It says :
"You must pay the cash option price of $1,9xxx by the expiration date of 9/26/2016. For example , you could pay 12 equal installments of $165.xx to satisfy the cash option requirements."
"You will not accrue any finance charges if you pay all scheduled monthly payments within 10 days of their due date and the unpaid cash option price within 10 days of the Expiration Date shown above".
When I saw that, an alarm bell went off in my head. Because my first payment wasn't due until November 10th.
I 'd make the payments on Nov 10th, Dec 10th, etc.. on time for 12 months, except my last payment due on October 10th 2016, would still be considered more than 10 days overdue, because the 12 month window for interest free financing begins the day you sign the contract, not 12 months from the day the first payment is due. Of course they never told me that before I read it myself, buried inside this huge stack of papers.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE WAY THE CONTRACT WAS WRITTEN, IF I MADE ALL 12 PAYMENTS ON TIME, AND WAS NEVER EVEN A SINGLE DAY LATE WITH MY PAYMENTS, I WOULD STILL BE HIT WITH THE RETROACTIVELY APPLIED INTEREST !
When I pointed that out to the manager, and said the expiration date should be 12 months from the date my first payment is due, she could only smile and say the 12 month interest free window starts today, and can't get changed. I said that's not right. You are trying to screw me. She began arguing. She knew I caught them in deception. So the manager screamed leave the store or I will call the police !
I took the contract with me and started walking out of the store and she began shrieking at me to give the contract back, that it was private property. But they gave me the contract to sign. I already told her I wanted my lawyer to read it, so I kept it. That's why I can quote verbatim from the contract in this review.
They are crooks. If I had signed that contract without carefully reading it, even after making all 12 payments exactly on time per the due dates printed in the contract, my last payment would be late beyond the 10 day grace period of the cash option addendum page expiration date. I'd get hit with the exorbitant interest fees applied retroactively. That would have been a nasty surprise.
I'm so glad this place didn't rip me off. They tried hard. But I read all the fine print.
I will show this contract to my personal attorney, the AZ Attorney General's Office and Channel 5 consumer watch. I want to know if they are breaking any laws, or merely acting dishonestly. Either way, Conn's is a con job.