Can they do this?

[Jas]

I don't know exactly how these companies work but could you consider selling the laptops yourslef and hopefully get more for them than the company would to pay back to them? Not sure if you would be able to do this.

Is there anyway you could speak to your boss to get more hours and put all that money into this debt to get it paid off?? I think maybe you should sit down and work out what you can do to get this arrears cleared, I know it seems huge but really it is only $600 is there anything you have that you could do without that you could sell to cash converters or on ebay or whatever to get this paid off and help protect your credit rating, tv's playstation, games dvds etc?

Just remember it isn't all that long before you will be able to get payments from centrelink etc and the baby bonus so that will help out a lot so don't forget there is light at the end of the tunnel

Maybe explain this to them, let them know you will catch up with a payment plan and then be able to carry out future payments etc

I think call the numbers above but yea I think really have a chat to this company explain your situation but also be ubderstanding that they gave you something you haven't paid them for when you did agree to pay so they will be wanting to see that you understand this and can take some steps to get this cleared? $100 a week even $75 they might agree to? Even if you try to cut down groceries other spending to get it paid for

[Inanna]

Great advice Jas I do believe that the property remains that of the company until it's paid for.

[*LittleMissSummer*]

Unfortunately they want the whole $600 in one payment. They won't accept any more payment plans. I explained that once my baby is born i will be able to make full payments every month but she said she didn't care. As for my job, my DP is my boss and hes given me the most hours he can without it looking like hes favouring me.

I won't be able to get $600 together in a couple of days. That is why i am so upset.

Thanks for all your support and words.

DP said we will talk when he gets home from work. what we will do.

ETA- Maz, i was talking in a normal tone. The supervisor asked what happened with the lady who first called me and i calmly said what happened, i said that it upset me what she said but i understood that i am really behind in payments. She was at first nice and polite but then her tone rose and it turned to yelling at me like she was my mother. And yes one of the laptops is for DP, and he can't help pay it he doesnt have money his whole pay goes on rent and other bills. We could pay it off this week but would mean rent wont get paid.. thanks though

[Tinks]

When you rent something it remains the property of the owner. You pay the owner to use the item, the item doesn't belong to you.

Think of it like renting a house. You pay to live in a house, if you don't pay you get evicted. Renting your laptops is no different. If you can't pay for them the owner has every right to take them away.

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

From what I understand, you've had 2 previous payment plans, and when it became obvious you wouldn't be able to pay, you contacted the company BEFORE a payment was missed - is this right?

If so, I would take it higher in the company, on the basis that you are happy to enter into another payment agreement, and you have followed their terms for payment agreement in the past. It is simply impossible for you to get $600 in the next couple of days, but if you can do a payment agreement, they should be taking it.

If that fails, I would take it to the Ombudsman - the issue is not whether or not you owe the money, the issue is that they are not allowing you to pay the amount you are able to, and are demanding the full amount in an unreasonable amount of time.

PM me if you need to - I've had experience with this type of thing

[diannescruffy]

Don't stress yourself out too much hun . They can't get blood out of a stone, if you can't come up with the $600 the worst they will do is repossess the laptops and you give them an amount that you can afford weekly, don't let them intimidate you. Wishing you all the best.

Regards,
Dianne

[LimeSlice]

Berenice - That is all well and good - a nice notion. but the fact is that they have given her enough time and she has failed to meet the repayments - to the tune of hundreds of dollars in dishonour fees from her bank alone.

They have a contract and are in no way bound by anything to give her ANY payment plans, let alone the 2 she has already defaulted on. It is called bad risk, and unfortunately, that is something 1sttime has in spades.

The ombudsman will do nothing because the company is well within their rights and are not behaving unreasonably - they are simply repossessing the goods and foreclosing the contract.

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

Berenice - That is all well and good - a nice notion. but the fact is that they have given her enough time and she has failed to meet the repayments - to the tune of hundreds of dollars in dishonour fees from her bank alone.

They have a contract and are in no way bound by anything to give her ANY payment plans, let alone the 2 she has already defaulted on. It is called bad risk, and unfortunately, that is something 1sttime has in spades.

The ombudsman will do nothing because the company is well within their rights and are not behaving unreasonably - they are simply repossessing the goods and foreclosing the contract.

I understand what you're saying Lime, but I respectfully disagree

First of all, she has always kept them informed of her financial status and ability to make repayments, rather than waiting until they start chasing her to say 'Oh, I lost my job'.

Secondly, I had the same thing with a phone contract, and unknowingly didn't make any payment for 5 months. When they finally contacted me, they demanded full payment by the end of the week or they would disconnect us. I took it to the Ombudsman because I had offerred a payment plan, paying as much as I could off the debt while paying all incoming bills, and they signed me up to the plan, and then said they would disconnect anyway. I never disputed that I would have to pay the money, I was only disputing the deadline, as I believe 1sttime is. Loooong story short, I won and didn't end up having to pay the debt at all, and my credit history was fixed.

So basically, while the company is definitely entitled to reposess, by going about it the way they have, despite 1sttimes efforts, they may have shot themselves in the foot ITMS

[Visitor7]

Berenice - That is all well and good - a nice notion. but the fact is that they have given her enough time and she has failed to meet the repayments - to the tune of hundreds of dollars in dishonour fees from her bank alone.

They have a contract and are in no way bound by anything to give her ANY payment plans, let alone the 2 she has already defaulted on. It is called bad risk, and unfortunately, that is something 1sttime has in spades.

The ombudsman will do nothing because the company is well within their rights and are not behaving unreasonably - they are simply repossessing the goods and foreclosing the contract.

I agree. They don't have to agree to a payment plan.

The other thing you could do is call the real estate agent and ask them to put your rent off for a week so you have the lump sum

I can't imagine any owner agreeing to do this. Considering it's end of month coming up this week for landlords, they're going to want their money for the month, and all of it.


If the only solution for you is to hand back the laptops, then that's what you'll have to do. Are you able to borrow the money from someone as a loan until you've got more money coming in?

[*LittleMissSummer*]

From what I understand, you've had 2 previous payment plans, and when it became obvious you wouldn't be able to pay, you contacted the company BEFORE a payment was missed - is this right?

If so, I would take it higher in the company, on the basis that you are happy to enter into another payment agreement, and you have followed their terms for payment agreement in the past. It is simply impossible for you to get $600 in the next couple of days, but if you can do a payment agreement, they should be taking it.

If that fails, I would take it to the Ombudsman - the issue is not whether or not you owe the money, the issue is that they are not allowing you to pay the amount you are able to, and are demanding the full amount in an unreasonable amount of time.

PM me if you need to - I've had experience with this type of thing

Yes, so when i first lost my job, the next day i was straight on the phone. My payments came out once a month and they were fine with that. Then when i gained employment again i started the payments back up, the full payments i think i managed 2 maybe 3 payments before that job also fell through and again i called them as soon as i lost my job, i always kept them up to date with my financial situation it wasnt until the second time a lady told me i couldn't put my payments on hold as i still had arrears from catching up when my payments were on hold. They have ALWAYS known what my situation is. Wasn't until recently when i had no job at all and i made the arrangement of $30 a week, which actually that added up to a full payment at the end of the month... so i don't know how i am $600 behind.. anyways so thats why i'm so upset that they are being like this, its not as if i have just not paid them i have had good reasons not to..

When DP gets home ill talk further about it with him, i hope there is someone from Rentsmart which is higher than this Supervisor that i can speak to as this cannot be fair. My contract only started last January and really $600 isn't a great deal (it is in a lump sum when you don't have it), if they let me pay what i can, in a few months ill be right back on track.

As for this $30 coming out every week ive missed 3 of those payments, ive just looked back in my netbank. I don't see how i can't just pay $90 this week and continue with the payment plan as was arranged..

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

If you've missed the 3 payments, that is possibly why they're being so strict now, citing broken agreements etc. Was the money just not in the account, or was it there and they haven't taken it?

Also, start a lil notebook to detail all of your conversations with them - names, dates, times and basic summary. You may need it...

[OceanPrincess]

The other thing you could do is call the real estate agent and ask them to put your rent off for a week so you have the lump sum... but then if you have no way of getting the money for the rent, you're just robbing peter to pay paul...

Good luck hun, I hope you get through to these people. While yes it may be within their rights to reposses, it is not within their rights to be awful to you and lack in understanding. Go to the top!

[LimeSlice]

anyways so thats why i'm so upset that they are being like this, its not as if i have just not paid them i have had good reasons not to..

When DP gets home ill talk further about it with him, i hope there is someone from Rentsmart which is higher than this Supervisor that i can speak to as this cannot be fair. My contract only started last January and really $600 isn't a great deal (it is in a lump sum when you don't have it), if they let me pay what i can, in a few months ill be right back on track.

As for this $30 coming out every week ive missed 3 of those payments, ive just looked back in my netbank. I don't see how i can't just pay $90 this week and continue with the payment plan as was arranged..

Unfortunately that is not how the adult world works.
They have given you a prior opportunity and the notion of "It's not fair" and "I had good reasons not to pay" just don't fly - and nr should they.
You entered knowingly into a legally binding contract with strict terms and amounts and you have not honoured that contract.

The real world doesn't run on "fair" and "good reasons" and high school forgot-my-homework excuses.

The best thing you can do is arrange a time to have the computers collected as a sign of good faith and request a final bill from them . With some luck you can work from there and try and avoid debt collectors and a mark against your credit rating.

[Doing my best]

Wasn't until recently when i had no job at all and i made the arrangement of $30 a week, which actually that added up to a full payment at the end of the month... so i don't know how i am $600 behind.. anyways so thats why i'm so upset that they are being like this, its not as if i have just not paid them i have had good reasons not to..

Can you read through the smallprint cause it might explain this part. We had our original mortgage through a financer (Not a bank), and the contract stated that if we didn't pay on time, as well as having to pay the mortgage amount for the month, we also had a $200 dishonour fee issued by them. So you might have something similar in your contract..

Unfortunately some finance/credit companies make their money from non-payers. They have high penalties for late payments, and once you get behind, it is very hard to catch up.

[allycat06]

Can you read through the smallprint cause it might explain this part. We had our original mortgage through a financer (Not a bank), and the contract stated that if we didn't pay on time, as well as having to pay the mortgage amount for the month, we also had a $200 dishonour fee issued by them. So you might have something similar in your contract..

That is great advice....no point talking to people on the phone until you are well versed in their fine print. I think you'll find that they'll just want their money and goods and will do whatever they can to get it, especially as you have already defaulted on payments. If you want to take it further go chat to legal aid.

[LionsandBears]

Jas, Inanna - I don't know the contract 1sttime signed, but looking at the website, it seems these guys only rent out computer equipment. They give you an option to buy the equipment at the end of the contract for a "fair market value", or you can keep renting if you upgrade. Otherwise you hand it back anyway. It's still their property even at the end of the contract, so they can't sell them. I didn't realise, they are just like Radio Rentals, but for laptops instead of white goods. Or like falling behind on house rent and being evicted.

Damn shame really. You can a great little laptop at Harvey Norman for $600.

[Inanna]

Aaah thanks for that Tashy...

[maz]

Ahhh the joys of the adult world

could you DP maybe help pay the amount for you? I gather one of the laptops is for him anyway and being a couple means doing good and bad things together.

sorry that the woman screamed at you over the phone...could you have been upset and using a higher voice and she thought you were yelling at her and she was then defending herself?

Its so easy to get into the moment when things are offered to us as a good package and then when we lose our financial security it crumbles....ive been there to and its not nice.

You'll win this over...its not the end of the world chicky