For nearly two years, Uber has offered a car leasing program that aims to remedy one of the biggest obstacles for those who wanted to sign up as a driver, but didn’t haven anything to, you know, actually drive. While some Uber drivers have expressed their frustrations with the Xchange Leasing program, a new report suggests that those taking part in similar programs outside of the U.S. are facing more than high monthly payments; they’re dealing with allegedly defective and dangerous vehicles. [More]
rental
Best Buy To Offer Try-Before-You-Buy Program For Some Products
By 6.12.17
Customers who purchase expensive electronics only to return them days later has long been a bane of Best Buy and other retailers. But now the store is embracing this try-before-you-buy approach for certain products. [More]
Renting A Rulebreaking Airbnb Could Leave You Without A Place To Sleep
By 11.28.16
While Airbnb and New York City continue to battle it out over new restrictions that would penalize hosts with hefty fines for subletting whole apartments for less than 30 days, a California couple says the law — which isn’t currently being enforced — led to a costly and frustrating scenario while visiting the Big Apple. [More]
Dear New Yorkers: Your Short-Term Airbnb Listing Could Lead To $7,500 Fine
By 10.21.16 — Updated: 10.24.16
It’s already illegal for New York residents to list their unoccupied apartments on Airbnb for less than 30 days, but now it’s illegal and it could cost them: Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday signed into law a measure that penalizes hosts up to $7,500 for such listings. [More]
You Can Rent The “Full House” Home For $14,000/Month; No Stamos Included
By 9.9.16
Looking for a rental in San Francisco? Ever pretend to be a member of the Tanner-Katsopolis-Gladstone family? You can soon combine those two tasks by renting the iconic home from Full House — as long as you have $14,000/month to burn. [More]
GM Will Rent Cars To Lyft Drivers For $99/Week
By 3.15.16
If you were wondering what General Motors planned to do with its $500 million investment in ride-sharing service Lyft, you might have an answer; or at least part of one. The carmaker will now rent out Chevy Equinox SUVs to prospective drivers who lack the all-important piece of the ride-sharing puzzle: a set of wheels. [More]
Woman Sues Airbnb, Homeowners After Finding Hidden Camera In Residence
By 12.16.15
When staying at a hotel you have a reasonable expectation that what you do in your room remains your private business, and that it won’t be captured by a hidden camera. The same should be true for an Airbnb rental, right? But one user of the home-sharing service claims she was secretly filmed by the homeowner. [More]
Tesla, Airbnb Team Up To Create The “Ultimate Road Trip,” Provide Chargers For Rental Hosts’ Homes
By 8.21.15
What do electric cars and rental properties have in common? Not much, unless of course you live in California, drive a Tesla, and rent your abode on Airbnb, as the two companies recently announced a partnership to provide free charging stations to select hosts’ homes along the left coast. [More]
Netflix Agrees To Delay Warner Bros. New DVDs For 28 Days
By 1.6.10
Netflix has agreed to terms with Warner Bros. that will delay rentals of new DVD releases for 28 days. Warner Bros. has unilaterally imposed the same restriction on Redbox — and those negotiations were apparently much less friendly and involved more lawyers. [More]
Renter Forced To Move Out Of Foreclosed House, Can't Get Security Deposit Back
By 7.15.09
Silpa had the bad fortune of renting a house from a deadbeat owner who let the property go into foreclosure. Now that $2,200 security deposit could be lost forever amid the turmoil. Silpa’s story:
Rent A Truck From U-Haul If You Want To Stay Put
By 6.24.09
Chris and his wife moved recently. To do so, they rented a truck from U-Haul. They planned ahead, booked their truck in advance, and did everything correctly. They just had the audacity to request a truck that wasn’t located an hour away from their new home. This was apparently too much for the U-Haul infrastructure to handle.
Apartment Listing Service Sells Database Of Scammy And Outdated Rentals
By 5.22.09
The Illinois attorney general’s office has filed suit against a Chicago-based rental property listing service for allegedly “charging consumers a membership fee for access to a property database populated largely with fraudulent or outdated rental listings.”
Soderbergh Subverts The Theater Experience Again
By 5.8.09
One of the hotter indie flicks of the summer, Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience, debuted on Amazon’s rental service this week, way before the movie opens in theaters May 22. At $9.99 for a three-day rental, the movie is also cheaper to rent than it will be to see at many theaters.
We All Need Extra Income
By 10.28.08
Hey, if you’ve got $28,000, you can use it to rent Steve Martin’s house for a week. [WSJ]
Ask The Consumerists: Should I Rent A House That Is In Foreclosure?
By 10.24.08
Reader Kelly wants to know if she should risk renting a vacation house that is in foreclosure.
By 8.26.08
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Just in case you weren’t already sure that “Rent To Own” was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad deal… Read this. [ABC News]
Policy: Blockbuster Debits $1 To Test Your Card, Then Charges You For Your Rental
By 5.21.08
For every debit or credit card transaction at Blockbuster, the company will now debit $1 to “test” your card. If the transaction goes through, they’ll then debit the full amount of your purchase. Blockbuster tells us your dollar will be returned in 3-10 business days. Reader Jason says he rented a game on Thursday and hasn’t gotten the dollar Blockbuster borrowed back yet. Will he get it before the 10 days is up?
Budget Rents Man A Truck, Then Closes Early And Charges $50 "No Show" Fee
By 4.12.08
Zach tried to rent a truck from Budget last month, and not only did he not get the truck, but he didn’t get the compensatory gift card they offered by way of apology. In fact, pretty much the only real thing he got from Budget was a $50 fee on his credit card for being a “no show”—even though he arrived at the location a half hour before closing only to find it locked up. Oh, and the location was 150 miles from his home.
