Cash Converters (Shop)

Some of you may have seen a shop around in the UK called Cash Converters and I'm writing to warn you about it. Basically, it is just a glorified pawn shop. The idea is simple. You have something you don't use, but you still want but you also need some cash pronto. You take said item to shop and they give you a paltry sum and then in 30days or sooner you but it back for the price plus 30%. If you don't then they can sell it. This store however either a)rip you off or b)lose your goods.

My first experience was when I received a number of 486 machines with monitors, keyboards and mice which I didn't have a use for. Most of them I found new homes for, but the last two I couldn't so I decided to sell them to Cash Converters just to free up some space really, and to save myself the hassle of private ads. Now I didn't want a lot for them, but to be honest I would have expected around £40 each and maybe £10 or £15 for the monitors. This was in 1998 and they were in pretty good condition and I now wish I'd sold them privately rather than go through the Cash Converters scenario.

I arrived with the two PCs, monitors and cables as well as my ID (so they can hunt me down if the gear is stolen) and I had to queue for around 3/4 of an hour waiting to be seen. Having to closely guard two PCs is not my idea of fun, especially as you're waiting pretty close to the doors and anybody could run in and have them off. But maybe it was me being paranoid.

When it came to sizing up the PCs the assistant agreed that they were in good condition, and decided to make me an offer. The offer was £17 each. I tried to get him to up the offer, and he went up to £19. OK under half what I was expecting, so I ask him how much for the monitors and he stared at me in utter disbelief. The £19 included the monitors. I said I'd try and sell the monitors second hand myself, but he said he wasn't ready to accept the machines without the monitors. I tried to haggle but got nowhere so in the end just to get rid of the machines I accepted the £38. After all they didn't cost me anything. What dismayed was I saw them about two months later being sold for almost £300 each. While I realise that they can sell them for whatever they want, but I felt well and truly conned. I appreciate that they're probably used to having junkies coming in to fence stolen goods who will accept a small amount for them, but they've made their money almost 15 times over!

My second experience (and possibly the most horrendous) was accompanying a friend who had "pawned" his PC in case it was stolen while on holiday as he didn't have any insurance. He decided it would be easier and cheaper to pay the 30% rather than hike down to his folks and leave the PC with them as they were the only one's he felt comfortable leaving his PC with. There was also the added bonus that he could get it back the next day when he got home. As he wasn't going to spend the money and as he was going to buy it back he settled on £110. I feel I should add that the machine was a 300Mhz Pentium, with pretty top grade equipment at the time and would have sold privately for probably at least twice as much.

We went back to the store and had to endure a lengthy wait to be seen to "buy back" his PC. He handed over the amount he paid as well as the 30% and they went off to bring back his PC. Five minutes later they returned minus cables, keyboard, and trackball. When he showed them his inventory and asked where they were the assistant went to find out. A short while later the assistant returned and said that he'd find them, but he would 'lend' my friend a mouse, keyboard and cables until the Monday and by then they should have found the items and would return them to him.

Monday came and we went back to the shop (as I wanted to see how all this panned out) and the assistant told him that they couldn't find them. My friend asked about compensation for the loss of his stuff and the assistant said that they didn't offer compensation and that all items were left 'at the owners own risk'. In other words if they 'accidentally' sell your stuff then at least you don't have to give them the money back.

After asking for about a 1/4 hour he finally managed to speak to the manager of the store who was completely dismissive about any form of compensation. He pointed out the small print and as far as he was concerned that was that. In the end after almost an hour and a half we had no choice but to accept defeat. To add insult to injury the manager also tried to take back the 'loaned' cables and keyboard etc but following a rather intense exchange of looks between us and himself he decided not to push the issue.

If he had gone to see a solicitor he probably would have had some legal coverage, but as the amounts weren't that substantial he decided against it.

My opinion of Cash Converters is this - they are just overpriced Oxfam stores. Most of the equipment in there is so old it is almost useless yet they're charging almost new prices. If you ever do 'pawn' anything with the intention of buying it back they seem to be incapable of storing multi-itemed inventories and will inevitably lose them.

I would only ever recommend Cash Converters if you were likely to die if you didn't get some money, and only if you don't mind getting peanuts for your stuff only to see it sold on at a vastly inflated price at a later date. Stay away...