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Factoids |
| Opened 1994 |
| Over 1000 employees |
| Requires minimum 3 personal references. 2
must be relatives |
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Offers Online Applications |
| Posts an APR of 29.9% on all merchandise. |
| 3 management training levels...'Gateway to Management', 'Fast Forward' and 'Manager in Training'. |
| Stores operate as individual business units |
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Has 'Family Fun Day' to celebrate all grand
openings. Jugglers, face painters, balloon modelers and celebrity
look-alikes
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Of all the Rent to Owns in the world, the prize for the greatest name has to go
to 'Crazy George's' of the UK. It's like the old Smuckers commercial "With a
name like Crazy George...you've got to be good!"
The first Crazy George opened in
Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham in April 1994. The chain is owned by Caversham
Finance Limited, which was acquired by the Principal Finance Group of
Nomura
Holdings in September 1998.
There are currently 99 stores. 10 are in London, with the remainder located in
the South Coast, the Midlands, the North West, the North East, Yorkshire and
Scotland.
The company plans to open 10 stores in in the next 12 months.
Crazy George's offers customers the option to 'restart' a terminated agreement
up to 12 months later, with product of similar age and specification, with full
credit given for rental payments made.
George's carries all the usual suspect brands including Aiwa, Kenwood, JVC,
Sony, Hitachi, Sanyo and Toshiba. They also provide 'Pay-as-you-go' Cellular
service, Lay-Away, and check cashing services. They even advertise
Buy-Here-Pay-Here cars on the website under the brandname "Yes Car Credit".
Statutes in the UK do not discourage the mixing of rental, retail, and other
financial and insurance services.
You will be disappointed to note that the UK press is every bit as uninformed
and myopic as their American cousins. An example from The Guardian:
Price of survival
Crazy George's Mission
To treat all customers and colleagues with total respect at all times.
To conduct ourselves with honesty, openness, integrity and professionalism.
To have fun and enjoyment in the workplace.
To challenge and develop our employees.
The first table below shows examples of typical Crazy George transactions. The
second table lists specific products and their terms in Pounds and US Dollars.
Some of the weekly rental rates are far below typical US rates. This discrepancy
is a result of 2 factors. Much longer terms, as long as 156 weeks, and optional
'service cover' equaling up to 45% of the rental payment.
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Typical Crazy George transactions |
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Aiwa Hi-Fi
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Cash price £351.10
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156 weekly repayments of £4.99
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Repayment of credit £3.24 per week
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Optional service cover £1.75 per week
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Total payable excluding service cover £505.44
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Total payable including service cover £778.44
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Bunk bed
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Cash price £519.07
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156 weekly repayments of £5.99
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Repayment of credit £4.79 per week
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Optional service cover £1.20 per week
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Total payable excluding service cover £747.24
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Total payable including service cover £934.44
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I give their website 4 out of five stars for speed, but only 2 out of 5 for
content. The online product selection is a little weak. They show a few items in
each category, and several of the image files are missing. Overall, the website
is easy to navigate and very fast. In general, UK Rent to Own sites outperform
US sites across the board...there's a lesson in there somewhere.
Visit Crazy George's
Website HERE
For our Non US Members: If you would like your Rental Company featured in
our 'Around the Globe' series, please contact us via email at
news@rtoonline.com
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RTO Online is the official channel for Rent-to-Own Industry News and the
only independent source of news for the rent-to-own, rental-purchase,
lease-purchase trade. RTO Online (Rent to Own Online) represents the choice
of the entire RTO Industry for trusted information, as it happens. |
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