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Renter Beware: GamersNexus alleges NZXT PC rentals are a scam

ap_puff

Member


-incredibly high price compared to buying; 5 years of renting would cost $15,000 for one model (others are also very overpriced)
-bait&switch; system specs differ despite the same model names - rental pcs use older and shittier parts
-very anti-consumer contractual terms including giving NZXT perpetual license to your data and info stored on the PC
-very misleading/false advertising catered towards kids
 
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ap_puff

Member
IwaxkdG.jpeg
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Hey, I missed those. Always great pieces.

The part that annoys me the most are those "influencers" who promoted that garbage as if it were a good deal.
 
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Haint

Member
Saw the headline of PC rental and thought it must be $20 or $30 a month for some rent to own shady Rent-A-Center grift where you wind up paying $2000 for an i5/4060 Chinese OEM, but Holy Bejesus it's a million times worse. Who in the ever living flying fuck is paying $130 - $260 US American Dollars PER MONTH to rent a PC with no equity? There can't be more than 5 people on the entire planet retarded enough to do that.
 
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Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Cost wise, it's how rentals usually work. Rent a car for 5 years & it probably similarly ends up being the cost of several great cars over. Now if they do the false and predatory advertising stuff, as well as the crazy data ownership, that's a scam. Otherwise you can choose (no thank you) for yourself🤷‍♂️
 
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Warnen

Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
I could see some single dads renting there kids a pc for the summer, or someone renting one for a month or 2 to see if you like pc gaming before you go all in.

To be honest I’d just buy a laptop off amazon and return it before the policy is up, free rentals.
 

reinking

Gold Member
While watching the video I thought specs would be "loose" because of component supply but boy was I proven wrong a few minutes later. I don't particularly have an issue with rentals. We know it is never going to be worth it vs purchasing because companies have to make enough profit to cover losses due to neglect, etc. However, the shady stuff in that contract is a no go. NZXT can get fucked for trying to bring this to the market. They are making rent-to-own look legit.
 

Magic Carpet

Gold Member
I could see some single dads renting there kids a pc for the summer, or someone renting one for a month or 2 to see if you like pc gaming before you go all in.

To be honest I’d just buy a laptop off amazon and return it before the policy is up, free rentals.
I’m trying to figure out a scenario.
Maybe like Rent a Center. Rent an entire living room set with a big screen TV for Super Bowl Sunday.

Maybe take a PC to a tournament convention?
 

Haint

Member
I mean, it's how rentals usually work. If you rent a car for 5 years that probably similarly ends up being the cost of several great cars over. Now if they do the false and predatory advertising stuff, as well as the crazy data ownership, that's a scam. Otherwise you can choose (no thank you) for yourself.

You're unwittingly describing leasing a car, and no, this is not how auto leasing work. What you're paying in an auto lease is literally the depreciation and a small finance fee (similar to what you would taking out an auto loan on a purchase). You can buy out a lease at the end of the term for what is effectively the current book value of the car or better. Sometimes a lease will have positive equity at the end of a term, sometimes it'll be negative (as the manufacturer is guessing the residual value when you enter the agreement), but it's nothing like this.
 
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Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
You're unwittingly describing leasing a car, and no, this is not how auto leasing work. What you're paying in an auto lease is literally the depreciation and a small finance fee (similar to what you would taking out a loan on a purchase). You can buy out a lease at the end of the term for what is effectively the current book value of the car or better. Sometimes a lease will have positive equity at the end of a term, sometimes it'll be negative, but it's nothing like this.
Nope, I'm not talking about leasing, that's a different option. Car rentals are a thing in much of the world. It's common to rent a car for 50-200 a day when you travel somewhere (and don't have to somehow intend to stay there and buy the thing you rent or have your own car fly over) for example.

I said the 5 years because that's the amount of time used here to make it sound so expensive in that final tally.
 
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ap_puff

Member
You're unwittingly describing leasing a car, and no, this is not how auto leasing work. What you're paying in an auto lease is literally the depreciation and a small finance fee (similar to what you would taking out an auto loan on a purchase). You can buy out a lease at the end of the term for what is effectively the current book value of the car or better. Sometimes a lease will have positive equity at the end of a term, sometimes it'll be negative, but it's nothing like this.
Most of the time leasing is a bad deal, but not as a bad a deal as this program. There are legitimate uses for leasing cars (for example cars that have high maintenance costs down the line).
 

kevboard

Member
Nope, I'm not talking about leasing, that's a different option. Car rentals are a thing in much of the world. It's common to rent a car for 50-200 a day when you travel somewhere (and don't have to somehow intend to stay there and buy the thing you rent or have your own car fly over) for example.

I said the 5 years because that's the amount of time used here to make it sound so expensive in that final tally.

that's an entirely different business model.

these PC rentals are meant as a permanent thing that you renew each year.
they aren't targeted at people that rent a PC for a week or two.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Well, for that much money they should say the PC is all yours, no strings attached, plus you get new top of the line parts installed and full customer service/support every year, or something :p
 
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Mayar

Member
Honestly, it's very strange that anyone fell for this, even if you look at it without internal investigations and take a monthly fee of $130 for 12 months, it already comes out to $1,560 . Which in itself is the price of a pretty decent PC (Of course, this is not a top-end PC, but you can play on it quite easily), and as I understand it, this is the price of a basic model, the more expensive the hardware, the higher the monthly fee. Are people really that incapable of doing math? He's 100% right, this is a complete rip-off of customers, and the longer you have such a PC in rent, the more you actually lose.
 

Haint

Member
Nope, I'm not talking about leasing, that's a different option. Car rentals are a thing in much of the world. It's common to rent a car for 50-200 a day when you travel somewhere (and don't have to somehow intend to stay there and buy the thing you rent or have your own car fly over) for example.

I said the 5 years because that's the amount of time used here to make it sound so expensive in that final tally.

I can't imagine any scenario where someone would "long term" rent a car from somewhere like Hertz or Enterprise aside from multi-millionaires traveling the world on perpetual vacations, or businesses for traveling employees, and even then I would guess they probably offer greatly reduced monthly rates that are at least loosely similar to what you would expect to finance the vehicle for (though with a tidy profit for themselves tacked on). This service however doesn't seem to be targeting businesses or wealthy tech bros hosting LAN parties, it seems to targeting poor people with bad credit and/or no sense.

Most of the time leasing is a bad deal, but not as a bad a deal as this program. There are legitimate uses for leasing cars (for example cars that have high maintenance costs down the line).

Yes leasing is typically a bad deal if you intend to keep a car more than 3 years, but is typically the best deal if you change or upgrade cars every 3 years, or buy when incentives are particularly favorable for leasing (i.e. the manufacturer winds up at a loss upon turn in, usually when they have a surplus of stagnant inventory).
 
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Drew1440

Member
Very shady how the PC specifications would change rapidly. I also don't see the obsession with having to have the most high end gear, Many of which is marketed to kids and teenagers. Plus everything needs to be a subscription now.
Who the hell rents a pc. Idea alone Smells like a scam
Wasnt too long ago that renting TVs was common, some were even coin operated. You could argue smartphones follow the same model, although you have full ownership at the end of the contract.
 

onQ123

Member


-incredibly high price compared to buying; 5 years of renting would cost $15,000 for one model (others are also very overpriced)
-bait&switch; system specs differ despite the same model names - rental pcs use older and shittier parts
-very anti-consumer contractual terms including giving NZXT perpetual license to your data and info stored on the PC
-very misleading/false advertising catered towards kids

Wait! People still renting PC'S?

The P is for Personal so imagine missing a few payments & they come to get your computer with all your data on it , that's crazy
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Some people can’t control themselves. And many are bad with numbers. So to them it doesn’t matter if renting from NZXT is a huge overpay. It’s like a guy who goes into a credit card spiral because he doesn’t understand that a balance at 22% interest will eventually snowball.

It doesn’t even make sense because you’d think if someone was that uncontrolled they’d buy it on a monthly instalment plan and only pay $100 admin fee.

The way some of these NZXT rentals prices are you pay for it after a year and don’t even own it. Find a big box store that does payment plans at no interest but a small admin fee at worst.

When I first moved out I bought $3000 worth of furniture and shit from a store in a zero interest 18 month payment plan. I paid a $100 admin fee. That was worth it in my situation scraping by. I tried to wheel and deal for the $100 and the guy didn’t budge.
 
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Chechack

Member
Saw the headline of PC rental and thought it must be $20 or $30 a month for some rent to own shady Rent-A-Center grift where you wind up paying $2000 for an i5/4060 Chinese OEM, but Holy Bejesus it's a million times worse. Who in the ever living flying fuck is paying $130 - $260 US American Dollars PER MONTH to rent a PC with no ownership? There can't be more than 5 people on the entire planet retarded enough to do that.
I dont know about your western side of the world,
But these days most asian company supply all sorts of rental service these days,such as cctv system/ebike/etc.
And yes many companies/societies these day prefer to opt for rental/leasing services.
 

Atrus

Gold Member
It happens with brands where an unscrupulous CEO or board sees strong branding and to hit their financial or compensation milestones, they “unlock value” by turning into a shady used car salesman.
 

Haint

Member
I dont know about your western side of the world,
But these days most asian company supply all sorts of rental service these days,such as cctv system/ebike/etc.
And yes many companies/societies these day prefer to opt for rental/leasing services.
Y'all some dumb motherfuckers if you're paying 10% of the purchase price per month to rent random shit.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
I was watching this and thinking: “What the hell happened to NZXT? They were pretty interesting hardware company…”

And then Steve described that CEO got Private Equity investment and then promptly fired all if US “build” staff.

“Ohhh, that explains it”.

200w.gif
 
that's an entirely different business model.

these PC rentals are meant as a permanent thing that you renew each year.
they aren't targeted at people that rent a PC for a week or two.

He's right. This not a lease. A lease is debt and shows up as a loan on your credit report. This is a perpetual rental.
 

Lambogenie

Member
I think the rental fee is one thing, but the data bit is just evil as well as trapping customers (any supplier that traps customers/makes it difficult to leave is a cunt).
 
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