Currys Rip Off Warning

Ok I said I was going to have a rant about Currys and here it is....

On Bank Holiday Monday last week I went into my local Currys store (Evesham) with the intention to purchase a brand new iPad 4th Generation (Retina).
I have been putting off buying an iPad since it was launched and now believe it's the time to join the family.

Anyway back to the story....

There was plenty of staff there on this particular day and they were all very helpful (or so it seemed at the time).  I informed the member of staff who served me that I wished to purchased several items including iPad 4, Apple TV, Smart Cover and Apple Keyboard.
She was very helpful and went to the back of the store to get the items for me.
Upon her return she asked me if I had heard of "Infinity" my answer at the time was no however the simple thought of the word now fills me with anger and more anger.
She explained that they were running a special promotion and that for just £25 per month I could get the brand new iPad along with accidental damage cover, technical support and even 1tb of free cloud storage for the whole two years.  After the two year period was up I could keep the iPad and also had the option of upgrading to a brand new model at the time and renewing for the same deal.
As if that wasn't enough she told me that I would also get 25% of my total premium paid in returned at the end of the two year period with no obligation to continue.
She reeled off (ok printed) tons of figures none of which made any particular sense and looking back now my spidey senses should have been tingling but they were not.
After I enquired about interest payments, the member of staff consulted her manager and came back telling me that there was no interest to be paid and that actually, once you take into account the 25% rebate along with several other factors the iPad would cost me no more than if I were to buy it outright there and then (remembering this was my original intention).

At this point I realise that story was the wrong word and I should have just stuck with rant but hey ho..

Had I done the maths at the time it would have gone like this:

£25 x 24 (months) = £600
25% of £600 = £150
Total paid = £450

This would have been £50.01 over the asking price, but still a reasonable deal considering it was over two years and all the "free bonuses".

I went over to the seating area and signed in the places I was told to and left with my brand new iPad and accessories (I paid for the accessories separately in case you were wondering).

When I got home I had work to do so consequently iPad was left sad and alone in it's bag.
I was working on a computer and decided to look up the "Infinity" product that Currys sold me and was shocked!

Firstly this was a rental agreement with "Infinity" also known as "RentSmart" which meant that after two years of paying I wouldn't even own the finger grease on the screen!
Secondly the 25% cash back I was promised was not as it had been sold, in fact rather than getting 25% of your premium returned you only get 25% of the value of the iPad at the end of the term and you are only eligible for this puny amount if you are brain damaged enough to sign up for this again!!
Thirdly as this is a rental agreement and not a financial one you have no rights to a cooling off period.

I next looked at my receipt and paperwork in more detail and realised that the payment setup was not £25 per month as agreed but £29+ and that the "free" KnowHow cover was actually listed on my receipt as a large extra expense.

The total cost of this policy as was going to be in the region of £720 at the end of which I would have nothing to show for my investment except a load of AppStore purchases that I could no longer use as my iPad would be returned to Infinity.

I know this is a lesson in reading things more carefully at the time, but you expect when you ask for it to be explained in detail for them to do just that.

After a sleepless night, mainly reading forums and consumer advice sites, I woke up and started calling around Citizens Advice, Trading Standards etc. who explained to me that misrepresenting a product in order to get you to sign into an agreement is a criminal offence.
CAB advised me to write letters to Currys and Infinity explaining the situation, but that could take weeks and I was in a situation were I was too scared to use my iPad in case I got stuck with it.

Armed with the information from all these sources, I called Infinity/RentSmart directly and they were surprisingly helpful and said that they were a reputable company and they didn't like the idea of their products being misrepresented.
They advised me to go back to Currys and argue my case with the manager.

I entered Currys Evesham in a much less joyful mood than I had just 24hrs earlier and headed straight over to the manager.
The strange/interesting thing about the conversation was that at no point did he try and deny the misrepresentation of the product by his staff.  He disappeared for a few minutes to make some inquiries but never returned, instead he sent his assistant manager to deal with me (which I thought a bit cowardly but hey).
The Assistant Manager (who was disgruntled to say the least) proceeded to cancel the agreement and let me to purchased the iPad outright (bearing in mind this is exactly what I went into the store to do in the first place, she acted as though she was doing me a great favor).

I was lucky to be able to get out of this situation as I have read about many that have not.
My reason for writing this article is to give people a "heads up" about the actual terms and costs of the Infinity/RentSmart product.
Do not be fooled by promises of cash back and freebies.
If you go into a Retailer the expectation is to purchase a product, not to rent.
I can understand how this kind of service would be beneficial for people with poor credit who desperately need a laptop/pc/tablet for work/studies etc. But considering they ran Credit Checks (without ID by the way) this doesn't quite tally up.

I now am using my iPad and have indeed written this article using it.
I'm very happy with the tablet, but in future will stick to Amazon and Apple Store for my electronic purchases.

Thanks for reading and if this helps just one person I will be very happy.

Please Note:

I do not nor have I ever worked for Currys/PC World/Dixons Group PLC
I have no affiliation with any of the above companies nor anyone that works for or with them.
These are simply my views of my experiences and nothing more.