Take from the poor, the rich get richer. - District Manager Rent-A-Center Employee Review

1.0
Oct 28, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

If you want to learn the Rent to Own industry, this company will teach you.

Cons

As a part of this company for over 15 years I have had the opportunity to become a part of the growth of what was once considered a great company. At one time I felt privileged and honored to be apart of something that special. To be the biggest and the best in the industry, not only the leader but once an innovator. That was the RAC of old, today is quite a different story. This has always been a tough business, but this company has made it more difficult for the field to produce. Let me explain. Disorganized: This is the first word that comes to mind when describing the inner workings of this company. There is a huge disconnect from the Home Office to their field operations. Antiquated business model, marketing, and overall reactive management style to problems and results that have existed for years, problems and results that the company itself has contributed to, causes nothing but stress and confusion in the field, attributing to unsavory management tactics and uncontrollable turnover. Profit before People: Our mission statement reads " To improve the quality of life for our coworkers and customers." Stop the charade. This company focuses on the negative results and behaviors on a daily basis. This company paints a picture that they do great things for their people, they do....the top 10%. Short of that you are a tangible item and even then, have a bad year and you join the majority. Pay cuts recently went into effect....wait I mean " You asked, we've listened". This company has lost revenue for the first three quarters of 2014 in its Core Rent to Own stores and have closed 150 stores to boot. Let's call the hourly employee's schedule and pay change what it really is shall we. Communication: We as a company in our field operations rely on communication between one another in our stores and more importantly with our customers. With that comes the communication from above, our support system. We teach our people to become better communicators, yet the communication from our support system ( home office) is terrible at best. If a new initiative was placed today there will be countless retractions and changes by the weeks end. Things have to be streamlined at the top before they can be where it counts the most. Competition: We fight hard day in and day out to find and make sales. We don't have the typical traffic of a traditional retail establishment. In most cases you are competing against your own company. We have grown by over saturating areas not only with brick and mortar RTO stores,but subsidiaries of our company in a manned and unmanned kiosk format in those traditional retail environments. Our hopes to capture other audiences have been taken away by our own people. Does it make the company a more solid entity, absolutely. At the same time we need to tailor the expectations for those faced with this kind of challenge. Instead we persecute those who can't achieve absurdity. The consumer is changing in our business and this company fails to move forward with those changes. Once an innovator, we are now one step behind. Have been for years now. We run the same promotions time and time again expecting goals that are purely reactive to the poor results given just a week before. This company paints the entire nation with the same brush not giving way to economic conditions geographically. If it's good in Texas, then it's good to go! Until they use 25+ years of data to find the answers we need in our business,in this industry, we are facing a hard struggle. My overall suggestion for employment with this company is this- stay away.

Explore other reviews about Rent-A-Center

5.0
Jan 29, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good benefits and you can grow with in the company.

Cons

Long hours, weekends → poor work-life balance High stress from sales & collection pressure Inconsistent or micromanaging management Pay often feels low for workload Physically demanding (deliveries, field work) Limited growth; high turnover

2.0
Apr 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The benefits can be decent, there are growth opportunities, and if you’re lucky, you work with a great team.

Cons

Poor management on many levels. From a store level, extending to corporate, the “leadership” needs work on their people skills. People are only capable of handling so much, and the lack of support from upper management makes it harder to work day to day. Additionally, the goalpost is always moving. If you manage to exceed their expectations, completing those same goals will no longer be good enough. The lack of support when it comes to customer abuse is embarrassing. We’re in 2026 and we should want to support the teams that are keeping the company running. Corporate is out of touch with reality. Anyone making over 6 figures a year no longer view customers as people, but as numbers. It doesn’t matter what horrid stories you hear on a daily basis, they are expected to bend to standards that shouldn’t exist anymore.

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