So for the past two years Denis and I have been renting our piano from a place in NYC that has a “rent to own” program. The first two years of rental can be applied to the purchase price of any piano in their store, used or new. So for two years, in addition to the rental money, I’ve been putting aside money each month to go towards the purchase of a piano.
I hate our rental – it’s a Samick and is ugly and doesn’t stay in tune. But it’s a rental, so I won’t quibble. I know that we’re going to have a permanent quality piano when the time comes.
So yesterday we get a letter from the piano company saying our rental term has expired and that we have a couple options. One option: continue renting, although the $$ for the next year will NOT be applied to the purchase credit (only the first two years are applied). Second option: purchase the piano using our credit. Third option: Return rental and be done with the whole deal.
What’s ironic? The letter states that the only way to use the purchase credit is to buy the piano BEFORE YOUR CONTRACT EXPIRES. According to the letter, our contract ended on April 6th, the letter was dated April 7, mailed on April 9 and received April 12. And HOW exactly are we supposed to use our credit if they don’t even WRITE until the day after it expires?
A co-worker said they’d take our credit anyway – what they really want is the sale. So yesterday afternoon I called and sure enough – they were completely accommodating and said that ABSOLUTELY we could still use our purchase credit (which totals about $600 more than I thought it would). So as much as I hoped to hibernate this week to recover from last week, I’ve decided to go in Thursday after work and pick out my piano and arrange for the return of the rental and delivery of the new piano. What’s cool? Is that I’ve more than saved enough over the past couple of years, which means I’ll have $$ leftover to go back into our main savings account or pay one month’s mortgage. And I STILL get a new piano!
That is so great!