To buy a telly from the pawn shop?

[Summerbreezer]

I honestly can't work out if IABU or not.

I need a new TV. I can afford a brand new one. However I live in an area with lots of Cash Converters style shops. I walked past one yesterday and saw lots of perfectly decent televisions in the window for sale.

I hate that these shops have to exist and I hate that people have to pawn their stuff to get by.

But on the other hand, presumably not everyone who uses these shops is totally desperate.I would rather go to Cash Converters than a pay day loan company, for example.

So is it totally immoral to buy a TV in one?

no they get the chance to buy it back themselves plus they can buy one with payments like you can

at least its not brighthouse

I wouldn't buy one from those shops because you could probably buy a better and brand new one cheaper from somewhere else/online

I would just worry about where the goods came from?

I don't think YABU but you might not get the bargain you want. When our old telly conked out, I got a second hand one for fifty quid out of a charity shop. It lasted 12 months which actually makes it not that cheap, when you think of cost per month. You just don't know what you're getting if you go second hand. Also, when I looked into the Cash Converter type of shops, they weren't that much cheaper than buying new. So you're getting something that you don't know anything about for not much less money than something that has a warranty on it (I got one from Richer Sounds in the end which includes a five year warranty). Admittedly, I didn't try haggling in the Cash Converter type places and all of their prices seemed to be aimed at people who would pay weekly, so maybe if you bought it outright it would be cheaper. But the main things I took home from researching it all was that a) it's not much cheaper; b) there's no guarantee of how long it will last and c) they are shady operators anyway. Not just in terms of desperate people (and actually, although it's a luxury item, I reckon most people would need to be pretty desperate to sell their telly) but also in terms of crims etc. So if you can afford not to, I wouldn't.

Cash Converters give you warranty on electrical items. Also it is not only desperate people using them: last year I moved house and I sold a lot of my things in Cash Converters instead of taking them. I would buy a telly from Cash Converters.

A 10 day warranty, yes, or a 60 day exchange. That doesn't really compare with five years!

You'll prob find one cheaper on gumtree

I collect a certain thing and cash converters often have them on their website. They are often a lot cheaper than eBay as well.

Depends on exactly what you want (model/features etc) how competitive they are but if you want a basic 36" Flat TV you're probably better in Tesco or Aldi.

We buy most of our electrics from there - off the top of my head - a PS3 that we bought 6 years ago (God knows how old it was when we got it), an Xbox 360, a 50 inch TV and none of them have ever broken or had problems.

Nothing wrong with it at all and much cheaper than paying full retail.

Thanks for your thoughts everybody!

I wouldn't, because I would feel I was profiting from someone elses misery.

Just my opinion.