Rentabilities lets you find, rent nearly anything
If you are looking to rent equipment for your next project, slap up a bouncy house, or get some nicer chairs for your booth at the next conference, Rentabilities could be the answer. But like any service, there are some issues that you should be aware of.
Rentabilities is a search engine type service that will contact local rental merchants (that they have approved and verified) for the item you need and check availability along with pricing. But, to get to the list of available merchants, you are required to put down a five dollar deposit. The site states that if you are not happy with the results they will refund your money and if you like the results, the money goes towards the price of your rental.
Once you have put the deposit down, you will then see a list of quotes for side-by-side comparison. If you find what you need, you can then book online or on the phone. Rentabilities does not charge for their service and offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Major challenge: lack of transparency
There seems to be a lot of information that Rentabilities does not want to share which makes sense so users don’t just go directly to the merchant. That said, they do not show you the list of merchants offering their services until you have put up your deposit, so you have no way to know who is offering you the rental or how far away from your location it might be.
Additionally, when you click the “check pricing” button on the upper right-hand side of the page, the steps are a bit confusing. Step three states “contact info and rental location,” which I took to mean information about the rental site, but it is your contact information so they can calculate distance. You cannot see anything until you put up your five dollar deposit. Even knowing that you can get this deposit back if you do not find what you want, makes me wonder why they are not more upfront about what businesses they are using.
Consumers have come to expect transparency, especially where their money is concerned and Rentabilities definitely falls short in that area. There is also the issue of what happens if you need to rent multiple items – do you have to put up multiple deposits to complete your searches? Yes. You do. If you need three different tools, you will have to put up three separate deposits. So, potentially you could be out of pocket fifteen dollars until they process your refund, if you do not find what you need through the search.
Another challenge: time
Also, there is the question of time. Most of us are looking for the fastest, most efficient way to get our “to-do” list finished and Rentabilities states, “we usually have your first quote within one hour (during normal business hours). The entire process takes about eight hours.” In cases of tool rental, services, and the like, you can make a few phone calls inquiring about current rates and availability in under an hour. So, in some cases, you would save time and money by going out on your own and researching the available options for what you need.
However, Rentabilities does state that many times their rates are “the same price, or lower, than if you went to the business direct,” so if you are getting a good discount by using Rentabilities and are not in a hurry, perhaps this is a good way to check another thing off of the “to-do” list.
