Renting your instrument, well kinda...

When we first were starting our rental program we encountered a customer with a really different concept of what renting an instrument was all about.

We rented a guitar to a lady for her son to take lessons with. She paid for the first month's rent and happily went home with the guitar. All was fine for two months as she consistently came in to pay the monthly rental fee. Well, the end of the third month arrives and no payment. I waited a day and then gave her a call to reminder her that her rent was due. She responded, "Well my son has not used it for this past month!" And by her tone I could tell she was serious. Well I almost fell over. I actually had to explain the concept of rentals to her. Even if you don't use the instrument and it is in your possession you are still responsible for the rental fee. She insisted that she should not have to pay the fee. After explaining that because it was in her possession and not mine, and I could not use it either, she would need to return the instrument including the rent. She finally came in paid the rent and returned the instrument so all turned out well.

The experience makes for a great story, so I guess it was worth it.