I got a catalog with a "pre-approved" line of $750.00 from Gettington dot com a few months ago. The financing is underwritten through Web Bank, which will co-brand pretty much anyone, but which I haven't heard anything especially horrible about.
I'd never heard of Gettington before, but I glanced at the catalog and found them to be a Fingerhut-type outfit -- only with much better prices. I didn't bother ordering anything, however, because I simply didn't need anything. Also, the reviews on the company were mixed -- but in my experience, people who have bad experiences are much more likely to write reviews than people who had good experiences, so that wasn't a deal killer in itself.
The following month, I got another Gettington catalog that had a set of patio furniture that I liked on sale, so what the heck. I decided to order it. But when placing the order, the site errored out on my physical address. That's not unusual because the place where I live doesn't have carrier route mail delivery (everyone has a PO box), so my "physical" address (actually, the 911 address) doesn't validate. Private carriers like UPS, etc. will deliver to my physical address, but the Postal Service won't.
Nonetheless, because the address doesn't validate, the site vomited on it. So I called Gettington, and a very nice AMERICAN lady took my call, overrode the shipping address, placed the order for me, charged it to the account they opened for me, and gave me free shipping because of the "inconvenience" of my having to call them. The free shipping was a very nice gift, by the way. Because of the bulk and weight of the product (I think it was 160 pounds) it saved me a pretty penny.
She also gave me a delivery date, but I actually received the the order a day or two early. Not one to be unappreciative, I paid off the bill early, as well.
Today, about a month later, I decided to order a carpet cleaner from Gettington (mine is about ready to die, and dirty carpets are one of those things that just bother me). So I placed the order a bit after lunch (it didn't error out this time), paid the extra $9.95 for express shipping, and got the shipment notice email a few minutes ago. Less than four hours from order to shipment. Not bad at all.
I also got a notice that my credit line had been increased to $1,050.00, by the way.
Gettington's interest rate is 14.9 percent if you choose the "fast" financing option (four payments), and 19.9 percent if you choose the "easy" option (I think eight payments). There's no annual fee. There are late fees and returned check fees of, I think, $35.00 and $30.00.
Although it's too soon for me to make a definitive recommendation, I think Gettington might be a good resource for rebuilding credit. Also, based on my limited experiences so far, they seem to be a good vendor, which is also very important. I wouldn't sign up with a crappy vendor just to get their credit, but Gettington, so far, seems like a pretty good one.
For example, Gettington's prices tend to be pretty decent. Their price on the carpet cleaner I bought today was $199.95. That makes it even with HSN, $.03 less than Wal-Mart, $.04 less than Hoover sells it for direct, $20.05 less than FrontGate, and $90.05 less than J.C. Penney. Only K-Mart and Target came in lower, both at $19.96 less than Gettington's price.
Of course, there's also the shipping; but Gettington's shipping costs seem pretty fair. The shipping and handling for my order today (which weighs in at ~ 20 pounds or so) would have been $15.02 for standard shipping. That's pretty reasonable. I paid the extra $9.95 only because I want the thing sooner. (I really hate dirty carpets.)
So yeah, between the retail pricing and the shipping I paid more than I could have at K-Mart or Target. But on the other hand, we're talking about ways to rebuild credit here. How to be a tightwad -- another favorite pastime of mine, by the way -- is a subject for another thread.
Also, it's a 90+ mile round trip for me to go to Target, or a 120+ round trip to go to K-Mart. Add in a few hours of my life, and the shipping suddenly seems like a pretty good deal.
So long story short, I think Gettington might be a good resource for rebuilding credit. I already have some plastic and a credit union loan, so I'm not fresh out of BK. But I'm not that far out, either. Maybe applying to Gettington after your first or second credit card might be part of a good strategy.
-Richard
I'd never heard of Gettington before, but I glanced at the catalog and found them to be a Fingerhut-type outfit -- only with much better prices. I didn't bother ordering anything, however, because I simply didn't need anything. Also, the reviews on the company were mixed -- but in my experience, people who have bad experiences are much more likely to write reviews than people who had good experiences, so that wasn't a deal killer in itself.
The following month, I got another Gettington catalog that had a set of patio furniture that I liked on sale, so what the heck. I decided to order it. But when placing the order, the site errored out on my physical address. That's not unusual because the place where I live doesn't have carrier route mail delivery (everyone has a PO box), so my "physical" address (actually, the 911 address) doesn't validate. Private carriers like UPS, etc. will deliver to my physical address, but the Postal Service won't.
Nonetheless, because the address doesn't validate, the site vomited on it. So I called Gettington, and a very nice AMERICAN lady took my call, overrode the shipping address, placed the order for me, charged it to the account they opened for me, and gave me free shipping because of the "inconvenience" of my having to call them. The free shipping was a very nice gift, by the way. Because of the bulk and weight of the product (I think it was 160 pounds) it saved me a pretty penny.
She also gave me a delivery date, but I actually received the the order a day or two early. Not one to be unappreciative, I paid off the bill early, as well.
Today, about a month later, I decided to order a carpet cleaner from Gettington (mine is about ready to die, and dirty carpets are one of those things that just bother me). So I placed the order a bit after lunch (it didn't error out this time), paid the extra $9.95 for express shipping, and got the shipment notice email a few minutes ago. Less than four hours from order to shipment. Not bad at all.
I also got a notice that my credit line had been increased to $1,050.00, by the way.
Gettington's interest rate is 14.9 percent if you choose the "fast" financing option (four payments), and 19.9 percent if you choose the "easy" option (I think eight payments). There's no annual fee. There are late fees and returned check fees of, I think, $35.00 and $30.00.
Although it's too soon for me to make a definitive recommendation, I think Gettington might be a good resource for rebuilding credit. Also, based on my limited experiences so far, they seem to be a good vendor, which is also very important. I wouldn't sign up with a crappy vendor just to get their credit, but Gettington, so far, seems like a pretty good one.
For example, Gettington's prices tend to be pretty decent. Their price on the carpet cleaner I bought today was $199.95. That makes it even with HSN, $.03 less than Wal-Mart, $.04 less than Hoover sells it for direct, $20.05 less than FrontGate, and $90.05 less than J.C. Penney. Only K-Mart and Target came in lower, both at $19.96 less than Gettington's price.
Of course, there's also the shipping; but Gettington's shipping costs seem pretty fair. The shipping and handling for my order today (which weighs in at ~ 20 pounds or so) would have been $15.02 for standard shipping. That's pretty reasonable. I paid the extra $9.95 only because I want the thing sooner. (I really hate dirty carpets.)
So yeah, between the retail pricing and the shipping I paid more than I could have at K-Mart or Target. But on the other hand, we're talking about ways to rebuild credit here. How to be a tightwad -- another favorite pastime of mine, by the way -- is a subject for another thread.
Also, it's a 90+ mile round trip for me to go to Target, or a 120+ round trip to go to K-Mart. Add in a few hours of my life, and the shipping suddenly seems like a pretty good deal.
So long story short, I think Gettington might be a good resource for rebuilding credit. I already have some plastic and a credit union loan, so I'm not fresh out of BK. But I'm not that far out, either. Maybe applying to Gettington after your first or second credit card might be part of a good strategy.
-Richard
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