Hey Des Moines!!! Today we're gonna discuss the kings and princes of Rip-Off-Dom, Pawn shops! And yes, DES MOINES' OWN pawn shops even.
Now, please, if you will, remember: I do indeed have a couple of favorites here in our fair city. More than once, these people saved my life, and what's more, they even held my stuff almost FOREVER until things improved. They didn't, and the pawn store ended up having to sell my things...but by God they were awful swell about it.
There are two above reproach, in my opinion. SOLAR LOAN - Ingersoll Avenue, just short of 35th Street as you head west from downtown, and POLK COUNTY PAWN, out Hubbell avenue, just outside of the city limits, as you head towards your Altoona Wally World. I love these guys, they are princes among men, by all standards, do business with no one else, if you can.
Running a close 3rd, there is the EZ Pawn Chain, both on N.E. 14th and S.E. 14th; formerly of Mr. Money fame. These people are fairly honest, and are, really, the best place to get...say a used computer or flat panel TV. With the computers, they have neat deal, that when you pay 10% of the price of the PC you buy first, you can get a kind of insurance that allows you to upgrade your PC within 6 months by only paying the difference btwn. the first one you buy; and the 2nd one. Quite a bargain.
There are, though, those I rate....not so highly. The Pawn Store, on 30th and Douglas, has kind of a not so great owner, though his main employee, a quiet fair guy does present himself well, and is someone I like to deal with on occasion. Should you have to deal with it's owner, however, be prepared to be low-balled.
My biggest complaint, however, lies with A to Z Pawn. My suggestion, these days, as well as many other days, is avoid this one like your life depends on it. Especially since it usually does. This guy will take you to the cleaners and back again, and makes claims he has no intention of backing up...like giving the best price for gold in the city. You'll be lucky to get half of that. He also will never back up anything he sells to you, even if you just bought it an hour ago.
I remember this shop as being the ONLY shop I would go to. Once, however, we had a crap load of real gold items, that were of the 24 and 18 karat variety, and a lot of it to boot. On a whim, I took this stuff to Mr. Money, and received nearly $3000 for it on a pawn. Wow. I took it there often, and rarely received any less, even when the prices rose and fell. Once, I mentioned the gold to the owner of A to Z, a guy named Ty (who still owns it). He said "Why do you take it there? NOBODY gives more for gold than I do!" After discussing it a few times, he suggested I bring it to him for an appraisal of the amount he would give me for it. Because we had gotten to be a bit chummy, I agreed to it once.
I took it to him and left it with him. He came up with a figure of $1800 for me. I looked him dead in the face and said "But they give me $3000." He scoffed, and said "You're crazy. There's no way"; and reiterated that NOBODY gave more for gold.
I then took it to Mr. Money, and called him. Ty answered the phone, and I said "Here's a clerk at Mr. Money"...I handed him the phone and said "Tell him the amount you're about to give me, willya?" He said $3000, and I heard him yell a bit, then the clerk said "He hung up". I wasn't the least bit surprised, to be honest.
It would be a long time before I graced his door again...not until I got the idea to buy used computers instead of new ones.
I bought 4 laptops from him this last year, nearly 3 years after the "Gold Fiasco". I even brought a friend of mine to buy another. Then I bought one that had a bad battery. The redheaded guy, who had been with Ty nearly 4 years, was nice enough to let me pick out another one. I left the bad one, and had an issue with the new one and brought it back too, and left it there to be checked out by a friend of the redheaded clerk. When I came back and picked it up, Ty came from the back room and said "You brought back an Acer and said it had a bad battery. There's nothing wrong with that PC, I looked at it myself." Shaun, the clerk, had even looked at it and said the same thing as I had, and had allowed me to change it out, since I had just bought it the day before. "You can never come back into this store again, asshole", he said, and walked back to his office. The clerk who had been nice to me was fired the same day. Wow. All because I called him out on his gold prices some 3 years prior.
When you decide on a pawn store in this town, just remember this: Whatever your item is worth, you'll get approximately a quarter of its worth. Whatever they give you for it, they intend to sell it at twice the price they gave you, about half of its worth. If they want to give you less for it, pawn it to a friend or a relative instead, or just hold onto the damn thing. Trust me, at 30% interest (25% at Solar Loan, by the way...and Steve, the owner, is the coolest pawn shop owner this side of the Mississip) a month, you're better off anyway.
As for buying anything at one, well, I've pretty much told you where to go. Take my advice, and my ratings, the only ones worth going to are the ones I've told you about. :D
