[JoelSutherland]

The same thing that happened to the family in the article is happening to the commenters in this thread -- but in reverse!

Just as the furniture rental place likely never told the family that the weekly-payment total would be $4,150, the article doesn't clearly show the price the family was looking at: $57.64/week.

I'm much more sympathetic to their decision when looking at the two numbers they were faced with: $58 vs $1500. A bad sofa on Craigslist is $200.

It seems like a good solution to the problem would be to require the $4150 total to be made explicit on a standardized disclosure form, not unlike what you see on a home mortgage.