My experiences after 6 months

You can easily rent technology from the Grover company instead of buying it new. I tried the service and fulfilled a longtime wish.

If you only want to own technology for a certain period of time without buying it, renting is an option. Grover has the right concept: You can rent various electronics – from smartwatches to e-bikes – the price varies depending on the period. The company wants to give the products a long life (keyword: circular economy) and reduce electronic waste. I was allowed to test the rental service and would like to share my experiences with you.

It should be an electric piano

Earlier this year, Grover offered to rent a product of my choice for 6 months. The offer came to me at the right time, as I had been toying with the idea for a long time electric piano to buy to revive my former hobby. However, I was always afraid of making a bad buy, that the muse would leave me sooner than later and that “at least 500 euros” instrument lonely and alone in the corner dusty. So for me it was the perfect solution to rent the instrument to find out if it is still something for me.

Grover’s selection of electric pianos with matching stands is relatively limited, so I quickly settled on this 88-key digital piano Yamaha P-45B With Yamaha L-85A stand decided. Although it is no longer the newest, it is still praised in the music industry as a good entry-level instrument (see the Thomann reviews).

How does Grover work?

In general, according to Grover, the rental principle is based on 3 simple steps: “Choose. To use. Pass it on.” Doesn’t sound difficult, and it’s not, anyway, here’s a little description:

Choose: The first thing you have to do with the product of your choice is decide how long you want to rent it. Periods of 1 to 18 months are possible. Then you just create an account and store your data.

To use: After the device is mailed to you, you can (surprise!) use it. If the device is damaged, Grover will cover 90 percent of the repair costs.

Pass on: After renting, you either send the product back to Grover for them to clean and rent out. Or, if you liked the device, you have the option to buy it.

The price of the digital piano I chose is 24.90 euros for 6 months, that of the stand is 6.90 euros, so that you can a total of 31.80 euros per month transferred to Grover. A high monthly fee in my opinion, but more on that later.

Delivery: Not quite as clean

After a short consultation with Grover, the device was sent to me. Since I had to order the piano and stand separately, the delivery took several days.

There were no problems with the delivery itself, for that ba negative surprise when unpacking: While Grover states on its website that they clean the products after each rental and that they arrive “as good as new” at the next rental, this was only partially the case for me. The stand that was sent separately was fine, but the electric piano was dusty and covered in stains, which I finally got rid of with a little water and patience.

A look at Trustpilot confirmed to me that not only I had this problem, but also other tenants were not satisfied with the condition of the delivery. Nina wrote about her Airpods Max: “The headphone pads and the bracket SMELL OF OLD, CHEESY SWEAT… there were red spots on the right pad.”

Such hygiene problems allow that Confidence in Grover’s promises plummets, as well as the willingness to rent again from the company. After all, you don’t want to spend your money on something that you still have work to do yourself or that you don’t even want to touch in the “worst” case.

You can read more Grover rental experiences in our separate article:

Luckily, those were the only issues during my rental. Within six months the e-piano was working perfectly and I rediscovered the joy of playing the piano. To that end, the rent was well worth it for me.

After the rental: pass it on or buy it?

The 6 months are almost over now, so what’s next for the piano? Since I would like to continue my hobby and the instrument fully meets my own requirements, I decided to for a purchase decided. For me, it’s also a sustainable solution because I don’t have to buy a new device that requires new resources.

You can see the purchase option quite easily on the Grover website: click on the “Rent” tab in the top right corner next to your account, select the respective device and scroll to the item “Keep forever”. Then you have the choice of renting the device for another 12 months and then buying it for 1 euro or pays the price for 12 months in one go and can keep the product immediately.

However, I must emphasize at this point that the In many cases, prices at Grover are simply too high are: The new Google Pixel 7 Pro (view at Grover) can be rented for 12 months at 49.90 euros, which is already very expensive as the cheapest price. For the purchase option, you have to rent it for 23 months for the price, so you end up paying 1,147.70 euros for it. The current retail price, on the other hand, is just under 800 euros (source: idealo) and will definitely continue to fall over the next two years.

The Nintendo Switch OLED (view at Grover) costs 16.90 euros for 6 months – it has to be rented for 34 months for the purchase option, so that you end up with 574.60 euros in the end. Idealo starts at 330 euros. In short: you pay a lot more at Grover if you want to rent or even buy a device.

Because I received a voucher from Grover for 6 months, I had a certain advantage on the purchase price, which made the decision to buy the piano easier for me. The purchase price for piano and stand together is still 384 euros (575 euros without voucher), but I pay almost 550 euros for both at Amazon (see at Amazon) – So I’m actually better off here.

Conclusion

Would I rent from Grover again? – Yes. There are definitely some points that speak against renting from Grover: Be it the condition of the equipment supplied or (probably the most important point) the often very high price. In addition, Trustpilot criticizes the difficult communication with the company, which I personally can only understand to a limited extent.

Again, I really like the concept of renting: On the one hand, it’s practical, if you want it only use a device for a certain period of time – such as a projector for the Christmas “Lord of the Rings” marathon. You don’t have to pay the full price and the product doesn’t gather dust in the closet. On the other hand, renting also offers the opportunity to find out whether the electronics in question are something for you – as in my case the electric piano.

In my opinion, Grover’s service still has a few weaknesses, but supports sustainability in different directions: Whether it’s using electronics for as long as possible or learning to consume more consciously yourself.

We spoke to Grover’s sustainability expert. In an interview, she gave us insights into Grover’s work and future:

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