fatlama.com 

There's lots of fake reviews being posted below. The company employs people to text you concerning Gumtree items that they then promise to rent at a great price. Obviously you then add it to the website, and the guy f*cks off never to be heard from again. Total shambles.

Would I recommend this? YES!

I have just finished a big refurb on my house and got so much industrial equipment for 5 times cheaper than traders was quoting me.

No bad things to say about the site - verification took about 30 mins so factor that in if it's your first time but other than that, big thumbs up!

I thought of this idea year ago when me and my mates rented out camera gear to each other. These guys beat me to it by the looks of it but the insurance is so good.

Looks like this will be big from first impressions!

I'm an event planner and have used this site countless times. They have a great selection of uplighters etc. The only issue is having a travel a bit to get the item but the price more than makes up for this!

Fab fab fab customer service!!

Other companies need to take a leaf out of these guys book!

Using fat lama for about 3 weeks now, quite like the website and the way I can see what listings are nearby that are in my interest, then I just rent what the cheapest thing is. I'm pretty big into cameras and rented an A7 two weeks ago for a brief personal project at work, then returned to lender 3 days alter. Worked out quite well

I've told a couple of my friends about fat lama because they're curious why I can get so many ££'s for the weekend and drinks, and I've had to say Fat lama hahaha. It's been brilliant for renting my camera and speaker set to people, making me cash while the other people use my equipment as they wish. They also have a pretty sweet cash promotion so i've signed up friends and even more £ comes into my account by doing practically nothing...easy really

Brilliant site

1. Really responsive customer service team (a rarity in my experience)
2. Paid on time
3. Two rentals booked within my first fortnight on the service
4. I ended up renting to an old colleague - quite the coincidence and nice to catch up ha!

Very happy - thanks Fat Lama team, keep up the good work

First rental complete

Just finished lending my a7s for the first time - very smooth, wish this had been in operation when I was at art school! Huge environmental benefits if we can switch to this model of sharing our belongings too.

Great service

Very grateful to the Fat Lama team for their help with a recent dispute. Process was dealt with in a nuanced and considerate way. Will continue to lend through the platform.

Another of the gumtree ad texts for me.
Same number, same text, word for word.

I too have just had a negative experience after placing an advertisement to sell a computer case on Gumtree. Got a phone message 'any chance I could rent this...excuse the strange request...can do via Fat Lama etc'. I said I wanted it gone, did not want to rent, but offered to give item to texter if case had not sold in a week. I texted him back a week or so later to say the PC case was his if he wanted to come and collect it, free of charge. Got message back saying - is it registered on Fat Lama yet. So in short, just a Fat Lama employee wasting my time who actually had no interest in my item at all. Stop spamming Gumtree.

Another bogus "Can I rent this from you"? from my Gumtree add. Like many others, from the same mobile number - 07492 885223

Any company that seeks to ask its client base to Trust others (in renting stuff) who then uses a dishonest marketing ploy is best avoided in my opinion.

The entire conversation -
From 07492 885 223 -
Re: Genuine Apple Magsafe 2 (85...
Any chance I could rent this? Could do it insured through fatlama.com .. Excuse odd request :)

Reply -
You’re right - a bit of an odd request, but I don’t see why not….I’ve not heard of Fatlama before, so I will take a quick look. How long do you need it for and where about are you? Graham

From 07492 885 223 -
I was thinking around 20% of the sale price, for a total of 3-4 days next week? :)

Reply -
Where are you located? I’ve been looking at the Fatlama service and it seems like a lot of hassle (and expense) for £7! If I can drop it off to you, or if you leave a deposit, you’re welcome to borrow it for a beer (I have 2 after all….).

No Response.....

A friend of mine who leaves in East London just off Roman road recommended the app to me. I was moving house towards Hackney and had a ton of electrical/audio equipment because I play in a band called Diary Queens (shameless name drop).

I listed about 5-6 of the most commonly used items. Couple of microphones, a marshall amp and pop RC 543.

First couple of weeks were a little quiet assuming because it was over Christmas and I was a little disappointed then suddenly, BOOM SHAKALACKA !! 4 rentals in my first week.

Great customer service as well.

Not one to leave reviews but I have been using the platform in Manchester for 3 months now... and all I can say is wah wah wooh wah...

I have met some great people and averaging a modest £240 per week. Thank you FAT LAMA team.

As other people have commented, received a text after posting on Gumtree. Exactly the same text (to the letter) and from the same number, however, thought I would give the benefit of the doubt and decided to ask them about it; it was clearly a marketing tactic and it got me checking them out so it worked. On the other hand, considering the level of trust that is required here (you are lending your stuff to strangers) I figured I would flat out ask them and if they admitted to it, then we've rebuilt a little trust. I chatted to a lady who on the live chat and she wasn't aware of this marketing technique and thanks me for the feedback. Big red flag. Considering the size of their team (very small company who posts pictures of the team), I doubt this is true. So two lies.

However, let's assume you came across it by chance. The insurance is very sketchy at best. One of the stipulations is that you cannot have claimed on any insurance (aside motor) more than twice in the last five years. I can understand this, too many claims can lead to fraud, though I felt the scope was too broad to be true so thought I would ask some examples that I thought would be deemed 'ok' e.g. claiming routine check up fees on your dental insurance, hospital visits while travelling, repair form your broken phone. Turns out, they all counted according to the terms of their insurance policy so I wouldn't be covered. She told me I could still use the service but without the insurance. I find this too restrictive especially since all.of these types of claims are backed by hard evidence.

I wanted to love this service but think that you will quite easily get burned. I think the insurance is one thing, they can't help the terms of the insurance they have been issued, but the dishonest tactics are the nail in the coffin for me.

Something else I have noticed about their 'five star' reviews, they all seem to come from people with 1 or 2 reviews and just sound fake. They all seem to sing the praises of the company without any real substance to the positive review i.e. no account of why it was good, what made them leave a review. This may be me being too suspicious but considering their Gumtree antics, it wouldn't surprise me that they are generating fake 5 star reviews to push their average trustpilot score up after the large number 1 star reviews. Have a scroll through the 5 star and 1 or 2 star reviews, you will see a marked difference in the style of language.

Like others on here, I posted something for sale on gumtree and received this text from +447492885223

Any chance I could rent this? Could do it insured through fatlama.com .. Excuse odd request :)

I decided to give it a go but it was only after I posted it that I saw these reviews. Sure enough, when I let them know my item was now live on fat lama, they replied:

Thanks so much for doing that but I’ve actually managed to source from a friend. Really sorry! Good luck with the sale! :)

Clearly they work for fat lama and never intended to rent my item. It’s such a dishonest way of doing business, really sneaky and just doesn’t fill you with confidence that they are a company you can trust. Avoid.

Fat Lama's marketing strategy is absolutely despicable. They obtain your personal contact information from the internet, and then spam text you a template pretending to confuse you with another individual, such as:

"Hi John, I can't seem to find your A7s on Fatlama.com, can you repost it please?"

Had such a great experience with this site :) The customer service person talked me through the whole process - I'm not very techy

Rented a sledge for me and my boys - much cheaper than buying!