After agreeing a rental term and price with a kind renter, I was asked to verify my ID by Fat Llama. Which is completely fair, as it's expensive kit and I'm a first time renter. I was prompted to do a full KYC check, where I uploaded my ID, proof of employment, proof of address, video selfie verification, access to my private instagram AND bank statement. Despite feeling slightly violated, I assured myself, this was all to prove I was a legit customer and I wasn't going to steal the kit. So I uploaded all this sensitive info. Bear in mind this is enough info to open bank accounts, conduct credit checks and rent anything from a car to whole house, so surely a couple of cameras is no big deal... I then had a message from support saying that my request had been denied, as the kit was too expensive and I'd need to rent cheaper equipment. Obviously, the whole reason I'd come to Fat Llama in the first place was to rent that specific kit, so telling me to rent something else is not an option and also just a massive failure in understanding your customer. I messaged support querying their decision, and explained that we were only interested renting that specific bit of kit. To which I had various conflicting responses from different support staff. Despite all this I was assured that they'd give me a call tomorrow to confirm a couple of things and all would be ok. The next day I had to chase up support to get a call. When someone did eventually call, I was interrogated about how the kit would be used, where it would be stored, business information and even asked for the talent we'd be shooting's contact information. I obliged to all, despite the latter as this is a violation of GDPR. 2 mins after the call get another email from Fat Llama saying I had failed verification. You can imagine, after wasting a couple of days getting verified jumping through hoops and chasing ever changing support, this was incredibly frustrating. In the end all I got was an email saying the kit was too expensive to rent out, and that I should use their rental partner (and tried directing me to camera rental company.) Pretty laughable considering the whole point of Fat Llama is to rent gear from other people. Considering Fat Llama shouts about "Convenient access to any item" I can wholly say this has been FAR from what I experienced. I risked using Fat Llama for a cheaper price, got messed about, and ended up having to scrabble around last min to find an alternative. I learnt my lesson. I'll never touch the platform again for any rental. Anyone who's interested in using this on a professional level, stay clear, go to a traditional kit shop, who won't mess you about and ask for your first born son to get verified...