Help with DataPersistance? (And Don't say DataStores are better. They're a pain in the backside!)

I've attempted DataStores, and even with ScriptGuider's help, I have no clue. So I've resorted to DataPersistance, but once again, it won't *~%"£$% work.

local group = 1234 --GroupID

game.Players.PlayerAdded:connect(function(player)
    if player:WaitForDataReady() then
        local leadr = Instance.new("IntValue",player)
        leadr.Name = "leaderstats"
        local rank = Instance.new("StringValue",leadr)
        rank.Name = "Rank"
        local department = Instance.new("StringValue",leadr)
        department.Name = "Department"  
        if player:IsInGroup(group) then
            rank.Value = player:GetRankInGroup(group)       
            department.Value = game.Players[player.Name]:LoadString("Department") --Load the Department
            while wait(30) do
                rank.Value = player:GetRankInGroup(group)
            end
        else
            rank.Value = "Guest"
            department.Value = "N/A"
        end
        player.leaderstats.Department.Changed:connect(function()
            game.Players[player.Name]:SaveString("Department", player.leaderstats.Department.Value) --Save the Department
        end)
    end   
end)

There's no error, but the value won't load. Which is pretty annoying as DataStores won't work, nor will this.