According to the FTC's 2008 complaint, BlueHippo Funding, LLC and affiliate BlueHippo Capital, LLC offered to extend credit to consumers to finance purchases of personal computers and other consumer electronics with down payments of $99 to $124, and a year of weekly or bi-weekly payments ranging from $36 to $88. BlueHippo promised to deliver the product once the consumer made 13 weekly payments. But most consumers did not receive the computers they ordered in the time promised, even after they had made 13 weeks of payments, the Commission alleged. The Commission charged that BlueHippo's marketing tactics were deceptive, and violated the FTC Act and other federal credit statutes.
Remarkably, the company continued to sign up customers as quickly as it had before the settlement, and between April and December of 2008 it contracted with over 35,000 new customers.
Of those, only 2,477 customers met all the requirements to eventually get computers, but the FTC says that BlueHippo provided at most only one PC to an eligible customer.
The FTC complained again in April 2009, and starting then BlueHippo began to fulfill computer requests for 1,462 qualifying customers. But even then it took up to 6 months to deliver computers to customers, when it sold the service with a promise of delivery in 3-4 weeks. The remaining 1,015 who were elgible have still received nothing.
The FTC has asked the court to bar BlueHippo from making any more sales, and to force it to repay customers. The BlueHippo website is offline as of this afternoon.
]]>@halcyondays: They've apparently only brought back layaway at some of the Walmarts out there. They discontinued the service at our Walmarts in the NE of Philly area a few years ago and they indicated they have no intention of bringing it back to their stores here.
]]>I feel so bad for that cute Blue Hippo. He probably thought he was REALLY helping people. :(
]]>We sold used (repaired) computers at Goodwill. What we called Internet Flyers, not good for gaming, low power, but good enough for surfing and minor offline use. With monitor and printer 75.00. Man, wish my old boss had been a little more dishonest, we could have squashed blue hippo and still given people their computers!
]]>Seriously, when I first heard the commerical I was thinking "Hmmm...sounds like a rental company or something. You pay a premium for a computer that's underpowered."
Then I heard the line about a "Free HDTV" and called bullshit on the whole thing.
Reminds me of an ad I got the other day about being able to save $400 on an $800 computer running WinXP, 40 GB hard drive and 512MB of ram.
]]>If anyone is dumb enough to enter that information on a website named "BlueHippo," than I am fully convinced now the world is coming to an end.
]]>Account Login
To login to your account simply enter your social security number and password (often your mother's maiden name) to the right.
Or if that's not working you can also enter:
Social Security Number/Home Phone
BlueHippo Account Number/Home Phone
Social Security Number/House Number
Bank Account Number/Zip Code
Social Security Number/Password
BlueHippo asking for this information is insane since I have not even made up my mind to purchase anything yet.
I believe that I would get the exact same results if I gave my social security number and mothers maiden name to some strange guy selling meat from the back of his truck.
]]>only if you can find the CEO. Remember, he has already boarded his private jet and forgot to file a flight plan.
]]>@xtc46 - thinksmarter on twitter:
Because people are too stupid to buy from WallWorld / Staples / Best Buy etc when they are in a hurry for a computer.
I am from the land of Katrina. When your business has been flooded, your equipment has been destroyed and you need a computer just to access the interweb etc...... what would you do? Me? I run to the nearest mall area to find an electronics purveyor to grab the cheapest in-stock computer.
I must have too many brains.
Blue Hippo actually had a spike in sales.... Katrina victims needing a computer.
]]>uhhhh wow..... "password (usually your mothers maiden name)"
what the hell
]]>I've seen that angle taken by a bunch of rent-to-own places and it makes me feel kind of sad, but then I'm not sure if the terms on your average low-limit secured credit card, meant for consumers with poor credit, are that much better.
]]>User Name (Your SSN)
That scares me.
]]>@consumerd: That's exactly what we said the first time we saw these commercials. The one we saw said $49 a week - that's $2548 for a computer of questionable value. Seriously?
I'm always sad when people get scammed, but this deal was clearly a ripoff from the beginning - - and you can tell that from the large print!!
]]>@Underpants Gnome: Those propane-powered Intel chips are FAST!
]]>Why these people don't put the money into some other kind of savings account and just save until they have enough for the computer I will never know. Perhaps with the return of layaway if they could find a store that sold computers and had layaway they could put one on layaway.
Most people are ignorant of technology prices and think computers are expensive, when they are relatively cheap machines out there these days. Most home users will only need one for basic tasks such as internet so a $400-500 machine would probably suffice for a lot of families with children. But there is a perception amongst those not in the know that computers are $1000+ machines that they cannot afford.
]]>No, it's not. I just went to it.
]]>With prices like this there's no reason way BlueHippo can't fulfill the laptop shipments, other than greed that is. Getting it in bulk direct from Acer will probably cost even less.
Someone should start a legit version of this, there's lots of money to be made even when everything is done right.
]]>But they sure make themselves out to be like rentacenter to attract less worthy, less intelligent and less savvy buyers.
]]>It must have been tough, but in the end they did the right thing. I'm proud of them.
]]>You forgot how dumb the average person is.
]]>Exactly. The reason they don't send the computers is that they don't have the money to buy them. The money went into the pockets of the individuals running this thing.
]]>Thats pretty smart...tell people to pay you 88 dollars a week, and in 13 weeks you will send them a computer. Thats a massive profit.
Even at the 36/week plan, I could build a computer and ship it for the amount I had at the 13 week mark, anything after that would be profit.
I just dont understand how people can do this, but cant just leave the money in their bank account and wait 2 months then go buy a computer.
]]>They will continue their behavior until the costs of the fines and litigation is greater than the money they make ripping people off.
]]>On an unrelated note, the first time I saw an ad for these people, the first thing I thought was "Why is the company that exchanges my propane tanks selling computers?"
]]>