BlueHippo stifles out cries of scam with multi-million dollar settlement
BlueHippo, a vendor of electronic goods, reached a $3.5-5 Million settlement with Federal Trade Commission which pursued the company for allegedly using unfair trade practices. Attention of FTC was directed to the company after complaints poured in from customers claiming they had been conned.
FTC had alleged that they contravened laws of the country by not delivering orders within a promised and reasonable time-frame. The company that also sells goods through its website BlueHippo.com, had also been charged with denying customers the right to cancel and claim a refund on the order.
The company claimed that its offers were aimed at making computers available even to people with poor means. With down payments as low as $99 and weekly/bi-weekly installments starting from $36, the offer was also directed at people with a poor credit rating. But, FTC believed that this was a scam.
Customers, who were sold goods with a promise of delivery after 13 weeks, were left wondering when their products failed to turn up. Meanwhile, the company continued to debit its installment from customers’ accounts.
Under the scheme, customers had to give the company the rights to debit the installment money from their bank accounts. But, it is alleged that, they were not informed upfront that the scheme does not allow them to claim any refund. Even if they did not receive the goods they paid for!
This is what FTC alleges happened: the company targeted a hapless section of society. It did not inform them timely that they had no rights for refund. Then the company failed to keep its delivery promise. The consumers were left without any cover when they did not receive the promised goods. They also were left helpless to stop the payments being made to the company.
Judge an online offer by its Refund Policy
The right to claim a refund is something that is extremely important for online shoppers. All good online shopping websites offer full cash refund within a fixed timeframe if customers are not happy with their products for any reason whatsoever. And this is not hidden in fine print but stated explicitly on their website in a way that shoppers cannot possibly miss.
A cash refund policy is the only way to claim your money back if a product fails to meet your expectations of it. In fact, I think it is an excellent idea to rate online offers by their policies of refund and their terms of guarantee or warranty for a product. It is a direct measure of the confidence that the sellers have on their product!
This is the reason why FTC should have pursued the matter further with the company.
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October 2nd, 2008 at 2:31 am
S Robinson Lynch, Donald Williams, Shannon and Chad…
Thanks for your inputs!
Thanks for dropping by and taking the time out to leave a comment!
Best Wishes!
November 5th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
somebody please help!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have been scanned out of about $800 i have not received my computer and they wont tell me anything i wait on hold for 45 min to a hour and sometimes longer i want my money back and i want something done about this. will someone please help me and tell me what to do i only did this because i dont have good credit. i needed the computer because i go to school
November 17th, 2008 at 1:33 am
Online shopping is now a easy way of buying anything which they want by using the internet.so people want to know more about this.
December 27th, 2008 at 12:57 am
I called Blue Hippo on May 30,2008, I decided to go ahead with the purchase of a laptop for $1,943.00 which included free gifts (color printer, digital camera, an English course, microsoft office, computer games for children, $320.00 cash back and a $200 gas gift card) and I agreed to give a down payment of $124.00 on June 10, 2008 and after that I would pay $69.98 biweekly.
They told me that after the 7th payment, they would ship the laptop, and the free gifts after I paid the entire debt.
I completed my 7th payment on September 19th and as of today (Dec. 23) I haven’t got the product yet.
Calling customer service is a nightmare, they never answer and when they do, you have to be on hold for over 40 minutes. I have been able to talk to the Spanish customer representatives, but not the English one, all they have is a recording of a customer rep. talking to a “customer” answering frequent question.
In the middle of November I called the Spanish number to ask about the status of my order and they told me that the laptop was on its way, that I would get it soon.
On Dec. 1st, I was already worried since that laptop was the Christmas gift for my son, and the lady told me that the system shows that the order was being processed and that they would ship it soon…..
SOOOOO!!!!…. they LIED TO ME???, how come the computer was on its way on November and 2 weeks later it’ ready to be shipped???
That really pissed me off and that’s when I started to look on the internet (yes, I know….something that I should have done before buying it!!), and I found that everything is a scam, they do send the products, like after a year, but the product that you buy from them is not even worth half the price you’re paying.
On Dec. 8th I called again, and the lady told me to wait 10 business days because my laptop was shipped that day, well, today is Dec. 23 and I still don’t have anything.
Yesterday I called one more time, and guess what???…they told me to wait 10 BUSINESS DAYS…..AGAIN???? I already paid $1,033.74 and I am really upset.
I want my money back, but again, they don’t refund my money, and if I don’t pay everything, it will show on my credit report.
I don’t care about the laptop anymore, all I want is my money back. For Godsake, we are not taking about $50!!! I’m taking about over a THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!! What do I do now??? Please help!!!
March 6th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I am so sorry that all of you are going through such a stressful and frustrating time, but I want to say “THANK YOU” because I almost went with this company. Due to all that I have heard, I will be saved from all of that. I pray that you will get your money back and this company will be taken down!!
March 23rd, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I paid my $500 computer loan off. Which cost me $2000. I was promised free items after the payoff of my loan. I paid every month on time I had it directly withdrawn from my account. I never recieved my free items has they promised. A tv, copier and software. everytime I call after 45 minutes on hold I finally talk to a live person and they tell me they just shipped it I should be recieving them anytime. That was ayear ago. I have called several times.
March 30th, 2009 at 6:03 am
Thanks for all of your comments. I almost called to purchase a laptop with Blue Hippo. But after reading the “HELL” that you all have been through, I’m choosing to go with a differant company. Don’t give up your fight, if you all give up than Blue Hippo will win. Take them to the cleaners……
April 3rd, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Wow, i’m glad i stopped here. I was seriously considering these people cause i went with aarons for a while and i was upset with them b/c i believe i was overpaying for their laptops, i checked out blue hippo and the laptop i got from aarons was only a few dollars more than blue hippo but they “promised” all these “Free items”. I decided to research b/c i was recently victim of “send us 200 dollars and we’ll send you a 1000 dollar credit card” scam.. (also really bad bad to work with /cry /fume /cry) so ty for being here to stop people like me from getting scamed, im only a part time cashier working through college and 70 bucks bi weekly is alot to me as my checks are only 200-300 dollars a week. tyvm again and again ty i hope this site helps others. ps.. i hate posting comments but this i felt was important. ty again.
April 5th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
OMG!!!! This is so horrible that somebody could get away with scamming soooo many people. Im so sorry to hear that this has happened to all of you and I hope that you can get together and take this guy down. I almost fell for this myself, thankfully when I googled the BlueHippo company this came up instead and I took the time to read it. Im wishing you all the best of luck and hope that somehow you can recover your loses. What a shame that someone would prey on people this way.
April 6th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Me too! I called this afternoon because it looked like a good deal…but I realized that they were only going to send the overpriced laptop only after 9 payments…I told them that i needed to think about the deal but the guy on the other line told me I would no longer get my discounts if I won’t buy now…that was a red flag!!! He did not know that I was googling the company while he was trying to convince me…
The funny thing was that he told me, I can get a Dell Mini notebook for 1200…a dell Mini costs only 400!!! then I told him I did not want a Mini because it doesnt come with a cd or dvd drive…then he said, he could get me a Mini with that drive because he will customize it for me but I will have to pay extra…hellloooo!!!! you can never put an optical drive in a Mini…he sounded insane…did he think I would fall for it??? I’m just so glad I didn’t buy…they are really a scam! I hope those who got scammed will sue them so that they will rot in jail!!!
April 10th, 2009 at 6:46 am
I could tell the BlueHippo commercial was a money scam the first time I saw it. It is aired at the same time frame as all those ‘alternative medicine’ commercials, which should set up a huge red flag immediately. I think this is something the Obama administration needs to tackle. Unscrupulous companies and internet startups that are targeting people in debt crisis, with little or no intention of making good on their offers or claims. It almost amounts to treason, given the current financial situation, and government efforts to combat it. Prosecution at the federal level is about the only thing these con artists would fear, short of handing them over to an angry mob of shafted victims.
April 10th, 2009 at 6:51 am
By the way, what ‘Gregory’ has done, above, needs to be commended. Consider it a perfect example of what members of the community can do to counter deceptive business practices on a large scale. He got active, and even took out an ad in a local paper exposing the scam. This is the digital age. Even the homeless and poor can have a wide-reaching voice now. If you have been scammed, you can fight back, and educate others.
April 13th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I relate to each and every entry/comment listed here. I too cancelled my initial order when I became wise to what Mr. Rensin is up to. Call the number listed with the above entry by “sid” and you will find a law firm preparing to go “Class Action Balistic” on BlueHippo. My only other concern at this juncture is that Rensin might be trying to take BlueHippo out of the country. The Maryland office has been emptied.We must all join and endeavor to find and implement justice that will prevail over BlueHippo in our favor. It is a waste of time to contact the FTC, the BBB, the OCCC and OAG’s of any state. They basically will ignore you. Postings at Consumer Affairs and RipOff reports are not worth the time you take to make the entries…they are no more than “just there.” They have no power and they take no action. Rensin has also posted bogus web sites for Law firms purportedly building class action suits against BlueHippo. These are nothing more than additional schemes and scams created to throw yet another curve ball at the bat of justice. They merely gather information for Mr. Rensin to sit back and laugh at regarding how many millions of dollars he has STOLEN from good people. Personally…it’s been so long for me that I could never get enough in damages from BlueHippo to make this whole ordeal right. Now…if I could just have a moment “alone” with Mr. Rensin I could quite effectively convince him he has done a very bad thing and he should pay everyone the money he owes them PLUS the product they had ordered. Of course I would also convince him to apologize publically to everyone he ripped off…after he had healed up and is able to move his mouth again.
April 14th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Wow, Okay everyones story sounds just like mine. Funny thing is I tried to purchase my computer from them over 4 years ago and this scam has been going on since then maybe longer. I can’t believe it. I too was out $800 for a computer I never recieved. I actually recieved two pieces of mail in the month of March 09 indicating that if I sign here and send back by March 30th I would be due a refund for the amt of my purchase and money I spent because off of their settlement. I am wondering if anyone has heard or knows how long it takes to get the refund!! I am also wanting to make people aware, that I think after the settlement, the company changed their name to something different, offering the same exact type of scam for a computer with no credit, bad credit, etc. All you need is a checking acct and are able to make two monthly payments. I love Gregg’s idea above to call the radio station and make them aware of the fraudlent commerical. If anyone knows about the refund…. LET ME KNOW!!! Thanks
April 14th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Thank you for the warning. I was going to by two systems one laptop for me and a desk top computer for my daughter for her birthday. I am sorry for all the people who got scamed. I will pray that God will step in and help get you money back and that something will be done about Bluehippo. After reading all of this I was still thinking about calling Bluehippo because I was thinking maybe they are not doing the same thing since this happened to the people about a year ago. After careful consideration I will not buy from them. Does anyone know of a different company to buy from that is like bluehippo but not a scam?
April 26th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I have found it nearly impossible to get state and local media to pick up on this problem. I’ve even contacted CNN/HLN and FOX News without any response. Amazing at this time and condition of our economy that our government does’nt jump right on top of BlueHippo. This is financial terrorism.
April 26th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Jad….just save your money up and go to WalMart. Maybe even a layaway. Do something local. It’s safer.
April 26th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
this has been going on a while for my gram.. she says they took almost 4000$ from her =.=” they definently need to be stopped!!!! >:[
April 30th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Crap, why didn’t i find this information a week ago?! I just signed up, paid my $99 and was told the 29.99 will come out auto draft. This really sucks, i think i will close my bank account, but now i have to worry about my credit. The guy told me that i would get mine shipped after they received my $99 down. I will cancel this order before i am out 1,200 more!
May 6th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
i wish that i had know about this before I had order my computer for my granddaughther. I had made one payment of $125.00 and I have trying to cancel that order even since. Everytime that I call them they say that they are sending my money back and all know I have not heard nor receive my cash back. I should have gone to wal-mart or something and I got the labtop. This people are scamer and are not willing to play anyone back their money when they ask for it.