BlueHippo Funding

BlueHippo Funding, LLC is an installment credit company founded by Joseph Rensin for customers with poor credit that offers personal computers, flat-screen televisions, and other high-tech items. The company has encountered several complaints with the Better Business Bureau; as a result, the Greater Maryland Better Business Bureau issued a consumer alert against the company within eight months of its founding. cite web |url=http://www.baltimore.bbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=23014013&language=1 |title= Blue Hippo's BBB listing|accessdate=2007-01-24 ] Cofounder Bruce E. Mattare left the company in 2004 to start TronixCountry, which has offered merchandise with installment terms similar in scope to BlueHippo. [ [http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/259/RipOff0259976. Rip Off Report: Blue Hippo Foundation Payment in full Didn't receive free TV or Printer as stated Ripoff Windsor Mill Maryland ] ] [BBB of DC entry for TronixCountry. URL:http://www.dc.bbb.org/codbrep.html?ID=204430445&cons=yhtm Accessed: 2008-07-08. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5ZAs564Wr) Lists a Mr Bruce E Mattare as President/GM.]

BlueHippo's main product is a personal computer system. Their radio commercials state that a customer must build a "short credit history" to qualify. The payment is made through an installment plan.

Criticisms and Investigations

Federal Trade Commission Investigation

The FTC has received 8,000 pages of complaints and launched an investigation of the company. As of February 2008 the FTC settled its grievances with Blue Hippo and required the company to pay up to $5,000,000 to settle the FTC's charges. [ [http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/02/bluehippo.shtm BlueHippo Defendants Will Pay up to $5 Million to Settle FTC Charges ] ]

Florida Attorney General investigation

Bill McCollum, Florida Attorney General has said, "We think that overall, this is a very deceptive trade practice." http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=62287]

The Better Business Bureau

As of August 31, 2007 the BBB has received over 1400 grievances from all over the United States. "Due to this pattern of complaints and BlueHippo’s failure to correct the underlying causes for the complaints, the company is rated 'unsatisfactory'." [ [http://www.bbb.org/alerts/article.asp?ID=772 BBB Alerts & News ] ]

'No Refunds' policy

BlueHippo changed its business practices to include a refund policy in mid-2006. However, the BBB reports : "In November and December 2006, however, the volume of complaints rose again and the BBB has renewed concerns about the effectiveness of the company's efforts to reduce the volume and pattern of complaints. Current complaints allege the company is slow to provide promised refunds and there continue to be delays in delivery of the merchandise." As of January 1, 2007, Blue Hippo offers a full refund if customers cancel during first 7 days. However, any order canceled after the grace period will receive "store credit" only. This store credit will only allow customers to buy items on the company website.

Website Security problems

For at least 6 months, their website claimed to implement SSL security while no such security was actually in place. Until October, 2007, it was still optional, and not the default. [SSNs exposed by BlueHippo.com form. elvey.com. URL:http://www.elvey.com/it/spr/SPR-2006-01-01.txt. Accessed: 2008-07-09. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5ZAu1myeD) Verification: Timestamped URL demonstrating this was posted in an earlier version of this page; see the history. ] Customers ordering online must submit complete bank checking account information, employment information, income, their home phone number, and Social Security number.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.bluehippo.com BlueHippo Funding]
* [http://www.thebostonchannel.com/investigative/13256137/detail.html Company Allegedly Preys On Consumers With Bad Credit - TheBostonChannel.com]
* [http://dynamic.wjla.com/watchvideo.hrb?s=wjla&id=2233 Video of BlueHippo CEO/President Joseph Rensin]
* [http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_21/b4035001.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_best+of+bw+this+week Business Week - "The Poverty of Business"]
* [http://greatermd.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=41&bbb=0011&firm=23014013 Baltimore Better Business Report on BlueHippo]
* [http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.bluehippo11may11,0,1591388.story?coll=bal-business-headlines BlueHippo agrees to settle with Maryland for ~1 Million Dollars]
* [http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/05/md_blue_hippo.html ConsumerAffairs.com Report]
* [http://www.wvago.gov/press.cfm?ID=381&fx=more West Virginia Sues BlueHippo]
* [http://www.wvago.gov/press.cfm?fx=more&ID=321 Attorney General Darrell McGraw filed suit today against Blue Hippo Funding]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/14/us/14scam.html NY Times article: Enticing Ad, Little Cash and Then a Lot of Regret]
* [http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7154513 7 On Your Side: BlueHippo Under Fire With Better Business Bureau] "From KLTV-TV Tyler, TX"