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Virginia Seeks Victims Of Computer Layaway Scam

State hopes to get restitution for Financing Alternatives customers

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

November 14, 2007    Spanish

Though the company’s assets have been frozen by the state of Virginia, the wave of consumer abuses has yet to subside. ConsumerAffairs.com has received 71 complaints about this company in the last three months.

“I saw a TV ad, and it sounded like a great idea, but all it did was take my money,” Carla, of Galesburg, Illinois, told ConsumerAffairs.com. “I paid a down-payment of $150 and then in 2 weeks started paying $71.98 every 2 weeks.”

Carla said she thought she was getting a bargain.

For paying on time, she said she was told she would get a pre-paid cell phone, an MP3 player and other premiums. However, she wouldn’t get her computer until she had made five months of on time payments.

But in early November she learned the company had shut down by the Virginia Attorney General’s Office.

“I didn`t have the heart to tell my son it was a scam, that the money was just stolen,” Carla said. “He looked at me and said ‘no Mom, somebody wouldn`t do that.’ I said well this company did and it wasn`t just us, but many others.”

Many, many others. By the time Virginia filed suit against Financing Alternatives in July 2007, the company had already established a pattern of taking consumers’ money and not providing anything in return.

Even if the company had provided the product, consumers would have been paying more than $2,000 in many cases for a $600 computer.

Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell says Financing Alternatives owes computers to 1,765 customers who paid in full - plus hundreds more who've made partial payments. He also convinced a Virginia court to freeze the company's assets and take control of the firm.

McDonnell says Financing Alternatives and its owner George Christian owes consumers $3.3 million.

The Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs is currently taking complaints from consumers who've paid Financing Alternatives but failed to receive any merchandise. The state’s goal is to recover assets from the business and the owner's personal bank accounts in order to repay all consumers.

Carla, meanwhile, is concerned about more than just the $1,000 she paid Financing Alternatives every two weeks.

“I believe the company has my Social Security number, so I had to close my account at my bank, she told ConsumerAffairs.com. “Now they have all this information about me, it will just be like someone stealing my identity on top of all of this mess. Catch all of them and punish them to fullest extent of the law, the way I see it.”

What to do

Consumers from anywhere in the United States who have lost money to Financing Alternatives should file a complaint with the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs. Complaint forms can be obtained online or by calling the Office of Consumer Affairs at 804-786-2042. Completed complaint forms may be sent to: Office of Consumer Affairs, P.O. Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23218.

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