The cheek...

m5ex9oqjawdg2i · 19-01-2009 11:56PM #1

I bought a Printer from PC world yesterday, brought it home and set it up and was missing the USB cord, had to go back for it. Thing is, they charged me for it, 7.50... after spending money on the printer, paper and spare ink, they charge me for something that should have been in the bloody box in the first place... Is this normal? Happen to anyone else? Feel robbed? GRRR!!!! There's a recession.

Rant over...*

*May not be over...

tribulus · 19-01-2009 11:57PM

I have lots of BOGOF Burger King vouchers if it will make you feel better.

Earthhorse · 19-01-2009 11:58PM

Well, did you say it to them that it was missing? And say that they shouldn't have charged you for it?

Biggins · 19-01-2009 11:58PM

This is normal practise now ...and yes, its a bit of a con!

When you but a tv, dvd player, video players (in the past) you get necessary basic cords/leads.
Its a way to get more money from you and lower the manufactures pricing wholesale costs.

AlmightyCushion · 19-01-2009 11:58PM

I don't think any printers come with the usb cables any more (I've seen some wireless ones that do). I'm surprised they haven't done this with cameras/external hard drives/etc. that use standardised connections.

Alicat · 19-01-2009 11:58PM

Did it say specifically on the packaging that the USB cord was meant to be in the box?

chopperbyrne · 19-01-2009 11:59PM

Juliette Aggressive Noose wrote: »

Rant

Why did you pay?

Why didn't you just insist it wasn't in the box and get one free?

19-01-2009 11:59PM

you never get the cable with the printer - tis a smelly fact but has been that way for years

Kiera · 20-01-2009 12:00AM

Did it say in the welcome pack thingy that it was meant to be included? Or is it like a dvd player where you dont get a scart lead?

Now if it said it was meant to be included and you still paid for it i would call you a very silly billy.

Adamcp898 · 20-01-2009 12:00AM

Was it a HP one?

None of their printers have came with the USB cord for years, decided it wasn't their responsibility

Gran Hermano · 20-01-2009 12:01AM

I've bought numerous printers over the year and they never come with cables.

This was even the case back in the days before USB when you needed a parallel printer cable.

AlmightyCushion · 20-01-2009 12:02AM

Oops forgot this was after hours.

Yore ma is a printer cable.
I for one welcome our usb cable=less printer overlords.
Fail!
etc. etc.

galwayrush · 20-01-2009 12:02AM

If you do get a free cable, it's always a crap one. You pay through the nose for thegood stuff.

banshee_bones · 20-01-2009 12:03AM

yeah check the box, thats outrageous.

do people still have to buy scart leads for dvd players? i remember when i bought my dvd player few years back there was none with it..which i found odd

OpenYourEyes · 20-01-2009 12:03AM

yeah, the last two years at least nearly all companies have stopped including USB cables, and similarly stopped including SCART leads in dvd players etc

MarkR · 20-01-2009 12:03AM

Gran Hermano wrote: »

I've bought numerous printers over the year and they never come with cables.

This was even the case back in the days before USB when you needed a parallel printer cable.

Yep, they call it an accessory. I was not a happy bunny. Mr. Sarcasm came out to play. Didn't help, but it felt good.

galwayrush · 20-01-2009 12:04AM

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Oops forgot this was after hours.

Yore ma is a printer cable.
I for one welcome our usb cable=less printer overlords.
Fail!
etc. etc.

Feck, so did i, ignore my serious post above.:o

Guy:Incognito · 20-01-2009 12:04AM

Biggins wrote: »

This is normal practise now ...and yes, its a bit of a con!

When you but a tv, dvd player, video players (in the past) you get necessary basic cords/leads.
Its a way to get more money from you and lower the manufactures pricing wholesale costs.

Printers havnt come with cables as far back as the days of parallel ports.

Dvd players never came with Scart leads either, only rcs cables. TV's and videos only ever came with coax cables too.

20-01-2009 12:05AM

I bought my daughter (ahem, I mean santa bought) a v-tech smile computer thingy that plugs into the tv, got the scart lead, but didn't get the dc adaptor - cost an extra tenner for the bloody plug! thieving baxtards

Biggins · 20-01-2009 12:08AM

Stekelly wrote: »

Printers havnt come with cables as far back as the days of parallel ports.

Dvd players never came with Scart leads either, only rcs cables. TV's and videos only ever came with coax cables too.

Lexmark for a period of time supplied the needed connections.
Then they kopped on to what everyone else was doing and copied them.
The sods...

mukki · 20-01-2009 12:12AM

i think there was a short window where you had the choice of a usb or parallel cable, usb was faster, but only some pcs had usb, so you bought the printer then bought the cable to suit

its probably a good thing because, if you wanted to buy a printer to replace your old one, would you mind the cable being bundled and hence added onto the price of your new printer when your old cable was working fine

i usually keep about 3 of every usb cable in the car

Quazzie · 20-01-2009 12:13AM

Most printers/dvds etc are replacing other similar items that use the exact same cable. Why include it when ya already have one (most cases)? I remember at one stage I used to have 8 scart leads in a drawer and I was one of the people that was glad when they stopped including them. I can understand the OP's frustration because he obviously didn't know, but thats hardly PC world's fault.

Holsten · 20-01-2009 12:31AM

Buying from PC World.. terrible mistake.

DonJose · 20-01-2009 12:37AM

Think thats bad, I bought a printer cable from PC World last week, brought it home and opened it and there was no fukking printer inside just the printer cable, bastards, had to go back and buy a printer... guess what no fukking printer paper inside ended up going back and buying printer paper :mad:

towel401 · 20-01-2009 12:39AM

this is a well known tactic. you are all happy ready to buy your printer and the guy says 'hey it won`t work without one of these overpriced cables'. and unless you know you have one at home you will most likely buy one.

Capt'n Midnight · 20-01-2009 12:43AM

Back in the day a parallel printer cable would cost you £30, when the volume price from the UK for them was £1.95 and the Honk Kong price was half that.

thing is, you buy a monitor that has usb ports and chances are it has a usb cable

swingking · 20-01-2009 12:46AM

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I don't think any printers come with the usb cables any more (I've seen some wireless ones that do). I'm surprised they haven't done this with cameras/external hard drives/etc. that use standardised connections.

ssshhh don't give them any ideas

Ghost Train · 20-01-2009 12:52AM

I think HP stopped shipping printers with USB cables when they were sued after some nut job strangled 3 office staff with a HP supplied USB cable

<SNIP>

m5ex9oqjawdg2i · 20-01-2009 12:58AM

hehe, in the "welcome pack" it says, "contents may vary based on location" In other words "If you are in Ireland, you will need to purchase the basic cables in order to work this machine"

It seems that Epson and other companies are not putting in this usb cable to reduce costs? OR, do people have so many of these USB cables, that we don't need them in new hardware anymore?

I can understand batteries been sold seperately. But the scart lead or usb cable is something that is NEEDED to operate the DVD player or printer. It's robbery.

I did tell the manager of PC world and he gave me 50% off, seems like they had a lot of people comming in complaining about it :P

Any other printer I bought had one.

Paper and spare ink are also replaceable, you use them... no problem paying for that seperately. I just don't get it.

AlmightyCushion · 20-01-2009 01:08AM

Juliette Aggressive Noose wrote: »

It seems that Epson and other companies are not putting in this usb cable to reduce costs? OR, do people have so many of these USB cables, that we don't need them in new hardware anymore?

Bit of column a, bit of column b I'd imagine. I've got tonnes of the things laying about the place (saying that you can't really have too many of them), so if I was to see two identical printers side by side, one with a cable and one without. I'd choose the one without, if it was cheaper.

swingking · 20-01-2009 01:12AM

I think technically it's not fit for its purpose. When you buy something it should work out of the box OR clearly specify on the box that you need to buy a seperate USB cable for it to work. I wonder if you challenged the shop could you get a free cable.

The cheek...

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