Author Topic: Merry Christmas (or how I hate Hewlett Packard) (Read 202 times)

KdF · « **on:** December 25, 2001, 05:13:00 PM »

I went and got the Wifey a Photosmart 1115 because she wants a way to print
the Photo`s she takes with the Digital camera she got 2 years ago. Could not
really afford it but what the hell....She opened it this am , I got it out
of the box , started to set it up and started wondering how it pluged into
the USB/Serial port. No USB/Serial cable. Tore the box apart , started
thinking they forgot to include it in the box.......NOPE! Included in the
Idiot instructions are the words that In order to get it to work , the
customer must PURCHASE the freakin USB wire or parrallel cable. These people
suck rocks. Wifey`s kinda ticked too.

Think I`ll just sit on the couch the rest of the day.....wish I had some
booze to get drunk.

LePaul · « **Reply #1 on:** December 25, 2001, 05:37:00 PM »

Always read the box or ask the tech!

I'm always amazed that printers do not come with a cable, etc. I mean, VCRs come with those RCA-style plugs, TVs come with the basic rabit ear antenna's, etc

Creamo · « **Reply #2 on:** December 25, 2001, 05:58:00 PM »

I read the box too.

You would think they would include that toejam, but...naw, you don't think that. If you did you'd end up pissed with the wife pissed as well, heh.

ra · « **Reply #3 on:** December 25, 2001, 07:06:00 PM »

The only rationale I can imagine is that nowadays the customer may want USB or Parallel port. The manufacturer doesn't know which and they don't want to include both, so they don't include either.

All printers used to come with a parallel port printer cable before USB came along.

ra

SOB · « **Reply #4 on:** December 25, 2001, 09:03:00 PM »

The only thing that amuses me more about your story is the fact that I bought a cheap ($50) HP USB/Parallel scanner for my step dad for Xmas and it included both a USB and a Parallel cable in the box!

Sorry, but I've been burned before so I ALWAYS look at the box now. Enjoy your first printer buying experience!

SOB

jpeg · « **Reply #5 on:** December 25, 2001, 10:46:00 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by ra:
The only rationale I can imagine is that nowadays the customer may want USB or Parallel port. The manufacturer doesn't know which and they don't want to include both, so they don't include either.

All printers used to come with a parallel port printer cable before USB came along.

ra

Not with hp printers.

My dept. at work has been buying hp deskjet/inkjet printers since 1995 they never came with a printer cable.

capt. apathy · « **Reply #6 on:** December 26, 2001, 12:17:00 AM »

SOB,
send him the spare

Rewolf · « **Reply #7 on:** December 26, 2001, 01:59:00 AM »

The reason why printers,scanners,or anything of the sort do no come with the cables is b/c the manufacturers have an agreement with retail. I worked at Best Buy for 3 years sellin CPU's and you would be amazed at how much of a mark uo there is on those cables. For example a $40 IEEE1284 "gold" plated cable COSTS best buy $3, No retailer makes ANY sort of profit on computer peripherals or the computers themselves, hence thats why Best Buy and other retailers push the warranties and accessories so hard....we actually had quotas and attachment rates on how many accessories we sold in cunjunction with a computer sale...I left b/c i got tired of makin $8/hour and lying through my teeth about how you HAVE to have this accessory etc etc. to largely computer ilierate shoppers

moose · « **Reply #8 on:** December 26, 2001, 02:02:00 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Rewolf:
The reason why printers,scanners,or anything of the sort do no come with the cables is b/c the manufacturers have an agreement with retail. I worked at Best Buy for 3 years sellin CPU's and you would be amazed at how much of a mark uo there is on those cables. For example a $40 IEEE1284 "gold" plated cable COSTS best buy $3, No retailer makes ANY sort of profit on computer peripherals or the computers themselves, hence thats why Best Buy and other retailers push the warranties and accessories so hard....we actually had quotas and attachment rates on how many accessories we sold in cunjunction with a computer sale...I left b/c i got tired of makin $8/hour and lying through my teeth about how you HAVE to have this accessory etc etc. to largely computer ilierate shoppers

Yep, you're completely correct.

I worked at Staples my senior year in h.s. (jeez, that was like 3 years ago?) and I learned about the same thing. They make about $3 - $10 on each computer they sell, but all the extra warrenties, accessories, etc etc is their bread and butter.

Fishu · « **Reply #9 on:** December 26, 2001, 02:40:00 AM »

Thought there was a connection!

Cables just gets shorter and shorter, to point where those are hardly long enough to reach to the point.

Looks like they finally thought it would be smarter to quit supplying cables than just make those shorter.