nightfox1405241487 0 Report post Posted December 26, 2005 (edited) My mom just recently bought a nice HP media center computer from Circuit City. I have to say, it is the best computer in the house! Well, anyone who knows Circuit City knows they like to put out these "promotions" of buy a computer, we'll throw in this printer for free. This time, they crossed the line. My dad first went with this offer back in April. He got a laptop and Circuit City was having an offer going on, buy a computer, get this printer free. I have to say, the printer my dad got was great. I wish I had it. So Christmas comes rolling around, and I get this gift of a Canon iP 1600 photo printer (can print really high resolution photos). Of course, I knew that it came with my mom's new computer because she just wouldn't buy me a printer. Doing what just about any computer geek does, I start getting the specs of it. Nice printer, but Circuit City was cutting corners. In small print above the "What's Included" section, the following cought my eye: USB not includedI had to absorb this for a moment. Buy computer, get free printer.... buy computer, free printer... For the 'n00bs' that know almost nothing about technology that wonder helplessly into that store everyday looking for a new computer, they would stumble accross such a fantastic deal of buy a computer, they will throw in the printer free! I feel sorry for anyone who bought a computer, got the printer, and set it all up. One piece would render the printer 'useless' until bought: the USB cable. Lucky for me, being such a computer geek, I ALWAYS have at least 2 spare cables for anything in my house... ethernet, USB, IDE cables, etc. I think I know what Circuit City was thinking at the time... trying to take advantage of people. Normally, they're a great store with clueless employees, but at least the employees are always (well, most of the time) cheerful. It saddens me that a company would want to take advantage of customers like that. I'll be getting their opinion on this. I repair, setup, give support, and go the extra mile for my clients. I would never take advantage of them in such a way. [N]F Edited December 26, 2005 by miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG (see edit history) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WeaponX 0 Report post Posted December 28, 2005 I have noticed that also. Most printers don't include the USB cable anymore, unless the seller "throws" it in for the buyer. But the cable is usually the least of my worries as that piece.Although that cable is a necessary part for the printer, the ink is more important to me. From what I heard, the ink cartridges are barely filled up. As we all should know, printers these days are basically ...cheap to say the least. Ink cartridges cost more than the printer itself for some.To get back to your point, I totally agree with what you said. PC World also mentions this in their article: Plus, retailers prefer that printer vendors leave out the cable--that way they have something else to sell you, Baker says. Printers are low-margin products for sellers; cables offer more opportunity for profit. Cable choices are plentiful: Expect to pay about $15 for a three-footer and upwards of $30 for a 25-footer, he says.site: http://www.pcworld.com/article/108148/article.htmlPrices have dropped for the usb cables, so it's not going to cost a lot nowadays. But read the paragraph above the one I posted...Excuse or truth? hehe... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
demolaynyc 0 Report post Posted February 14, 2006 Well most printers don't include the USB cables. I tried looking for a printer with one but there weren't any I guess because if they did include it their price would increase by more than 10 dollars. That would really throw people off. the companies would get more money if they sold them separately because it'd be too cheap to sell the cable with it. Damn why do usb cables have to cost this much money. I'm too cheap to get one so i tend to use one cable for 2 of my dvices my printer and my cd burner. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mpinsky 0 Report post Posted July 3, 2006 (edited) So Christmas comes rolling around, and I get this gift of a Canon iP 1600 photo printer (can print really high resolution photos). Of course, I knew that it came with my mom's new computer because she just wouldn't buy me a printer. Doing what just about any computer geek does, I start getting the specs of it. Nice printer, but Circuit City was cutting corners. In small print above the "What's Included" section, the following cought my eye: I had to absorb this for a moment. Buy computer, get free printer.... buy computer, free printer... For the 'n00bs' that know almost nothing about technology that wonder helplessly into that store everyday looking for a new computer, they would stumble accross such a fantastic deal of buy a computer, they will throw in the printer free! I feel sorry for anyone who bought a computer, got the printer, and set it all up. One piece would render the printer 'useless' until bought: the USB cable. That's strange. I got my computer from Circut City as well and it also came with the "free printer" deal with the exact same printer you were describing. However, mine did come with the USB cable. The only thing it didn't come with was the glossy photo printer paper. However, a USB cable isn't really all that much in the first place, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem anyways. Edited July 3, 2006 by mpinsky (see edit history) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Houdini 0 Report post Posted July 3, 2006 While shopping for printers a year or so ago to replace the one my little sister had (that croaked), I started looking at the various deals that were at Wal-Mart. Then I found that with some of these printer it would actaully be a better deal to throw away the old one when the ink ran out and just for a little more than the cost of replacement ink you could just buy another printer. Cables are no problem, I have some USB from older printers that I tossed, and usually have one for printing just text in balck and white and onter for stuff like a fax machine, copier and scanner. I also used to be a data technician and came across cables all the time, which I saved and always have at least two or more of just about any cable you might need, actually a drawer full of all sorts of cable including fibre optic. Hopefully at least the printer came with a powercord and ink. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jeigh1405241495 0 Report post Posted July 3, 2006 Yea you can't blame CC specifically, this is a common thing, really common. It sucks that it happens but its moreso a industry problem not a circuit city issue. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vujsa 0 Report post Posted July 3, 2006 Before USB, the printers didn't come with printer cables that were really kind of expensive considering that they didn't last forever and needed to be replaced every few years. I can't begin to tell you how many people I know bought new printers because the printer cable stopped working.vujsa Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
