Epson Printers and their Customer Service (they both fail)

Your complaint is it didn't come with a USB cable? WTF? Don't you have one from your old printer?

While yes it'd be nice, it's a good way for them to save money and it doesn't seem that unreasonable to me.
 
Your complaint is it didn't come with a USB cable? WTF? Don't you have one from your old printer?

While yes it'd be nice, it's a good way for them to save money and it doesn't seem that unreasonable to me.

I don't have an old printer that this one is replacing. I found it unsual (I was set straight by the printer gods it's not uncommon :bow:) a necessary cable for operation wasn't included. Why do they bother to include a power cord? It's also universal like a USB cable. If anything, I would expect them to exclude the ink.
 
The tech support gave me some reasons that I find flawed. That is how he fails. Unless you know a good reason why they don't include it, just calm down...there was no harm done here.

What answer did you expect? "Sorry, Dave. We stopped including USB cables because we knew you'd buy a printer someday and we wanted to annoy you personally." He gave you every answer you could reasonably expect, and the reason of "it decreases the unit cost" is the most likely. The vast majority of people will only ever need one USB printer cord, and they buy that when they buy their first printer. After that, they don't need or want a new cable every time they upgrade their printer. It brings the price down, and even a reduction of $10 can make a big difference in the fiercely competitive consumer printer market.
 
The vast majority of people will only ever need one USB printer cord, and they buy that when they buy their first printer. After that, they don't need or want a new cable every time they upgrade their printer.

This is true...haven't thought about it from that perspective, as this printer isn't replacing another. Why don't they reuse the power cords? :)
 
they never come with a cable. just like cars dont come with you fuckin Driver License.

This is true...haven't thought about it from that perspective, as this printer isn't replacing another. Why don't they reuse the power cords? :)

Because the PSU is always different.
 
they never come with a cable. just like cars dont come with you fuckin Driver License.

You can still buy a car if you don't know how to drive/have a license...just like you can buy a printer if you don't know how to use it. Poor analogy, but I see where you're going with it.

Because the PSU is always different.
I can speak much on this, as I'm not printer-educated...but from what little I've seen, they're the same. :dunno: I'll take your word for it though...teh internetz never lies.
 
You wanna know why printers don't come with USB cables?


I worked for a major electronic retailer, rhymes with "Test Guy", selling computerz n shit when I was in highschool. NO manufacturer ships with USB cables for the simple reason that the retailers have an agreement with them, that they will force customers to buy their in-house branded cables at a massive mark-up. Has nothing to do with 'lowering the cost' or fears of 'damaging the cable in shipping'. Those cables cost the stores $1.36 to manufacture and package...they sell them for $29.99. I used to laugh at every customer I saw walking through the turnstile with a printer in hand, and no "Test Guy" branded cable, and I'd feel great when someone came back in to buy one, all pissed off...as I pocket an easy, quick $5 in commission for selling a stupid goddamn cable.
 
AFAIK no manufacturer of printers EVER sends them out with a USB Cable
having worked for Canon I learned (and was shocked bythe fact ) that they too, do not offer the cables as standard!

They do sell the cables seperately at a ridiculous high price though...
 
Can't remember if I got cables with my Canon, but having an older computer with USB 1 and firewire I think I used a firewire cable instead. Some of the more modern photo-printers can print directly from the camera or memory cards so a cable could be surplus in that case, too.

But the guy who sold you the printer should have pointed it out, and the support guy telling you they could be damaged during shipping was retarded.

I thought Epson were ahead of Canon in the pro photo-printer market because they have better archival inks (or they had them first). I was just looking the other day and the Epsons have oil based archival inks (80 years) while the Canon brochures didn't mention it.
 
NO manufacturer ships with USB cables for the simple reason that the retailers have an agreement with them, that they will force customers to buy their in-house branded cables at a massive mark-up. Has nothing to do with 'lowering the cost' or fears of 'damaging the cable in shipping'.

This is some logic I can believe.

The tech support guy said they sell USB cables with the scanners only. I'm not sure if he was talking out of his ass again on this, but how do you justify selling them with all the scanners, but not the printers? People who buy scanners are largely first-time buyers? The scanner's USB cables aren't universal?
 
This is some logic I can believe.

The tech support guy said they sell USB cables with the scanners only. I'm not sure if he was talking out of his ass again on this, but how do you justify selling them with all the scanners, but not the printers? People who buy scanners are largely first-time buyers? The scanner's USB cables aren't universal?

Some of the more modern photo-printers can print directly from the camera or memory cards so a cable could be surplus in that case, too.

Could be a reason.
 
Top