Friday, June 01, 2007
Canon ships printers without USB Cables?
I wrote the other day about my trials and tribulations with my HP G85 Office Jet printer -- they no longer support updating their drivers to enable elegant MacBook support, so I went out and bought a Canon MP530 replacement. They had a chance to wow me and win over an HP customer. They did a great job with nice packaging, ink cartridges and fairly good documentation.
Then, I got to the point where you hook it up to your computer, and I read "USB Cable not supplied -- purchase that at your retailer at length not to exceed 10 feet". Excuse me -- how could they not supply the USB cable?!?
That's like selling you a TV and omitting the power cord (please purchase separately) or the remote control (we recommend that you purchase an all-in-one remote at your local retailer)! Instead, they lowered their product cost, and then put the onus on the customer to know that the cable was needed, at which point most people had to make another frustration-laden drive to the electronics retailer. They took a potential wow moment and came up with a fat zero. I assumed other customers were probably irate too.
I then went back to Amazon's website to see if I was the only one complaining -- in the first 30 reviews, only one person mentioned that it really irritated them too. So, that just goes to show that our collective expectations have lowered just one more notch.
Good news is that it opens the door for the above average experience -- heck, the new guy doesn't even have to be super -- just back to delivering "what would be expected" ;-)
Of course, this opens the door for Amazon to add a new customer-ecstasy feature -- collect the solvable gripes from purchasers and provide a "warning" to buyers that they should strongly consider purchasing the cable, because the manufacturer doesn't supply it... probably able to do that in a scalable way using collective feedback.
Then, I got to the point where you hook it up to your computer, and I read "USB Cable not supplied -- purchase that at your retailer at length not to exceed 10 feet". Excuse me -- how could they not supply the USB cable?!?
That's like selling you a TV and omitting the power cord (please purchase separately) or the remote control (we recommend that you purchase an all-in-one remote at your local retailer)! Instead, they lowered their product cost, and then put the onus on the customer to know that the cable was needed, at which point most people had to make another frustration-laden drive to the electronics retailer. They took a potential wow moment and came up with a fat zero. I assumed other customers were probably irate too.
I then went back to Amazon's website to see if I was the only one complaining -- in the first 30 reviews, only one person mentioned that it really irritated them too. So, that just goes to show that our collective expectations have lowered just one more notch.
Good news is that it opens the door for the above average experience -- heck, the new guy doesn't even have to be super -- just back to delivering "what would be expected" ;-)
Of course, this opens the door for Amazon to add a new customer-ecstasy feature -- collect the solvable gripes from purchasers and provide a "warning" to buyers that they should strongly consider purchasing the cable, because the manufacturer doesn't supply it... probably able to do that in a scalable way using collective feedback.
Labels: cable missing, canon pixma mp530
Comments:
Hmmm, do I detect a bit of sniveling here? Amazon is already on top of it. Go back to the page link you provided and you'll see their "Better Together" pitch which recommends buying the item with the USB cable of their choice. You can buy them both with "one click".
"Cable not included" is pretty common though, especially on commodity printers. It's really become a razor-and-blade sell. The printer is the razor, the ink cartridges (and cables) are the blades. You are the annuity stream.
If you really want to be delighted, buy an external drive direct from the La Cie store - it will come with every cable you could conceivably need. In fact, I have a drawer full. Call me next time.
"Cable not included" is pretty common though, especially on commodity printers. It's really become a razor-and-blade sell. The printer is the razor, the ink cartridges (and cables) are the blades. You are the annuity stream.
If you really want to be delighted, buy an external drive direct from the La Cie store - it will come with every cable you could conceivably need. In fact, I have a drawer full. Call me next time.
Fair enough, Mr. Bruce -- I don't think it's snivelling, though. Is more of a direct complaint. I think of snivelling as complaining but not doing anything to fix the problem. By posting this here I'm trying to let the world (my small part of it) know about this product shortcoming and let Canon know what their customers feel like when they treat us this way.
I'd argue that it's also common for McDonald's to serve crappy hamburgers -- that doesn't make it desirable for me to join in their fun :-)
Finally, on the razor-and-blade sell, I 100% am OK with that, and I understand going in that I'll need to purchase ongoing supplies. But, at least they gave me the first round of ink cartridges so I could print when I got it home -- not to have a critical component such as a cable doesn't pass that same test in my book.
Ah well... out to enjoy the Seattle sun!
Post a Comment
I'd argue that it's also common for McDonald's to serve crappy hamburgers -- that doesn't make it desirable for me to join in their fun :-)
Finally, on the razor-and-blade sell, I 100% am OK with that, and I understand going in that I'll need to purchase ongoing supplies. But, at least they gave me the first round of ink cartridges so I could print when I got it home -- not to have a critical component such as a cable doesn't pass that same test in my book.
Ah well... out to enjoy the Seattle sun!
Links to this post:
