Argos - Misleading

markcoventry

Hello Forum!

1st post - please be gentle!

Got to make a complaint and how I stand. I went to www.argos.co.uk and reserved a HP Printer for £19.99 which I thought was a bargain, so I reserved it and collected from my local store in Coventry.

When I got to the desk to pay, I was informed that there was no USB lead with it, but you can buy one for £13.99!!!!!

No a printer is useless without a lead anyone knows that, I spoke to the manager who said there is an option on the bottom to purchase a seperate lead which is just NOT CLEAR.

I rejected the offer and went to Tesco and got a Canon instead..

Can I do anymore as it was such a waste of my time (considering there was 1 person on the tills and they had 9 tills in total and a q out the door)

shellsuit

If it was THIS printer, then it does mention buying the USB cable seperately so you don't really have a complaint I'm afraid.

Lakeuk

May seem strange but the majority of printers don't come with a usb cable, don't know why the industry decided on this, it's just as bad as not supplying a power cable and a doubt any manufacturer would risk doing that.

£14 for a usb cable is a rip off, you can get one online for less than £3

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/88126

Dave_Brooker

markcoventry wrote: »

Hello Forum!

1st post - please be gentle!

Got to make a complaint and how I stand. I went to www.argos.co.uk and reserved a HP Printer for £19.99 which I thought was a bargain, so I reserved it and collected from my local store in Coventry.

When I got to the desk to pay, I was informed that there was no USB lead with it, but you can buy one for £13.99!!!!!

No a printer is useless without a lead anyone knows that, I spoke to the manager who said there is an option on the bottom to purchase a seperate lead which is just NOT CLEAR.

I rejected the offer and went to Tesco and got a Canon instead..

Can I do anymore as it was such a waste of my time (considering there was 1 person on the tills and they had 9 tills in total and a q out the door)

You could have used another USB cable, or bought one from a poundshop.

Are you hoping for compensation because you didn't read the description properly??

Dave_Brooker

Lakeuk wrote: »

May seem strange but the majority of printers don't come with a usb cable, don't know why the industry decided on this, it's just as bad as not supplying a power cable and a doubt any manufacturer would risk doing that.

It's because we've all got drawers full of them, and at £20 there's not enough profit left to include them.

Lakeuk

Dave_Brooker wrote: »

It's because we've all got drawers full of them, and at £20 there's not enough profit left to include them.

Why would you have draws of them, I've got two, one came with my external hhd and the other came with my cheap scanner which is mostly connected to my colour printer

Dave_Brooker

Lakeuk wrote: »

Why would you have draws of them, I've got two, one came with my external hhd and the other came with my cheap scanner which is mostly connected to my colour printer

I've got stacks of the things.

Printers didn't use to come with cables when they were £300, why should they now they're £20?

Labman_2

Dave_Brooker wrote: »

...or brought one from a poundshop.....

...after having bought one first!

Stephen_Leak

These days, for right or wrong, they do assume that any new printer is a replacement for an old USB (ie. not parallel/Centronics) connection one and not a first-time purchase.

Did the Canon one come with a cable?

In any event, Canon ink cartridges are a lot cheaper than HP ones with the integral print heads.

A_Nice_Englishman

If they DID supply USB leads with printers someone would complain that they were forced to buy something they didn't want.

The price Argos (and other shops) charge for leads is extortionate and should be investigated by the authorities. A recent example on this forum was a network lead. £1.20 at ebuyer, £7.99 at Maplin and £19.99 at PC World.

Labman_2

INMO the reason most printers are supplied without a USB cable is that they hope you buy an overpriced one from the retailer you're buying the printer from. The cynic in me says that the lack of the cable in the printer package is down to retailer pressure on their suppliers!