Dave Donaldson
Critical thinking in software development
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Appliance Scam and Tech Correlation
Thursday, December 30 2004
Over the holidays (Christmas Eve to be precise) our dryer crapped out. This posed a bit of a problem because it happened late at night, Christmas was the next day, we were going out of town, and we knew we wouldn't be able to get someone to look at it until Monday or Tuesday. So we went 3 days without a dryer, which was OK because we didn't have much time to do laundry anyway, but once Monday came around, we needed to get back at it (2 adults and 3 children is a lot of dirty clothes over 3 days, not to mention all the new clothes from Christmas that needed washed).
So we had someone come look at it and it was going to cost us a couple hundred bucks to fix it (motor was shot). Screw that I said because I'll take that money and put it towards a new one (at least we got several good years out of it). Then my wife reminded me that we got $250 in gift cards to Lowes for Christmas from my family, so I did a quick search on the Lowes web site for dryers and found some nice ones for the right price. So last night (also our anniversary) we went and had dinner and then went to Lowes to buy a new dryer. Found a nice Whirlpool for a good price and thought we were good to go.
But wait a minute the Lowes dude said, you need to the electric dryer wire kit. Huh? Apparently, dryers do not come with the wiring to actually plug the thing in so you can use it; you have to buy that separately. So let me get this straight. I spend quite a bit of money on a major appliance and it doesn't even come with its own plug? Correct. Granted, the kit only costs $15, but I mean, seriously, why is that not included? Yes, we used our gift cards for the purchase and the whole thing only cost us $17 of our own money, but it's the principal of the whole thing.
Any of this sound familiar to the tech industry? Come on, it's obvious. I'll wait a second. OK, time's up: printers!
Can anyone at HP, Epson, Lexmark, Cannon, Xerox, etc, etc tell me why in the hell when I buy a new printer I have to separately purchase a printer cable? Why the f*ck don't printers come with a printer cable? Am I missing something obvious here? I mean, every printer cable I've ever bought has been EXACTLY THE SAME as the previous one. It's a complete scam. A ripoff. Makes me sick. And the part of this scam that pisses me off the most is not the fact that I have to pay a little more money for the cable, but it's because I usually forget that I need to get a damn printer cable as an extra purchase and have to go back to the store to get it before I can use the printer, thus costing me at least another hour of my life. Why not just include the printer cable with the printer, add the cost of the cable to the cost of the printer, and make us all happy? Is that really that hard? Dumbasses.
OK, damn, I feel much better. Needed to get that out there. Whew.
10 comment(s) so far
What is this nonsense? Send a letter (your blog) to Whirlpool. Go to eopinions.com and let loose. Thank you--these companies need to save people time. This is a huge customer experience issue.
What kind of dryer was the one that crapped out? What happened to dryers that lasted 15 years? Unacceptable! This is supporting consumerism, and throw away culture.
J - The old dryer was a Whirlpool, same as the new one. And it did last us 8 solid years. I think that's pretty good.
Just to be a devil's advocate -- what was wrong the old dryer's electrical cord? Did you know that dryers can have different plugs, depending on the age of your house? My printer cables haven't all been the same -- parallel, serial, USB, etc. Plus, if you are replacing a printer, you can reuse the old cable, right? It would be pretty wasteful to ship a set of the various cables with each unit.
Kelly - I probably could've used the old dryer's electrical cord, but was told that if I did, and I had to have the new dryer serviced, the warranty would be voided because it requires a new electrical cord upon installation.
As for the printer, sure you could use the old cable, but what if I still want to use the old printer? However, you do make a good point about the various printer cables, except nowadays, most of the printers are USB, so why not include at least the USB cable? Then, if the person needs a parallel cable instead, that person can buy the parallel cable separately.
Of course, the printer argument is moot if everything was wireless... :-)
Yeah, the "cord" thing is a joke. You know, maybe I should provide consulting services where you have to buy the "installation" of the completed application...
you're old dryer was the same way in all likleyhood, dryer cords are installed with 3 screws that can be removed and thus enable you to re-use the old cord on the new unit. this eliminates the possibility of getting a cord with the wrong plug... > as there are several different 220v outlet sockets....
Printers usually have the same plug designs. I would expect you're old printer cord to be perfectly re-usable... My only complaint is that (like ink cartraiges) printer cords are way over priced... I think the price of most plugs & wires on computers are criminally over priced...
The reason usb cables are separate is because you can take a $2 dollar usb cable and the store can sell it for $25-$30. Best Buy, Staples, Office Max, actually most stores do this. I have worked at several of these places, and all the management cares about is if you sell the cable and ink. I also have looked at the cost of those cables in the system($2). They can also tell you it's a "special printer cable" or "gold plated" but what they failed to mention is that all usb cables are "gold shielded", and are all the same (1.1 or 2.0 are both very cheaply made). At staples they actually paint the cable end gold for the 7 and 11 foot cables, while not painting or labeling the 6 foot cable gold. However if you turn the package of the 6 foot cable over, you will see that it is still a gold cable and is exactly the same. (just not painted) They just add 1 foot, paint the cable gold, and label the front of the package different (and charge $10 more). Complete scam. look at any other device such as a cheap external modem or a usb hub. These all include the 2.0 USB cable and are sold cheaper than those ripoff cables.
I guess this is where they make their money on, "CABLES". It's like Burger King and soft drinks. Just mix the syrup with carbonated water and presto! You have Coke. And it only cost them 5 cents a serving. If that.
Depending on the age of your house will determine if the power cord is a three wire or a four wire. In 1996 most cities building codes went to a four wire cord with a seperate grounding wire. Also different parts of the country have different codes on what type of plug can be used. There are also different lengths of cords; 4ft, 6ft, 8ft, etc. The machines are also made to be shipped worldwide.