What am I missing here? Have I entered the Twilight Zone?
Harald
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Maybe. Everyone else understands, even those who have no sympathy for the fact that we lost $800.
My apologies, in advance, to everyone else for repeating the same issues yet again:
The printer and APS together is now selling for the previous price of the printer alone. This is occurring in both the US, and according to a post above, in Germany.
[a href=\"http://www.provantage.com/hewlett-packard-...cc~7HEWD0LU.htm]http://www.provantage.com/hewlett-packard-...cc~7HEWD0LU.htm[/url]
http://www.superwarehouse.com/p.cfm?p=1496596http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?357519_...MPAQ_Q5670A#BCChttp://www.pcnation.com/web/details.asp?item=M35744(Do a google search, and you can come up with even more.)
Had we all waited -- if no one had bought the printer until now -- we could have all purchased the printer and APS for the same amount that the printer previously cost.
So everyone who bought the printer alone in the last two months lost out on the APS. The separate cost of the APS is $800. Everyone who bought the printer and the APS in the last two months lost $800 because they bought the separate APS -- had they waited, they could have bought both for the price of the printer alone.
As my very first posting said, HP is clearly pricing the PS model at the wholesale level very aggressively, so the dealers can now sell the PS model at the same price as what the printer alone previously sold for. I can't explain why Julian doesn't get the same pricing advantages as the other dealers, but as I noted, he won't be selling very many printers if his prices are roughly $800 higher than everyone else.
And HP no longer lists the APS as a recommended accessory anywhere on its web pages. It has removed it across the board on the many web pages where it was listed as a recommended accessory. Why? Because it is now included in the printer for the same price as the printer alone. This mass removal of the APS as a recommended accessory occurred on many, many redundant web pages. A fact that many others have commented on above.
The lesson, for all of us, is to not buy any HP products for the first three or four months, and wait until HP drops the prices. OF course, that is a nightmare conclusion for HP, since millions of dollars of inventory will sit around and collect dust while everyone waits for HP to drop their prices.
That is exactly why manufacturers don't do what HP has done to all of us. No one cuts prices by $800 after only 60 to 90 days. Consumers would never buy their products when they first are released if that was normal and acceptable behavior. (The argument that prices always drop for first adopters is false. Not in the first 60 days. Rather than repeating it here, please refer to my posting above on the Blu-Ray analogy.)
Harald, this is pretty basic stuff. Everyone else gets it, especially those who spent the money and lost $800. Read the above postings again, especially the comments from those who wish they could return the printer, and buy the printer and APS for the same price. Honestly, Harald. You may be a consultant for HP, but everyone else can do the math.
Was HP dishonest? Well, I guess if I could change the header on the posting I might drop the word dishonest. I have been persuaded by all of you that my use of "dishonest" might be a bit over the top. Only HP knows if they intended to do this all along and were therefore dishonest. My own guess, as stated above, is that we -- the posters on the forum -- are the ironic victims of our own success. We argued that the APS is overpriced, and many said that it should be included in the base price of the printer. So that is exactly what HP has done. So HP might not have been dishonest, but in cutting the prices we all still lost $800. As one of the other posters put it, HP "honestly ripped us off" and "created a sense of unfairness."
Unfairness indeed. They way they treated all of us -- the loyal customers who were the first to buy their product and try it out, and work through all of the problems -- is appalling.
This sets a new low for how manufacturers treat loyal customers who are the first to buy their products.
Again, the lesson is simple. DO NOT BUY ANY HP PRODUCTS FOR THE FIRST TWO TO FOUR MONTHS AFTER THEIR RELEASE, AND WAIT FOR A HUGE REDUCTION IN PRICE.
Everyone else understands, even those who have no sympathy for the fact that those who were the first to buy lost $800. So maybe you are in the twilight zone, or are just arguing stubbornly for HP despite the basic facts outlined above. In any case, I won't debate the point again and eat up forum space.