Kogan cuts JB Hi-Fi 'cable con' with free HDMI cable giveaway

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 16 March 2011 11:28

Your IT - Home IT

If you've purchased a TV from JB Hi-Fi anytime in 2011, Ruslan Kogan wants to give you a free HDMI cable to 'expose' the cable con which sees HDMI cables that should cost less than $10 selling for up to $199 in traditional retail.

Ever the crafty consumer electronics salesman, Ruslan Kogan of Kogan Technologies is also transforming himself into the cable guy.

Although Jim Carrey has little to worry about in the comedy stakes, despite some pundit-driven concern that Kogan's previous million-dollar JB stunt wasn't doing the e-tail entrepreneur any favours, we need only look to all the many outrageous stunts that Richard Branson has performed over the years to truly ask whether there's ever really any bad publicity.

In that vein, and without a bevy of blondes by his side, Ruslan Kogan is actually exposing something of importance with his latest stunt: the high cost of cables that send zeros and ones between HDTVs and other, modern consumer electronics and computing devices.

Although Kogan is selling his 3 metre HDMI cables for three dollars, a price that even beats Jaycar for HDMI cable affordability, Kogan notes that, as of today's date, JB Hi-Fi is selling Soniq branded HDMI cables of 1.5 metres in length for $69, 4 metre Soniq cables for $99, and a Pure AV branded 3 metre cable for a whopping $199.

Kogan will sell you an entire TV, an HDMI cable and will ship it to you for less than $199, if memory serves, and it does highlight the ongoing cable and surge protector rip-off that various consumer electronics retail stores have been engaging in for some time - given how profitable cable prices are, which can deliver greater profits than the TVs themselves.

So, what is Kogan's exact deal for JB Hi-Fi customers who have purchased a TV this year, and how can they claim their free HDMI cable, which Kogan will even ship to qualifying JB Hi-Fi customers free of charge?

Please read on to page two!