Brother Printers

I purchased a Brother MFGC-J4535D about 2 years ago. It has been a good printer until recently. It began printing blurred. Cleaning the printing head only temporarily worked. After explaining this to Brother they stated there was a problem with their cartridges and will be sending me new printer cartridges, which would solve the problem. Two weeks later I am being told they are on back order and it will be 2 to 3 weeks before they come in. Brother can't even get their own cartridges. They don't contact customers regarding back orders, you have to call them and all you get are excuses. Very poor consumer service.

I needed to replace my previous printer, which was an HP I bought at Walmart a year ago, because I needed something that would handle more paper. I knew Brother was a major brand, but I had never used one in all my years of working from my home. The major issue I have is that it will stop printing on a regular basis for no discernible reason. Then the next day, after doing nothing to try to 'fix' it, it will start up again. There is no way to get technical help from a live person. The primary resource is the online manual for the product. Because of this unreliability and lack of one-on-one tech help, I would not be able to recommend purchasing any Brother printer product.

MFC-J6535DW Printer/Scanner/Fax. This machine has been a piece of junk since the day I brought it home. I wish I had returned it when I had the chance. EVERY SINGLE TIME you try to print something you get a different error message - no paper in tray 1 when the tray has paper, no paper in MF tray when the tray has paper, paper loaded incorrectly - no it isn't, reload paper and insert tray 1, paper size is incorrect, reload paper into MF tray, clear paper jam - there isn't one, OVER AND OVER AND OVER. When you clear one error it just displays another one, then it repeats them all over again. I will NEVER buy another Brother product again. I'm going to buy another printer - NOT A BROTHER - and the Brother Printer will go into the trash bin for Tuesday pickup.

I wanted to return my used toner cartridge for recycling, which Brother claims to do. The new cartridge contains instructions to go to their website to get a mailing label. The website, which is incredibly slow, would not let me log on and when I tried to change my password, the "Submit" button was dead. I tried to find a phone number, but the page that tells me the best time to call, doesn't include a number, nor could I find a number anywhere else on the site. This is totally unacceptable for a company that holds itself out as competent and consumer-friendly.

Unlike previous 3-pack LC101CL color cartridges I’ve bought, these ones don’t have the plastic locking seal device. The last pack bought last week ran dry during the cleaning and alignment process so I was unable to print a single page! I returned that pack to Amazon and replaced them with a second pack. The new pack is already 1/3 used before printing even a single page.

I know how to use my hands, so I bought a ink kit to fill up my cartridges. Thing is I filled them up, they worked fine, but the small chip on the cartridges just said "hey you've been printing more than I'm supposed to be able to provide... Sooo nop, I'll block this cartridge". So I couldn't print anymore even though the cartridge was full of ink. But at this point, I do need to print, so I will buy a "machine" that can reset the small chip on the cartridge. Google ;) Brother... Sell me something good, refills for fair price, and you'll have me as a customer for life. You're greedy, you lost me, and many others. Bye :)

I purchased this printer online from Staples.ca and was quite happy with its performance. But when it ran out of paper I refilled it correctly and the light said it was ready. But when I tried to print, nothing happened. It was three days after the one year warranty expired. No explanation. I checked that there was no paper jam and it was all fine inside. I had not even used up the ink in the drum provided, so it had not had very heavy use. But since the warranty was expired, I had no choice but to take it to electronic recycling and order a new one.

Both reps I talked to tried to be helpful but neither was knowledgeable enough to solve the problem. When I searched on “driver unavailable” I quickly saw that the driver needed to be updated and was able to do that in minutes. This is something any rep should know about. And it doesn’t inspire confidence when there are long silences while the rep is looking through the manual.

I will NEVER buy another Brother product! There is NO SERVICE CENTER WITHIN 500 MILES OF ME that can work on my product! They will NOT supply parts. They will NOT supply manuals or technical information. They have ZERO support for repairs. If you call the customer support number, you will spend HOURS waiting for someone to talk to. All you will get is an automated menu that takes you nowhere! Every support company that they had listed for Tucson, Arizona is out of business, (Which is no real surprise) and when I call their factory support center in Phoenix, they can't work on my equipment. They only do printers, now.

That leaves me with trying someplace in California. Whatever you are buying, purchase it from a company that actually has a real support network in place to keep their products operating.

This has been a great printer for 7 years, although with little use (~17000 pages). It now has a damaged fuser roller. Brother will not sell "internal parts" to the public. My nearest dealer is 80 miles away and this printer is heavy. I am competent and will repair it myself. But Brother will not sell me the part or provide documentation. I will be repairing it using third party spares and a manual that I found on the web.