Are generic printer cartridges worth the risk?

October 30, 2013 at 02:08PM:

Hi all,

Recently I had posted regarding a Brother HL5470DW that was jamming for double-sided printing, shortly after I replaced my original Brother toner cartridge with a replacement

I received a number of great suggestions, one of which was to clean the inside of the printer out. While I tried this, noticing excessive toner all over, I was not trained (or did not research in time) to figure out how to clean the printer thoroughly – the double sided prints continued to come out ‘crumpled’.

So, realizing the printer was less than a year old on only on it’s first (generic) replacement cartridge, I exercised the warranty. The printer was fixed, I was informed it needed to be cleaned out, and the bill would have been $70 if the printer was no longer under warranty. The printer new was only $180.

The tech people offered the advice that generic (e.g. non-Brother) cartridges are often good 9 out of 10 times.

I’m now wondering whether I should continue to use generic printer cartridges any longer.

Has anyone had similar experiences, or suggestions on whether it is possible to easily clean out the printer if I should end up with another ‘leaky’ cartridge at some point?

Thanks,

Joe

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