The last few months my printer (an MFC-9970CDW) would make a horrible grinding noise and then jam. At first it would happen only two or three times a week on the first print job of the day, and I discovered I could prevent it if I yanked the paper tray out as soon as I heard the grinding noise and put it back in once it stopped. But over the weekend it escalated and I couldn't print more than two sheets at a time without a jam.
It was about two weeks out of warranty and I was going to throw it away. But when I went searching for a replacement, the old model was still the most likely candidate. I thought that if the old one only lasted a year I didn't really feel like spending another $500+ to last just another year and decided I would see if I could find out if there was some relatively easy solution. I ended up finding a technical service bulletin that implied this was a known problem with a solution (replacement of the paper ejector mechanism).
So I decided to call Brother and see what happened. I bet I was on the phone less than 5 minutes with them. They asked a few simple questions and finally said that they would be sending someone to fix it. There was no hint of warranty or cost.
A couple hours later I got a call from Pitney Bowes, who apparently handles the service for Brother, at least around here. They said that a part was being overnighted and a tech would be here after noon the next day. When I expressed concern that the part might not be here until late in the day because we are in a "remote" area she said she understood and that they would reserve time for the following morning as well just in case. She also gave me a direct number and asked me to call if the part hadn't arrived by noon so they could figure out what to do.
Part arrived at 10:30 this morning. Tech arrived at noon. Printer was fixed and back online by 3:00.
I just can't believe how smooth the whole thing went. And every person I dealt with (three of them) were pleasant, understanding and accommodating. The tech went out of his way to clean the printer really well - it looks brand new and it was horribly dusty because we've been working around renovations the last couple weeks.
We have other Brother printers and they're fine/great and I would have probably bought another one apart from this issue. Now, because of this issue, they will have to really screw up for me to take my business elsewhere.
It was about two weeks out of warranty and I was going to throw it away. But when I went searching for a replacement, the old model was still the most likely candidate. I thought that if the old one only lasted a year I didn't really feel like spending another $500+ to last just another year and decided I would see if I could find out if there was some relatively easy solution. I ended up finding a technical service bulletin that implied this was a known problem with a solution (replacement of the paper ejector mechanism).
So I decided to call Brother and see what happened. I bet I was on the phone less than 5 minutes with them. They asked a few simple questions and finally said that they would be sending someone to fix it. There was no hint of warranty or cost.
A couple hours later I got a call from Pitney Bowes, who apparently handles the service for Brother, at least around here. They said that a part was being overnighted and a tech would be here after noon the next day. When I expressed concern that the part might not be here until late in the day because we are in a "remote" area she said she understood and that they would reserve time for the following morning as well just in case. She also gave me a direct number and asked me to call if the part hadn't arrived by noon so they could figure out what to do.
Part arrived at 10:30 this morning. Tech arrived at noon. Printer was fixed and back online by 3:00.
I just can't believe how smooth the whole thing went. And every person I dealt with (three of them) were pleasant, understanding and accommodating. The tech went out of his way to clean the printer really well - it looks brand new and it was horribly dusty because we've been working around renovations the last couple weeks.
We have other Brother printers and they're fine/great and I would have probably bought another one apart from this issue. Now, because of this issue, they will have to really screw up for me to take my business elsewhere.
