Customer reviews from brother-usa.com
Brother - MFC-9840CDW Wireless Color All-in-One Laser Printer
Average customer rating
3.7
(115 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 115 reviews
5 Stars
41
4 Stars
32
3 Stars
21
2 Stars
12
1 Star
9
71%of customers recommend this product.
(
81 out of
114)
Customer Reviews for Brother - MFC-9840CDW Wireless Color All-in-One Laser Printer
Customer Rating
3
Brother's over promise, under deliever
on May 10, 2010
Posted by: captken
from Honolulu, Hawaii
We operate a busy home-office. I bought this unit as an escape from the ever-increasing costs of ink jet printer cartridges and a particular competitors all-in-one constant breakdowns.
To be honest I am disappointed with Brother's excessive toner consumption and poor photo quality printing. I have also found it impossible to print envelopes because of excess heat and wrinkles. Some serious engineering flaws. The toner consumption is much higher than expected. When one color cartridge runs low, the other two seem to run out at the same time. The replacement costs on these toner cartridges from Brother is excessive for the four cartridges at the local retailer I purchased the equipment at. I have since found an online source with remanufactured oem toner cartridges for less than 1/2 the price for all four which makes it considerably less painful. The warmup time for this unit is also, excessive. It takes anywhere from 30-45 seconds to run 1 copy from sleep mode.
On a good note I have not had the breakdowns with this Brother that I often had with a competitor's all-in-one equipment nor had to deal with an India-based customer service dept. The scanning features have been very convenient and the fax machine had worked excellently.
To be honest I am disappointed with Brother's excessive toner consumption and poor photo quality printing. I have also found it impossible to print envelopes because of excess heat and wrinkles. Some serious engineering flaws. The toner consumption is much higher than expected. When one color cartridge runs low, the other two seem to run out at the same time. The replacement costs on these toner cartridges from Brother is excessive for the four cartridges at the local retailer I purchased the equipment at. I have since found an online source with remanufactured oem toner cartridges for less than 1/2 the price for all four which makes it considerably less painful. The warmup time for this unit is also, excessive. It takes anywhere from 30-45 seconds to run 1 copy from sleep mode.
On a good note I have not had the breakdowns with this Brother that I often had with a competitor's all-in-one equipment nor had to deal with an India-based customer service dept. The scanning features have been very convenient and the fax machine had worked excellently.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
1
Stay away from this printer
on February 19, 2011
Posted by: middlejk
from Dayton, OH
Total prints so far 5527. 3rd set of TN115 high yield cartridges- and I would be the 5% yield. They lied badly about this. Also, it appears toner must be replaced not when expended, but by copies. Toner cartridge waste unit is ridiculous. I cleaned mine out manually, but it won't reset. So my printer is down. This printer is a huge disappointment. The color quality is not good enough for brochures to send to customers no matter what you do. Disappointed that Brother sticks it to you on supplies and the electronics that determine what you need and when. Would not provide me a repair manual either, which is a joke. It should be online. This is the most expensive laser printer to operate. I have now paid the cost of the machine again in toner cartridges alone,and only 5500 prints. Stay away from this unit and Brother, they obviously didn't make this for commercial use. It is a ripoff.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
3
Not as good as our old Brother printer
on May 5, 2010
Posted by: AustinOffice
from Austin, TX
Our office switched to a color laser printer but we often miss our old monochromatic Brother printer. We were happy with the low price but disappointed by a few key elements:
-The printer seems to jam a lot more often than our old printer when feeding envelopes or thicker paper.
-Print quality is terrible with cotton paper and any other slightly textured paper.
-Occasionally the toner won't set on the page and can be wiped off. This usually happens with the first print of the day or the first print using color of the day. The machine might not be taking enough time to warm up or something.
-The green color is too dark. It's a bit better when you print using the "vibrant" setting but it's still not as good as the other colors.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
2
Sub-par for purchase price
on April 4, 2011
Posted by: RockyMountain
from California
If you are looking for a good black and white printer, this one is decent. However, I have not been satisfied with its performance as a top-end "prosumer" model. My issues:
1. Operating costs. They are extremely high. The machine says toner runs out prematurely even though there is plenty left.
2. Color output. I cannot accurately reproduce colors, but more importantly I cannot print solid colors without some type of banding or shadowing.
3. Brother software is sub-par. I am constantly frustrated by the Brother Software locking up. Especially on the Mac it really needs some help.
4. Tray selection. This may or may not be a printer/driver issue, but it is constantly frustrating. Some programs will default to the manual tray with paper loaded there; others will ignore the manual tray with paper loaded unless it is specifically selected. Mostly switching between Word/Excel exhibits this behavior.
1. Operating costs. They are extremely high. The machine says toner runs out prematurely even though there is plenty left.
2. Color output. I cannot accurately reproduce colors, but more importantly I cannot print solid colors without some type of banding or shadowing.
3. Brother software is sub-par. I am constantly frustrated by the Brother Software locking up. Especially on the Mac it really needs some help.
4. Tray selection. This may or may not be a printer/driver issue, but it is constantly frustrating. Some programs will default to the manual tray with paper loaded there; others will ignore the manual tray with paper loaded unless it is specifically selected. Mostly switching between Word/Excel exhibits this behavior.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
3
Some good things, some bad things
on April 6, 2011
Posted by: DaveA
from Miami
The machine works fine, except in two areas. The paper loader in scanning mode does not consistently take 20lb paper one page at a time. It often will take 2 or sometimes 3 pages at once. I have changed to using 24lb paper for documents I will need to scan, and that seems to work consistently. The other item is the very short life of the color toner cartridges, which are quite expensive. I have used two full sets of the color cartridges and still have not reached 5000 total pages printed, and the machine has told me to replace them. And MOST of my pages are black and white. In addition, it says that all 3 color cartidges have to be replaced, not just the one which is empty. It makes no sense to think that all 3 run out at exactly the same time. Decent quality of printed product, but I wouldn't buy it again, since the toner cost in less than a year are greater than the cost of the machine.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
2
Mixed Function Quality
on May 1, 2010
Posted by: Tried
from Orange Park, Fl
This machine is one of the best scanners and fax machines that I have ever used.. fast and efficient. The automatic document feeder is very reliable. The "booklet" feature is awesome.
However, as a printer, it leaves much to be desired. Color print quality is poor even after changing the default setting that saves toner. The machine takes too long to warm up to print, takes to long to print and is quite noisy. The machine gives off a lot of heat. Duplexing works well but is slow.
Black and white printing is acceptable quality. Color printing is not. I tried several things to improve color print quanity. I changed the print settings and purchased 24 pound paper. It made some improvement but overall color printing is unacceptable.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
5
Great product
on May 16, 2010
Posted by: RonP
from Neptune, NJ
This machine works better than the HP I had purchased before it. The colors are vibrant and the printing speed is great.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
5
Wrinkled Paper Solved
on September 7, 2010
Posted by: GreenBranchBuilder
from Boulder, CO
The refurbished MFC-9840CDW came on time and was inspected to be in perfect shape. Installing into my home office was fast and easy. The machine's setup quickly found my wireless network. After installing the drivers on my two laptops and one desktop, I was printing beautifully. I am running XP on two machines and Vista on a newer laptop.
About 25 pages later, the machine started spitting out crinkled paper. If I used the MP Tray, it did not occur. Brother support @ Tier 1 quickly shot me up to Tier 2 and was very helpful. Together, we quickly discerned that I would need a new part to start a trial and error process. Part arrived the next morning at 10am with a Pitney Bowes Tech arriving shortly after. Tech removed the "fuser" to replace with the new one that had been shipped to my doorstep overnight. Upon inspection of the fuser, we found that it had a broken piece that was most likely causing the creased paper issue.
Sure enough, I am 10 days into the replacement part and the issue has been successfully resolved. I am delighted at the simple, quick and friendly response that I received!
I was initially apprehensive based on website chatter and forum posts that had lead me to believe I was going to have to send the machine back. No need. In fact, the Pitney Bowes Tech was exceptionally knowledgeable and has been with that company for 32 years. Unbelievable!
He and his group maintain that the Brother Machines are, in their expereince, the most reliable on the market in this price range.
My experience to date leads me to believe that there is nothing better out the there without paying thousands more.
I intend to post a follow-up to this.
About 25 pages later, the machine started spitting out crinkled paper. If I used the MP Tray, it did not occur. Brother support @ Tier 1 quickly shot me up to Tier 2 and was very helpful. Together, we quickly discerned that I would need a new part to start a trial and error process. Part arrived the next morning at 10am with a Pitney Bowes Tech arriving shortly after. Tech removed the "fuser" to replace with the new one that had been shipped to my doorstep overnight. Upon inspection of the fuser, we found that it had a broken piece that was most likely causing the creased paper issue.
Sure enough, I am 10 days into the replacement part and the issue has been successfully resolved. I am delighted at the simple, quick and friendly response that I received!
I was initially apprehensive based on website chatter and forum posts that had lead me to believe I was going to have to send the machine back. No need. In fact, the Pitney Bowes Tech was exceptionally knowledgeable and has been with that company for 32 years. Unbelievable!
He and his group maintain that the Brother Machines are, in their expereince, the most reliable on the market in this price range.
My experience to date leads me to believe that there is nothing better out the there without paying thousands more.
I intend to post a follow-up to this.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com