Brother Genuine Black Toner Cartridge, TN350

The first one of these that I bought from Amazon lasted 1 1/2 years! Try doing that with any inkjet printer! Today I installed the 2nd one I purchased and discovered, to my dismay, that it did NOT have the hard plastic protective shield (the directions say to remove that before installing). Then when I tried printing with it (I did shake it beforehand following the manual), it reported TONER END OF LIFE! Not good, not good at all. After shaking it several more times, I managed to eek out about 10 pages, with TONER LOW as the constant message-- then it ended up reporting again TONER END OF LIFE! So, even though this came in a sealed package, with a foil seal around the toner cartridge, it was clearly a SPENT cartridge. In other words, what was supposed to a be a new toner cartridge was USED up already! Very bad, Amazon! So 5 stars for the 1st, 1 star for the 2nd, 3 stars average! Fortunately, Amazon customer service refunded my money. There is a cool immediate call back service which works like a charm! Kudos to Amazon. Yes, I'm a sucker, glutton for punishment as I ordered another one here. Just wait until that comes. If it, too, is a USED up cartridge, I'll post another review with 1 star and never buy cartridges for any laser printer here again. Of course, that's the irrational customer in me speaking-- I guess instead of withholding my business from Amazon, I should contact Brother. In fact, that's what I'll do next! Caveat emptor in the meantime folks! ---------------------------- Well, the next one worked...and lasted a year and a half-- so not to worry. Buy here with confidence. But I do need to add a big cautionary note about a tip that's being widely circulated about this Brother cartridge. ---> Do NOT try masking up the hole on the cartridge to extend its life-- at least not with the DCP-7020. <------ (SEE BELOW. I WAS WRONG.) It went into run away printing mode and ended up jamming the printer badly (see my comment on the #1 helpful review here with this great tip--had it worked!). After two times of trying it, with the same result, I've ordered another cartridge! (Nov. 29, 2009) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- April 2011. Happy to report that the tip does work. What has not been stated clearly (or something I missed) is that you must tape over the circular windows on the cartridge itself! You must take it out of the drum first, and then do the taping. I used black electrical tape. The tricky part is that one of the two windows sits under a plastic overhang, so you have to stick the tape in there and work it into place with, say a nail file or letter opener. My toner has been printing for months now!