Before I thrash on Samsung, I have to point out that I work for Sony and the two companies compete with each other in a number of areas. That means my opinion is not unbiased. Fortunately I am not writing about a product that Sony makes and so I hope this comes across as a bit more objective.
Several years ago I needed a color laser printer. I had gotten tired of using color inkjet printers and wanted to try the laser technology. I shopped around and found a great deal on a Samsung CLP-315W printer. It worked as expected for a while and then the print quality went downhill. I tried cleaning the printer and various other solutions. The one that actually worked was replacing the toner cartridges. Then it started working great again.
I am getting low on toner and so I looked at getting new cartridges. Samsung recommends using only theirs, as you would expect and so I looked all over the Internet to get name-brand replacement cartridges. I found some on Amazon and ordered them. It surprised me when they shipped out of the UK but I waited patiently for them to arrive. They showed up a week later and I immediately loaded them into the printer. They didn't work at all.
Any time something doesn't work on the first try, I do a bit of Internet searching and make sure it is not a user error. I found a number of articles that talk about resetting the page counter. I thought that might be necessary and then I discovered how to get the page count via the printer's web interface. I just had to know the IP address of my printer and point my browser at it. The page counter showed me that each of the cartridges had no pages printed but also that the cartridges didn't have any toner. After playing around with the printer for a week, I decided to send the cartridges back.
Amazon is a great place to order stuff because of their return policy. The catch is if they send you something from abroad. In order to get my refund, I had to ship them back to the UK and was only allotted $20 for shipping. While Amazon may be able to ship overseas for that price, it cost me significantly more than that. While I will get some of my money back, I am out $60 because of shipping costs to return the defective toner cartridges. I have learned my lesson with Amazon and will not order anything from overseas ever again. I am actually going to cut back what I order from them because of this experience.
So now I am stuck with a laser printer that either needs to be replaced or I need to find replacement cartridges for it. My gut feel is to take to the top of a really tall cliff and watch it explode after I throw it off the top. Unfortunately the responsible person in me doesn't want to have to find the million little pieces it will become as leaving any of them is littering. E-wasting the printer is probably more socially responsible.
I could also try off-brand cartridges but am not sure that is the right choice as I have not had great luck with them. My experience is that they work for about half the life of the cartridge and then the print quality starts suffering. I really would like to get the full life out of whatever I purchase.
Ultimately I am thinking of finding another brand of printer that doesn't have nearly as many problems as I have had with my Samsung. I have always had great luck with Hewlett Packard printers and may pay the premium for their product. At least I know their printers work when you replace their toner cartridges.
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