Brother Refresh EZ Print Subscription Service

Brother Refresh Service

Basic Information
Release Year	2021
Product Type	Subscription-as-a-Service
In Production	Yes
Official Website	Brother Refresh

The Brother Industries Ltd.: Refresh Program Subscription Service is a Subscription-as-a-Service (SubS) launched in August 2021. The program claims to offer domestic and business users the advantage of an on-demand, lower-cost printing solution that provides genuine Brother consumables directly to their door, without the need for end-user consumable management.

The Brother Refresh service currently offers two programs: EZ Auto Reordering (abbreviated as EZ-ARP), where the end-user pays only to replace a depleted cartridge or EZ Print Subscription (abbreviated as EZ-PSP), where the the user pays per page printed.

Listed are the program features offered to the end user to maintain and service their machines:

	EZ-ARP	EZ-PSP
Auto Cartridge Ordering	Yes	Yes
Free Trial	No	Yes
Payments	Pay-Per-Cartridge	Pay-Per-Page
Cartridge Type	Standard or XL	XL or Super XL
Shipping Costs	>$19.99 Free	Free (plan-based)
Warranty	No	Limited (plan-based)
Customer Service	Yes	Yes
Flexible Plans	No	Yes
Easy Cancellation	Yes	Yes

Subscription Eligibility

Brother currently lists these printers available to enter the Refresh program. The printer can either be "Refresh-ready" (with Refresh EZ-Print Subscription ink and toner cartridges included) or activated post-purchase via the Brother website. Once the printer is activated and enrolled to the Refresh service, only cartridges or toner supplied by Brother can be used.

EZ Print Subscription (pay-per-page)

Printer Type	Models	Promoted	Free Trial	Cartridge Series Disclosed	Cartridge Yield Disclosed
Mono Laser Printers	13	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Unknown
Color Laser Printer	0	Yes	No	N/A	N/A
Inkjet Printers	8	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Unknown

EZ Auto Reordering (pay-per-cartridge)

Printer Type	Models	Promoted	Free Trial	Cartridge Series Disclosed	Cartridge Yield Disclosed
Mono Laser Printers	141	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Color Laser Printer	31	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Inkjet Printers	0	Yes	No	N/A	N/A

False or Misleading Promotion

• Brother clearly advertises color plans in the EZ Print program yet no color printers are currently eligible.
• Brother clearly advertises discounted ink & toner in the EZ Auto Reorder program yet no inkjet printers are currently eligible.
• Brother does not state cartridge series or yield on their website nor prior to enrollment in the Refresh program.

Subscription Claims

EZ Print Program

Brother purports that the EZ Print subscription program can save the end-user up to 50% on genuine Brother ink or toner. This is accompanied by a caveat located in the legal disclaimer found at the bottom of the subscription information page.

It states: based on monthly subscription cost in U.S. for Mono Laser Power Plan vs. average cost per page of eligible like standard capacity cartridges. Savings will vary based on Refresh EZ Print Subscription plan selected.

Obfuscated or Misleading Claim

• No color laser of inkjet printers are included in Brother's claimed subscription discount comparison.
• Only the highest-cost mono laser plan is used in Brother's claimed subscription discount comparison.
• Only a standard yield cartridge is included in Brother's claimed subscription discount comparison.

EZ Auto Reording Program

Brother offers a 10% discount on all orders of genuine ink & toner when subscribed to the EZ Auto Reorder program. The Program also enables the end-user to select a higher-yield cartridge if required.

Obfuscated or Misleading Claim

• No inkjet printers are currently eligible for the EZ-ARP yet Brother promotes "Ink & Toner Delivered Automatically" on the program page.

Pay-Per-Cartridge vs Pay-Per-Page

Case Study

Here we have used Brother's basis for their purported savings in the EZ-Print program:

1. Mono Laser Printer: MFC-L2710DW
2. Highest Cost Plan: Power Plan
3. Standard Yield Cartridge: TN730

Notes

The Brother "Power Plan" includes:

• Credit $30: for add-ons only
• Bonus Toner Eligibility: once only
• Drum Replacement: undefined

It should also be noted that:

• the credit applies to additional page cost or any other consumable outside the plan limits, not subscription cost.
• bonus toner is supplied once and as a 'back-up' in case the "plan" toner shipment does not arrive on time.
• drum replacement is not specified by Brother as to availability, frequency or supply discretion. In the case study here, the MFC-L2710DW requires a DR730 drum unit which Brother states has a life-span of 12,000 printed pages.

Printer

The Brother printer chosen is the MFC-L2710DW. The main reasons for choosing this model for the case study are as follows:

• it is one of the most popular machines and has the highest number of reviews on the Brother eligibility list page.
• it has a sub $400 price point and is listed as eligible for the EZ Print Subscription program.
• it has parts and consumables readily available from a variety of sources.
• it is suited to a home / small office environment and has: automated duplex printing, a large 250 sheet tray capacity, wireless, ethernet or USB connections, 32 page-per-minute print speed and has a 50-page capacity automatic feeder to copy or scan documents.

Analytics

Analysis shows that laser printers are the most popular machine for everyday printing:

• the average home office / small office user prints 3.4 monochrome pages per day
• Consumer Reports.org reports their subscribers print a median of 33 monochrome pages per month
• monochrome printing now makes up to 80% of to total print jobs in a home or small office environment.
• color printing has decreased in use by 34% over the 3 year period measured.

By comparing the user data, the claim of cost-savings and the stipulations in methodology, it is clear that Brother has created a purely theoretical scenario, one in which the choice given by Brother in no way matches a real-world situation or printing habits of the user. Furthermore, Brother engages in a purposefully misleading comparison when they state that the saving is based upon "average cost per page of eligible like standard capacity cartridge" for here they must compare identical products as only genuine Brother cartridges are supplied in the program.

Assumptions

To create a more realistic comparison (and based on Brother's stipulated plan), we set rules to give the end-user a more reasonable, flexible and real-world choice when investigating print pricing. In our use case:

• the end-user keeps the printer for a minimum 12 months.
• the subscription is maintained for a minimum 12 months.
• the end-user runs a small office and prints 15 times the average page rate (6000 pages-per-year)
• the end-user has a broader choice of consumables.

EZ Print Cost Comparison Matrix

	Brand	Yield	Price	Pages	Cartridges	Total Cost	Page Cost	Generic Lockout	Internet Required
Brother	Brother	1200 +-	$24.99	6000	5	$299.88	$0.050	Yes	Yes
Staples	Brother	1200 +-	$47.99	6000	5	$239.95	$0.040	No	No
Office Depot	Brother	1200 +-	$47.99	6000	5	$239.95	$0.040	No	No
YB Toner	Generic	1200 +-	$18.95	6000	5	$94.75	$0.015	No	No
True Image	Generic	1200 +-	$19.50	6000	5	$97.50	$0.016	No	No

False or Misleading Claim

As the above data illustrates, Brother's claim that the program can "save the end-user up to 50%" is purposefully misleading. They do this by using the following methods:

1. Scenario Manipulation: Brother assumes that the user runs with the service for only a month, ending the program before the billing cycle before or prior to the auto-replenishment alert.
2. Comparing Different Programs: this is a clear misrepresentation. Here Brother relates Pay-Per-Page to Pay-Per-Cartridge, a false and misleading comparison. The matrix shows us that the Brother price is roughly half that of Staples, but here the user owns the cartridge bought from Staples and only the rents the ability to print a certain number of pages from Brother.

We note also that should the end-user run with the program for a year, then the Brother program is the most expensive option for printing.