An Epson S20 inkjet printer, less than 10 months old and still under warranty, consumed its color ink cartridges while printing only black pages, then claimed two cartridges (Yellow and Cyan) were empty after a cleaning cycle, then claimed that the cartridges "could not be recognized" after they were shaken and reseated, as recommended.
The almost brand new printer was purchased less than 10 months ago. It was set up with its driver, the original ink cartridges (CYMB, types T0892, T0894, T0893 and T0891), were installed and one color test page was printed. All was well.
The printer was immediately set up for black only printing, its purpose was to print occasional document pages, such as letters, from a laptop. It performed well in this role. After a while the black cartridge ran empty, according to the indicators, and was replacted with a T0711 black cartridge. This also ran out after a while and another T0711 cartridge was purchased and installed.
Less than 2 weeks after the 2nd T0711 cartridge was installed, the printer developed a single bad nozzle in the black head, leaving a white line in printouts. A nozzle clean was commanded, the first one since installation (the printer is normally always on, barring very rare power outages). The process completed after which the amber Ink light came on. The printer control program indicated that BOTH the Yellow and the Cyan reservoirs were empty. They had not been low on ink before.
After reseating the Cyan and Yellow cartridges, the printer claimed that the cartridges "cannot be recognized". Repeated reseating brought no relief.
A brand new printer under warranty, which printed less than 200 pages in 10 months, and which induced the owner to buy original ink twice (ink cost in excess of 40€), developed a clogged black head nozzle. When it was commanded to self clean, it sucked two color cartridges dry and then wiped or destroyed them in a way that made them unrecognizable to itself. This left the printer refusing to work although it has an almost full (5 pages printed) black ink (20€) cartridge recently installed.
Don't ever buy anything from Epson. Apparently they won some lawsuit in 2007 which prevents aftermarket ink providers from providing competing inks. Ever since, they care about as much about what customers think or feel as any megalomaniacal dictator. Perhaps that's the meaning of the baboon photo which inexplicably adorns their inks and even the inside of their printers as a label related to their so famous ink.
Printer (30€) + 2 * T0711 cartridges (2 * 20€) = 70€ total spent, with ~200 (less than) printed pages results in 30 Eurocents/page printed (all black, mostly draft). I believe that even the first inkjet and laser printed pages were significantly cheaper than this.
At this cost, buying a prepaid card at a digital printer's would have been 2x cheaper and yielded better quality, even if the last T0711 cartridge, which is now still full and completely useless, would not have been bought. Also, the cartridges used by this printer cannot be refilled and no aftermarket replacements exist. Penny pinching, pound fool. Or is it Epson fool(ed). I feel that this somehow related to the baboon photo on the printer labels and on ink package labels. It keeps staring meaningfully at me. One comment (link below) states that only Cheetah inks are to be used. No staring, ripping. It fits.
Where to go from here: Nowhere near any Epson sale. Let your friends and friends friends know. Of course running out of ink while under warranty is not something covered. I did not even bother to check. Should you feel tempted to buy an Epson inkjet, keep the Cost Breakdown in mind, and buy a digital printer's prepaid card instead. You'll get laser quality for one fourth of the price of an Epson inkjet black draft "quality" strainkjet output.
Coda: The author of this page worked for over 10 years in the warranty and service department of a large transnational Japanese equipment maker. He saw a lot and knows a lot, but never anything like this. That's likely because he did not work for Epson. Nor will he. Ever.