Problem after problem with Epson R280 printer

I have had 5 different Epson printers now and never had problems with any of them until now. I am now on my third Epson R280. The first would not let me load printer cartridges, the second, the heads were clogged. Couldn't be unclogged. These were brand new right out of the box. Epson won't refund my money, nor will they let me exchange for a different printer, even a upgrade that costs more. So they are sending me another one. Just wanted a cheap printer to do my 8x10's. Do not buy this printer. Also pretty disatisfied with Epsons policies.

Dean, I feel your pain on the R2XX series, I argue with an R260 at my church when printing CDs. However, for 8x10s I use an R300 at work and an R380 at home and they've been a charm. I had to do a mod on the R300 to drain excess ink out the back so it wouldn't trip the shutdown mechanism that Epson put in (see this article).

The R380 has been a joy, it runs great right out of the box, now going on its 3rd year. The ink is sold at Costco (in blister pack which I'm not nuts about), $57 for all six cart's, so that makes the R380 a winner. That ink is $14 a piece at most office stores. Costco better keep selling it! Anyway, my R380 has never clogged. I always turn it off when not in use of course. Hope this is useful info!

I'm the odd man out here I guess. I had an R200 and loved it. I got a chance to upgrade to the R280 on sale and gave my wife the R200 which she loves. I once had a problem with a yellow cartridge with the 280. The printer wouldn't recognize it. I emailed Epson they sent me a new cartridge by Federal Express (no charge) and it worked fine. I've had no other problems. I use it as my general printer as well as photos. Yeah, ink is expensive but it doesn't seem to matter much which printer you buy when it comes to ink. they're all expensive. The guy who makes my really large prints (on a Canon that prints 40" or more wide) told me it costs over $1000 to re-ink it.