A matter of Luck??
No, don't think that it's a matter of luck at all. I must admit that I was unaware of the potential to lose a printer for an inactivity period of just 30 days - but once I started beavering to get it fixed I ran into technician after technician who:
a. wouldn't touch them with a barge-pole
b. Were very familiar with the problem and had no solution once they'd bitten the dust and become clogged.
c. Saw it as an unnecessary pitfall if you could buy a printer that had its printhead in the throwaway cartridge.
As I said above, Epson just don't want to know you. All such companies (of whom Diamond Graphics were perhaps the worst example - with their bogus rebates and nil refund policies) eventually crash and burn.
I freel admit that I have had Epson Stylus colour printers before and that because of a high duty cycle they normally gave no trouble. Fail once in that duty cycle and you are automatically in Throwaway City. You can buy up to three years extended warranty though - so I'd have to recommend that quite expensive course of action for anyone who wanted to stick with Epson.