Both of mine are refusing to print because of lack of ink/toner. The
Lexmark laser says there are 80 pages worth of black left but it still
will not print. The Brother inkjet says it is out of cyan even though
the cartridge is still half full.

I know there are hacks on the web to reset the chip for at least one of
them but why do they persist in this behaviour which is obviously going
to **** customers off.

IIRC there is now an Epson with refillable ink reservoirs that
(presumably) gets around this chip nonsense, do I have to get yet
another printer to avoid being held to ransome?

I'd be interested in views of anyone who has researched this a bit more.

TIA