Printer Ink Cartridges & Print Quality

So maybe it's just me but it feels like this printer is kind of a scam in the ink department.

First off I was getting low ink warnings within my first week of using it. The thing is, though, it just kept saying ESTIMATED levels. I searched everywhere to try to find ACTUAL levels or even do a test page, but test pages can only be done one color at a time and even doing that I couldn't be sure it was doing it based on the real levels. (Just before I started getting the low ink notices I started getting spammed with this push to sign up for auto refill saying that they estimated I'd be needing ink soon, which seemed fishy.) I figured I must have used more ink than I realized and/or the ink included with the printer wasn't full. However, when I did give in and replace the cartridges, I knew for SURE i didn't use it an excessive amount. I literally used it to print to do lists (always on draft/low quality/eco) and before I was even done the ink ran out. Within a week's time of very limited print jobs with every setting possible set to conserve as much ink as possible, one color was supposedly completely out and the rest were crazy low. What's more/what makes it feel more like a scam is that when it "estimates" I'm low on a color, it simply doesn't use that color. So I'm not seeing the fading in and out color streaks that indicates to me that yea it's out. Additionally in my experience when ink is low, you can typically get SOMEthing out of it if you shake it, but again it did nothing.

I was given this printer as a gift last year because the printer I had for close to a decade finally had it, so maybe I'm just used to printers that can make ink last a LONG time, while still managing to go lightning fast, but even still this was excessive.

So has anyone else had these kind of issues? Or is there something else I can do to make it last longer? Honestly if this is the way it's going to be I think it would be more cost effective to get my old printer fixed at this point.

Ultimately I just don't want to sink an excessive amount of money into ink especially when the printer isn't even fast and it feels like every other time I go to use it I have to uninstall it and then reinstall because it can't recognize it's online, plus prints come out crooked half the time because the paper tray doesn't actually go up to where the paper ends so it shifts as it's pulled through.

So has anyone managed to make ink last for a reasonable amount of time/projects? (And/or solved any of the other issues I mentioned?)