I have used the German Method to refill these, I added one more sense to the method.......hearing. When I inserted the syringe all the way to the reservoir, injected the ink, then held it to my ear, you can hear the sponge soaking up the ink, the air bubbles make noise, when it stops, the sponge...
Ink starvation can happen with a cartridge right out of the box, the cartridge may have been malfunctioning right from the start, try another one to rule it out.
I say refilling by hand as well, I have been in the business for 14 years, refilling by hand. I belong to 4 forums including this one, and I see so many have problems with machine filling cartridges and I just shake my head. I don't have anywhere near the problems with cartridges as they do, I...
There are absorbent pads on the inside bottom of the printer, there is tubing attached to the cleaning station, which gets pumped through the tubing into the absorbent pads. Eventually these pads will need replacing, and the printer will tell you by exhibiting a service error, either by flashing...
http://support.vtechplace.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=1
Have a look at the above link, this is basically how to flush out all Epson print heads, most use windex in the syringe. If you have cleaning fluid specifically for Epson print heads this is good as well...