Digital BW, The Print

Hello all;

Has anyone had any experience and/or success with the various Epson 
service programs available online? I downloaded  the 1280 program, 
but I can't seem to find a way to get the adjustmennt I need, namely 
some way to fix that ##&^%(**!!@@ dither banding in the middle 
values. And this is on the replacement 1280 they just sent me no 
less. The new one is no better than the old one, which has me 
thinking about Canon printers...

Steve