Help with Epson R3000 - ink marks on prints

To Joe, Toni, Bob and others that have provided input; I have an update:

The print head is bad, needs to be returned to Epson for replacement at a cost of $390.00

As I am not a professional printer it seems that not using frequently may have created the problem, to give you an idea of use I purchased this printer in Sept. 2011 and the counter was at 2,770 the tech told me that the counter has to reach about 14,440 before it needs maintenance. I really thought that my use would allow me to have this printer for a very long time. I still want to have a good quality printer so i am leaning to have it repair as a new one cost $639.00 Any suggestions? and for the future, any idea as to how frequent should I be using to avoid this problem down the road? Thank you all.

--
Sante