The machines tanks and shaving cores must be disassembled and cleaned every two weeks. They have a very intelligent series of sensors and internal mechanisms that make it impossible to defeat or cheat.
This is not a low skilled job. I'd say it would be easier to change your cars oil than complete this. There's multiple gaskets and seals which need to be rotated quarterly in a tune up kit. While we were hiring at minimum wage the shake machine trained people were making 15$. I can only imagine what they're making now.
I don't find the "cryptic messages" issue to be valid. New machines had new systems and codes, it wasn't malicious. Everyone had access to the manual and the Taylor provider in my region did some phone troubleshooting free of charge to prevent service calls. They even did free annual trainings.
Mechanically older machines can have issues, and some franchisees can be stubborn about replacing them. However I believe the vast majority of the time the issue is the machine not being cleaned.