May 8, 2009 update: I received a call from a supervisor at Maytag, who had read this blog post. They have now agreed to refund the full amount of the parts. I still wish that this whole thing never happened, but I am satisfied with this outcome.
The original post:
I've never done this before, and I probably won't again, because branding, product quality, and customer service don't have much to do with presentation design.
But I am just so annoyed that I had to vent. Less than two years after we bought our house, which had all new appliances, including a high-end Maytag dishwasher, the dishwasher broke. I called Maytag, and they told me that although this expensive machine was already out of its warranty. Fine, so we would have to pay for the repairs. The Maytag repairman came, and charged me $90 to tell me that the thing needed a new control board. Maytag said that the control board was nationally out of stock and I would have to wait four to six weeks (does this give you a hint that this type of dishwasher breaks down a lot?!). Well, we are a large family and would rather not be without a dishwasher for six weeks, especially since we had a new baby at the time and were busy enough as it was. So I told them to forget it and that I would throw out their dishwasher and buy another one, which I did (from Sears).
Several weeks later, the part arrives, and my credit card is billed. Today I spent about two hours on the phone working my way through customer service and the parts department, but unfortunately (for me) they don't accept returns of electronic parts–even though they should never have sent it in the first place. They did agree to send me a $75 check for my trouble, which is less than half the cost of the parts.
Why am I annoyed? Because a $1000 dishwasher broke after less than 2 years of use, and because they were out of stock on the part, and because, after I told them I was going to throw their dishwasher out, they still sent me the part and charged me for it, and now won't take it back.
On their website I found the following:
Maytag continues its relentless pursuit to build the highest-quality and most dependable machines for you, our customer
They may be pursuing that goal, but there sure as heck are not reaching it, or even coming close.
It turns out I am not alone in my disappointment. In case any of you are ever inclined to make the big mistake of buying a Maytag or Whirlpool brand appliance, check out the following:
If you want more, search for "Maytag sucks" or "I hate Maytag." Or for more brands from the same fine company, search for "Whirlpool sucks" or "I hate Whirlpool."
Venting over. Back to presentation design.