How Can I Get Maytag To Listen To Me?

I never thought i’d be writing in to you, but here goes (this starts out like the letter i wrote to Penthouse…).

I am one of the unfortunate ones affected by the Maytag recall in recent months. Actually, by now it isn’t so recent. My fiance and I have been doing our best in documenting our calls, service visits and problems as any good Consumerist would. We have the names and numbers of folks and all that, but every time we call in we get the exact same runaround. There seems to be no escalating within the Maytag customer service office. just for fun, i put my notes on this email. It’s been since February that we first contacted them, and the DW has been out of service since May.

So in the spirit of Popken, I’d like to try calling someone at Maytag, but i can’t find out where to look to get a cust. service VP or the like. Any thoughts? i know you have heard from other Maytag-abused folks recently, but i don’t know if any of them had related any info on how they came to resolution. Is there any other recourse?

-Matt

Well Matt, We’ve been hearing mixed things about this Maytag dishwasher recall. Our friend Reader Steve just received a brand-new dishwasher from Maytag because they simply called him to ask if he was happy with his repair…and he wasn’t. (Because there was no repair.)

Reader Sandy had the Maytag man over to her place to repair her dishwasher… and he broke it. Sandy advises: “If Maytag sends you the scary “you’re all gonna catch on fire and die” letter, do not proceed with the repair just yet. Instead, just sit in front of your dishwasher with a fire extinguisher while it’s running . You’ll be better off in the long run.”

So, what we’re saying to you, Matt, is that Maytag is inconsistent. The only real advice we can give comes from Reader Leor. He pestered Maytag into sending a free dishwasher. What was his secret? He used email.

Leor writes:

    I have one of the defective Maytag dishwashers that was recalled. After waiting over a month, I did not yet get a repair kit. I started complaining and send emails to the director of investor relations and customer support. After several weeks of correspondence, I got them to give me a new machine for free! They are replacing my 6.5 year old model with a brand new comparable model, free pickup and installation. Seems that they are so backlogged on repair kits ( I was #253 in the queue), that if you complain loudly, they will respond.

Matt, this leads us to recommend the EECB, or Executive Email Carpet Bomb. You can learn how to launch one by clicking here. Maytag’s email format is: firstname.lastname@whirlpool.com or firstname_lastname@whirlpool.com.

Good luck to you.

(Photo:redjar)

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