Maytag Warranty Service Scam

Posted on 1 Dec/2006 by mxw

OK, I paid a lot for a Maytag fridge, the one with stainless steel and the bottom freezer – Well, two years and a month later, the fridge started making a nasty click-buzz-click noise which I suspected was the compressor. Soon after, it stopped making cold.
Luckily I had a handy-dandy Home Warranty Contract (American Home Shield) so I gave them a call and paid my $45 deductable. I gave them the model & serial number on the phone and expected them to come with a new compressor, fix it and go away….


Home Warranty Guy arrived, said “Compressor is bad – but it’s still under Maytag warranty so call them” …… and left.

I called Maytag. they said, yes. Parts and Labour are under warranty for five years (yippee!), but there’s a charge (why?) for the callout/travelling. And, because you want a guy there in the next few days, it’ll cost even extra.

OK – maybe I’m old fashioned or really out of touch with reality, but ‘Parts and Labor’ to me means I DONT PAY ANYTHING. SO here’e the breakdown:

Labor charge (that’s what it says on the invoice) $147.95

Extra cash coz I want the fridge repaired this side of Thanksgiving $30.

Total $177.95

————

Man turns up in big Maytag van, nice Maytag uniform and tells me what I know already. “You need a new compressor!”. But guess what? “I don’t have one with me (We’re not allowed to carry them on the van)” There are No compressors for your two year old fridge anywhere in the United States (backorder). It may take 7-10 days to get them. Call back on Friday. Bye Bye!

At this point, my wife goes ballistic, this being 18th November and Thanksgiving getting close and three children under 7 in the house.

————-

I call a local Maytag ‘Authorized Warranty Service Company’ (Valley Oak Appliances). Yes, we have the part, we can come out in two days!

————-

Very Nice man comes out, replaces compressor, charges us $65 and goes away. Wife is happy, children are happy.
Now, the end game….

————–

I call Maytag – to cancel service call and get a refund.

First person listens to what I say, says she can’t give me a refund cos that was for the service man’s time, travelling. When I protest (calmly, with no expletives) she hangs up.

Call back next day, speak to ‘Amy’ and she listens and explains that labor and parts are free, what I paid for was travel and mileage and ‘diagnosis’ or my problem. When I explained that I know what the problem was, that I gave her the model/serial number and told them what the problem was and that I expected them to turn up with the compressor and didnt need any goddam diagnosis she said that ‘we can’t take people’s word for it – we need to diagnose it ourself’. She refused to consider a refund and when asked said she could not authorise one anyway. I asked to speak to someone who could and she passed me to ‘Kenneth’ who, after repeating the company line with such familiarity that I guess he must have it stuck to his monitor, said that he couldn’t authorise a refund either. He then got stuck into a corporate groove and kept repeating ‘send a letter to the Consumer Affiars at the address I gave you’ and called me ‘Sir’ a lot.

…..

So I called my Home Warranty people and said – ‘I pay you guys to fix my broken stuff and your guy didn’t – now, I have to pay MayTag to fix things that are covered by you – so where do I send the bill?’

To their credit, the Home Warranty people did give me an address and an authorization number, but the fact remains that Maytag, for their $177 did exactly nothing, and I have another bill, for $65.

So, to fix a fridge that is under a ‘parts and labor’ warranty has so far cost me:

$45 for Home Warranty Deductable
$177 for Maytag’s gailure to fix anything
$65 for Valley Oak to fix it.

(not forgetting the $30/month the home warranty costs me)

We’ll see what effect the letter to Maytag has, but this does bring up some issues about what constitutes ‘Labor’ and whether $147 is an acceptable surcharge (it’s a standard fee for Maytag under-warranty parts) and whether ‘diagnosis’ is part of ‘labor’. Anyone interested in a class-action lawsuit?

———————

Maytag have a useful link on their website to send emails to Customer Service. So I sent them this:

I am EXTREMELY upset with Maytag and it's response to my request for service
for my 2 year old fridge/freezer. I want to speak to someone outside the service
department (who just completely blew me off) who will get me a refund for a
completely abortive service call I had. $177. Please call me asap before I go to
Amex and get them to reverse the charge on my card.

and they replied back (6 days later) with this:

Thank you for visiting our Maytag.com customer service page.  We appreciate
your interest in our products and service. We sincerely apologize for any
inconvenience and understand your frustration.  We would like the opportunity
to review your product file history and contact you personally for further discussion
regarding your concerns.  We look forward to speaking with you and appreciate your
patience while your file is being reviewed.
If you have additional questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely, Cynthia
Maytag Consumer Services
(Mon.-Fri. 8:00 a.m.- 8:00 p.m., Eastern Time)


So I replied with this:



Hi Cynthia,
Refer to my blog page for details: http://www.scamdex.com/ScamBlog. I'd be grateful
for a URL that shows your 'Parts and Labor' definition(that excludes mileage, travel
time, diagnosis etc. and explains why$177 is a reasonable amount to pay for all the above).




To which they replied:




Hello,
Thank you for visiting our Maytag.com customer service page.  We appreciate your
interest in our products and service. If you filed a claim with the Third Party Administrator
before August 9, 2005 and have not received notification regarding the status of your
claim, we will be happy to forward your e-mail inquiry to the correct department for review.
For you convenience, you are welcome to contact the number below to request status
of your claim.
1-888-462-9824, Option 9
If you have additional questions or comments, please do not hesitate to
contact us.
Sincerely, Monica
Maytag Consumer Services
(Mon.-Fri. 8:00 a.m.- 8:00 p.m., Eastern Time)



											


					

						

													

						

							
About mxw

							I run the Scamdex Website							
						

					


					

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                Carolyn Lopez
            
        
    
        
    
            
    Maytag appliances suck!!  We bought all top of the line appliances with the purchase of our newly constructed house in 2007.  They were the most expensive we have ever owned (we bought them on our own, not through the builder.) We have had 8 homes and have never bought top of the line knowing that we would be moving in 4 years on average.  Some appliances were 20 yrs or better and we are hard pressed to think of what and when we had to call for service for any of them…..Once a water line to a fridge….Since we got these life suckers, there is never any peace…..we now actually live with inconvience till (always!) something else goes wrong.  Then, it takes nearly 3 visits per work order to have it fixed……..and sometimes that doesnt work either, since its been 3 years since my washer does the twist of vengence every spin cycle.  They can sell me something that will stop that…………honestly?  Really?  The best part is that between Comcast (refered to in our home as SuckCast) and waiting on the sometimes they show up repair people, I have lost several weeks waiting, staying home…this is not to mention the ordeal of calling in a repair……………OMG!!  That can take up to an hour alone.  You would think they know us by now…………I actually have some of my appliance registration numbers memorized (yeah the big long ones!)  How many of you can say that?  Sometimes I can hardly remember my home phone number!  My absolute favorite is when you call in with more than one problem and they magically loose one………….”What?  We have no record of you calling in your washer too.”  This has happened several times.  Yesterday they were supposed to be here between 12 and 5 to fix my fridge and microwave.  Got a call at 12:30 that there isnt any techs that work on microwaves today………Would have been nice to know that say 4 hours earlier so I could have gone to work.  But then I would have had the pleasure of finding out that they werent going to look at the fridge………you know, no record…………only after 1/2 hour discussing it on the phone…..now they are coming today, but just for the micorwave…………no news about the fridge yet………..probably another work day………..there is my vacation for 2 years…………comcast and maytag!
    

    
        
    
    
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                Fernando Sandoval
            
        
    
        
    
            
    Maytag is a scam! I spend $900 for a fridge and the compressor goes in 3 years. This is unacceptable. Do I want it repaired? No! Time for a new brand.
    
Maytag is disingenuous and misleading. The products they offer are inferior and not worth your hard earned money!
    

    
        
    
    
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                Frank
            
        
    
        
    
            
    The Magtag scam ALMOST caught me too. Only through the incompetence of Sears was I saved
    

    I went to Sears to buy a Washer & Dryer. The sales guy there tells me that Maytag has 10 years parts & labor warranty. I like the idea of a 10-year warranty, so a Maytag washer & dryer is just what I buy – and that’s what I would be using now…. But! The Sears installation crew was so bad they couldn’t figure our how to connect the washer & dryer, and their “special” installation tech never showed for 3 days straight. So, I cancelled the whole order and told them to take back their washer & dryer, I would be going somewhere else. And a good thing I did!
    

    When checking out a smaller appliance store I asked about what washer & dryer had the best warranty, expecting to be told “Maytag”. Surprise surprise, they told me “Speed Queen” was the best warranty with 3 years parts and labor. Of course, I asked about Maytag and their 10 year warranty, and was told that it’s actually a 1-year parts & labor warranty with an extremely limited 9-years parts only warranty after that. 
    

    No joke. I checked Maytag’s website and that’s exactly what it is. For 1 year, parts & labor are covered. For the 2nd through 10th year the warranty ONLY cover’s the motor, NO OTHER PARTS, and you pay the labor!
    

    See link for Maytag’s actual 1-year “warranty” with little to no coverage after that
    
http://www.maytag.com/assets/pdfs/cms/other/Maytag_Warranty_Laundry.pdf
    

    Maytag’s warranty is a complete and total scam. People think they will get a full 10 years out of it, and when something happens over a year later they will end up paying the ENTIRE repair cost.
    

    
        
    
    
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http://www.scamdex.com                mxw
            
        
    
        
    
            
    Here’s some more people with sad tales of the lonely serviceman.
    
http://www.my3cents.com/companyReview.cgi?compid=228&subcat=9
    

    
        
    
    
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