Maytag Neptune Front Load Washing Machines

Maytag / Whirlpool Refuses to Stand Behind Products, Even After Being Sued and Reaching a Settlement

You will find 100s, if not thousands, of notices on the complaints board, on personal blogs and all across the internet from consumers who bought Maytag's high end Neptune front load washing machines but have been left holding the bag when it breaks down and Maytag (now Whirlpool) refuses to stand behind it. My advice to anyone considering purchase of any appliance from Maytag/Whirlpool is caveat emptor -- buyer beware. If anything goes wrong, you will get no support and no satisfaction from service. You won't even get a discount on parts, or on a new machine, or on service to fix these known problems. The best way to avoid being stuck with a lemon is don't buy it in the first place.

Unfortunately for me, these complaints boards and blogs didn't exist (or I didn't know about them) when I purchased my Maytag appliances. I had had several Maytag's before this, but the front load machine appealed to me because it was advertised as getting clothes cleaner and using less water and less energy, while being less harsh on the clothes. My knowledge of higher end European models such as Bosch and Miele suggested that this was probably true, but I chose American because a) it was made here, and I both wanted to support American jobs and had an expectation that service and support would be better with a homegrown machine, and b) the European models were exorbitantly expensive with smaller capacity. As it turns out, this was a terrible mistake, and I either should have gone with the "real thing" or bought a traditional cheap top load model. I will never buy another Maytag again.

My wash machine failed due to the exact problems with the wax motor, door lock not engaging, water not draining, mold/mildew, fried control board (due to failure in wax motor) and bad smell that were the subject of a class action lawsuit. Unfortunately, I was not informed of the suit, and by the time I found out about it the period for making a claim had expired. Maytag/Whirlpool refuses to do anything, even though they settled the claim which, ipso facto, acknowledges the design defect (although in the settlement, Maytag refused to accept responsibility or to officially acknowledge that there was a design defect, the parts affected were all redesigned after the lawsuit) that caused the machine to fail. Their reason: legally they can't help me because the terms of the lawsuit settlement prevent them from supporting customers who report the problem today. Although this is clearly a false statement (there are many things the company could do to mitigate the problem which would not violate terms of the settlement, so the only conclusion to be reached is that this is a smokescreen that "customer no-service" employees are instructed to throw up to avoid dealing with the problem), it will be consistently offered (I called several times) by whoever you talk to.

A complete account of my horrible customer service experience is documented at http://thewaythingsare.typepad.com/antimarketer/2006/10/brand_mismanage.html, along with several simple suggestions for how Maytag could have responded to this problem that would have resulted in a positive customer experience and continuing brand loyalty. Moreover, those solutions would have cost them next to nothing. Instead, they have burned all their goodwill with me, and I will never, ever buy another Maytag or Whirlpool appliance (regardless of brand badge) again. And, I make a point of telling anyone I can about how poorly I was treated and counselling people to not buy these machines when I see them considering it. Until this company reforms its ways, and makes good on their brand promise and on their responsibility to the customers, I think the only power consumers have is to refuse to buy their products, and make sure other consumers are aware of these issues.