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X post with appliances: Whirlpool Customer Service

11 years ago

In case you're not actually visiting the Appliances Forum, this still might be useful information.

The Haggler is the acerbic and hilarious consumer advocate in the NY Times. Yesterday, he talked about tangling with Whirlpool Customer Service.

Here is a link that might be useful: Haggler vs. Whirlpool Customer Service

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Comments (8)

User
11 years ago
I LOATHE Whirltag's customer service. They aren't even helpful to the stores that carry their product. I'm free of them now, but at the last job, we also retailed appliances and they were the WORST manufacturer to deal with by aeons.

And, just to name names, they also make Maytag, JennAir, and Kitchenaid, and a lot of the Kenmore private label models for Sears.

Buyer beware if you purchase from any of these companies!
deedles
11 years ago
Thanks for the heads up.
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Gary - does Maytag have their own research and design team? How about management team? Do they have their own factories where they only produce Maytag appliances ? Nope they pretty much cease to exist. The few factories that are still open are an old Amana plant from that acquisition and that scion of cooking Magic Chef ! Maytag 's only value is in its name. Now , lets look at Gaggenau. While they are under they Bosch ownership umbrella , they have their own mgmt. team, in Gaggenau Germany. Their own factories where they produce Gaggenau appliances, and more importantly, a capable R&D dept. that comes up with things like full surface induction tops, side hinged ovens, pop up column vents, side hinged ovens. Some of that is shared across Bosch's other brands, like the induction, and some is not - like the ventilator. I'll let you slide on this one since your a techie instead of a big picture management guy. But, how bout gettin a clue before you start looking for interesting things next time. Lots of parts are shared in the industry, and not just within corp. entities. There are only a few fridge compressors on the market. Does that make Kitchen Aid a marketing arm of Sub Zero because the compressor will fit both ? How about the light bulb that fits your Electrolux and a thermador too? What about the door hinges that Bosch and Tdor and Gaggenau use on their fridges? Miele has the same thing too. That's a whole separate discussion because of the shared factory, but by your logic it'd make them just a " marketing arm" because the same part is shared. Why don't you offer some reasons why one should buy Maytag instead of trying to pick a scrap with me and crapping on some other brand to deflect away from what the OP asked. And speaking of interesting and tellin it like it is, why didn't you include your beloved Electrolux on your list of poor service companies and those that don't do their own service? Inquiring minds find a THAT interesting.
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Thank you for sharing that great info! I always love to hear which companies offer great customer service!
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Charon70 I am not sure what causes the chipping. From postings and pictures here chipping on the wall ovens seems to occur earlier and starts in the corners. There are many pictures on this forum. It is more linear in appearance. In the DF ranges, it seems to be over the element. It chips the enamel off of the substrate. Repac, Wolf reps have said many things reported on this forum. They have "never heard if the problem" or "it has been fixed years ago". When I first wrote to Wolf about my range, they told me it was normal. As to being a problem on a "small fraction" of their ovens we have had posters here receive multiple faulty ovens. One poster received three faulty ovens. One topic here was asking if anyone had one that didn't chip. There were some. The problem for me is they expect me to pay an unknown amount for a repair for which they will only guarantee the part for a year. in reading reports here and elsewhere there is nothing to convince me that the problem has been fixed. The M series oven has been redesigned so that the oven liner is in two pieces to relieve stress on the corners. The E has not been redesigned. I'm glad you did not have chipping with your E ovens but search on this forum for others experiences. Most people have had great service from Wolf within the warranty period and Wolf did replace a double oven that chipped at 4.5 years, same age as my range, for a $500 charge which would be reasonable. This was some years ago so I don't think they stand behind their product as they once did in the long term. When I bought my range and Electrolux wall oven, I bought extended service for the wall oven but was told I would not need it for Wolf because Wolf would stand behind their products. This did seem to be true at the time. Decades of service"-not in my experience. " empowered to resolve any issues you may have to your true satisfaction" Sadly this did not happen.
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msl511
11 years ago
I haven't been here in a couple of days and I was just coming to post that column. Well, it's nice to be able to narrow down the huge universe of appliances.

I wonder about the Maytag, etc warning though. The complaint in the column wasn't really about the general quality of their products and I assume any company can occasionally end up with a lemon. The complaint was about how the company responded when it became clear that the customer had a lemon. I assume Whirlpool doesn't do the actual customer service for Maytag, Jenn Air and KA. So I don't know if the warning is fair, based on the Haggler's column.
marcolo
11 years ago
This is a known known, marcia, a very established fact in the industry. Their service is wretched and the senior executive in charge showed that the problem goes right to the top. Clueless and stupid.
User
11 years ago
Oh yes, they do the customer service for all of them. That's been that way for 4-5 years ever since the merger. All of the warranites are about repair only, never replacement. Even if it's DOA, they throw that back to the store and make the store absorb the entire expense of replacing the appliance with no help from the company with any compensation.
msl511
11 years ago
Oh, good to know. I didn't realize there had been a merger and they were all the same company.

So the same parent company owns Whirlpool, Maytag, Jenn Air and Kitchen Aid?

eta: I just checked Wikipedia and answered my own question. Yes, Whirlpool owns all the others. Feh!

This post was edited by marcia59 on Tue, Mar 12, 13 at 14:58
User
11 years ago
From Wikipedia

2006 Acquired the Maytag, including the Maytag, Jenn-Air, Amana, Jade, Magic Chef, Admiral, Hoover, and Dixie-Narco brands, after Justice Department approved the merger.

Surpassed $18 billion in annual revenues.

2007 Sold Hoover to Techtronic Industries, TTI Floorcare.[4] and Jade Appliances to Middleby Corporation. Also closed plants in Newton, Iowa; Searcy, Arkansas; and Herrin, Illinois. This resulted in the sudden loss of 4500 jobs in the affected communities.

Surpassed $19 billion in annual revenues.

2008 Location closings in La Vergne, Tenn; Reynosa, Mexico; and Oxford, Miss. Later the announcement of Dishwasher plant in Jackson, TN to close in August 2009

2009 Whirlpool acquired WC Woods from Bankruptcy [5] and to keep Ottawa, OH plant open; Whirlpool to close Evansville plant;[6] Whirlpool has received $19.3 million in U.S. Department of Energy funding as part of its Smart Grid Investment Grant program [7]

2012 Whirlpool closes Fort Smith, Arkansas plant in June 2012 after moving production out of the plant to Mexico for several years prior to the closing. In 2006 the plant employed 4,600.

15,000 lost jobs since the merger, but the billions in revenue keep going up, while the customer service goes steadily downward.
iroll_gw
11 years ago
Whirlpool also makes Ikea's appliances.

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