I don't have enough clout to get it repaired. I don't have a million Twitter followers and a blog with a huge following, so if I have a problem with it and complain, the "manager of the executive office" from Maytag's parent company isn't going to call and make it all better for me. I'm not going to get offered a new appliance because of the hoopla I created. I'd be stuck waiting for the repairman just like everyone else.
Maytag's attempt to fix the problem didn't really help their bigger problem of rebranding. Now they're the company that allows a washing machine to go unrepaired for almost a month instead of the company that makes dependable washing machines, I now have a new narrative associated with them.
Now, I know what happened to a sleep-deprived mom of an infant who needed her brand new $1300 washing machine repaired and how the repairman came to her house three times over a 23 day span and the washer still didn't work. I know now that a sleep-deprived mom who needed her brand new Maytag washing machine was told that she would have to wait 3-5 days for a repairman to fix the machine that wasn't repaired by the last repairman even though she had been waiting close to a month. And she was also told that company policy dictated that they couldn't replace it until there were three attempts at a fix and even though the repairman was there three times, he was only on his first attempt. Yes, 23 days, 3 visits and 1 attempted repair. And they wanted her to repeat this cycle two more times? (Without giving her a loaner!)
What about the commercial where the repairman is bored and has nothing to do because the machines are so dependable? Evidently, that's a crock since you can't get a repairman right away, it takes them three to five days to schedule work on a brand new $1300 washing machine. Must be some kind of backlog, huh?
That narrative will stick with me when I go to the store to purchase a new washing machine. They should have listened to the very famous blogger when she said she had a million followers on Twitter, now the story's out and I could care less that they fixed her machine since I know it's only because it made a big enough noise.
(via)
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
Robert, that's funny.
Just be sure to measure the space that you have, michele, before you buy something.
Yes, 23 days, 3 visits and 1 attempted repair.
This reminds me of our furnace breakdown several Decembers ago ... waiting at home for the repairman when I was supposed to be out Christmas shopping. He eventually got it working and was nice enough to leave a couple of space heaters (I've since learned to keep some on hand) in the meantime because I had a young child and an infant in those days.
I'd say the lady's baby is colicky. And, yes, we like to take for granted that our appliances and/or our cars work when we need them. Like today, when I'm washing sand out of everything.
i suppose that a laundromat was too far below this famous blogger.
anonymous reincarnate,
Could you be any nastier?
Well, yes, actually, I bet you could.
The point of the story is not the baby or the well-known mommy. The point is the absolutely awful customer service Whirlpool has. Nearly as bad as the lousy quality of their machines, apparently.
Americans do a lot of complaining about how everything is made in China, everything is throw-away junk. Fine. This woman decided to buy American and she chose Maytag because they're supposed to build good appliances, not junk. She saved for a long time to buy the machine, by the way - well-known and wealthy are not the same thing.
What she got was disgraceful. Her solution was brilliant.
Instead of taking cheap shots, try to learn from this.
Oh, and, yes - this certainly is not helpful to the argument that a souless corporation really cares more about my healthcare than does the government.
You can complain that your product isn't being fixed in a timely manner, but to sit around with dirty, poopy clothes as though you were incapable of taking them to a laundromat? Sorry, I scrolled through the blog posts and that site and apparently that lady has an assistant. So yeah, I agree with anonymous reincarnate.
thanks, dollie.
and i didn't think that pointing out that she'd rather piss and moan about her broken washer online rather than get off her butt and take the laundry to the laundromat was nasty at all.
"This woman decided to buy American and she chose Maytag because they're supposed to build good appliances, not junk. She saved for a long time to buy the machine, by the way - well-known and wealthy"
she's hardly well-known, and who cares if she's wealthy or not? if you had read my comment above, you'd see that i spent even less for a maytag washer/dryer pair than she did on her single fancy washer. so apparently she's wealthier than i. but that's beside the point. again, if you had paid attention to my earlier comment, i pointed out just how great my maytag washer and dryer are. in fact, my previous maytag washer lasted me more than 15 years with only one minor repair (which i did myself because it was 5 years past warranty)!
Instead of taking cheap shots, try to learn from this.
she's great at complaining online... yippie for her. it's hardly a learning experience. maybe she should have paid less for a better washer. maybe she should step away from her computer and do a load or two at the laundromat. try to learn from that!
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.