7 replies to this topic

[madbrad]

Maytag dishwasher bought with an extended warranty at Home Depot in 2005. The handle breaks while the manufacturer one year warranty is still in effect. You all know it's the bane of the Maytag DW but I didn't, at that time. New handle has metal thingies. The second time, for$10.50 I thought it would be more effacatious if I just do it myself. This was when the extended warranty would have been the one to cover it. I should have let them...

Breaks again later, but now they don't sell the handle, you have to buy the whole latch ass'y, as you guys probably know, and that's about $110. So the warranty company does it. They do it again a bit later. They updated the design once for the first time but never continued improvment. Of course at some point when I wasn't looking Whirlpool entered the stage. That was what threw a wrench into the works. Warranty work was previously painless. A shop of my choosing could do the work as long as the warranty company gave me an auth#. With Whirlpool, the warranty company calls Whirlpool who sends their person out. I find that wierd because there is no manufacturer's warranty on it so why would Whirlpool be intrerested in it? If it's because they want to make money on service, well what gives them the right to claim province on this? Did they pay the warranty company to go along with it? That in itself wasn't the problem, but here's what was:

Last fall, at a really bad time because I was working away from home for 16 weeks and was home only on weekends, the impeller broke apart into tiny pieces, as I found upon dissection. Also the fine screen had detached in places and I left the tech a note asking if that was why there were hard bits clogging the holes in the washarms. When he came, he responded in the affirmative. I was away at work at the time. He ordered the impeller and the part that has that screen glued to it. As long as it is waiting for parts, with me being away, Mrs madbrad must handwash 3X daily with 3 problem madrats pulling on her pantlegs. The larger part is unobtainium. After about 2 weeks I begin a bi-daily harrassment of the Comerco rep(I don't think it was Comerco when I first bought it). He just keeps saying the part is coming. I threw everything I could at him. The contract says if they can't get the needed parts they have to buyout(actually it's worded to replace the appliance but all you get is a cheque) so I tried that but he said they'll get the part, AND they're blaming Whirlpool!. The problem is it's a maytag part and now there's no more Maytag company, and I'm forced to let Whirlpool look for it. I never paid Whirlpool. Whirlpool couldn't find the neckholes of their shirts if they were pulling them over their heads. I paid  the warranty company and they're in breach of contract! Why couldn't I let my local appliance shop that I trust and have used to great satisfaction many times before take care of it? I bet they could get the part in a day! I let this rep know every 2 days in no uncertain terms ,in many different ways, that he has a most unsatisfied customer. He always tried to sound sympathetic. I wanted to bill them for all the handwashing that was going on. Eventually, after SIX WEEKS, they got the part and some nice dude fixed it. Mrs madbrad said he told her there are many complaints about Comerco, from consumers and the shops it uses alike. I met him for the first time just last month when he came in to do an ignitor on the Gemini range under a different warranty company. The warranty rep finally caved to my bi+ching and added another year to the coverage. This turned out to be serendiptous, as during that added year the handle broke again, making it the third time Comerco fixed it(I could not count the time I did it myself so I got away with murder here). They fixed it and then they sent me a cheque for some 700-odd dollars, the amount with tax I paid for the machine. Standard contract verbiage. Just this week I finally replaced it with a new GE Profile. Just in time too, as the control panel or board had been acting funny lately but finally stuck on "rinse only" the day I picked up the new one. It had also begun washing poorly so timing was good. I had a very bad time of it all but at least it had a happy ending. Sometimes they do lose money bon the warranty. So Mrs madbrad won't buy from anywhere that uses that warranty company, or anything whirlpool owns. Not because of the product but because of the company. We did not invite them into our lives but they entered it anyway, and they made a big mess of it.

[appl.tech.29501]

Was the extended warranty that you bought "through Home depot" or the manufacturer? Whithin the first year and whirlpool authorized servicer can work on it. All you have to do is find one and call them out and they do the rest. They same goes after the first year if the extended warranty is still the MFG. Warranty. If its the reatilers warranty after the first year they have there own service companies that don't have to be authorized whirlpool servicers (and usually aren't.

[madbrad]

Home Depot warranty, not Maytag extended warranty. This was during the last year of the coverage. It was Comerco at the end but IIRC it wasn't when I bought it. It was a local independent shop that was whirlpool authorized, but so was the place I usually use. All I know is when I first called the warranty company about the problem they said they were to contact Whirlpool and Whirlpool would send someone. I didn't balk at all. I didn't think it mattered. Probably wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Had whirlpool not bought Maytag I could have used whomever I wanted for the duration of the extended warranty. The one service that occurred during the mfr warranty, I forget who did that and whether I chose them or not.

 

On the one hand if the part is truly unobtainium then it's nobody's fault. But if it does exist I don't think it should take that long to find it. The unit was American made and I don't know about the part but probably? It's not the warranty company's fault but it's them that I paid so it's them, not Whirlpool, that is to answer for it, It's their job, not mine, to pressure whirlpool to do their job. I doubt they bothered. Although the people at Whirlpool who in effect sat on this part for 6 weeks did so out of a callous complete lack of regard for hardships on people caused by their deliberate inaction, The only entity I should be directing my ire at is the one that I paid and is not doing its job, namely the waranty company. And I have a feeling that if I were to call my local shop they could have got the part in their normal few days interval.

[appl.tech.29501]

Believe it or not Whirlpool will give their authorized servicers the run around about parts sometimes. Especially if its a new product that parts destributors haven't begun to stock any parts for yet and they have to come from the factory. We are at their mercy when they give us a delivery date of the part, lets say 2 weeks. We then inform the customer (which gets outraged) and they call Whirlpool. Whirlpool ships them the part over night making us (the servicers) looking like dumbass's. Happens quite often

[madbrad]

So I should have put the screws to Whirlpool to speed it up? I knew that was what was needed, but I thought I paid the warranty company to do that. I wanted to concentrate all my wrath on them and not spread it thin. The warranty rep did not give a wait time. He just said it was ordered and it comes when it comes. He was laying all the blame on Whirlpool, who from my point of view was also the servicer, them using a local shop notwithstanding. So to me none of the blundering would make the shop look bad at all. The serviceman said that part never fails meaning it's not a commonly needed part. I mean he had never seen the screen separate on that before.

[ROBBYRIG]

[user=27301]appl.tech.29501[/user] wrote: 

We are at their mercy when they give us a delivery date of the part, lets say 2 weeks. We then inform the customer (which gets outraged) and they call Whirlpool. Whirlpool ships them the part over night making us (the servicers) looking like dumbass's. Happens quite often

The customer always has more pull than the servicer.

[Scottthewolf]

My favorite is when I worked for Maytag Factory Service and we used to totally run out of the Techumseh compressors used in all the Amana refrigerators every July in the middle of a heat wave.  A backorder with no expected delivery date. Maytag wound up replacing refrigerators for some customers just to save face because they were still under warranty.

[Jimi]

That is why I only buy appliances from a company who does their own warranty work.
That is how my company is run. If a part is unavailable ( which happens with all brands) I can borrow the part off the floor
or give the customer a loner which I do on occasion. If you have an issue with with a washer you paid $1200 for and you have a guy from abc appliance service insurance warranty company come out you don't have much leverage.
If the company who is servicing it sold it to you they will do what they have to, in order to keep you happy so you will deal with them next time you want to buy something. Many other advantages too like the owner waiting 30 minutes past closing to sell you something, try to get sears to do that. Another issue with 3rd party warranty companies they buy and sell each other all the time.

Mom & Pop place is not the only way but it can be a good way.

Sorry you had to have such a bad experience.