
WEN of gaithersburg, MD on Sept. 19, 2011
Satisfaction Rating1/5
I purchased a Maytag Electric Range (Model: MER7662WS1) at Lowe's in February 2011. After few months, we found many rusty areas on the stainless oven door and on the stainless drawer.
On 9/8, I called Maytag at 1-800-688-9900 to complain that stainless steel is not supposed to rust. A representative took the initiative to schedule A&E Factory Service to come to my house for a warranty repair, and assigned me an order # 40629499. I did not request for this service call and naturally, I regard this as a warranty service or a service of quality check of a product.
On 9/19, a technician came to check the rusty area and confirmed that the stainless steel have rusted and the rust will eat through the panel. The technician called Maytag, and got the answer that Maytag will not pay for his visit because it's not under warranty. The technician then checked the warranty manual, but could find not any statement that neither rust is cosmetic nor rust is not covered. The technician asked me to pay $132 for his five-minute checking service. I was so upset and called Denice at A&E Factory Service at 1-800-905-9505 to bill Maytag directly. She ignored my request and said that I should take it to Maytag.
After a couple of hours waiting, holding and transferring, I explained to two Maytag customer service representatives my problem, only to get a "Sorry, it's not covered, it's cosmetic," reply. I insisted talking to a manager and finally got Melinda at Care Solution Team. She, too, refused to waive the charge for me and claimed herself as a supervisor and decision maker and there's no one above her who could resolve this issue.
I emphasized that A&E service call was authorized by Maytag, I did not order the service. Who would have thought that a service authorized by manufacturer is not covered under warranty? Besides, this representative failed to inform me that rust would not be covered, she should have known better. Therefore, I believe that the person who initiated the service call to A&E should be held accountable. But Melinda never wanted to agree with this logic and kept saying, "We don't force customer to have home service. You are liable for the bill."
She refused to pay for the service and forced me to pay the bill from the mistake they made. She even refused to give out the person's ID # and name of the person who called A&E. She only documented my complaint--what's the point of their documentation? If this is the tactic that Maytag is using to categorize rust as cosmetic (if rust can damage material, then you should not call it cosmetic), and ban customers from claiming the rust damage so they can use poor quality of stainless steel on their appliances to save the cost, then, it is dishonest to advertise that this oven is stainless.
A representative even said that Maytag should have emailed me with the confirmation of service call and noted that it's a non-warranty service. Also, A&E should have informed me before arrival that the service is not covered. All these were not true. First, I did not receive such email from Maytag or Whirlpool. If Maytag would have warned me with non-covered policy such as this, they should have the courtesy to call me in case the email was unreliably routed to spam box. A&E only informed me that they are coming the next day, but no such thing as telling me that the service will not be covered. Even their technician did not know about the non-covered issue, and had to call Maytag today to find out.
Had the person who scheduled the service told me that the rust on the stainless panels is not covered under warranty, will I still allow the service call and agree to pay $132 for a five-minute checkup and watch the technician leave without performing any repair? I asked Melinda to let me talk to her supervisor but she said that there's no one who can talk to me, and the only way to appeal is to write to the company's executives.
The address is: Whirlpool Corporate Office
553 Benson Rd Benton Harbor, Michigan 49022. I doubt that an appeal will help me at all. I will take this matter to small claim court, I won't let them force me to pay the bill when I am not at fault.