When Did Maytag Go Bad?
18th January 2022
A cautionary tale about our times.
It’s not just Maytag. Most ‘name brand’ appliances are crap these days, partly due to government regulations and partly due to the fact that people just make crap these days.
The trouble began very slowly in the ’80s, with a gradual lessening of quality, almost too small to notice. The real problem began with the advent of the Neptune, an over-featured, under-engineered product. There was nothing wrong with Neppies that couldn’t be fixed, but Maytag management of the time took the stance that they were going to make consumers pay for Maytag’s design mistakes. Control boards, wax motors, and boot kits galore were installed at the expense of consumers who had not a damned thing to do with their design. The Neptune became the subject of successful class-action suits, and one of the most prominent subjects for consumer “horror stories” on the Internet. As the word about Neptune got around, Maytag’s formerly enviable reputation got trashed in the process.
When my first wife died and I moved to a new house, I bought Neptunes because I trusted the Maytag brand. Foolish me.
If you can afford it, buy Bosch. If you can’t, you’re pretty much out of luck.
January 18th, 2022 at 06:54
Last year, it took three tries to get a Bosch dishwasher that didn’t have popped welds. This was an 8 month saga of emails, phone calls and claims forms.
January 18th, 2022 at 07:02
I am disappointed to hear that. My Bosch dishwasher has been trouble-free since we got it.
January 19th, 2022 at 06:43
We’ve had one before and it was great. Probably a “Rona” issue at the factory last year. The latest is also great.