Consumer Question

By Joe Gagnon - Originally Printed in The Observer Eccentric Papers

Donna writes---Would you by any chance know anything about this appliance? It’s basically a pop dispenser. Ours worked satisfactorily (I wouldn’t say great, quite a bit of jamming) for about 16 months. Of course, it had a one-year warranty. Then one day I came home from work to a nasty smell coming from the basement. It turned out to be the SkyBox. When I opened its door, it smelled like something was burning/melting inside. So I unplugged it.

After waiting a year for my husband to have someone look at it, I called Maytag today. They informed me they no longer manufacture them, service them, have replacement parts for them, nor can they give me any further information about them. When I insisted, they gave me Whirlpools address. This doesn’t seem quite right for a 2-½ year old, $600 appliance. Any ideas why they quit manufacturing them, or know of any company who might be able to still service it? Thank you in advance for your help.

Reply---I was still in the business when this product was introduced and I thought it was a great addition to the refrigeration line and would really enhance a person’s decorated bar area. Unfortunately there must not have been enough orders for them or Maytag would have continued selling them. There is no law that says a manufacturer must supply parts or service for any set time after a product is made which goes to show you how they can manage to take advantage of any customer who unknowingly purchases their products. This goes on all the time and seems to be getting worse, even though products can cost so much more then ever. I would suggest you email me and I will give you the name of a company that can have someone take a look at it with no promises. I know they will at least try. Thank you for writing me.

I know that all readers will agree with me when I tell you that I no longer trust what is going on in the appliance world. The above e-mail just goes to show how low customer satisfaction stands in the business plan of major appliance companies. It’s an outright shame and most sales and service companies share this view across America. They design a new product such as a front load washer and I feel that thousands of shoppers now own these washers and are really angry about the mold and odor problems. None of my past columns have created as many phone calls and e-mails as the story about mold and odor in washers. There appears to be no cure except maybe the product sold on line by smellywasher.com. I announced this cleaning product a few weeks ago but I have only heard from a few homeowners that it does the job. I need to hear from more of you so if you have a smelly front load washer, please go to the web site, order their product and try it.