(Whirlpool) Maytag Brand Home Appliances

My dishwasher gave in and with 2 small children and running my own business, doing dishes is something that are impossible without a dishwasher.

We went to Home Depot and decided on a top end dishwasher from Maytag. When the dishwasher arrived my wife took the "Maytag Installation Instructions Undercounter Dishwasher Stainless Steel Giant Tub Model" from the dishwasher and went to pick up 2 small children from school. Since we had an old dishwasher we only had to pick up the water inlet connector. The instructions clearly stated to buy a 90 deg elbow with 3/8 external NPT threads. That is what we got. When my wife came home we started working to get the dishwasher installed with 2 small children under foot.

When we got to installing the supply line it turns out Maytag changed the inlet connection and we actually needed a different connector. We also discovered another loose pamphlet in the dishwasher notifying us that we will need a special part to connect the inlet and then when we unscrewed the front to do the electrical connections we discovered yet another sticker informing up that we will need another part.

It is now 6:30 pm at night and my wife decides to dash to another Home Depot to pick up the part - after 90 minutes she is back - Home Depot doesn't have the part but sold us an "import dishwasher installation kit" for $26. When we tried the connector in the kit it just didn't want to turn more than half a turn. After a lot of trying we decided that the thread must be different than that on the Maytag Dishwasher and in our attempts we managed to cross thread the soft plastic water inlet connector to the dishwasher. At this point you can imagine our frustration. We paid $800 for an appliance that is shipped without a crucial part Maytag KNEW we were going to need (they had pamphlets and stickers all over the place telling us we will need it). Maytag neglected updating their main installation instructions with this info and we have spent already more than 3 hours on the road and $30 dollars in parts and have nothing to show apart from a inlet connector that is made from a very soft plastic that can easily be damaged if the steel fitting is not fitted 100% correctly!!

At this point I get on the phone with Maytag and was blessed with a Customer Service agent that has trouble understanding a word I say and just shrug his shoulders at my dilemma - their solution, phone the parts department tomorrow...

I phoned the parts department this morning. Whirlpool is charging me $11 for the part and wait for this, a whopping $12 in shipping!!
This is a part that are about 4 inches square. They are shipping the part almost within the same postal code (we both start with L) and they charge me $12 in shipping a part they should have included with he product in the first place!! Just for the record, this part should not cost Whirlpool more than $4.85 to ship to my location from their warehouse in Brampton.

Whirlpool doesn't care and their retailers are not stocking the critical parts needed to install their products. They ship their products without parts they know you will need and have installation documentation that are outdated. They make more than 100% profit on shipping you the critical part to get you started and the inlet valve is made from really soft plastic so be very careful because chances are good that you will end up cross threading it and then you are really stuck - all of this before you even had the opportunity of switching on your appliance and try it for the first time. I will NEVER buy Whirlpool again.