When did Maytag start to go bad?

[whirlpool862]

In my opinion, Maytag has gone bad well before Whirlpool has acquired them, and Whirlpool did NOT ruin the company, in fact they saved it.

The Maytag Neptunes as well as the dependable care replacements were unreliable and terrible machines.

The top loading Neptune was so unreliable that it’s pretty much an extinct machine now. The front loading Neptune was notorious for bearing failures.

The rebadged Magic Chef and Amana machines were also unreliable with common issues being issues with the pumps or issues with the bearings or transmission.

If your Maytag washer has a plastic or stainless steel drum it’s a Magic Chef or Amana, if it has a porcelain tub, it’s a true dependable care.

GE unfortunately faced a similar fate when they replaced their filter flo with the model T, and Frigidaire faced a similar fate when GM stopped making their washers and WCI started making them instead.

This is an image of two magic chef Maytag washers and one image of a real dependable care. Guess the differences.

If Whirlpool didn’t acquire Maytag, the company would probably be out of business, and I can’t imagine how bad their high efficiency machines would be if Whirlpool didn’t acquire them.

 

[Chetlaham]

As much as I don't want to admit it, I agree.

 

 

My honest opinion is that Maytag should have never produced single Amana/Performa/Herrin/ect washer and stuck with the dependable care. The only thing is, with time as energy regs and as more consumers gravitated toward front loaders sales of the DC would have begun to shrink to the point Maytag would probably have found it cheaper to liquidate. The other scenario would have been Maytag competing directly with Alliance for commercial sales but with the DC having less capacity than a Speed Queen, its also iffy on how well they would have done. Especially now with front loads taking over the commercial and OPL market. 

 

In a lucid world people would have bought more and more dependable cares based on their longevity and improving wash performance, unfortunately when everyone walked buy their clear front panels casually in the 90s it was the beginning of the end.  

 

 

 

 

 

[agiflow]

Yeah but why did the market go with front loaders ? It was all the push for the HE craze. I don't believe it was a natural progression.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Maytag was run by a stupid management team that made many poor decisions like buying those outdated, outmoded appliance lines in order to have a full line of appliances on the cheap. Instead of doing the work to have a real Maytag large capacity top loader to put them on a level with other appliance manufacturers, they slapped the Maytag name on Norge washers. There were many problems with the ranges and refrigerators they added to the line also.

 

[cadman]

2 Words: Daniel Krumm

The poor decisions Tom mentions were only some of Krumm's bright ideas. He was a CEO in the modern sense: product, history, reputation, people, all expendable if it meant short term profit and happy shareholders.

Fred II had battled cancer for almost 2 years when he passed in '62, but he had set the company up for success after his passing, and there was new product in the pipeline. Higdon wasn't an idea man, but didn't make too big a mess of things in transition period. But Krumm....here's Harvard Business School's take:

"Krumm is credited with converting Maytag from a small specialty appliance concern into a broad-scale international operation. Through several acquisitions, Krumm built Maytag into one of the world’s top 4 appliance manufacturers while achieving stellar financial returns."

 

[mrstickball]

I'll have a documentary out later this year on the history & downfall of Maytag but in my opinion (or research into the matter):

Maytag's descent into poor appliances is a bit of a slippery slope in that everyone wants to point at something like, say, the Neptune, but the history is a bit fuzzier.

Krumm started cheapening the brand in the 1980s when they began their massive shift by acquiring Magic Chef in 1986 to start its foray into additional markets, plus acquired their Norge/Magic Chef/Herrin machine. Shortly after this, they went and swapped the Pitman drive in the Dependable Cares with the Oribal drive. The move was driven entirely by making the machines cheaper to consumers.

But that didn't happen in a vaccum. Whirlpool was already outsourcing its components by then, moving some production to non-union or Mexican factories with its Direct Drive. The issue was that the DD was built so well, it slingshot them beyond Maytag with a system that was just wholly superior in everything but reliability to a Dependable Care - much less a Norge.

So then with what Krumm did, the other CEOs like Hadley and Ward just continued what Krumm started in the 1980s. The issue is that Maytag kept acquiring more and pushing their name onto these other, inferior machines like a badge of quality when it wasn't. The Performa/Norge machine wasn't nearly as well-built as a Dependable Care and the Amana/Speed Queen Legendary system (SAV model) were even far worse from a financial perspective.

Undoubtedly, the Neptune was the peak of Maytag's failures, but that blunder was the culmination of ~15 years of bad ideas and experiences. The bad part is that, operationally, the Neptune was a pretty great machine. People that still own them today love them. They made a ton of mistakes with that machine which everyone else learned from, which is a sad piece of history. But.... It was pretty on-brand for them by that point to do something boisterous, stupid, and costly by that point.

Thats how I view it all with having asked a lot of people about the history of Maytag. They wanted to take on the king (Whirlpool) and were willing to do whatever it took to be a full-service brand, but that caused them to take on a lot of inferior products, and weren't really ready to deal with how problematic those companies were. Rather than bringing them up to the Maytag standard, they got brought down to their level, and by the end, were churning out Samsung-built garbage to stay afloat before the buyout.

 

[panasonicvac]

I can definitely say that one of Maytag's biggest mistakes was buying Hoover. But I'll also say that while I still blame Maytag for ruining Hoover, I do have more respect for the Hoovers they've made. I mean there's alot of Hoovers nowadays that I don't personally care about cause of how cheap they've gotten like it's competition whereas the ones that were built by Maytag were better made. In fact my all time favorite Hoover vacuum was made by Maytag. Also believe it or not, my favorite Maytag washers and dryers happens to be a Neptune. As for Neptunes being unreliable and terrible, I'd disagree. I'd say that honor goes to Whirlpool because my brother's Maytag top loader just bit the dust, not only it was a terrible cleaning machine but it also didn't even last five years. My old Neptune set lasted for a good long while, I do miss them and sometimes wished I could've gotten them fixed because they were great. My grandfather's Neptune stackable lasted 20 years with no issues until the cabin flooded and got accidently thrown away but his Performa dryer at his house is still going today with no issues yet. Both are great machines as well but his Whirlpool built Maytag top loader is trash and wish I could replace it today. Whirlpool at one point built I think the best machines for Maytag but nowadays it's looking like Whirlpool may suffer the same fate as Maytag later down the road if they don't get their head straight.

 

[tomturbomatic]

The worst thing about the Neptune washer was the way Maytag screwed customers over when the door lock mechanism went out shortly after the machine went out of warranty and Maytag refused to cover the repair costs. This was a low blow to people who had purchased a Maytag based on a reputation for dependability.

 

[wayupnorth]

Maytag started to go down after my 1984 Maytag 511 washer and 410 dryer were built and still going strong and run just like they came out of the box new. Those are REAL Maytags. The next generation of the fast stroke washers with funky looking panels had alot more problems and then they added their name on other crap appliances and I could see buying a Maytag was not buying quality anymore, but just the name.

 

[rp2813]

OK, so who really made the Maytag branded refrigerators?  My sister has a "Wide-By-Side" Maytag that has served her well.  She'll be replacing it soon, as she's remodeling her kitchen.  One of the guys working for her expressed interest in the fridge, advising that his wife would probably like it.  I think the design is a Maytag exclusive, but certainly Maytag wasn't the manufacturer.  It couldn't have been Whirlpool, so who was it?  Amana maybe?

 

[qsd-dan]

I think Maytag refrigerators were made by Norge after they acquired them in 1986. Not sure if Maytag used the Amana design when they acquired them in 2001. I heard the Norge refrigerators were decently made, at least by todays standards. They weren't up to Seeger/International Harvester standards that lasted 50+ years without a repair but good for their time.

"Norge continued to produce the Rollator rotary compressors under the Maytag name..."

https://refresearch.com/the-norge-rollator/

 

[neptunebob]

Wide by side was Magic Chef

Actually, I think the Norge made washers were decent, it was the then "Amanatags" that were so much trouble. If Maytag wanted Magic Chef, they should have just kept the MC brand and still made the DC washers too labeled Maytag.

 

[circlew]

Some friends got a Maytag SxS refrigerator in the early 90's, and had a good bit of trouble with it. They finally tired of having it fixed after 6 or 7 years, and got a Kenmore. I was under the impression it was an Admiral design.

 

[neptunebob]

I don't think Whirlpool saved Maytag

Whirlpool just slapped the Maytag label on Whirlpool products. All of the Maytag manufacturing was shut down. Maybe WP could have kept Newton open for DC production for laundromats and consumers who wanted the machine but chose not to. To be truthful, I think Whirlpool should give up some of their labels and let other manufacturers have them, perhaps this would be considered antitrust?

 

[whirlpool862]

The older Whirlpool-built Maytags weren’t bad

For a while, Whirlpool actually made direct drives under the Maytag brand, and those were reliable. In fact, I actually like those better than the Whirlpool or Kenmore branded direct drives as they sometimes have stainless steel drums.

Although I do think some of the Kenmore direct drive models may have used a stainless inner basket, but I
don’t remember what models those were.

When Whirlpool started making VMW machines for Maytag, that’s when they went down. The worst washer Maytag has made was the Neptune TL, those things are pretty much extinct now.

The Amanatags and Norgetags had reliability issues with the bumps or bearings, I think the Amanatag machines were worse. The front loading Neptunes were more reliable than the top load ones.

The Maytag dependable care was a very reliable machine and was tougher than a Speed Queen. These days, a Maytag is essentially just a rebadged Whirlpool, and have the same reliability issues.

Whirlpool also acquired Amana in 2006 as a result of them acquiring Maytag. Admiral was one of Maytag’s store brands but machines started being made by Whirlpool after they acquired Maytag.

The Maytag VMW or VMAX machines, just like the Whirlpool VMW or VMAX machines, tended to last a while if they are maintained properly and if they are made before 2020. Newer VMWs are more prone to problems. The older VMW machines had less overall issues. Due to the reliability issues of Whirlpool currently, I cannot recommend Whirlpool or Maytag machines anymore. The newer VMWs seem to be more prone to shifter issues, control board issues, or clutch issues than the older ones, but they seem less prone to suspension rod problems or transmission bearing problems. Don’t usually see motor bearings go bad on washers in general but the newer Whirlpools seem more prone to that too. VMAX washers are prone to failing bearings or slider issues.

 

[goatfarmer]

Many Maytag 'fridges were Admiral designed. Not the best, but certainly not the worst.

 

[circlew]

As mentioned above, the doors on the one my friends Fred and Donna had didn't line up right either.

 

[DADoES]

 
<blockquote>The worst washer Maytag has made was the Neptune TL, those things are pretty much extinct now.</blockquote> I have a Neptune TL 6800, bought new on clearance via eBay from an outfit in New Jersey in May 2008 (serial is Dec 2005) for a whopping $325 including shipping to TX.

The clutch/pulley did fail in 6 months.  I was using it as my primary machine at the time.  Repaired under warranty.  It went to non-primary status at that point.

The replacement clutch exhibited flakiness after some years, I don't recall how long.  I pulled it, cleaned/relubed the needle bearings, it has been OK since.

It works OK on most loads and performs nicely on such, but has may exhibit trouble rolling loads (both small and large) of lighter-weight fabrics.  I typically use it for yardwork clothes and bulky items, sometimes briefs and casual/cargo shorts.

-- Edit to change the clothing item order in the last sentence to hopefully clarify for Tom.  [this post was last edited: 4/16/2025-23:12]

 

[tomturbomatic]

They make cargo briefs now? Are they for large packages? Are they sold at big box stores?