When did Maytag start to go bad?

[launderess]

Didn't save link to information but one also distinctly recall reading that at one point yes, Sears did own stock in Whirlpool, thus one's previous comments.

Sears and "Upton Machine Company" through various incarnations of Whirlpool names were together for near or over 100 years. For most of that time Sears had considerable say in what seems to one above and beyond any handshake agreement in workings of Whirlpool.

 

[cadman]

"seems to one above and beyond any handshake agreement in workings of Whirlpool"

That struck me as unusual, too. Though those are the words out of the Sears' representatives mouth when he awarded the Sears Excellence Award to the St. Joe division in 1965. And it was repeated prior by Elisha Gray, and years later in Whirlpool's corporate history during their silver anniversary. A PR move? I don't know. Hard to believe such a thing in today's world.

I was moving some boxes yesterday and did come upon a few decades worth of WP annual reports. In 1964, they offered an additional 731,747 shares of common stock. RCA sold off and held less than 1%. Sears, Roebuck and Co maintained their 4.6% share, with the Sears group itself holding a total of 7.5% of Whirlpool Corp.

I tried to back-track, but little was mentioned in prior years. Adding to search difficulty, they were technically the 1900 Corp before 1950, and the modern internet doesn't play nice with search queries the way it once did. It's a fascinating, but guarded topic. Some sources suggest significant Sears divestiture in the early '50s due to anti-trust concerns. This makes sense considering the number of government contracts WP took on throughout the 1950's and 60's.

The answers are out there, I'm just not sure they're on the internet.

 

[launderess]

"The answers are out there, I'm just not sure they're on the internet."

Probably because no one but persons like ourselves are interested enough to bother researching. *LOL*

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Aaaahhh, when Maytag started being GOOD...!

But how come it lost its HALO as in Halo of Heat?

Would it be possible to make a dryer like that today, with the heating element going all-around its drum?

Anyway, with the way I did my best to draw old GE's & Whirlpool's with my artistry skills combined with aging on an unavoidable decline, I give you the last serious-Maytag...

So, to wit:

-- Dave

 

[cassel]

The Halo of Heat was often referred to as the "ring of fire". Many users didn't clean the filter properly and the lint build up around the heating element would catch on fire.
FWIW

 

[stevet]

To add to Maytag's woes and poor decisions, they branched out to the commercial cooking world by buying G.S. Blodgett, the storied oven manufacturer in the late 90's for 92 million dollars and assumed 400 million dollars in Blodgett debt. About 4 years later, the company I worked for then was an authorized Blodgett servicer and we received a letter from Maytag that they admitted to not knowing how to run a commercial food and cooking equipment company and were selling it at that point. Memory escapes me now as to who stepped in to buy it from them. It may have been Pitco Frialator Co but I am not sure. Either way, they are both part of the Middleby group now.

 

[stevet]

One more thing.. We purchased a Maytag Neptune front loader in the fall of 1997 and it was still working perfectly when we sold the house in 2004. We never had any odor problems or wax motor issues with the door lock and aside from the detergent dispenser giving us an issue from day one, that was the only issue we ever really had. Maytag really took care of its Neptune customers with priority service. The way they cast the plastic, sectioned detergent tray was wrong and depending on the phase of the cycle, water would not be directed into the proper compartment leaving bleach or softener undelivered to the clothes. The got it right on the 5th try! All from the first visit to fix it. They had to keep coming back. But finally, they did it.
I still miss that machine, it really got clothes clean and was excellent at stain removal. I think the odor problem never cropped up because we very rarely washed in cold water and with 2 toddlers at that time, many loads included LCB. Water extraction was great cutting down on drying times in our DC gas dryer(model unknown now).
No to mention the reduction in water usage.
I wanted to take it with us when we sold the house, but my wife insisted that we leave it for the new buyers as they paid a lot for the house. I was looking to replace it with a new WP DD but she won out. We did at least pay for an additional year of service contract with Maytag on that machine and the dryer and Magic Chef range.

It wasn't more than a few loads later in our Shredmore at the new place that she said she missed the Neptune. Eventually replaced it with a Whirlpool duet which worked fine but didn't give as good results as the Neptune.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

One more thing.. We purchased a Maytag Neptune front loader in the fall of 1997 and it was still working perfectly when we sold the house in 2004. We never had any odor problems or wax motor issues with the door lock and aside from the detergent dispenser giving us an issue from day one, that was the only issue we ever really had. Maytag really took care of its Neptune customers with priority service. The way they cast the plastic, sectioned detergent tray was wrong and depending on the phase of the cycle, water would not be directed into the proper compartment leaving bleach or softener undelivered to the clothes. The got it right on the 5th try! All from the first visit to fix it. They had to keep coming back. But finally, they did it.
I still miss that machine, it really got clothes clean and was excellent at stain removal. I think the odor problem never cropped up because we very rarely washed in cold water and with 2 toddlers at that time, many loads included LCB. Water extraction was great cutting down on drying times in our DC gas dryer(model unknown now).
No to mention the reduction in water usage.
I wanted to take it with us when we sold the house, but my wife insisted that we leave it for the new buyers as they paid a lot for the house. I was looking to replace it with a new WP DD but she won out. We did at least pay for an additional year of service contract with Maytag on that machine and the dryer and Magic Chef range.

It wasn't more than a few loads later in our Shredmore at the new place that she said she missed the Neptune. Eventually replaced it with a Whirlpool duet which worked fine but didn't give as good results as the Neptune.

What did you eventually replace it with?