"We do not manufacture Magic Chef compact appliances, however we have licensed the Magic Chef name to MC Sales & Marketing." "Maytag licensed the Magic Chef name but does not carry the warranty or handle consumer issues."

Those quotes are from a response I received after eight days of fruitless emails to Magic Chef's website and countless phone calls to their 800 service number to inform customer service that the combination microwave/convection oven I purchased in 2004 had suffered an electrical fire. White smoke and flames had billowed from the back and acrid fumes had filled the house. Sunday dinner was only half-baked

I purchased that particular model solely because it was manufactured locally. The Magic Chef plant is located in nearby Cleveland, Tenn. My initial email to Magic Chef's website brought a response from someone named Bob who informed me they did not handle the service on this appliance and I should call their 800 service number. Subsequent, multiple phone calls to their service number provided a wide array of replies. I was also quite taken aback by the telephone greeting. 'Daewoo Service". DAEWOO?? I thought Daewoo's were little Korean cars. I know somebody told me that!

"You'll need to take the unit to the nearest service center, but, ah. . . there isn't one in your area. Unless Kingsport is near you. Is Kingsport near you?"

"You'll be contacted by a warranty service representative in 48 hours."

Day two. . .."You'll be contacted by a warranty service representative in 48 hours."

Day four. . ."What is your case number? No one GAVE you a case number? Well, I'll give it to you. You'd better write it down, in case you have to call us again."

Day five. . ."I don't understand why no one's contacted you. I told the supervisor about it yesterday. No, I can't give you her number but I will let her know again that no one's contacted you. Or, you want to go to the Magic Chef website and email from there; that goes straight to her. Oh, I see….you've already done that."

Day eight. . . I finally reached Maytag Customer Service. No, it's not a typo. . .I did a double-take myself That's when I got my first lesson in 'private labeling.' The courteous Maytag (washer or dryer?) service rep explained that my oven's serial number didn't come up in her computer, which meant that Magic Chef hadn't manufactured my oven after all, and that's why no one from Daewoo (Korean cars?) had contacted me. I asked her, "So who DID manufacture the oven, if not Magic Chef? It says Magic Chef on the front, big as day." She said she would research the case. I recited my case number which I had by then memorized, but she didn't know anything about case numbers.

Day eight, and a few hours later, I received a call from Bob. It seems they employ a lot of Bobs at Magic Chef/Maytag/Daewoo/MC Sales. The Maytag rep must have sent an email to Daewoo. One Bob to another? This Bob instructed me to return the oven to New Jersey where they would inspect it and then either repair it or replace it. They would send a special packing box for the damaged unit. I asked why we couldn't just send it over to Cleveland, to Magic Chef, and he said, "Because Magic Chef didn't make it. It needs to come to New Jersey."

Day eleven. . . Bob phoned again. Same Bob, I believe. I finally figured out his position with whoever he works for. He is the expert on what they cannot do. He had checked on the situation again and, "You'll have to take the oven to a service center. They don't want you to return the oven to New Jersey so you'll have to take it to a service center down there, after all." I asked where is 'down there'? He said he wasn't sure where the nearest service center was located. He thought maybe I would know. "Is Kingsport near you?"

I asked again why I couldn't just send it to the Magic Chef Service Center in Cleveland. He said maybe that would work, but I would have to call them first and have them call him so he could authorize them to service my oven that they didn't make. (You may have to read that last sentence twice for full effect.) He said they couldn't ship it there for me; I would have to take it there myself. I explained that I had attempted to phone Maytag's Service Center in Cleveland but directory information only provided the same 800 service number I had been calling for 11 days - the same one that answered 'Daewoo'. I asked Bob if he knew their number. Bob said he didn't have the number."

It had been eleven days since my oven went up in flames. My patience was wearing thin, my allergies were killing me, and I'd just learned that all the Magic was gone from the Chef. I can only liken the experience to finding out about Santa.

Day 12. I'm quite sure it was the same Bob. This Bob returned calls. This Bob sounded a lot like CNN's Anderson Cooper so I had liked him instantly. I pictured him with nice blue eyes, wearing a blue shirt, bracing against a hurricane-force wind, and shouting into his microphone. "We're going to replace your oven", this Bob said.

He explained a bit about 'private labeling' but I already knew what it meant. It meant there's nothing in a name.

Day 25 - Yay! I received a brand spanking new replacement oven.

The new oven, by the way, is exactly like the first one - except this one says Daewoo on the front. It's also a little noisier, bringing little Korean cars to mind.

Now that I understand private labeling, I'm just grateful my Magic Chef wasn't shipped from some cheese shop in Wisconsin or a tire store in Akron. I checked the shipping label, then let out a long sigh of relief. Thank goodness, it came straight from that Korean car place.

Copyright 2005 Patricia Paris
Patricia Paris is an author and columnist from East Tennessee.
Contact: patriciaparis@gmail.com.
Member: Tennessee Writers Alliance, Int’l Women’s Writing Guild,
Tennessee Mountain Writers, Chattanooga Writers Guild