Maytag & Hoover, What happened when Harry & Friends went to MAYTAG HQ Newton Iowa.
This April sees the aniversary of the of the groups visit, we look back, on some of the things that happened. “Eight Days in Iowa. Thursday April 21, 7.30 am.Despite the hour, Harry Cichy 39, has conducted two radio interviews and is preparing to set off for Heathrow Airport from his home in Hemel Hempstead. He is accompanied by Lee Robertson, a friend and adviser. At the airport they are due to meet Sandy Jack, 71, a retired Scotish Headmaster and ex Comando. Jack is the reason for this frenetic activity. His case inspired Cichy to form the Hoover Holiday Pressure Group in 1993 and the trio are flying to the US to present the group’s case to Hoover’s parent company, the Maytag Corporation.
They will be attending the Maytag AGM and have requsted a meeting with Len Hadley, Maytag’s CEO.
EDD Graham, Maytag’s general council tried to discourage the visit & meeting in a recent fax to Cichy. ” We see no purpose for a meeting with Mr Hadley or others at Maytag Corporation.” he said.
As Cichy, & Robertson leave for Heathrow, the Jimmy Young show calls. They want Cichy to participate in a live radio phone -in about Hoover.
Already late, he agrees to call from the airport.
By now Cichy is used to media attention. In sevon months, the group has attracted 4,500 members and much publicty. The phone rings constantly at Cichy house, which doubles as the group’s HQ.
12PM. Check in for AA 2PM Flight to Chicago. AA upgrades them to business class and ushers them into the VIP lounge for the Jimmy Young phone -in.
Friday, April 22
At Chicago they join an internal flight to Des Moines Iowa; 30 miles from Maytag’s HQ In Newton.Cichy, Robertson and Jack are interviewed by a crew from ABC outside the Hotel the Des Moines Holiday Inn. News of the groups arrival had reached the US weeks before. Pictured with some of the 15,000 letters from group members, they make the 6pm & 10pm news that evening. Later, at the Maytag plant in Newton, the three are interviewed by Bill Ryberg, a business reporter from The Des Moines Register. The meeting with Maytag is set for 11am. A receptionist tells the group that Hadley is busy, they will be seen by Jim Powell, Maytag’s corporate director of communications. Powell meets them in the lobby and suggests what Hoover has said all along: complaints should be handled in the UK by Herbert Smith, the groups solicitors, and Baker McKenzie, acting for Hoover & Maytag. There are six Maytag represenentatives in the room, ( heavy’s). None apart from Powell seems to be dealing with PR. They seem to be from Maytag security, ( Armed ) they include a Jim Appleby, whose identifying badge simply reads, ” Maytag Newton”, P&I found that Jim Appleby is not known by the Maytag switchboard, or by its press office? The presence of security is intimidating. Some of the Maytag representatives wear FBI- sytle ear pieces.
Releived to be outside in the fresh air again, the group conducts quick interviews with TV reporters, and local radio station. They head back to the Holiday Inn for a restorative cold Budweisers.
Saturday April 23
BILL rybergs interview with the group leads the business section in The Des Moines Register. It runs beneath an upbeat story about Maytag’s first quarter results, ” Maytag’s quarterly earnings shine”.
Despite what happened in Europe, Maytag expects 1994 earnings to be the best since 1989. Driven by strong sales and Market share gains, the company has acheived its best quarterly performance in nearly four years. ” Overall, I’ve never been more optimistic about Maytag’s futore” say Hadley.
The story refers to a $50m special charge taken in 1993 to cover the ” European sales promotion fiasco”.
Cichy is disapointed. Ryberg’s story headed ” Maytag turns away disgruntled British”. Cichy wanted a more upbeat story.
” We are not Disgruntled”. Cichy says!
Tuesday April 26
9.30am. Maytag’s AGM, held in the spacious auditorium of Newton High School. Following standard pressure group practice, the group used £500 from funds to buy shares in Maytag. Share ownership brings with it an invitation to the AGM.
About 1,000 attend the meeting. Votes are cast to elect new directors, but the pressure group abstains. Its all standard stuff. The only thing making the meeting out of the ordinary is the somewhat intimidating securirty. The Three are traked from the moment they enter the building, and recognise several faces from the earlier meeting at Maytag HQ. These men sit close to the group. They are in front, behind and to either side of the three Brits!
Hadley, who chairs the meeting speaks for ten minutes from a prepared script about the flawed European promotions and other issues. He stresses that the promotion disaster is history and that the company is now back on track: ” Actually, I’ve never been more upbeat about the futore of Maytag than I am today.” When Hadley invites questions, Sandy Jack seizes his opportuunity:
” Has Maytag preferred a short term gain by not allowing voucher holders to fly, or wull it try a long term gain by satisfying its customer and the public in the UK?” Hadley’s reply is deatailed, concluding to applause: ” The offer closes after the secound quarter of this year.” After the meeting a number of people approuch the group to shake their hands. Even Maytag’s legal chief, Edd Graham, congratulates them. He opens up a little thanking them for their restrained behaviour at the AGM.
Wednesday, April 27
Before heading home via Chicago and yet more media interviews, Cichy makes contact with the Washington-based Ralph Nader Organisation, a consumer protection movement that makes the the Hoover Pressure Group look rather like small potatoes. Nader, a Harvard-educated lawyer and legendary US consumer rights champion, organises investigative teams of young lawyers, consumer specialists and students known as Nader’s Raider’s
He has drawn attention to numerous issues including environmental pollution, and contibuted to the enactment of legislation. But he is a controversial figure; his investigations have been slammed as superficial and biassed against big business. One of his staff Marcia Carrol is taking up the Hoover case. ” We are 100% behind you.”
Sinking a final cold beer at Chicago, the group is pleased. With minimal financial outlay and maximum personal efort, they have travelled to Maytag’s AGM and presented their case, albeit briefly, to all shareholders present. It’s time to go home. An extract from P&I magazine, taken from Harry Cichy Diary of the events of the Groups visit to the USA. Also to be found in Harry E Cichy, book, ” Fighting The Corporation”, Maytag, Harry & Hoover. To be published 2004.
ISBN number 0-9546949-02
With the aniversary of The Infamous Hoover Free Flight Promotion, there is even more reason than ever to have a class actions procedure?
” Not infrequentley, there are situations where many individuals lose small amounts as the result of unlawful; actions by traders but few find it worthwile to take action. The result is that the wrongdoer makes a windfall profit. An example of this kind of situation was the Hoover flight saga in the early 1990s when the company failed to honour an offer in a marketing promotion to rovide free flights. Many thousands of consumers appear to have been disappointed but few seem to have resorted to the small claims courts.”
Taken from a class of their own, September 2003 SCC.
In 1997 Maytag filed a SEC listing of a statement by Harry Cichy, in The Washington Post, stating the numbers of applicants that may be owed flights. Maytag set aside a large amount of monies for futore liabilties of the Hoover flight promotion.