Looks like Whirlpool Corporation isn’t going to tolerate much from Sears in the wake of the retailer’s announced bankruptcy filing. According to Wall Street reports and a story in The New York Post dated Friday, the Benton Harbor-based appliance giant reportedly dispatched a letter to Sears Holdings a day earlier, on Thursday, “demanding that the retailer return all refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers and other appliances” that Whirlpool had shipped to them in the days leading up to the bankruptcy filing notice on October 15th.
The Post story says they want back anything shipped in the 45 days leading up to October 15th, contending the retailer was essentially “insolvent when it ordered the goods,” and has no legal footing in retaining them for any purpose.
The Post quotes the letter from Whirlpool officials as ordering the retailer to “segregate” Whirlpool goods from other manufacturers products and “refrain from selling, disposing, or using (them) for any purpose whatsoever.”
Later this evening, The Chicago Tribune shared the same story saying the letter comes from a filing by a Whirlpool attorney.
I reached out to Jeff Noel, Corporate Vice President of Communications & Public Affairs at Whirlpool, and didn’t hear anything definitive from him on the matter, however often times major corporations decline to comment on issues such as this. They did send along the news release we shared originally here regarding the response to the Sears bankruptcy announcement where they suggested it would have very limited impact on the company’s bottom line.
