I wholeheartedly and respectfully disagree. I was not familiar with the case but according to your retelling of the story, she gave Maytag every opportunity to treat her justly and they did not. If I had purchased an appliance which broke 1 week after I bought it and customer service refused to help, I probably would have taken to other means too. Since I don't have 1 million followers, I probably would not have use Twitter as my only means to communicate my story. If we want peace, we need to seek justice. It does not sound like she acted maliciously but wanted to warn others of this tragedy. She only wanted justice. If it took only 4 twitter posts and 24 hours get a response, I say YES, the end does justify the means. She PAID for a working appliance, why should she not get it. The alternative is costly legal action. I say she did Maytag a favor. It's not about unearned entitlement, it's about JUSTICE! "Sleeping on it" doesn't fix your washer but may help you deal with the problem more rationally.
Thanks for your post.