Green Cleaning Fail – Seventh Generation Automatic Dishwasher Gel

So many times I read product reviews filled with wonderful reasons to purchase something to use in my  home.  I like to write these types of reviews, too, but sometimes I buy a product that just doesn’t do the job the way I hope it will or think that it should.  Just as I want to share something I think you might want to try, I feel it is equally my responsibility to share when I find something that is honestly a waste of your money.  Let’s face it, so many of the more eco-friendly products bring out the skeptic in people and often times cost more money than their more commercial counterparts.  To find a product that’s worth it’s cost in results and quality is something that feels like an awesome accomplishment in my green world. Yeah, I know, I have high aspirations don’t I?
One of the toughest areas I find to shop for is cleaning products.  Many critics will argue they don’t clean as well because they don’t include those harsh and nasty chemicals found in most cleaning products on the market today.  I disagree because I have found some things that I really love, but recently I found one that I really hate.  What’s worse is that I have bought this item more than once!  You’d think I would have learned the first time, or the third, but no, it took me several to finally remove this product from my list all together.
The product I am talking about is Seventh Generation Automatic Dishwasher Gel.  I know we have all bought really awful cleaners when it comes to our dishwasher, right?  Something that doesn’t clean well or leaves the dishes spotty with water marks?  When it comes to eco-friendly options, the Seventh Generation comes in at one of the best, price wise that is.  Bluntly put, the stuff sucks.
I chose “normal wash” on my dishwasher and the dishes came out, well, less than clean.
I chose “normal wash”, filled the door with the gel and added an extra squirt of the gel to the main body of the dishwasher.  Still not so clean.
I have done a “quick rinse” before doing the actual wash cycle and still my dishes don’t all come out completely clean.
See, I am not a total bitch, I allow things to show me how awful they are, and under several circumstances.
Lessen learned.
I will spend the extra money on something that actually does a quality cleaning job.
I should mention that I love the Seventh Generation for hand washing dishes, which I talked about here.  That’s also where I mentioned how much I love a different brand for my dishwasher.  That’s the brand that was missing from the shelf when I bought the Seventh Generation instead. That’s the brand I will stick with in the future even if I have to wait for it to be re-stocked before I can buy it.
If that means the dreaded hand-washing of dishes for a day or two, I will suffer through.  Somehow.