control, shift, cheeseburger

OK Lysol, this is the last straw…

I am sick and tired of purchasing the "latest and greatest" cleaning device only to have it and its concomitant accessories pulled from the market after 6 months.

The latest example is the Lysol Ready Brush toilet cleaning system. This consisted of a toilet brush and a handy holder into which you would insert an aerosol can of Lysol foamy toilet cleaner. Pressing a trigger on the brush shot out the foamy cleanser and you would swish it around with the scrub brush. It made the toilet area and the whole bathroom smell good. Not only that, it made my daughter want to clean the toilet.

I should have seen the handwriting on the wall when our local Target put their entire stock of Ready Brush refills on the clearance gondola. I thought they were clearing out old stock to make ready for the remodeling that was getting under way. Little did I know…

I can understand Lysol's conundrum. There are a plethora of "reusable" toilet brushes on the market from Scrubbing Bubbles, Mr. Clean, Clorox, etc. Lysol probably reacted to that market pressure by homing in on their specialties; liquid cleansers, spray disinfectants and wet wipes. They would let the others manufacture the hardware.

Here is the problem I have as a consumer. I now own a well built piece of cleaning equipment. It could be used as a standalone toilet brush, but then, I would have to go to the trouble of getting out the toilet cleanser and possibly a rag or paper towels to wipe up. As designed, the Ready Brush is a five step process

1. Remove from holder
2. Spray cleanser into toilet
3. Scrub toilet
4. Flush away dirt
5. Replace into holder

You are done.

As I stated above, I have no problem with them introducing a product and then discontinuing it. The issue is the supplies. They should have a responsibility to produce the soap cartridges for at least 2 years and the stores that sold them to you should continue stocking them for that period. Then, Lysol should put out a press release saying that while the ReadyBrush system was not successful and no more will be sold, you can still get refills for a certain amount of time.

Maybe Lysol could sell the tooling to a subcontractor and have them produce the refills for a while. 

Filed under: Rants