Review on Downy Fabric Softener Ball for Easy Dispensing by Zaine Davis

I've actually been using this for years. Although our washing machine is a great workhorse and still works, the fabric softener dispenser started leaking and stopped working a long time ago. So I bought one of these and have been using it for ages. On the last X loads it stopped activating the fabric softener at the right time in the cycle (didn't open at all) so I had several loads of laundry that didn't get fabric softener. I thought the one I had was probably old so I decided to replace it with a new one from here. This seems to have fixed the problem and the new one works great. I would say they have a shelf life of around 5 years based on my experience. If your washing machine's dispenser isn't working properly, this is a great alternative.