Review on Hach Company 562227 Phosphate Test by Brendan Thorpe

I think this is the last time I have bought this product. I've been using this for probably 5 years and for the first 2-3 years the test results were accurate (similar to my pool shop's test results) and the powder in the packets was brilliant white and had a shelf life of at least a year. . (I used the container for the last half of one pool season and the first half of the next season). A few years ago I bought a new kit at the start of the season and midway through the season I noticed some of the contents of the pack had turned brown and looked like dirty beach sand and didn't give an accurate test. Result (always enter 0 phosphates). This phenomenon was also noted by another reviewer. At first there were only 2-3 bags in a set of 20 bags. Next year same problem but 10 out of 20 sachets were poor quality and I asked AquaChek to replace the kit. They did it and the replacement still had 4-5 bad packs but got me through the season. This year on March 18, 2018 I bought the new kit shown in the picture. In August I ran into bad packages again and last week (September 15th) I opened all 10 packages remaining in the bundle and ALL 10 of them were bad. I poured the contents of two sachets onto the lid shown in the picture and you can see the powder is no longer bright white but has turned into what looks like dirty beach sand. What freezes me is that I've always kept this set indoors in a dark, dry cupboard. The production date on the large plastic packaging is 15th September which I believe means September 2015 and the expiry date on the small silver pouches is 20th August which I believe means August 2020. Something is wrong with the product composition, the packaging, or the manufacturing process, which basically destroys most of the kit long before it expires. I am looking for a new product and would give it 0 stars if I could.