Cascade Dishwasher Detergent – What You Need To Know

What a Joke.
The reviewer clearly has never used the new Cascade with Dawn in a actual dishwasher. This stuff might as well be grey paint with grit. That is what your dishes get when your washer is finished. Need more proof? go to Cascade’s own website and read the reviews. Pretty sad!
Thanks Mr Dan Tardio, aka Cascade PR Rep. Soon to be Damage control Rep.

Did you actually use the product Dan, or do you just pencil-whip your reviews? I used the powder, and it’s horrible. Heavy white film on dishes, especially plactics, and discolored aluminum. P&G changed the formulation and blew it as bad as a company can. Cascade with Dawn is a technical disaster.

LOVE the pouches! Even if i have to say so myself! Will never use anything else!

Dan, How much did Cascade pay you for your review? This product is absolutely awful. My glasses look etched, my AllClad pots have a whitish film on the outside and inside plus the rim is discolored, my coffee mugs have a residue buildup that is staining with the coffee, therefore making them completely unuseable. If a solution is not found soon,I guess we have go to back to hand washing, which means the dishwasher detergent manufacturers and dishwasher manufacturers will lose a lot of revenue.

@MARILYN
There is a product on the market call Lemi-Shine which is designed to remove the hardwater effects of your water during the dishwashing cycle. You want to get rid of your filmy look give it a try. The Rinse agent also continues to remove the hard water effects during the rinse cycle, as fresh water is brought into the machine at that time.

@June Bruker
Yes! Same thing is happening to my glasses and black plastic ware. I definitely not going to buy Cascade again.

My Kitchenaid, after using Cascade for maybe 3 years, is covered with a baked on white crust that is not soluble in vinegar or lime juice, boiling or cold, nor with hot water. Except for scrubbing the stuff off, I cannot find an acceptable solution. Because it is not soluble in organic acids, it can’t be calcium carbonate. But then, if not, it must be some kind of carrier put in by P & G. Short of a chemical analysis by a chemist, does anyone have a clue as to a solution?

Ditto to all the above! I had no idea that Cascade had changed until I started resaerching. My “clean” dishes come out all gritty and covered in white film. My dishwasher is also coated in this stuff. My Black untensils are turning white. I’ve used Cascade for years and loved it. It’s a shame they ruined it. Needless to say I’m searching for a new product!

addition to the above, anyone know where to make a complaint.

Time for a law suit against the company! I am currently waiting on the dishwasher repair man and have had to buy new glasses and can no longer put most items in the dishwasher. I am using 2-3 times as much water hand washing my dishes. My plastic ware is all ruined white and powdery! My Bosch dishwasher may be ruined! How many unhappy people will it take! I went to the web site looking for answers and all I see are complaints about the powder product with Dawn! href=”#comment-177″>@MARILYN

I also want to say that I have been loyal to Cascade over 30 years! I hate law suits! However the loyal customers of Cascade should not be left to pay for the repairs of their own dishwashers and replacement of glasses, plastic ware and such. This is unacceptable. I read the complaints posted on the web. Not one answer as to how to fix this! They offered one customer coupons for more Cascade! Cascade fix this problem!

Thank you!!! I thought I was going crazy….I have always used Cascade and lately my black utensil were coming out white and powdery…My glassware filmy and ruined. NOW I finally know why. I will be switching.

The problem is that when the GOVERNMENT decided to stop allowing the manufacturers to produce a quality product because the ENVIRONMENTALISTS demanded that we reduce the amount of phosphates in the water supply (never mind that most comes from agriculture and commercial uses) the MANUFACTURERS only had two years to reformulate and weren’t able to come up with an alternative that worked. The PEOPLE need to force the GOVERNMENT to repeal the law. In the meantime, buy a box of TSP at your local hardware store and add it to your detergent before they ban the sale of TSP, too.

Think about this when you are no longer able to buy incandescent lights and have a houseful of dull, ugly flourescents that are health hazards when dropped; when you have to flush twice to clean the toilet bowl; when you have to replace all your appliances before selling your house because they use too much energy; when large cars are no longer available because of ridiculous CAFE standards, so everyone will be driving a plastic box and auto fatalities rise again. Ready for less government yet? VOTE!

Our dish washing machine’s spray nozzles are plugged with a white gritty residue left over from Palmolive Eco phosphate free gel detergent. The machine is basically junk now, 18-months old. We have tried to remove the residue, but it is baked-on solid. Obviously they was no product testing prior to release to the general public. I should buy some Kenmore shares!

I have been using Cascade for years but I find my dishes and silverware are coted with a wight film and I can’t get it of unles I use a brillo pad. I will never buy your product again.

Mary Ann Wilsey

I too thought I was loosing my mind as both my home dishwasher and the one at the office began creating this ugly white film all over everything. I was at the point of calling the repairman when I heard about this. I too am banning as much P & g from my shopping list as possible. This is so disgusting that I feel most of my dishes must be thrown away. maybe public awareness would have saved some of us from this mess early on. Funny thing is that good housekeeping gave these products their seal of approval for being even better than before. Wait, is that the same good housekeeping that just named Oil of Olay as the number one anti-aging product? Hmmm…oil of olay–cascade what do they have in common? oh yeah, they are both owned by one of the large advertisers. I have lost faith in cascade and credibility with good housekeeping research. what’s next…the tooth fairy.

We’ve used Cascade for years. But recently, we struggled for 3 weeks thinking our 1 year-old Miele dishwasher had something terribly wrong with it. Dishes had a white film. Plasticware had a thicker film. Pots & pans had the thickest white film. Our steak knives with dark wooden handles were getting bleached grey. We started having food particles stuck to the silverware.

We have called Miele repair 3 times. The 1st time we were told that it was something we were doing wrong and to make sure we used less dishwashing powder, as it was accumulating on everything. The 2nd time we were told that a detergent residue had built up on the inside of the dishwasher for the past 12 months and it was now leeching onto the plates. Miele sent us a liquid to use with an empty wash cycle which would clean the insides. That cleaned the dishwasher, but the next load of dishes had the white residue again. Finally a 3rd call was enough for Miele to acknowledge that there might be a problem with the detergent. They are sending us their phosphate-free detergent. We’ll see if that works.

We are terribly disappointed that P&G let their product on the market without adequate testing. We have no idea what the ‘film’ is and how much we have ingested as we struggled to clean our dishes.

For now, we’re stuck with this kitchen environmental ‘disaster’. It’s much more than a few white blemishes on our dishes and we will not “suck it up” as inferred by many ‘Green’ bloggers. But since we are in a no-phosphate state, does anyone know of a detergent that DOES work? Obviously Cascade is out. But what can we use until sanity is restored in the dishwasher detergent marketplace?

I am an American senior citizen on fixed income. Ran out and went to Costco but they had this new Cascade “Complete” dishwasher detergent so I bought it. Big time mistake. This detergent ruined cooking utensils, one Calphalon pan, fry pans, silverware, stainless steel and aluminum utensils. It leaves a white film on “everything” and then one has to scrob and scrob and scrob but no way to get it out. My Oxo cooking utensils all ruined. I want Cascade to reimburse me for all this. I am low income.

Tonight, after at least 3 months of trying every conceivable combination of settings on our “used-to-be-fabulous dishwasher” – - and now reading all the above which covers everything we found on our dishes after washing with Cascade’s new light-green-boxed product for months (from scum to white residue somehow burned on, to dullness to dirty feeling to white film to finger prints that were worse after washing than before, and on and on) – - we feel extremely deceived by the manufacturers who either didn’t test their new “without-phosphorous” product or didn’t care. (My husband and I didn’t know phosphorous from non-phosphorous until now!”) As far as we know, this company never made a public statement or warning that this “new” product could ruin our dishes, silverware, and even our dishwasher.

We are Katrina victims in New Orleans, and for a long time, I thought it was my own imagination about what was happening to our dishes in the washing machine. We were puzzled months later by looking back on the fact that our dishwashing problems seemed ironically to coincide with my husband’s purchasing of 2 for 1 price of newly-designed bigger boxes of Cascade. With that first washing with Cascade, our dishes were coming out of the washer with scum all over them. To the touch, the plates were dirty feeling. So, we thought it was our dishwasher – - never even considering our tried-and-true Cascade product! We tried every combination of cycle on our dishwasher imaginable, thinking it was on the blink even though it was perfect before the first use of this new Cascade. Then we considered that maybe the light-green package was a “knock off” of the Cascade that we normally used religiously for 23 years.

My husband started shopping for a new dishwasher about a month ago (prompted by my continuous complaining about the way our dishes were coming out AFTER being washed), but we couldn’t afford any of the prices. Otherwise our dishwasher seemed fine but the dishes were always coming out dirtier than when I put them in the dishwasher. We were at our wit’s end with frustration over how our dishes could be so weird. Even after hand-washing them over and over, they have a kind of burned-in smudge factor to them with dullness and white residue. Our list of how we were “trying to figure it all out”, just like the others mentioned here, goes on and on. We’ve spent at least 3, maybe even 4 months with this time-consuming problem. So tonight, for the first time, we decided to research Cascade on the internet after my husband said, “maybe they changed their formula and didn’t tell anybody or cut corners”. That’s when we found this site and a few others with the identical problems we’ve been facing.

So to realize it’s the Cascade which has created all this frustration, anxiety, ruination of kitchen wares including possibly our dishwasher, makes us so perturbed and sad, realizing that a large corporation (that sports the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval right on their new light-green boxes of Cascade), has tricked us into buying and using their products without warning us or obviously testing this new product. Had they tested their products, they’d have learned what all of us are learning now: that this new Cascade product is destructive and should never have been placed on the market and should be off the market. I can’t get the residue off our dishes even after hand-washing them!

Cascade makers, you should be ashamed of yourselves! What next for us consumers?! Ralph Nader, where are you?

I too have been using Cascade for years and recently purchased a new “design looking” Cascade Advanced at CostCo. I first noticed a few days ago that my silverware (silverplate – handed down to me from my mother) felt “odd” – gritty somehow. Yesterday I took my silverware out of the dishwasher and it was clouldy and yes, looked corroded. I knew then something was dreadfully wrong with this new Cascade. I was and still am very upset and glad to see that I am correct. Something is dreadfully wrong with these new dishwasher detergents.
And I also do not believe in lawsuits but I don’t know what it will cost to replace my destroyed family silverware.
I too asked myself – haven’t they tested their product? This corrosion happened after only several washings!
I certainly will sign some kind of petition to get this destructive product off the market.

Same story here. All my black non-stick cooking utensils are totally ruined and dishes & glasses are coming out with a white film. After reading all these and comments on other websites I am furious with Proctor & Gamble! My next project is to look for a new diswashing detergent NOT made by P&G! I hope someone sues them!

Cascade had two years to reformulate to Government mandates and has totally failed. The GE dishwashers that use smart dispense gel are being ruined and the dishes and machine coated with a white deposit. There should be a class action law suit for the damage to aluminum pots, and all dishware as well as dishwashers damage. Is this film safe to eat or toxic. If there is such a lawsuit please post how to join the suit.

I hate the new Cascade, without phosphate. I have some really old
copper-like measuring cups and the new Cascade turned them completely black. They’re permanently ruined. I had no idea that phosphate had been taken out of Cascade. I’ve been a user of Cascade Complete for years, and I noticed that I could no longer find it on the grocery shelves. A friend told me that the old Cascade Complete was no longer available. Not only did the “new” Cascade ruin my measuring cups, but most of my plastic spatulas, and my
stainless steel silverware and all of my drinking glasses have a chalky film on them. I’m really mad! I suppose Cascade was changed for
a reason. What that reason is, I probably will never know. A good philosophy to follow,..is : When it “ain’t broke”, don’t try to fix
it. I’ve got a friend who is washing her dishes by hand to avoid the dreaded “white film”. I’m a very dissatisfied customer. N.J.P.

First of all I have been using PHOSPHATE FREE LIQUID DISHWASHING DETERGENT for the past 4 years (pamolive eco). So not all phosphate free detergents are bad because I have not had these problems as described above. There is going to be some white spots occasionally. I really am disgusted by the comment above about the government and laws to ban phosphate detergents! I live in area surrounded by water (rivers, oceans) and I can tell you that nature is so beautiful and vulnerable and we are destroying nature, wildlife, and our own water source. People are so self centered and spoiled in the country. Everyone is willing to use tons of toxic chemicals to have spotless dishes and glasses. Then everyone wonders why the cancer rate is so high and continue to grow and why animals are suffering. If you look you can find phosphate free GEL/LIQUID detergents that work and are eco-friendly. I have not bought Cascade detergent in 10 years…I think there product contains way too much chlorine bleach and other hazardous chemicals just to make a profit. Bottom line is all these big companies want to make profit and they don’t care who or what gets hurt! They don’t care if they hurt you or the rivers/lakes/streams. Our future generations are going to have nothing beautiful in nature to enjoy because we will all have killed it off to have clean dishes and clothes!!! Crazy!!!!!!

CASCADE POWDER WITH DAWN, AFTER ONLY ABOUT 2-3 WEEKS’ USE: I first noticed deposits on my flatware, and thought it was due to poor pre-rinsing. It did not come off. Then, I noticed it each time I unloaded. Now, I could see my plates and glasses were getting “etched.”

I found that scrubbing my flatware with baking soda has removed the deposits. I have yet to tackle the plates and glasses. I’ve been a life-long Cascade user, but will change brands over this.

@Larry
lary is sooooooo correct here ….

Don’t panic folks, I have a solution that will return your expensive stainless steel dishwasher to the mirror finish it once had without a single scratch. Steps to take: Pour 1/2 cup of white vinegar into bottom of dishwasher on EACH cycle. I did a pot and pan wash cycle and had to pour vinegar into the wash 3 separate times. After the wash and the rinse cycle completes, stop the dishwasher before it goes into the dry cycle. Remove the racks and use a plastic bristle / plastic handle scrub brush and scrub any heavy deposits using very little water on the brush. Immediately wipe off the area you brushed and repeat until the stainless dishwasher starts to look like it is only stained (like hard water stains in a coffee pot). On the rubber side seals, use the sharp edge of a small knife held at a right angle to the rubber surface and gently run up and down the seals until the white powder begins to erode away, wipe with a sponge as you go until it is nice and clean. Hold the blade at a fixed distance from your finger tip so that when you scrape the rubber seals, you don’t accidentally scrape your metal surface with the knife. Whatever you do, DO NOT use a metal object to scrape the crust from your dishwasher, only use it on rubber door seals. Once all the heavy deposits have been removed, start another wash load WITHOUT soap. At the start of each cycle, add 1/2 cup of white vinegar to the bottom and allow it to finish all cycles except the dry cycle. Do this repeatedly until you are satisfied you have gotten all the crust off, that you can, using a brush. By now you should have a “clean” dishwasher that looks absolutely ruined from staining. Don’t worry, here is where your fears will disappear…go to your medicine cabinet and grab a tube of toothpaste. Yes, that is the stuff that will make your day! Using an old (clean) toothbrush and toothpaste, begin to clean every square inch of that machine (interior only). I had considered applying the toothpaste to the sponge and just wiping it down, but I was afraid that the sponge might pick up a crystal (rock) of the cascade and put a scape into my stainless surface. I was taking no chances at this point and I’m now glad I didn’t. Use a little water with the toothpaste and apply it as though you were brushing your teeth and the stuff will come right off. Wipe with a sponge as you go and you’ll be done in no time. Avoid using a heavy grit toothpaste. I used crest for sensitive teeth formula (for those who are curious). BTW, I experimented with CLR, TSP, Dishwasher Magic, WD40, tarnish remover, and even gasoline, only to find that the best solution was vinegar during the wash, brushing between wash treatments and the final step with the toothpaste. I haven’t figured out how to deal with the racks yet. Mine are battle ship gray that now look like they’re sun bleached (faded). After brushing the knife rack using the plastic brush, I found that the residue will come off however, it is impossible to brush every part of the rack that has so many bends in it. I’m beginning to think I might have to power wash them with a high PSI power sprayer. On the bright side of things, I noticed the residue coming off areas of the racks after continued vinegar treatments in the wash cycles. I’m still looking for a soap that doesn’t create this problem with no success thus far. If you plan to continue to use your stainless dishwasher, I recommend staying away from powder detergents. They seem to crystallize and cake to the dishwasher surface faster than gels. For now I’m using Finish Gel with jet dry rinsing agent. By the way, try to remember your congressperson while you’re scrubbing away.

I agree with all of the complaints that I read about Cascade with Dawn. Unfortunately for me, as I have always used cascade to the exclusion of all others, I bought 2 bottles st the time I purchased this product. So, it won’t be costing me $.20 per load, because I am about to throw away all that I have left. So, it’s the cost of two bottles for two loads of dishes. This has also removed my confidence in Cascade as a product. So, my next venture is to experiment with some othe brand – after 39 years – or wash all of my dishes by hand, have my dishwasher removed, and buy cabinets to put into the old dishwasher space.

Who’s going to start a class action suit? I received a Kitchen Aid mixer for Christmas. After one wash, the bread mixer and all the alumium parts have oxidized and leave grey streaks in my food. Oxidation continues after hand washing.

Stupid me. I knew this would happen because my aluminum pans are pitted and ice cream scoops leave metallic gouges in our Christmas dessert. And I forgot to read Kitchen Aid’s fine print that recommends against washing their aluminum parts in a dishwasher – ho kidding!

If anyone is interested I can share the ridiculous response from P&G.

I really think P&G should be liable for all the ruined dishwashers, utensils and pots and pans. They sold us a product that did not work, and it clearly produced harm. The product should have been removed from the market months ago.

We do need to get representatives that really represent us. There is a plan out there called Get Out Of Our House. There plan is to get true citizen in Washington to represent us. To find out more visit http://www.goooh.com (go).

yup, same problem here only i have gone through 3 dishwashers thinking it was the problem. Thanks a lot to all the people who are apart of putting this cruptive soap on the market shelf.

I too have experienced the problems with white (really hard to remove) cement film and thought it was the dishwasher. Silverware seemed to be ruined and it was really noticeable on plastics. I have always bought Costco Cascade but ran out and just went to the store and bought the Dawn Shine Shield Cascade. I am now using Finish (no phosphates either) and it is working really well. After one use dishwasher film was gone. Glasses, silverware and plastics look awesome. I wonder if it is more than just the removal of the phosphates? I will call the company and get my money back-don’t just throw it out. The more they have to refund, the quicker the solution will be. I agree we need to be environmentally conscience.

I have used Cascade and then Cascade complete for years. I use to love it ,not anymore!!!! It need to be Ban!!!!ruined everythings

Also, the vinegar seems to help with the white residue on utensils used for non-stick pots.

spudmom :
The problem is that when the GOVERNMENT decided to stop allowing the manufacturers to produce a quality product because the ENVIRONMENTALISTS demanded that we reduce the amount of phosphates in the water supply (never mind that most comes from agriculture and commercial uses) the MANUFACTURERS only had two years to reformulate and weren’t able to come up with an alternative that worked. The PEOPLE need to force the GOVERNMENT to repeal the law. In the meantime, buy a box of TSP at your local hardware store and add it to your detergent before they ban the sale of TSP, too.
Think about this when you are no longer able to buy incandescent lights and have a houseful of dull, ugly flourescents that are health hazards when dropped; when you have to flush twice to clean the toilet bowl; when you have to replace all your appliances before selling your house because they use too much energy; when large cars are no longer available because of ridiculous CAFE standards, so everyone will be driving a plastic box and auto fatalities rise again. Ready for less government yet? VOTE!

Three cheers to you! You’ve hit the nail on the head to perfection. This country is nothing but a frukin nanny state.

I just bought a 4.5lb box of TSP and will be adding some to the dish washer tonight. Looking forward to clean, clear glasses and dishes again.

I use cascade with dawn – gel it has now gone all liquid not like the white gel it is suppouse to be why

So glad I found this site….dittos to all the above, just glad I didn’t buy a new dishwasher. I’m contacting my elected officials tomorrow. Maybe they would like to come wash dishes with me. These are the same idiots that bought into man made global warming, hook, line and sinker!

I have used Cascade for over 30 years. My glasses, cutlery, black utensils and the rubber on the kitchenaid dishwash all have turned gray. I will not ever use cascade again no matter what they put out on the market. This product should have been tested when they added dawn. I wont even use Dawn now for hand washing

I have never had such horrible results using any other dishwasher detergent. The container spouts “Rinses away residue, Leaves dishes Sparkling” yet every single item in my dishwasher’s load was left with white spots and streaks that are impossible to get off – even scrubbing them with a scouring pad. I might as well through my glasses out as I would NEVER use them myself let alone anyone else looking as they do. Came out dirtier than when they went in. A whole dishwasher full of my things ruined. Thanks for nothing.

ps – Shop Rite brand states on the bottle which date codes have phosphate and which don’t.

Is the gel solidifying a phosphate issue as well?

Is this really a phosphate issue? I realize Cascade is blaming it on the lack thereof but others have mentioned that they have used other phosphate-free soaps with no issues.

I found info on Cascades site last night that my jug should have spent 4 hrs in a sink full of hot water to restore it to a normal gel instead of a solid brick. Can you believe I managed to get TWO bad batches?

I am SO glad I didn’t wash my cats dishes in that stuff. Luckily I didn’t have the staining issues some people have had, it just wouldn’t clean at all.

That pan that went through 3 times and still had food stuck to the bottom is now spotless with the new detergent. I even put a muffin pan with muffin residue in it for the hell of it – also spotless, all on normal loads.

I’m sorry, but I will never use Cascade again, it’s just too much of an issue.

Hi everyone – I have a suggestion to try. It has worked perfectly for me. I tried vinegar (as suggested above) and it works OK but not great. We have hard water here in Florida and there is a new company that has invented a dishwasher additive that REMOVES ALL hard water deposits from my dishes. It’s made of all natural ingredients, is safe for septic tanks, and has no phosphates. It’s called CitriClean. Right now it’s only available locally but the website will be done soon. http://www.citriclean.net is the address.

WOW I wish I would have read this a week ago…I totally destroyed all my glass wear with the new light green box of cascade and my black Utensils are covered with a white film….I hope my dish washer is O.K.
Cascade just lost all my business.

I cannot believe I found this website. I spent the weekend shopping for new dishwasher even though my top of the line machine is only 2 years old. Couldn’t take it any more. Dirty glasses, dishes, and damaged pans! Guess it’s back to handwashing. Thanks for saving me the cost of a new machine!

Let us all know how the product from Miele works!@Kevin

I’m am so upset with this Cascade phosphate free product. I have had a cake pan I’ve used for 48 years of married life , as it was a wedding present. I have ALWAYS washed it in the dishwasher & have always bought Cascade, but after washing it one time with this product it is totally carroded & ruined & has to be discarded. I’m very very angry about this & will NEVER use Cascade again!! It has also ruined the bottom of my one quart saucepan!!GRRRRRR

@MARILYN

I agree! TERRIBLE…I’ve tried the pacs, the liquid and the powder. I’ve tried Cascade, store brand and Electrosol…ALL OF THEM SUCK! My glasses are so ruined that I even tried washing them in BLEACH!! NOTHING removes this chalky white residue or the flakes of white powder. Not even mason jars come clean and they’re practically indestructible. PLEASE give us the phosphates back…this is ridiculous! I’m changing to all plastic glasses because the glass ones cannot be cleaned in this crap!

@Angeline F.
Lemishine—you’ll love it!!!!

cascade sucks it left a film on everything I own. I had to get all new tupperware because all of my food that I stored in them taste like cascade. I also has to replace all of my baby bottles also… moral of the story shit sucks.

I had the same problem with the cloudy dishes from Cascade. The joke was I switched to Cascade because Consumer Reports recommended it as the best.
I had a repair man come out to look at my dishwasher thinking it was broken and the first thing that he did was look to see what detergent that I was using. He siad that he had gone to at least 50 homes that had the same problem in the DFW area.
He said that I needed to rinse my glasses in a white Vinegar and water bath and re wash them with another detergent like “Finish”. It worked like a charm. My glasses were clear again!
Who is going to reimburse us for all that we have had to spend on repair men and throwing out our Cascade?

I have used Cascade for years and was always pleased .I even washed my fine silver with Cascade. .Now my fine siver is ruined!
it looks as if it has been cleaned with sand paper .It will have to go to a jeweler to have it polished and I expect the company to pay for this.Please send me the name and address of the CEO as I plan to send my damaged pieces for him to inspect. In the meantime I shall try other products and will return the unused box of Cascade to the Star Market.

Since we started using the new Cascade our dishes all have a white film that is almost impossible to remove. Not impressed.

My dishes – no matter what detergent I use – come out HORRIBLE. I wonder if the detergent makers are poisoning us as well! I have since resumed hand washing and my dishwasher just sits there doing nothing. After hand washing for over a month, the white streaks are still on my plastic utensils and colanders. There are also white streaks on my stainless pans. AWFUL! Who can we complain to?

Wake up folks! You’re HOT on Cascade’s butt when it’s the eco-Nazis that have taken us here: 1.6 gal toilets that need 2 or more flushes so they won’t back up; Washing machines that don’t use water and only pretend to wash clothes clean (hey, I’m alergic to the detergent residue that doesn’t rinse clean, even when I do a 2nd cycle in clear, HOT water); and now diswashers that try their best, but lack the muscle that Cascade diswashing detergent used to provide. Oh, having trouble reading this – it’s not your eyes getting old and weak it’s your damn halogen CFLs. Can we “clean house” and put all these clowns in their place? My bet is that Cascade disappears from the shelves almost as fast as Bon Vivant vichyssoise soup.

Okay, now that we have all complained to this website about our dishes, etc., the film and being unable to come up with a sparkly clean glass, as promised on the box of my newly purchased Cascade, what do we do about it? The website does not provide an email address where we can complain or voice our grievances. How about a class action lawsuit? Is anyone willing to take this on? I am disgusted. No more Cascade for me either!!!!!

I am having difficulty finding Cascade in the white liquid. I can find it in the lemon but not the white. I use the white Cascade not only for my dishes but as a stain remover on white clothing and linens. It is a great stain remover.

I want to cry in frustration. When you are a single working person, who works a full time job with some overtime, you do not have time to manually do the dishes. I have perhaps time one weekend day out of the two; the other day is for laundry and other errands. ONE day is not enough to do two sinks full of dishes manually that have piled up by then.

I cannot find a product without phosphates that works. I’ve tried tons of stuff, including Cascade. I’ve tried the Lemi Shine. I am about to give up and add TSP back to my detergent, which I am sure was not the solution environmentalists were looking for, but I don’t have extra money to go buying paper plates and paper cups just so I have something clean enough to eat off of.

And I don’t just mean a few spots, I mean stuck on food. And white film. And there is a dust of stuff all over my glasses, so now I can’t drink out of them without hand washing them all. It’s horrible, I tell you.

When you work sometimes 45 hours a week, as I mentioned earlier, and are a single woman with no kids or husband to make them do the dishes, you have no time to spend hours doing them all manually. Manually doing the dishes is not a solution for working people.

That Finish crap doesn’t work either. Both Finish & Cascade leave plastic glasses white, silverware tarnished & dirty and even bowls come out dirty. All black utensils are now stained horribly.

Guess I’ll add my complaint too. I am renting a corporate apartment so it’s fully furnished with all kitchen items. I had some samples of a Wal-Mart dishwashing tablet which worked great. However, when I ran out last week I made the huge mistake of buying Cascade, thinking it would be better to get a name brand item. Used it once and it has ruined everything that was in the wash. So, now I’ll probably have to pay to replace pans, glasses and utensils that belong to my Landlord. They are all covered in a white, chalky mess that I can’t get off. Plus, the bottoms of the pans are ruined–streaked beyond repair. Guess I’ll go back to the generic stuff that actually cleaned things and left them shiny. Cascade should discontinue their product if they can’t do better than this.

I have been using these for years with no problem, with phosphates and without. Maybe it is your water or machines, but I have used this product with hard and soft water with no unwanted results.
Maybe Cascade produced a bad batch.

I am another that has ruined glasses, and ruined dishes from Cascade. I have had a dishwasher for 50 yrs, and have used Cascade, for most of those years. I have always had nice shiny dishes, until now. I found a bottle of another brand, a few days ago, that is not phosphate free. I have only used it 1 time, and it already shows some improvement in my glasses, although, I doubt, they will every be clear and shiny again, and if I have company coming, guess, I will have to buy new glasses, because, I sure cant set the table with the ones I have. I will never buy another bottle or any type of cascade again, but I will be out on a mission to buy a whole lot of other brand detergents, that are still on the shelves in my state that still do have phosphates.

In July we purchased a new dishwasher and I note that all my aluminum pans have turned grey and dull – no shine. I too have been using Cascade Complete and will stop using it today.
Thinking the problem was with the dishwasher, we had a repairman come and there was nothing wrong with the washer – apparently only with the soap. Let’s get that Cascade Complete removed from the shelves.

What freaks me out is the after taste of Cascade gel dishwashing liquid that’s left on my dishes and glasses after they’re ‘clean’ and dried. Even rinsing doesn’t remove the taste/smell. This ruins the taste of coffee and drinks and makes me feel anxious about the health risks from the residue.

I’ll just add my two cents to this thread. I just wish I had found this thread before RUINING all of our plastic bowls and utensils with Cascade Complete. The glassware is a mess. Residue on everything. Cascade Complete should be renamed Cascade Complete Disaster.

This will probably cost $200 to replace all the ruined pieces. Very, very frustrating.

WOW- I have had the exact SAME problems and when I returned the boxes to Costco I was told by the gal that she ‘hears’ (my complaint) “all the time”. I just switched to Cascade’s little packets with ‘dawn’ added hoping that would help, bow I am wondering as I am seeing horrible complaints on that here. I have learned 2 things recently: ONE: our repairman said that machines are being RUINED bu the phosphate-free dishwasher detergents and said to stop using them! But in Eastern Washing and northern Idaho we can’t even BUY the other stuff. TWO: I learned that using ONLY the ‘pots and Pans’ cycle and then running the first cycle with ONLY white vinegar and then the packet afterwards (since it is held in the dispenser until the second wash) seems to do OK. But I shouldn’t HAVE to wash my dishes after this. I have had so MANY things permanently RUINED from this!! If there is a class action suit I want in on it!

Yes, you thank our government and the EPA for all the problems mentioned. And it’s going to get worse if we don’t make a change.

Wow, I am speechless, after reading all of the comments. Our 1.5 year old GE profile dishwasher is not draining and there is a white lime baked all over the sump pump and especially from the automatic soap dispenser. Of course, we are using Cascade from Costco, and no surprise why this is happening. So by now everyone knows that we are totally screwed by Proctor and Gamble and this product. What are our options to get this fixed? I mean, I need a new dishwasher and I want Proctor and Gamble to pay for it!
Has anyone been able to recover their losses? Please share your story.
Proctor and Gamble, all I have to say is that you are Gambling with your customers.

After hearing about a new dishwasher detergent with phosphate coming out, it finally is available. Bubble Bandit has 8.7% phosphate. We just bought a carton of it and can’t believe how fantastic this stuff is. We have hard water and after running the Bandit through the machine a few times we are back to spotless dishes again. It’s only available online and cheaper than buying the phosphate free crap if you include the price of the rinse agent you have to buy as well.

I bought a new KitchenAid dishwasher a few months ago and decided to give Cascade another try. BIG MISTAKE….. Everything, and I do mean everything, looked terrible. My stainless flatware, dishes and aluminum pans looked like they were ruined. I finally decided to try and salvage the mess and got out the “NEVR-DULL” (not mispelled) and it quickly cleaned everything I used it on. Just get a wad from the can and polish the items. (It’s much quicker and easier than cleaning silver). Anyway, I’m trying the cheapest store brand I can find and staying with my Jet Dry.

This stuff is awful. Do not buy…especially if you are happy with the stuff you own. I actually got into a fight with my roommate over whether or not I scrubbed the dishes before washing them. Ruined. Even after a new detergent and Lemishine could not get rid of the nasty chalk film.

We have been using Cascade for years and really loved it until We bought the new Cascade Advanced powdered!

Dishes had heavy white film all over them. I thought it was the dishwasher!
Cleaned it with White Vinegar. Next load same thing!
Brought in a repairman who told me the dishwasher was fine and that all of the washing arms were spinning!
Ran CLR through it and the Kitchenaid sparkled!
Tried a new box of Cascade Advanced Powder and had the White Film again!
Wife tried the Cascade gel next and that seemed to be OK!
Tried the Cascade Packets and that had the same White Film as the Powder!
We need to get the government mandates out of our kitchen and go back to the old Cascade Powder Back!
Now we have to search for a dish washing detergent that works as well as the Old Cascade!
And maybe get rid of the EPA and save a ton of money and a lot of aggravation.
Maybe I can get my Old Cascade shipped down from Canada!

Wow – I was so disappointed with the Cascade gel I was using that I bought the little packets with Dawn. They were even worse! I’m very, very picky what I put in the dishwasher – never, ever put aluminum in nor do I put in my good knives and pots never come out clean anyway so I hand wash those – still, my stainless steel flatware and measuring cups came out of the dishwasher with white film all over them. Yuck and I can’t get it off! I thought it was because I have a water softner and I was using too much detergent, then I found this site and I guess it’s not that. Folks, don’t run out and buy a water softner, that’s not the problem. My glasses all were etched and ugly so I tossed them and got plastic. Now I find out it’s the detergent. Grrrr – Never will I buy P&G products again. I will go out and buy a box of TSP and use 1/2 to 1 teaspoon per load and see how that works. My problem isn’t as bad as some of you because my dishwasher isn’t stainless steel inside but I assume some of the parts are affected by this stuff. Let me know if anyone starts a class action against P&G because I’ll sign up!