Morton Pool Salt from Home Depot really messed up my pool

[magiteck]

Do you know what the stain inhibitor is? Likely something that's safe for drinking water if it's meant for softener salt, right? Would they list it on the bag?

I'm doing a saltwater conversion this summer so I'm going to need to source salt soon.

Usually, the stain inhibitor versions I've found are in green bags - labeled 'iron fighter', 'rust defense', or similar. The additive is usually citric acid or sodium bisulphate. Citric acid probably wouldn't do much aside from lower pH a bit. Sulphates you don't want in the water. In any case I'd stay away from the green bags for a pool.

A plain yellow bag is probably OK - they're usually just plain/clean salt compressed into pellets. They would take longer to dissolve. In a water softener, they can be less prone to bridging, but that's not a concern in a pool. I would just make sure the bag doesn't boast anything like "cleaning" or any of the iron notes like above.

The blue bag are usually plain/untreated solar crystals. They fill giant ponds with brine and collect the salt after the water evaporates. It's pure salt but may contain a bit of dust/etc. from sitting in the elements. This is what I use.

 

[proavia]

Usually...
Green bag - iron inhibitor
Yellow bag - may have a resin cleaner or other "cleaners" in it
Blue bag - plain/untreated - some list it as solar salt

Mortens, Diamond Crystals and Sure-Soft are what I've seen at HD and Lowes in the Phoenix area

I use the blue bag - solar salt

@ArtP

 

[blueman2]

Well, after 1 week of brushing, filtering and praying, my pool is finally back to normal. There might be a bit of a brown stain on the deep end, but it is really not that noticeable. I am pretty confident any remaining discoloration will fade away in the coming month. Still no reply from Morton on my request for them to refund my cost for the salt, and help pay for the gallon of water clarifier and new cartridge filter that I needed to replace. My total costs were $400 ($130 for salt, $70 for clarifier, and $200 for filters). So far, they are not even willing to refund my costs for the defective product. Their only offer is a coupon for some more bags of Morton salt. But I don't need any more salt now. I went out and purchased a different brand for the remaining salt I needed.

I give Morton credit for responding quickly, but fault them for not even providing a refund for a defective product that caused me a lot of work and some expense to fix, much less helping with the costs I incurred to fix the mess their product caused.

BTW, the only response I am getting is their daily calls to come by to pick up the 4 unused bags of defective salt product. But I am in no hurry to give that to them. They are not even going to reimburse me for the salt they take away.

 

[PoolStored]

Well, after 1 week of brushing, filtering and praying, my pool is finally back to normal.

Whew!!! That's a relief!!!

 

[kimkats]

That is the follow up I was hoping for as far as the pool. I am VERY upset they are not stepping up to take care of the extra expense you incurred due to their product. I am SURE they want the bad bags back. They need to pay you back for them and not with a coupon sigh............

 

[Newdude]

I give Morton credit for responding quickly, but fault them for not even providing a refund for a defective product that caused me a lot of work and some expense to fix, much less helping with the costs I incurred to fix the mess their product caused.

Any large corporation worth their salt (Ba Dum Tiss), has a fraud department to deal with frivolous lawsuits and such. A company as large as Mortons probably got hundreds of claims yesterday alone.

They can't do anything without proof. Yours is a fair and square claim but many others that aren't also seem legit at first glance.

They need your bags so they can determine what's in them and if they did it. People will seal up anything and claim it came from the manufacturer. You didn't of course, but people suck. We can't blame Mortons for doing their due diligence. Then they'll figure out what kind of harm it could do.

I'd be shocked if they didn't have your HD store pull the same lot# bags from the shelves and already have them in their possession. Now they need yours to prove you were affected. From there, we can see what they're willing to do to make it right.

$200 for filters

Do you still have them ?

 

[JamesW]

I checked with the production department and this is what they said.

So, I told the CEO and this is what he said.

 

[hwy17]

I'd be shocked if they didn't have your HD store pull the same lot# bags from the shelves and already have them in their possession.

These bags are all over the bay area cause I got mine down in Campbell. I might go back there to check but I would bet they haven't done anything about it.

 

[Newdude]

These bags are all over the bay area cause I got mine down in Campbell

No doubt. But they have a ground zero so to speak, so that would have been the place to start.

 

[blueman2]

...They need your bags so they can determine what's in them and if they did it.

You make a good point. I scheduled the pickup for today. Morton did respond very quickly to my original complaint and the person I spoke with was pleasant and caring. So credit to Morton for that.

I just hope that they do something about the lack of quality control that allowed this bad product to get into the market and cause issues for their customers.

 

[blueman2]

Insult to Injury.

I just received a letter from Morton apologizing for the issue. But to make up for it, they provided coupons for TWO 40 lb bags of salt! They said that they hope this settles the matter. Two bags of salt? WTF? I bought 16 bags of bad salt, 4 of which they are taking away from me. And all I get are 2 lousy coupons to settle the matter? I threw them in the trash.

I gave them a chance, and they did not respond at all appropriately. The heck with Morton.

 

[Mdragger88]

 

[JamesW]

They said that they hope this settles the matter.

Reply:

No, this does not settle it.

How about $1,000.00 and we call it settled?

 

[blueman2]

Reply:

No, this does not settle it.

How about $1,000.00 and we call it settled?

No, I am through with Morton and this entire episode. I don't want to waste any more energy or emotion on that company. I threw away their coupon do not plan to buy that brand again, if I can avoid it.

But lesson to everyone: carefully inspect any product from Morton before you put it into your pool. Their idea of "Pure Salt" is definitely suspect.

 

[blueman2]

Final Update:

I got another update from Morton today which I thought would be good for people to hear. They agreed to refund my cost for the salt, as well as pay for the pool clarifier I purchased, so about $200 total reimbursement. I decided not to request reimbursement for the filters which is why they did not offer that. But I think if I had requested it, they would have.

Also , they said they will share with me the lab analysis to see what was in the salt and hopefully make sure it does not happen again.

I am fine with that resolution and wanted everyone to know that Morton did follow up in a reasonable manner. I will share what lab results come back about the salt when I get them.

Oh, and they mentioned TFP community being important to them. I had mention this forum in an early communication, and apparently they do monitor this site to some extent.