I was so excited to order and receive these dispensers, despite the price tag. I convinced myself that it was an investment whose costs could be recouped in saving on hand soap costs with a controlled dispensary. I really, really wanted to love this soap dispenser -- and I did, briefly. The clean, simple and modern appearance of the dispenser is nice. It feels sleek and well-made. The refills are convenient and easy to replace. Refills are available on Amazon (6 in a box). I purchased the Aloe and Eucalyptus dispenser and refill soaps. The soap scent is mild and pleasant. But, that's where my love for this dispenser ended. I purchased three of these dispensers and all three of them have the same issues -- 1) poor battery life, 2) dispensing soap all by itself (when no one is around), and 3) not dispensing soap at all. Beginning with the batteries, the power button is supposed to blink red when the batteries need replaced. Only one of the three actually blinked red to prompt a battery change. The other two began "malfunctioning" (randomly dispensing soap or not dispensing soap at all) at about the two week mark which prompted a change in batteries to try and resolve the issue. It only briefly solved the issue before it began having trouble again, but this time, it was with the dispensing of soap. This brings me to the second issue experienced. All three randomly dispense soap without human intervention. One of the dispensers is located in the bathroom outside of my home office. I could hear it periodically dispensing soap as many as 5 times in close succession, making a nice little mountain of foamy soap on the counter. Eventually, all three started doing it, even after changing batteries and making sure there was nothing interfering with the sensor. Other times, which brings me to the third issue -- when you want it to actually dispense soap, sometimes, it just won't and you have to turn it off and back on again. To save batteries, we have tried turning the unit off when not in use, but that kind of defeats the whole purpose of having an automatic soap dispenser, which I had thought would be particularly helpful when in the kitchen meal prepping. Needless to say, overall, these dispensers were a big disappointment and a waste of money and batteries. I gave it two stars for its simplistic beauty and easy refills, but that's it. Oh, and if you're thinking of trying to reuse the refill containers with your own or another brand of soap, forget it. The cap's design is made so it would be impossible to do that. What appears to be a screw on cap on the refill bottles isn't a screw on cap at all. There is a tube that is connected to a small hole in the top of the cap. The hole has a small rubber plug you remove before inserting it into the soap dispenser. The only way you're putting anything back into the refill bottle would be the cut the cap-like top which would likely then affect how the soap is transferred into the dispenser. Maybe with a little bit of creative engineering, you might have success, but I think it would be more trouble than it's worth. I wish I could get my money back for these. I expected better from Dove / Unilever. My advice? Don't do it. Save your money and get a manual pump that you can refill yourself with whatever liquid or foaming soap you want.
