Sounds like the freeby the company gave you may have been old stock. I just would not do business with them if they don't seem interested in making good on their product. pH strips are very sensitive to moisture and keeping them in the bathroom can be a problem. What I do is only keep a small portion in the bathroom at a time and store the rest in a dry area. But I have also found that they just get old and don't work after a while. My fav strip is called pHydrion Brilliant Dip Stik made by Micro Essential Laboratory. It only goes from 5-9 pH but the colors are very easy to read. After using them I will never go back to the rolls of pH strips. 48124