HOUSTON – When it comes to laundry detergent Tide is one of the priciest, but it's also the most popular. So when KPRC 2 noticed it popping up by the truckload in discount 5-gallon buckets on the side of the road at Houston flea markets and even in some grocery stores, we wondered if it was the real deal.
"Is this the same stuff that you can get in the store?" a KPRC employee asked a woman selling the Tide on the side of the road.
"No, it's cheaper," she replied.
"But is it the same stuff inside of it?" the employee prodded.
"It's better," she answered.
Houstonian Jorge Medrano contacted Proctor and Gamble with the same question.
"I never got an answer from them," he told consumer expert Amy Davis. "I was disappointed, so that's why I contacted you."
The bucket is covered in Vietnamese writing, even the instructions. After several emails, P&G confirmed to KPRC 2 that it is a real tide product made in Vietnam, but one they never intended to sell in Houston or anywhere in the U.S.
So how did it get here? Sellers were downright secretive when KPRC 2 asked.
"So then where did you get it then?" Davis asked a woman selling it at a flea market on Airline Drive.
"I have a guy I get it from," the woman said.
Medrano saw the Tide at Mi Tienda, a chain of stores owned by HEB. KPRC 2 traced the pallets of the product to a warehouse in North Houston on Greens Road and a business called CL Sales Corporation.
"Where does the Tide come from?" Davis asked Julio Escobedo when she walked into the warehouse.
"From Vietnam," he replied.
"But how do you get it?" she asked.
"From my containers," said Escobedo.
He was hesitant to talk on camera, but Escobedo showed KPRC 2 a federal government website as evidence that shipping the Tide from Vietnam to the U.S. is perfectly legal. It's sold on what's called the gray market.
They are genuine legitimate products made by reputable companies overseas, intended for consumers in those countries. But companies like Escobedo's buy them there and resell them here to make a profit.
"Just because you're getting a good price doesn't mean you're getting a good deal," warned Charles Steuart, of U.S. Customs & Border Protection.
The agency would stop goods from coming into U.S. ports if they were not allowed. Even though the Tide is imported legally, Steuart said buyers should beware.
"It may not work as well. The formulation may be different," said Steuart.
So what's the difference? We put put them to the test. We bought four brand new creamy white towels just to stain them all up. We're talking tough stains like coffee and melted chocolate. We even smeared the towels down the sides of a dirty car. We washed one set with Tide with Downy, made in the U.S., and the other with the Vietnam Tide.
The results? The American Tide removed all of the stains. The discount gray market product did not. The detergent also left a ton of sudsy residue inside our washer.
Proctor & Gamble then told KPRC 2 it's likely because the product is designed for hand washing clothes -- how it's still done in most of Vietnam.
"It makes it very clear," said Medrano. "I'm not going to be buying these products."
Lastly, we some basic math. This Vietnamese Tide sells for $39.99 at Mi Tienda stores. Ounce for ounce customers actually end up paying more for the Vietnam product that does not work as well in our machines than they would for the regular American-made Tide.