Product review (5 stars): The smell wasn't terrible, but after sitting in my office and smelling ...
I recently moved into a new apartment unit and my clothes would come out of the washer with a strong smell (the previous tenant must have used fabric softener). The smell wasn't terrible, but after sitting in my office and smelling myself all day it became insanely nauseating. I took the old dispenser off of the agitator and spent about an hour cleaning it until the water that flowed out wasn't filled with green gunk, cleaned around the top rim of the wash basin, and ran/soaked several loads of vinegar and baking soda in the wash basin. That helped tremendously, but there was still a slight smell to my clothes and indeed if I put my nose close to the dispenser I could smell the rotten fabric softener that had seeped into the plastic. Thankfully I found this part on Amazon priced at a point that I didn't even have to think about it. My clothes now smell normal (e.g. no smell) which has helped my sanity.