Last month, I was looking forward to this subscription box. My what a difference a few weeks makes.
First off - let me say that I tried this because they had a coupon code for the first box for $9 instead of the normal price of $19.99. I figured it was worth a shot for that price, and the reviews have been, up until I placed my order, I kid you not, 90% positive.
I placed my order on December 19th. Their site says that they ship out in three intervals, and that I should have my box shipped "around the 2nd." Now, the second came and went, and I heard nothing, and my order was listed as unfulfilled still. So I emailed. And I got the worst customer service rep possible. She stated that "around the 2nd meant up to a week after, and basically told me to just be patient and wait and email again later. When I indicated that "around the 2nd" implied within a few days, baring holidays and Sundays, and not an entire week, she said it wasn't her problem and she would tell someone else. I expressed my dislike of her poor customer service and indicated that I would be including mention of it in my review, and she begged me not to leave a bad one. I explained that she was not acting in a professional manner, and that I did not state my review would be a good or a bad one, just that I would make note of her level of customer service. After repeated emails from her asking me not to leave a bad review, I simply stopped responding. She was highly unprofessional and not customer service oriented at all. This was Miranda.
On the ninth, I still had not received any updates indicating anything had been shipped. I started a new email thread to decrease the chances of getting Miranda, and asked why I had not received any notification, even barring the poor verbiage on the site. I explained that my last customer service experience was less than stellar and that I hoped that I would not have Miranda responding again. Lindsay responded. She was professional, she was polite, she stated that she would not make excuses, that the problem was the weather - their warehouse was closed due to weather related issues. While I wondered why no customer communication had been sent out, I was left with a slightly better feeling about their customer service in general, as it was clear to me that some of their reps knew what customer service meant.
Another week goes by. Still no updates. I email again. Lindsay responds that there have been shipping delays and one of the items in the box still hasn't got to them, but that as soon as it does, I should receive a notification.
At this point - they're getting nothing but complaints on their facebook page, and a lot of people are expressing complaints. One person states that she finally received her box, but that it looked like everything was simply thrown in. I figure that I should get mine soon, since she ordered two days sooner than I did.
Well - my box came in today, the 20th. I never received tracking, and there was no indication that it had shipped. (They swear they too, like the other subscription boxes I have reviewed, are going to be addressing this, according to their facebook page.)
So - here's the box. And my toes, because I took a picture of it on the floor and I don't wear shoes, and didn't feel like cropping the image.
Upon opening the box, I see what the other person complaining meant - it looks like someone just threw everything in. Still - this doesn't affect contents, just presentation, so moving on.
In each box, according to other past reviews I have read, they include a giveaway. This month's is for a coffee maker. I have no interest in this. I did not enter.
The first item was makeup removing towelettes. Now, I am not a makeup person, but I figure this will come in handy on car clean up for the little one, and a 25 pack is a good size for the glovebox, so why not? While this company does not provide price valuations, other sites have this listed at $4.98 for this size.
There was a $50 off coupon for Hello Fresh, and this is the other side of the coffee maker giveaway insert. Hello Fresh is overpriced, in my opinion (three meals for four people at ~105 plus shipping - it's cheaper to do literally anything other than a high priced restaurant), so I will use this as a bookmark until little one runs off with it and destroys it.
The next item was a bracelet. It's a stretchy elastic bracelet. There was a barcode attached, but no tag, and no brand. It looks like dollar store jewelry, but it's better quality, so I'm estimating it at $4-5, given that I don't have a brand to look up to get an actual price.
This is the bracelet on. It's too pale for my skin.
And it doesn't go well with freckled skin. Just looks weird. It went into elder child's jewelry box. It works well with her skin. She's not as pale as I am.
The next item was a pair of Kenneth Jones fluffy socks. These are sold in a ten pack for $13.99 or a 6 pack for $10.99, which puts these at $1.39 or $1.83 for the pair. They're not made that well and had a lot of loose threads at the top. They won't work well with shoes, though they might work well with boots, and if they had grippies they would be good for general house wear. A massive spill as a teenager on a wood floor in socks means that I am wary of wearing socks without grippies on wood floors by themselves, so these probably won't get used until next winter with my boots, unless it happens to get really cold again this year, which doesn't seem likely.
The next item was a Hamilton Beach Crew Top Sports Water bottle. It states on the packaging it will keep a beverage warm for 12 hours or cold for 24 hours. It's also supposedly spill proof. It'll go into the car for park trips for the little one, who will probably disprove the spill proof claims of the bottle. It's listed online as retailing for $14.99.
The final item in the box was Papaya Moon & Back Sticky Notes - 480 count. This is retailing online for $5.00
The package seals with a magnet, which decreases the interest of the little one, as she hasn't yet noticed that it opens, making it safe on my desk.
These are the sticky notes. The top right corner of the image is four flag stacks of stickies. The ones below it and in the middle are slightly smaller than normal sized Post-It notes, and the one on the left is a longer one with barely there lines.
I use a lot of sticky notes, so this is a positive for me.
Using the higher values on the ranges listed, that puts this box with a value of $31.80. This is is a good value box. Even when you consider it based off of the normal price of $19.99.
However, with that being said, the customer service issues and the shipping issues make it a no for me. The whole experience was a poor one that I have no desire to repeat. If you don't care when you get your items, then go ahead, the value is definitely here, but if you hate dealing with incompetent customer service reps, this is not the box for you.
I cancelled my subscription after the Miranda experience, and in spite of the Lindsay experience, the company is not well run. The communication with customers is poor, they have poor control over their supply chain, and that's no way to run a business. Their facebook excuse is that they are a family owned company. This isn't an excuse. A business should be run like a business, especially if they are going to fulfill orders of the "thousands" of customers they say they have. I know that I am not the only one that has cancelled over poor communication, poor customer service, and shipping issues. If these things don't bother you - go for it, as I said, the value of the box is there.
