Hey guys. This is my first review on here so I'm sorry if I don't stay consistent with this style and stuff. Need to get into a groove. Before I start, I want to thank Kay for helping me with the pictures, I really appreciate it!
While exchanging emails with the company, discussing the review, they sent me a link to a questionnaire that everyone who orders from them has to take! This is so they can personalize the boxes better, which means that not everyone gets the same box each month (which is pretty cool!). They also have comics you can opt out of (which I did as I'm pretty picky with comics), and they make sure that underage readers have comics that aren't adult rated, which is also pretty sweet of them to do. The questions on the questionnaire were great - asking if there were certain flavours you'd prefer not to receive (for me it was anything seafood! Yuck), and they also ask if you're allergic to peanuts, if you'd like meat products excluded, and if you'd like gummy products excluded, and also if extremely spicy snacks are OK. I appreciated this questionnaire a lot, because it really helps make sure you get the best deal out of your subscription box!
My package arrived really quickly, which was impressive. It came in a sturdy box, which "Fragile" on both sides (very nice so that the box doesn't get damaged and your snacks/comics don't get all trashed). I covered up all addresses, sorry for the orange scribbles! It was a pretty big box, hard to tell from the photo, but there was a ton of stuff inside!
Above you can see the note they sent, along with the discount code and a few words for me and such. One the back of the sheet (it was folded, so I guess the bottom is a better word) it had the questionnaire and my answers as well, which was nice. I liked the fact that there was really huge bubble wrap on top to keep things in place, it really helped it look professional and I honestly do appreciate companies going the extra mile for their consumers.
And there is the box, with the bubble wrap taken off! Some stuff got tumbled around, but overall the first impression was great. It looked neat and like they cared about what was inside. They clearly take advantage of the box space, because things were packed in as tight as they could be without crushing or breaking anything. Ri, myself and my cousin Kay opened the box together and were all pretty impressed at the amount of items in here (note: I didn't get comics, so a few items in here were doubled to make up for the lack of comics).
These were the little "candy" like items we got! I was impressed with the HI-CHEW's, because those are a brand I recognize and enjoy. The other's I hadn't seen before, and were sort of like dollar store items from around the world, but I'm guessing these are the kinds of things that they refer to when they say "a handful of little candies". Ri, Kay and I tried some of these and they were all pretty mediocre (but very taste specific, you'd have to taste yourself to decide kind of thing). The only item we were hesitant to try were the two "Jelly Bar" items at the bottom (under the HI-CHEW's) because they didn't have a brand, and when we opened one it smelled a lot like soap. We just weren't sure if it was edible or not? Other than that the candies were interesting and, like I said, I hadn't seen most of them before, and that's the idea when subscribing to these boxes. :)
These were the "mainly chocolate" items. The pocky was great, as were the Mint Patties (Gluten free was nice to see too esp for my cousin who doesn't eat gluten)! The other items were alright, but again, not to our taste and very taste specific, but definitely interesting to try and see. We actually have the Cow Tales where I live, but not the vanilla flavour, so that was pretty cool too. Another thing to note is that my cousin and I both checked the expiry dates on all items, and it seems like the company pays attention to those (as none were out dated) so I appreciated that!
This pile was the "misc" group. It features chocolate cookie things (Hello Panda, which I've had before and still love), as well as pineapple cookies and some wafer cookies. The pineapple cookies weren't our favourite, and we had to spit them out haha. It tasted exactly like what it was supposed to, just not a taste that we would have enjoyed regardless! It was fun to see the reactions, though. It's always fun to try new things, and I appreciated the attention to variety that they clearly put into the box.
This is the second last item in the box, and we were all excited to try this. Calbee is a popular company, so that was exciting. The corn skewers on the front caught our attention. On the back it says that they were just BBQ flavoured corn chips, but we were still eager to try. They tasted a lot like the lighter Cheetos, actually! They left a funky after taste, but Ri seemed to enjoy them (ate the rest of the bag, haha) so like I said, acquired taste!
I was the only one to try this ButterBall turkey snack, and I'm super picky when it comes to meat snacks haha. Kay noted that Butterball is a good company, one that people would know, so that had me excited. It tasted like it was supposed to - I prefer the pepperoni sticks to turkey, but it still wasn't bad at all! (I opted into having meat products in my box, but you can opt out if you don't like it or are vegan/vegetarian!).
I'm going to do a little "break down" of the costs (ie. searching these items online, to see how much they come to compared to the box), just for fun to see the worth overall! For one month (which is what this would have costed) it is $26.00 which includes shipping throughout the USA. For anywhere outside the US, shipping costs $10.00. So the total of this box to Canada would have been $36.00!
- Butterball Smoked Turkey Snack Stick: $.50 - Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles: $0.94
- Hello Panda Choco cookies: $4.94 (x2) - Bonomo Chocolate Turkish Taffy: $0.98
- Rulokat Ulker: $1.49 - Scooby-Doo Fruit Chews: $0.51
- Manner Vienna Lemon Cream Filled Wafers: $1.35 - Pearsons Mint Patties (Kingsize): $2.50
- Brachs Heartlines: $1.20 - HI-CHEW Mango/Strawberry (one of each): $.84(x2)
- Calbee Grill-A-Corn BBQ Flavoured Chips: $3.25 - Bag of Boogers Gummies: $0.60 (x2)
- Barritas Pineapple Filled Cookies: $2.79 - Mini Coffee Kopiko Cappuccino: $0.11 (x4)
- Conconut Candy (Chun Guang): $0.20 (x2) - Chiko Honey Eclairs: $0.23 (x4)
- Takovo Eurocream: $4.30 - Jelly Bar: Can't figure out what this is????
- Chocolate Dollars: $0.5 (x2) - Cow Tales (Vanilla): $0.40
- Chocolate Pocky: $2.60 - Necco Mary Jane: $0.05
So in total, our box separately would have cost: $38.38 and that's before taxes or shipping. So approximately, there's a savings of $2.38 in this box (before we add in the cost of shipping and any taxes!). So I'd say that we got a pretty good deal over all, and the items definitely are worth the money. :)
Overall, I enjoyed working with this company. I love subscription boxes mainly because I love the surprise of never knowing what is going to be in them. The customer service was fantastic, they were prompt and very polite. The shipping was fast and the packaging was very nicely done, very neat and nothing was damaged or broken.
- Customer Service: ★★★★★
- Shipping: ★★★★☆
- Presentation: ★★★★☆
- The Box: ★★☆☆☆
- Price: ★★★★☆
- OVERALL RATING: ★★★★☆
I want to thank Karepax for sponsoring me, and I enjoyed the experience! Thank you for letting me review your services. The only reason "the box" was given two out of five stars was due to the fact that the items weren't really to MY taste, but that's no one's fault!
Thank you guys for reading. See you!
