KiwiCo Reviews 4,917

I made a purchase back in November 2025, a 12 month "pay as you go" subscription, which clearly states it will automatically continue each month unless cancelled.
I was notified of the upcoming charge for the 2nd crate, I cancelled immediately.
3 months later, I'm charged again without warning. The only comms I receive is a "your item has been shipped" email. No invoice, no warning that the subscription was suddenly unpaused.
My account clearly states the subscription is "Cancelled".
Over 10 attempts to call their office, and I only ever reach their automated service, never a human.
Over 30 attempts to use their online Support, always errors.
Emails go ignored.
I now have to go through the pain of charge backs via my creditcard.

I can only hope they get black listed from all of these complaints.

Unfortunately this i a scam company, that does auto renewal without my confirmation. Denied to do full refund.

I really wanted to like KiwiCo, but their auto‑renewal setup left a bad taste in my mouth. The way they handle renewals feels sneaky—like they’re hoping you won’t notice until your card gets hit again. The reminders are easy to miss, and once it renews, that’s it. No refund, no wiggle room, no “hey, mistakes happen.”

The billing practices make the whole experience feel shady. It feels like they’re banking on people forgetting. After dealing with this, I’m a lot less excited about recommending KiwiCo to anyone.

The crates are great however customer service sucks. Had been trying to reach them for a month via chat and email, no response at all. Even when i get a response, it was being ignored again the minute i replied

I ordered the ornament advent and two subscriptions for my son, and after our first delivery it was clear this was not going to be suitable for our family. Whilst the ornament advent was cute and novel, it was repetitive and not even finished. I reached out and cancelled one box subscription and the book add on and was told they would make 'an exception' and cancel my remaining subscription too. Since replying back and forth a few times in Jan, Feb and March and confirming I definitely wanted to cancel now I get no replies. Totally ghosting me. Since the last reply another crate has unfortunately been sent (not received yet, it takes ages). The company is also unreliable, we even had a 'missed' crate in December! The shipping times are crazy long and the crates way overpriced. The crate quality is low, and several of the items have broken or not been of a high standard. The crates are at best an item or few that are for a short time use and then thrown away. There is excess packaging and much waste; of money, time and resources. After being on the fence for quite some time and finally biting the bullet to buy, this has been an exceptionally disappointing and frustrating experience. My advice would be to use the money that you would spend on a subscription and literally buy anything else.

The products are made so well and with so much love, thankyou!

Customer support is far from helpful. I was missing a single piece of cardboard for a crate which was gifted to my son for Christmas. They made no effort to help and said they needed the order number to assist me further. I provided the purchasers name and shipping address and explained that grandma was not able to figure out the order number. They still refused to help me and didn't even respond when I voiced my dissatisfaction with their customer service. Now I need to throw away a crate due to a single missing piece because without that single piece- the crate is utterly useless. Mind you- we are a pay as you go customer (a joke because pay as you go in small print is 12 boxes and can't be cancelled mid subscription despite being super disappointed with the crates) and to send a single piece of cardboard should be simple and doing so would prove that they are a company that truly cares about their customer. Unfortunately, that isn't the case.

My daughter has received three boxes that were all extremely similar and she had zero interest in. Unfortunately when you sign up, they really don't give you a good understanding of what you're signing up for and the boxes lack variety. My daughter doesn't even look forward to the new boxes and they go ignored.

I wanted to love this company, but I will be sure to tell all of my parent friends to avoid this company. We are stuck receiving eight more crates that my kids have no interest in.

Do better, KiwiCo.

I signed up for an initial trial which was probably worth the cost of the promo offer. I then cancelled because I didnt think it was worth it. 3 weeks later I got charged for another month. apparently you need to cancel before the first box arrives which is ridiculous. I think the toys are equivalent value to a small lego set - maybe £5-10. being charged £30 a time is way too expensive and shocking they don't let you cancel weeks before. I will be recommending no on uses this subscription.

I had paused the subscription because my daughter did not really cared for the crafts theme, and I was hoping maybe switching themes but they kept sending boxes without my consent. They ignore the pause hping you won't notice or won't care. It a hassle to return the boxes. Now I have cancelled my suscription.

Company errors in the ordering process caused a lot of confusion about where the first crate would be sent and what topic it would be. The emailed receipt confirmed the wrong crate being sent to the wrong initial address. I immediately emailed the company, so those mistakes could be fixed before the crate was sent. An automated artificial intelligence email was sent back to me which seemed to fix the address but not the crate. There is no customer service number provided on the website, so again I emailed the company so the correct crate could be sent before it was mailed. I did not receive an answer until after the company had mailed the crate.

Then there was a series of emails about the issue because I had already purchased other materials to go with the topic that was supposed to be sent first. The subscription was to be a gift for my granddaughter, but the first crate was supposed to have been sent to me so I could gift wrap it with the rest of the presents. This option was part of their ordering process.

In the end, the wrong crate was sent directly to me and not my granddaughter, thankfully. But the company would not exchange the crate for the correct one even though the company admitted in previous emails that they were at fault for sending the incorrect crate. Instead I was informed that subscriptions could not be returned. I then asked if I could get the correct topic sent to me as the next subscription topic. I was then informed that subscription crates are random even though a specific first topic was advertised on the website when the subscription was started.

So I immediately canceled the subscription and purchased the crate from a 3rd party instead which ended up being cheaper anyway.

It’s off putting to be buying tech and stem stuff from a company with such a poorly designed website. The crate was cute but not top quality and for an active 9 year old it was a little brittle. Then trying to renew the subscription after they sent an email saying that it couldn’t renew but not telling me why, I finally managed to get in contact with them and was told they’d never sent an email and that the payment would come out a week later. It didn’t, again, and then I was told the subscription has expired and I can’t renew but I can start over. Nobody mentions that the first crate has already come and if I’ll get it again if I restart. The site isn’t at all user friendly and the explanations are lacking. Basically it’s not confidence inspiring since what Im looking to purchase is tech stuff. Basically it’s all cheap and nothing works quite right

I would give this company 0 stars if I could! Avoid!! My son was stoked to get a stem kit for his Christmas present. There were parts missing. So he couldn't finish it. Ive contacted customer services 3 times and been ignored. Son is devastated. Waste of money!

Update -

Kiwico have sent out the missing parts now (currently waiting to receive but grateful that they have responded) but I do not accept nor appreciate that they say they did not receive the emails. Emails were sent to customercare at kiwico.com as per their website. I only received a response once I left a review here and on social media.

The actual products can be good but are hit or miss. My kids enjoyed them though. With that said their customer service is HORRIBLE. Literally I have prepaid for things that have never shipped and they won't respond or they respond in automated messages. I would warn people against them, there are so many boxes out there and their service HAS to be better

I subscribed to KiwiCo for a young child, expecting a fun and reliable monthly experience. Unfortunately, what followed was months of frustration.

Multiple shipments to Greece were delayed for weeks, with two paid orders still undelivered. Tracking information was unclear, shipments got stuck without updates, and communication with customer support was extremely disappointing.

Many of my emails were answered partially or not at all, often avoiding the actual questions and clearly buying time instead of resolving the issue. I spent an unreasonable amount of time chasing basic information for a service that is marketed as premium.

The most disappointing part is that this subscription was for a child, who was repeatedly waiting for the crates and ended up feeling frustrated and let down by a process that simply didn’t work.

I eventually had to cancel the subscription due to poor service delivery and ineffective customer support. I would strongly caution international customers to think twice before subscribing unless shipping reliability and customer care improve significantly.
I am a paying customer with an active subscription at the time of the orders.

I placed multiple paid orders (subscription crates) to Greece.
Two of these orders have not been delivered for several weeks, despite repeated follow-ups.

Key issues:
• Extremely long and repeated shipping delays using the same slow transit route (PostNL / NL hub).
• Contradictory and generic responses from customer support.
• Emails that did not address my actual questions, repeatedly asking for information already provided.
• Significant personal time spent trying to get clear answers.
• A new shipment was supposedly sent without any confirmation email or tracking number.
• The subscription was intended for a young child, who was repeatedly disappointed by the undelivered crates.

Despite my efforts to resolve this politely over an extended period, the issue was not properly handled, which ultimately led me to cancel my subscription.

I am still waiting to receive the products I have already paid for.

Update (after company response):

Following the publication of this review, KiwiCo publicly responded and stated that replacement crates would be sent via express. It is important to clarify that this action was only taken after the review became public, despite weeks of prior communication via email and live chat.

During that period, I repeatedly received generic or contradictory responses, was asked multiple times to resend order numbers and tracking details that had already been provided, and did not receive clear ownership or resolution of the issue. Even my final email requesting subscription cancellation resulted in another request to resubmit the same information “for investigation.”

This situation involved a paid subscription intended for a young child, and the prolonged delays and unclear communication caused repeated disappointment. I will consider the matter fully resolved only once the replacement crates are actually received.

Beware, its hard to cancel subscriptions, tried twice and they just keep sending crates and charging for them, which we will hopefully get refunded, not sure I trust their business operations completely, the model is designed to make it tricky to cancel so they can keep profitting from unwanted sales.

I ordered three boxes for my granddaughters birthday. The order was placed in September. By the beginning of January she had still not received anything. I used the chat and was referred on to email response. I was told a replacement box would be sent immediately. Almost three weeks now and still no box. TERRIBLE follow through. TERRIBLE birthday present. Now I will fight through my credit card company to get my money back and send a different brand- probably Bakit.
Thank you for noticing that I wanted the boxes to start in February. I checked my account at Kiwico at the end of December and found that it showed a box had been delivered in September. I talked to my daughter and found that to be false.
I contacted Kiwico at that time and was told it would be sent out immediately-early January. I checked in late January and my granddaughter had not received the box. I contacted kiwico and asked that the box be delivered by my granddaughters birthday- February 2. That did not occur.

The boxes are pretty cheesy and are designed for someone around 10 years old to complete. Not suitable for teenagers

While the boxes are great customer service and support stinks! They changed addresses on 3 subscriptions to one addresses. They refuse to make it right. The non English speakers are the worst! I ask for supervisors and am refused! I’ve had subscriptions for 2
years!

Update: your reply is unhelpful as customer service. The emails make no sense.. last person said there are no more koala boxes.. ok what? Get a handle on your staff and fix it! Again my 3 subscriptions run out in July and will not be renewed!

Update 2/3 the company actually had a supervisor call and explain clearly the issues. Training would help. I am satisfied with the outcome.

The kits are quite nice and were fun for my daughter to make. Unfortunately I was charged twice for the purchase 7 weeks ago. Kiwico did not inform me. I happened to notice on my credit card statement so I emailed them 6 days ago, their bot replied via email saying it was being escalated to their customer service team, but no reply. I then emailed their customer service team directly 4 days ago, again no reply. They are just ignoring me. I will have to cancel the double charge with my credit card company and although the products are quite good, I would definitely not recommend using this company.

Please stay away from this company, who I had to chase to find out what had happened to my order, and then lied.

I ordered a Christmas present in early December for my daughter. I knew it was an international delivery (I had paid high international shipping costs), but after a couple of weeks there was no tracking information and no sign of the package. I emailed them, and they told me it was on its way. They eventually told me that the package had been lost and they would send a replacement immediately, but it would still take the international shipping time of 1-2 weeks. In mid-January I chase them again. They admit that the replacement was never actually sent. I asked for a refund, really frustrated by the whole experience, and they have just ignored this. I don't know at the moment if I'll get my money back.