I had faith in Birchbox and placed an order for $400 containing Christmas gifts for over 6 people. I placed my order with 1 week before Christmas and I trusted the items would arrive (with time to spare) because all over their site they advertised "order by tomorrow for delivery before Christmas Eve". I ordered 1 day before their cut off Christmas shipping. Well long story short, I noticed 3 days after placing my order there was no shipping confirmation email sent (which is odd considering it was 2 day UPS air shipping and I ordered items from Nordstrom's the day after and they had already arrived). Turns out they didn't even PROCESS my order, let alone SHIP my order and it was now the 22nd (Thursday). Its funny because they charged me $400 the second I placed the order (FYI Nordstrom's does not charge you until the order ships because they are not frauds and they actually have good customer service and guarantee their products). I reached out to Birchbox "support" team (which was near impossible to get a hold of and there is NO phone #, only email). They did not respond until after 3 desperate emails were sent- the final email I sent threatened to go to social media to voice my concerns because of their lack of response (sadly that is the only reason they actually responded the next day).
The guy I spoke with assured me that it was shipping that night (on the 22nd) and it would be there by the 24th (Saturday). I asked if I could upgrade the shipping to 1 day because of THEIR processing delay and errors but he said he couldn't change it. Well of course I looked on Friday and my package was in South Carolina and I am in California so I knew there was no Christmas miracle that would get my packages across the US to me before Christmas. The expected delivery date showed Tuesday, 12/27. I emailed support on Friday to request a status update (no response until MONDAY, 12/26). TOTAL and complete BS! When you spend $400 on a site they should at least try to redeem themselves for their colossal mistakes. The girl who responded said "Sorry, your package should have been there. I have added a $10 credit to your account". Are you kidding me? Wow. They just lost a whole lot more than $400 because I was going to buy subscriptions for people as well. I will go to Dermstore.com or Ipsy instead.

I've had Birchbox for 5 years now and used to be its biggest advocate, recommending it to all my friends and family members. I even got a Birchbox Man subscription for my brother one year for his birthday - that's how much I was a fan. That is, until now. The quality of the entire Birchbox experience has deteriorated over the past year, and I'm not saying this from a subjective standpoint - it's a FACT.

It used to be that every sample was a legitimate, generous-size sample. Sometimes, they'd even give you a full-size product, a useful makeup tool, or even a treat like a gourmet chocolate bar. It's hard to believe that this was ever the case. Now, you're lucky if you get a decent sample, and most of them are the kinds of samples you would get for free in a magazine.

It used to be that the samples would be customized to your profile, and they would take actual care in picking out products tailored to you - including based on your skin color, hair type, preference for kinds of products, etc. Now, it's all uniform and you choose the products you want based on a couple of options, which they try to spin in a way to make it appear as if this is a fun thing to look forward to. Of course, this is assuming they don't run out of choices for the month and you're forced to get the standard default samples, which will inevitably be the case unless you can put in your selections the very hour they send out the email notification that the choices are open for the choosing. Not only are the samples not tailored to your preferences (I'm not even sure what the point of creating a profile is anymore with this new system?), but there is a total disregard for the samples they do give you each month such that you are likely to receive duplicate samples. Yup, I've literally gotten the same crappy shampoo and sunscreen samples several times now - products I've indicated in my profile that I am not interested in receiving.

It used to be that you'd get a bonus sample that was packaged separately from the other samples in the box. They did away with this bonus sample completely.

In this month's Birchbox, the execs approved yet another move to save money, increase profits, and devalue the entire Birchbox experience for the consumers. They've now messed with the descriptive card provided in each monthly box. This is a new low. I know this doesn't seem like a big deal and, for some (maybe most), it's probably not. But for me, the card always just completed the awesome Birchbox experience. On one side of the card, there was a discussion of the month's specific theme served by each of the samples provided. It was usually somewhat lengthy and had some nice words of optimism. It always related to the particular month of the Birchbox. So, for example, the July Birchbox might have a patriotic theme for 4th of July and each sample provided in that box would be useful for the summertime. I used to always read this part first before looking at any of the samples and it would create some excitement. But they apparently fired the person whose job it was to do this and now just hastily write a couple of mandatory sentences that have no relevance as to anything. No more cohesive theme, no more products relevant to to this cohesive theme, and no more Birchbox experience.

Oh yeah, and they changed the card stock to something flimsier and cheaper, and the box no longer has the signature Birchbox tissue wrapping paper inside. Everything that made the box a Birchbox no longer exists, and there is literally no reason to get Birchbox in light of the numerous other boxes that now do a much better job at this (e.g., Ipsy). I regret advance paying in full for a 1-year subscription rather than paying per month because I would have wanted to cancel my subscription months ago and stop wasting my money on this worthless box of cheap duplicate samples.

Thanks, Birchbox execs. You've effectively devalued the entire Birchbox experience in favor of increasing the size of your pocketbooks to the complete neglect of your loyal and devoted customers.

Regards,
S. M.

I have been a loyal birchbox customer for 2 years and always felt like I got value out of the $10 I spent. It gave me the chance to try out a variety of products that I normally wouldn't be able to try, and when I review each product I felt like I was valuable to the brand I reviewed because I always felt special getting to review a quality product.
I would save my points and was excited to purchase full size products that I knew I liked, because I had already had a chance to use it.
And not to mention that I felt like a child at Christmas each month heading to my mailbox to unveil my beautifully wrapped precious little box with unknown goodies to discover! How could this be bad?
Well I have noticed over the last 6 months the quality had gone downhill. First I noticed that the variety of samples was limited. They do have a profile selector that gives you the opportunity to share what you like and what you want, but I have changed my profile multiple times and have seen less variety each month, the opposite of what I should be seeing.
I have 14 facial sunscreen samples, all of which are unopened and will never be used.
Be perfume samples are very disappointing. I have found out out of the dozen perfume samples I have, I only like 2 of them.
The box packaging has also change. It used to come in this adorable color tissue, they stopped using that about 4-5 boxes ago and now it has a cheap black pad at the bottom that sheds this weird material all over the inside of the box and in my samples.
I also have noticed he prices that were already a bit too steep, have risen even more! A typical hair product costs $30+ and up, which would be great if they were all salon quality. But a lot of the products I get I would never ever soend the money they ask for.
And what infuriated me even further is the emails I get each month that seem so exciting " choose our sample now!" But by the time I click the link all the sample choices are sold out! I have even clicked he link within 15 minutes of the email and they are still sold out! Waste of time! It's like dangling a carrot you never can reach.
I understand that may seem petty but they get plenty of my $$ and I feel like my loyalty means nothing to this company. Their greed is getting to their head. I'm sure they get the samples for free. And what's funny is when you take the time to read the sample reviews. Of coarse we are going to give a product a great review. We are excited to try something new and seemly so quality and expensive, and feel like we got value from it and we get free points for providing it. It's very rare I have left a bad review for one of their products, but thinking back I was so excited I didn't really it enough thought or I would have a lot lower scores. So the product reviews are not actual to what they really should be. If you got s free or low cost sample on a $100 product, would you give it a 1? Lol
I'm so disappointed all around I wasted so much money on this company. I have referred so many people to birchbox and I regret it.
I look at my box today and I feel no excitement. It's the same crap Over and over. And my Samples aren't even worth the $10 I spent on it.
Time to cut ties birchbox. You lost me as a customer.
Lower your darn prices! And stop being so greedy!
And maybe change your forever shipping to alittle higher quality and faster service! Waiting 15 days for a product to arrive is rediculous! >:-(

Absolutely Love n My Birch Box Goodies

So, I don't know exactly what to think. Every time I have had an issue, the people over the phone or through email have been super nice and very accommodating. The incentives are great (you get points for writing product reviews, spending money (you even get points on the tax you pay!), and referring people, which has saved me quite a bit. My most recent purchase was $65 worth of stuff and I paid $15 when I combined my points and coupon codes. So, all that's a plus.

My main issue is that the personal profile you fill out seems totally worthless. I chose a classic, low maintenance look (which to me means natural make up with the occasional red lipstick). Two months in a row I received orange lip sticks. One was fluorescent orange and the other was a pale orange-coral. The most frustrating part: both products were samples that were part of lipstick trios. Each trio had a pink, red, and orange option, but I got the orange BOTH times. I wrote to the company (after all, it's not a free subscription, I am paying for these samples) and the response was very lovely and polite, though it made no sense. I was told that the two colors I received were deemed the "most universal" out of the other colors in the trios. Absurb. Who decides these things? There are very few people in this world that can pull off orange lipstick, and the fact that I received orange twice in a row when there was an option for pink or red is just so aggravating.

SO I made a suggestion: have an option in the profile where the customer discloses whether they prefer warm, cool, or neutral colors (or a section where the customer discloses what "season" their skin tone is (winter, summer, spring, fall) and use this to determine whether we get pink, red, or orange. They can even have a brief description on how to determine which category you fall under. This, to me, seems like an absolute NO BRAINER that anyone that has anything to do with cosmetics should automatically understand. The Birchbox rep simply thanked me for my suggestion and proceeded to tell me how they make selections, not really realizing that it's an inefficient way to do so.

Long story short, I have had nothing but great customer service, but the overall system needs a TON of work. I have about 8 boxes left in my subscription and if it continues to go this way, I will definitely not be renewing it. If they wise up and add more details to their personal profile options, maybe I will consider renewing. Afterall, the idea is to sample products so you can see if you like them enough to buy them... if I keep getting colors I would NEVER wear in a million years, no number of samples will ever change that. The key is to give customers products that will work for them, with their skin tone and with their lifestyle. So far, its not really successful in that.