KiwiCo Reviews 4,884

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.

I was overcharged more than 400 EUR for a service they can't deliver for an upgrade UI button that's meant to trick you. After more than a month their customer service won't reply. The crates are generally low quality as well. I feel like I was stolen and I'm not sure if the only alternative is legal action. It's hard to believe this is not a fraud in 2026.

Went with quarterly boxes that claimed to be $24 a box with free shipping to the US. Pretty sure Connecticut was one of the original 13 colonies, definitely in the United States. Got my credit card statement and they charged me $30 a box. When I asked about it-they said it was for shipping. That's fraud!

I thought some of the products on your website might make a good christmas present for my son and daughter. I bought my daughter an ice cream making kit, and I wanted to get my son the claw hand crate. I never had any intention to purchase a monthly subscription - this would have been unaffordable for me.

There was however a notice saying it was possible to cancel anytime.

I am a fairly cautious consumer, and clicked on the explanation icon next to 'cancel anytime'.

The information provided was:

Subscriptions that auto-renew every month or that auto-renew after a free trial period can be canceled anytime after the first crate ships. Subscriptions that auto-renew every 3, 6, or 12 months and annual pay-as-you-go plans cannot be canceled mid-term but subsequent auto-renewals can be turned off at any time. Non-renewing subscriptions not eligible for a refund.

I understood the first sentence to mean that since I was paying every month I could cancel anytime after the first crate ships. I understood the second sentence to mean that if I paid now for 3, 6 or 12 crates I would not be able to pay up front and then claim back for the proportion of unused crates if cancelling after this period.

Accordingly I decided to buy the mega hand, and I diarised to remind myself to cancel the crates straight after the first crate had arrived. When I tried to do this, I was told that the next payment that will not be taken is in December 2026, and that I would have to pay for the next 11 months of payments.

This is not what I had understood, and I believe this information was either deliberately or negligently designed to snare people into contracts they do not wish to enter.

To be fair, when I sent a letter of complaint referencing UK consumer law they agreed to let me leave the contract, but a less determined person may well have been stuck with it.

I ordered in Cyber Monday for a good discount. It was a fairly big order. Added the discount code. I got distracted and my credit card / cart timed out and when I did it again forgot to re-add the code. I *immediately* emailed them, planning to cancel the order and re-order if necessary. I emailed three times and it took a week for them to get back to me. They refused to honour their promotion or refund me in cash, instead offering me a Kiwi co credit worth somewhere around a fifth of the total discount I had lined up on Cyber Monday. I just kept getting obstinate basic customer service refusals. Ignored my request for a manager. Makes no sense. It was literally their own sale that they had on for days! I’m so pissed. Stupid anti-retention idiocy. Going to hopefully have my kids enjoy these boxes then NEVER AGAIN and I’ll trash their reputation any time I get the chance from here on out.

The customer service is awful. Twice my boxes have been posted late without any notification, I had to chase them up myself. I didn’t get the October box until November and December box still hadn’t arrived.

My August and September box were both shipped before the 24th and then October box wasn’t shipped until 31st of October after I chased it - same with December. If in paying for a box, I expect it the same month. Also generally find the team quite rude as you can see from the response below .

I asked for a refund of my last box because it never arrived and was sent an email saying

‘ We hate to see you go, and thank you for exploring and innovating with us’ suggesting that they had cancelled my subscription themselves. I asked for clarification with no response and was so frustrated by the whole experience that I ended up just cancelling it myself.

I placed an order with KiwiCo on December 16 specifically because they promised Christmas delivery. Their website clearly stated that for the Contiguous US, orders placed by Dec 20 (8:59pm PST / 11:59pm EST) would arrive by Dec 24, with free expedited shipping if needed.

Despite this promise, my order did not arrive in time for Christmas.

When I contacted customer support to ask what happened, the response was extremely disappointing. Instead of accountability or a real solution, I was told the shipment was delayed and offered a printable gift note to explain to the recipient that something was “on the way.”

That’s not an acceptable response when a company fails to meet a delivery guarantee—especially for a time-sensitive holiday gift. A printable note does not replace a gift that was explicitly promised to arrive by a specific date.

If you advertise guaranteed delivery timelines, you should honor them or clearly communicate when you can’t. This experience felt dismissive and unreliable, and it completely undermined the purpose of ordering in advance for Christmas.

I would not rely on KiwiCo again for holiday gifts.

Ordered a Kiwi Co subscription. It was delivered with a sub-standard courrier who launched the package into the bottom of a wet garbage bin. The box itself is poorly packaged. It is not delivered inside a separate box used for shipping, so the box was damaged.

If you your gifts wet and broken in the bottom of a bin, Kiwi Co is a great place to burn your money.

Shipping guidelines not clear, claimed 5-6 days on the order confirmations email, item is going to arrive very late as a gift and customer service not interested, no refund offered or help with the inconvenience. Only option provided was to ship the item back to them at my own expense (United Kingdom to California!)

Extremely poor customer service. Avoid at all costs

“Your response didn’t address any of the issues I raised.”

The main reasons why I do not recommend buying from KiwiCo

1. The origin of the products is not clearly disclosed
The items are manufactured in China, but this information is not mentioned anywhere on their website. When you ask Chip, KiwiCo’s conversational robot, whether certain products are made in China, it avoids the question and never gives a clear answer. This strongly suggests that KiwiCo is deliberately hiding the fact that their products are made in China.

2. Virtually no customer service or support
There is no real assistance provided. The chatbot gives vague or inaccurate answers. I contacted customer service regarding an issue, and I never received any reply.

3. Inconsistent delivery times and unreliable tracking
When I made my purchase, my invoice stated Standard Shipping (5–9 business days). However, when I tried to track the package using the link provided by KiwiCo (PPX Track), the site showed that the package was still at KiwiCo… nine days after the purchase.
Their website lists delivery times to Canada as 9–11 business days, while their chatbot claims that international shipments to Canada typically take 10–15 business days from the shipping date. These contradictory timelines make the process confusing and frustrating.

4. One positive point
We did speak with a KiwiCo employee over the phone who was very kind and helpful. Unfortunately, this was the only positive part of the experience.

Conclusion

Overall, I recommend AliExpress instead—a Chinese website where you can find similar products at a lower cost. After all, what you buy from KiwiCo comes from China anyway.

Ordered a play set for my daughter for Christmas with the delivery date being set for 5 business days. After almost 2 weeks I reached out to find out where the item was to be told it would still be 5-6 weeks for arrival. Requested a refund as this was for a Christmas present and have repeatedly been met with automated messages that do not address the problem at all. Would never order from this company again, worst customer service I have ever experienced.

Delivery failure.
Hard to contact this company when they continually fob you off with long replies saying here to help and then proceed not to.
Your thank for your order email to me after my purchase says “5-6 Business Days” why put this on the email if you no intention of delivering in this time frame.
I take the above back. Package delivered 24/12 afternoon so all is well.
Thank you for getting the parcel here before Xmas.

The toys are great fun and our kid loves them. She still plays with some bits from the very first box we got.

A special mention for the support who were extremely helpful, fast, and pleasant to deal with when I needed to.

This place sucks. They deducted 2 amounts from my bank account (hundreds of dollars) and are being very slow to refund. A month after ordering (less than a week until to Christmas) they contacted me to say ‘oops’ we didn’t process your order - we’ve cancelled.