February 2015: Month in Review (Hits and Misses)

As we did last month, I wanted to do a review of the hits and misses for subscription boxes for February. There were utter disasters again, as well as lots of amazing arrivals and new subscriptions.

MISSES

As I did in January, I think it's better to start with the constructive so you can end on a positive note. Some of these are seriously bad and others were just not fits for me personally, although sadly I have to say I've seen less of just meh items than outright terrible business this month. I have noticed that you can get a fairly good sense of the quality of a subscription box by the service via email or on social media. The more active and engaged the company is, the more likely your box will really be what you expected and the more the products will be higher quality. Companies who seem to be interested in just jumping on a bandwagon of where they think they money is, or those who are far more interested in being huge, tend to place customers at the bottom of their priorities and it shows not only in their interactions but also in the way they put together the boxes and select products. Some are beginning to feel like a cardboard box full of nothing but ads.

Le Sigh: The French Box Disaster

Running a business is hard, especially when you're working with a small team. I know this (I actually run my own as well) and when working with small businesses, I try not to let little things bother me. In the subscription box industry, this is even more prevalent, as there are so many factors. Not only do you need to coordinate orders coming in all month long, while also ensuring you have enough product to fulfill those orders, but you're also dealing with billing and payments and customer questions. Add to that the element of suppliers who sometimes end up running into obstacles and things such as weather that can affect shipping, and it's hard to please everyone. If you're a subscriber, you need to take so many of these things in stride and trust that these companies have your interests in mind.

I have only had one truly terrible experience, mainly because I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. Stuff happens and most of these companies are run by a small staff. Until recently, Try the World was my only epic fail when it came to subscription boxes so far (I've had minor issues, but this was obviously not a minor one).

French Box is a subscription service that apparently sends you items from France. That's the rumor anyway. I signed up in December for the January box and spent the month assuming I would get it. I mean, I paid for it so of course I would, right?