Birchbox UK Reviews 2,439

I bought a six month subscription, set a reminder to cancel this before i was billed for another 6 months. I checked my account, autorenewal was off yet they still took the money for another 6 boxes. When i complained they refunded me for 5 as one box had already been sent out (filled with junk might i add)

Disgraceful that their website misinforms you that you're not opted in for renewal and they take your money anyway and dont provide a full refund and could create a problem for someone who doesnt have the funds.

I also ordered a product from their shop which again they were quick enough to take the money but they never sent me it!

Wont ever subscribe to them again nor order from their shop

I ordered £50+ on Amika products because of FREE amika Straightening Brush. I have tried use promotion code but did not succeed. I emailed Birchbox, they sent order for the Amika Brush gift. Then heard nothing for around a week. I emailed asking for an update, they replied it was no stock. I still can seeing this offer on their website!
Total waste of time and money.

Really bad customer service. In fact NO customer service. Placed my order 20jun 22. Paid next day delivery. I received it 6 July 22. No one answered my numerous emails. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. I certainly won’t use them again. Awful

Scam and terrible service!!!
I placed an order worth £58 on the 21st of May but was late in receiving my order, so I tried to contact the staff and that's when I found out Birchbox doesn't have virtual customer service! Only contact via email or Facebook and when I sent an email with Facebook for over 3 days and still hadn't received a how to message, I didn't think it was normal. None of the staff helped me and it looks like a fake company!

SCAM!!!

I placed a £58 order and on 21st I received EVEI delivery message ‘ We're expecting your parcel from Birchbox. We'll let you know as soon as we receive it.’ Then the tracking forever stuck on ‘
12:31 - Tue Jun 21
We're expecting your parcel to arrive with us soon and we'll update your tracking once we've received it’
I send a message on their website on 25th no one reply. I Facebook message them on 27th no one reply as well.

This is just a total scam! They will charge your money right away but will not send you any product and no customer support or what so ever!!!!

I received my first ever Birchbox and i have signed up for 1 year subscription, i was very pleased with my box and want to show and blog the box to my friends this week. Only thing i was disappointed on was, i thought i would have for a free joining box for joining for 12 months, Glossybox sent me a mystery box for joining for 12 months. I will be blogging my boxes this week and i am looking forward to showing friends

I signed up to a year’s promotional subscription 40% off. I ticked no for auto renewal. When it came to the end of the year they sent me an email to say they are having problems taking payment. I thought this was strange as I have said no that I don’t want to auto renew. Also the card that I initially paid with was reported lost. I just put this to the back of my mind as I was starting a new job and I had just lost my dog after 13 years. Then I had another email telling me that I was being sent out a Birchbox. I thought this was strange as they didn’t have my card details and I said no to auto renewal. I contacted my bank. They said to contact Birchbox so I did. They told me my subscription can’t be cancel as I didn’t request this a month before it had ended. They had taken full price of 145.40 for the year. Basically they told me I was locked in now till March 2023. I was offered no apology or refunded for the boxes that still hadn’t been sent out. I explained to them that I was struggling financially like most people with high cost of living and fuel bills, food etc. They were very cold not interested they had got my money unauthorised and wasn’t prepared to refund it in any shape or form. They products that they send out are quite cheap to buy also. They send out lots of samples, which I have thrown away. The customer service I have received from Birchbox has been extremely poor. You can only message them via their website as when you ring their number 020 31376174 it leaves a message stating they can not take calls due to Covid. They will probably be using this excuse for the next 5 years I imagine. I wouldn’t recommend this company as they lure you in with a promotional off then lock you in on a subscription trap. Stay well clear!! Not worth the money!!

I subscribed to birchbox last year, got my first lot through , loved it and the my bank account was hacked, someone ordered stuff from Next to the value of £200, luckily got my money back but cancelled my subscription and changed my bank details, this was the only time I paid using my main account everything else bought over the net was paid using a different account or direct debit.

Great customer service from the Birchbox staff. I have been a subscriber since 2017 and never had any issues with the samples in my box.

This month, unfortunately one of the samples was dried out. I reached out to Birchbox and Ben was in touch the next day and he offered to send me a replacement. The replacement turned out to be out of stock and a few days later I had a follow-up email from Sophia with a £5 voucher code which I used the same day to purchase a product that I loved from one of my previous boxes.
Really pleased with the service!

I have always loved birchbox waiting eagerly to see what I shall receive, I love gaining knowledge of new brands and different products I might otherwise never have heard of! However in recent months it has just gone from bad to worse! I have been a subscriber for over a year now and always enjoyed my boxes and never had any issues ordering from shop online until… in December I had 3 items missing from advent calendar which they replaced but the customer service response made me feel bad for even asking for the correct product I had ordered! Then in February everyone seemed to receive a lovely box full of hearts and yet I got a boring plain blue box with no leaflet very careless attempt to put the subscription box together. This time the customer service were lovely however whilst I understand you are going to run out of boxes/products from time to time, I do feel if you are a long time subscriber surely you should have priority over first time subscribers in receiving the correct box/items.. it feels like loyalty means nothing. And then to top it off I receive my March box and 4 out of 5 items are all items I have received before making me extremely disappointed with the box! After leaving a bad review on my birchbox account of feb box I conveniently cannot leave a review for the March box which seems suspicious.. hence the need for this review, unfortunately I am genuinely considering leaving now as everything just seems to be getting worse..

The boxes are good, but the decision to make subscriptions auto-renew is pure greed. Why not make a tick box when ordering to say please don't renew? the answer is because they know some people will get on with their lives and forget to cancel at the right time. I won't be buying from Birchbox again for this reason and will not recommend them to anyone.

First time using this company and not happy. Paid for next day delivery and when delivered the slip inside stated item I had ordered but received 2 items that were not a substitute and nothing to do with what I had ordered. Very disappointed as I was tempted by the excellent price offered, now i wonder if it was just a scam to entice me in to get rid of their cheap stock. Awaiting their response

Not sure what planet their admin team are on, but to enter my new debit card details to ensure continuation of my subscription was a step too far and, after many emails to and fro, I was told despatch of my monthly box wasn't possible as they needed my card details (which I had entered)......very strange, as when I purchased one of their limited edition boxes my new card details went through in a flash!!! Will be cancelling - no excuse for rubbish admin and have list all trust.

Honestly, I had great expectations from this. I wanted to try new things, introduce myself to a greater range of skincare, which I foolishly though as I filled in a profile, would be tailored to me.
WRONG!!!!!! I got a ton of shampoo bars in plastic packs, no tin!
I got a load of glittery makeup, I would not use.
I god acne treatment, I am a grandmother.
If it was a premium product, the sample was so tiny it was not worth having.
There was a pretty box, obviously designed, but I would rather that the "cosmetics " were better and just have a plain box.
I gave this a go for over 15 months, as I forgot about it.
I have load of samples I could have got free with a £5 magazine.
There was a lot of brands I have never heard of and would not buy, in all the time I subscribed, there was only one thing I actually bought.
I got a string bag, not too sure why, it is not something I wanted, nor was it of a useful size.
My granddaughter has another "box" and the samples she gets are amazing.

I have decided to leave this shambles of a company, it is a bit of a con I think, there is obviously a big business making big profits here, but for me, I have had my last Birch box. Hello to new, exciting, proper size, full size, something I actually want to try box, goodbye Birchbox.

These liars at birchbox somehow got my email and informed me a package was being delivered to my address. As I've never heard of birchbox, I hadn't ordered anything! The 'order' came from some random called Zoe, our names aren't alike so our email addresses shouldn't be (birchbox claimed our emails were similar but they're not SO THEY'RE LYING). I then got loads more emails goin on about this package b4 they leaked my personal details (name, address, contact details) to delivery companies such as Hermes and other 3rd parties. I've had change my details, and contact Hermes and other 3rd parties to advise them to stop contacting me. Birchbox offered a weak apology but it's nothing compared to the hassle and stress I have of fending off unwanted 3rd party contact. BREACHING PEOPLE'S PRIVACY AND DETAILS IS AN OFFENCE, AVOID! I'll look at further action now because my info was passed on without consent.

Just cancelled my subscription having been a customer for a couple years. Here's my summary.

Pros:
1) I love makeup and cosmetics just for the fun of them, so getting a box of surprises every month was great
2) Very few repeat products iirc, and one repeat was actually a product I was happy to get a repeat of
3) Haven't had any issues with deliveries or billing
4) You can fill out a "beauty profile" to help them send more relevant products (colouring, skin type, hair type etc)
5) I don't think they ever sent a colour which was a terrible match for me (one wasn't a colour I prefer to wear but I think it can *work*, technically)

Cons:
1) I have loads of stuff piled up that I haven't used
2) There's too many products I'm just not interested in, mostly skincare
3) There's no way to say "please don't send x type of product", even for broad categories (except for tanning and bath products I think)
3) It's hard to take some product descriptions seriously, although this isn't unique to Birchbox. But I got a bit frustrated by pseudosciency product blurbs and the unquestioned assumption that "natural = good".
4) The cost is hard to justify given my above points and maybe a bit overpriced (don't know what other similar companies charge)
5) A few times I've noticed samples have "free sample - not for sale" printed on them. Maybe this is legitimate, but it feels dodgy because come on, I *have* paid money to receive this, and it's always included as one of the five products for that month. It's not like an occasional sixth freebie on top.
6) Of all the products I got, I would guesstimate that maybe 5-10% are products I was genuinely happy to get or would want keep using.

Agree with other reviews
What right have Birchbox to issue another charge automatically on my credit card! No receipt confirmation! Nothing! Really difficult to cancel and really poor customer service
I think they rely on this unauthorised payment! The boxes really are t that good for the effort afterwards!

I'm going to be honest, I'm a 'box hopper', and so I've never signed up for the 3/6/12 months or whatever the repeat thingy is I've always had boxes on a month to month basis... & I'm really surprised to see negative reviews! BB is really pretty good! It's given me a chance to try expensive products that I couldn't commit to otherwise.
It also doesn't inundate you with mascaras, (a beauty box pet hate of mine) so though I'm not currently with you, I thought it only fair to chuck my fourpence in!

I have been with birch box for years and it’s enough to leave a review, I have never been disappointed with their boxes and also so many products that I’m obsessed jus because of these boxes and lets me try before I buy and I’m a very happy customer every month , it’s like treating myself to beautiful amazing products that I haven’t ever tried before so thank u birchbox

Unauthorised purchase

Have logged onto my bank account today to see that there has been a charge for £146.
Reached out to birchbox to see why there was a charge and if it could be reversed as this was taken without any consent.
After contacting Birchbox I was told there was nothing they could do as I was not the account holder.
only advice they could give was to contact my bank and cancel the direct debit, which wasn't setup in the first place as this was charged directly to my debit card.

I originally bought a 12 month subscription for my then girlfriend back in December 2019, now 2 years later, they have taken another payment and are refusing to help.