KiwiCo Reviews 4,917

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.

Received a package for my 4 year old granddaughter that was damaged from poor packaging. Been trying to contact a human to either get replacement or full refund. Customer service is one of the worst as they do NOT get back to you. Don't NOT purchase from kiwiCo as they are a SCAM. They will steal your money.

Absolutely INSANE cancelation and refund policies. My 10yo made an accidental purchase after clicking around on my phone the other day, and I called/emailed KiwiCo within MINUTES of the order being placed, and they're still actively refusing to refund me. Paypal, and my CC are all involved now, it's crazy.

We began our KiwiCo subscription in September for one year. The first package arrived within 7 days, exactly as advertised. The October box took about 11 days, which was still reasonable. However, from November onward, the communication and service have significantly deteriorated.

There has been no information whatsoever about when the November and December shipments were sent or where they are in transit. Despite constant follow-ups, the November crate only arrived after 20 days, and even then, I received no proper tracking information.

For December, today is December 15, and KiwiCo is telling me the shipment—which should have arrived by December 1—will take another 4–5 weeks. There is still no tracking number, no carrier information, and no shipment email. I have called customer service multiple times, and the only explanation provided is that delays are due to shipping to Canada. If that were genuinely the case, then why did the first shipment arrive in 7–8 business days exactly as promised?

This inconsistency makes the service feel unreliable. And frankly, if I wanted that level of uncertainty—waiting until mid-January for something that should have arrived December 1—I could have simply purchased similar science kits from TEMU for a fraction of the cost, since many of the kits appear comparable in content. At least then I would know what to expect regarding delivery timelines.

Overall, it feels as though the initial shipments are timely to encourage subscription sign-ups, but once subscribed, the communication and support become abysmal. I have multiple email threads where I repeatedly asked for tracking information and received no useful response. This subscription has added more stress than value. At this point, purchasing science kits individually from TJ Maxx, Marshalls, or online would have been far simpler and far more predictable.

Not recommended.
Edit on January 9th, 2026:
There is no way to add screenshot, but it is January 9th and the shipment is not yet done. I have sent emails as well. So, you can deny and lie about it in the social and online, but I have my screen shots, emails, and experience of disappointed kids who have stopped looking forward to these kits.

Fantastic. Easy to use and manage subscriptions. Timely delivery.

Product is good but I believe customer service can be improved. I renewed a subscription for my daughter and the company shipped a crate that we had received previously. I have written to the company at least 3 times to date in order to request different crate and have received no response at all from the company besides their automated responses.

SECOND UPDATE: Thank you for an interesting perspective. My review referred to the second subscription. I was explicitly told by a member of Kiwico when I telephoned that I could not get a refund; the only option was to pause the subscription.

With reference to the first subscription, I also had an unfortunate telephone call concerning a discount announced within hours of paying for the subscription. During that call, I was informed there were no refunds ever. Canceling a subscription means ending the subscription on its scheduled end date.

UPDATE: Kiwico requires my phone number before TrustPilot will "accept" the review. I am extremely uncomfortable giving my phone number to a company engaged in questionable business practices.

An hour after I ordered an annual subscription, I discovered the receipt was uninterested. I immediately contacted the company, who responded that there are no refunds. Ever. The advertised cancel at any time is misleading -- if you paid for 12 months, then you will get 12 months with the cancellation taking effect at the end of the subscription, which is not a cancellation. The only thing they can do is to pause the subscription and then change the recipient. Even airlines give 24 hours to cancel a ticket.

They ask for my personal info before they even show their prices. Finally found them in the support chat widget of all places. Worst organized site ever? No, it's probably done on purpose for some scummy reason. Was curious to give them a try before seeing this and giving up.