Our goal is to inspire kids to see themselves as scientists, artists, creators, and makers. We deliver STEM, STEAM & Science kits for kids of all ages. Over 10 million kits shipped!
KiwiCo (kiwico.com) has a 3.4 out of 5 rating on OK.one, based on 189 user reviews collected here. It is listed under Events & Entertainment and its reputation is mixed. Opinions are polarized: 56% rate it 4 stars or higher while 33% give 1 star; The business has replied to 98% of negative reviews; Reviews mostly discuss Customer service, Product. Last updated 2026-09-03.
Reviewers had a great experience with this company. Customers frequently highlight the support team for their prompt assistance, noting how quickly representatives resolve missing parts, shipping mistakes, or address order errors. Consumers truly love the monthly crates, finding them engaging and fun for children to build and play with over the years. However, some customers also noted problems with product quality, mentioning that certain pieces broke easily or failed to function as expected during playtime. A few other people also felt that the subscription and auto-renewal terms were quite tricky, making it difficult to cancel or avoid unexpected charges.
Auto-generated from all reviews of this business. For reference only.Ordered just under 4 weeks ago. A simple, overpriced playdoh roller. My preschoolers are still waiting on what appears to be a drop ship company. I wont bother with them in the future. No knowing if it will even arrive.
Hi there and thank for reaching out. We're sorry to hear about the shipping delays on your order. We've requested additional information and we hope to hear back soon.
I made a purchase back in November 2025, a 12 month "pay as you go" subscription, which clearly states it will automatically continue each month unless cancelled. I was notified of the upcoming charge for the 2nd crate, I cancelled immediately. 3 months later, I'm charged again without warning. The only comms I receive is a "your item has been shipped" email. No invoice, no warning that the subscription was suddenly unpaused. My account clearly states the subscription is "Cancelled". Over 10 attempts to call their office, and I only ever reach their automated service, never a human. Over 30 attempts to use their online Support, always errors. Emails go ignored. I now have to go through the pain of charge backs via my creditcard. I can only hope they get black listed from all of these complaints.
Hi there and thanks for reaching out. Happy to clarify! Our 12-month Pay-As-You- Go option is a 12-month subscription that allow customers to pay each month at a discounted rate for 12-month rather than 12-month up front. You can cancel the 12-month renewal anytime, meaning, when the term is over, the subscription will not renew for another 12 months. We apologize if there is any confusion and we'd like to further assist you. We've requested additional information and hope to hear back soon.
Unfortunately this i a scam company, that does auto renewal without my confirmation. Denied to do full refund.
Hi there. Thanks for reaching out. Please note that when you initially purchased your subscription, you selected the auto-renewing feature, and at checkout, you gave us permission to charge you for the renewal of your subscription if you did not cancel before the renewal date. We confirmed that you were sent an email reminder on Feb 22 about your upcoming subscription renewal on March 1, but you never took the opportunity to cancel the renewal charge before it took place. When you reached out to our team, your order had already shipped, which is why we could not provide you with a full refund for the renewal charge (our team had provided you with this information when you reached out to cancel). While we do our best to alert customers to their upcoming charges, we understand that some customers will miss their notifications, and we'll work towards a compromise resolution when that happens, as we did with your subscription.
I really wanted to like KiwiCo, but their auto‑renewal setup left a bad taste in my mouth. The way they handle renewals feels sneaky—like they’re hoping you won’t notice until your card gets hit again. The reminders are easy to miss, and once it renews, that’s it. No refund, no wiggle room, no “hey, mistakes happen.” The billing practices make the whole experience feel shady. It feels like they’re banking on people forgetting. After dealing with this, I’m a lot less excited about recommending KiwiCo to anyone.
Hi there and thanks for reaching out. We're sorry to hear that your experience did not meet expectations regarding our subscription service. It sounds like you purchased an auto-renewing subscription that was recently renewed. Please note that all auto-renewing subscriptions will send an email reminder 7 days before the first renewal and 30 days before the annual renewal. Also, we allow customers to pause their subscription and/or cancel/turn off the auto-renewing feature. We will be happy to further assist you with your renewal. We've requested additional information and hope to hear back soon.
The crates are great however customer service sucks. Had been trying to reach them for a month via chat and email, no response at all. Even when i get a response, it was being ignored again the minute i replied
Hi there, and thanks for reaching out. We're sorry to hear that. We've reached out for additional information and hope to hear back soon. Update: Hi there. Thank you for sharing your contact information with us. We again apologize that the service you received did not meet your expectations. We reviewed your account and see that you've only had one chat interaction with our team, and while our agent was interacting with you, you ended the chat before we had resolved your concern, so the agent sent a follow-up email, which you did reply to. The issue you contacted us about appears to be resolved now, so if there are any other emails or chats as mentioned in your review that we have not responded to, please reach out and let us know so that we can assist you. Thank you again for sharing your feedback.
I ordered the ornament advent and two subscriptions for my son, and after our first delivery it was clear this was not going to be suitable for our family. Whilst the ornament advent was cute and novel, it was repetitive and not even finished. I reached out and cancelled one box subscription and the book add on and was told they would make 'an exception' and cancel my remaining subscription too. Since replying back and forth a few times in Jan, Feb and March and confirming I definitely wanted to cancel now I get no replies. Totally ghosting me. Since the last reply another crate has unfortunately been sent (not received yet, it takes ages). The company is also unreliable, we even had a 'missed' crate in December! The shipping times are crazy long and the crates way overpriced. The crate quality is low, and several of the items have broken or not been of a high standard. The crates are at best an item or few that are for a short time use and then thrown away. There is excess packaging and much waste; of money, time and resources. After being on the fence for quite some time and finally biting the bullet to buy, this has been an exceptionally disappointing and frustrating experience. My advice would be to use the money that you would spend on a subscription and literally buy anything else.
Hi there and thank for reaching out. We appreciate you for taking the time to leave your feedback. We apologize if your experience did not meet expectations. Please note that international shipment does take 2-3 week as we send our crates out from California, USA. We can confirm that our team have canceled your 12-month Pay-As-You-Go subscription and no further crates will be shipped. We will be sure to pass your feedback along to our team. Please feel free to follow up if you have additional questions.
The products are made so well and with so much love, thankyou!
Thanks for your great feedback!
Customer support is far from helpful. I was missing a single piece of cardboard for a crate which was gifted to my son for Christmas. They made no effort to help and said they needed the order number to assist me further. I provided the purchasers name and shipping address and explained that grandma was not able to figure out the order number. They still refused to help me and didn't even respond when I voiced my dissatisfaction with their customer service. Now I need to throw away a crate due to a single missing piece because without that single piece- the crate is utterly useless. Mind you- we are a pay as you go customer (a joke because pay as you go in small print is 12 boxes and can't be cancelled mid subscription despite being super disappointed with the crates) and to send a single piece of cardboard should be simple and doing so would prove that they are a company that truly cares about their customer. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. My daughter has received three boxes that were all extremely similar and she had zero interest in. Unfortunately when you sign up, they really don't give you a good understanding of what you're signing up for and the boxes lack variety. My daughter doesn't even look forward to the new boxes and they go ignored. I wanted to love this company, but I will be sure to tell all of my parent friends to avoid this company. We are stuck receiving eight more crates that my kids have no interest in. Do better, KiwiCo.
Hi there and thanks for reaching out. We're sorry to hear that your experience did not meet expectation. We've reached out via email to further assist you with the option to change or cancel your subscription but we haven't hear back. In regards to the missing part to the crate, our team have sent a replacement crate which was delivered on 3/10. If you have additional questions or concerns, please follow up with us via email.
I signed up for an initial trial which was probably worth the cost of the promo offer. I then cancelled because I didnt think it was worth it. 3 weeks later I got charged for another month. apparently you need to cancel before the first box arrives which is ridiculous. I think the toys are equivalent value to a small lego set - maybe £5-10. being charged £30 a time is way too expensive and shocking they don't let you cancel weeks before. I will be recommending no on uses this subscription.
Hi there and thanks for reaching out. We'd be happy to further assist you. We've requested additional information and hope to hear back soon! Update: In reviewing, it looks like you'd purchased a 12-month, Pay-As-You- Go subscription, where you pay monthly for 12 crates. This option does not allow customers to cancel before the term is over. We apologize if this was missed during checkout and caused the confusion. In reaching out to our team, we can confirm that your subscription is now canceled. Please reach out to our team if you need further assistance.
Company errors in the ordering process caused a lot of confusion about where the first crate would be sent and what topic it would be. The emailed receipt confirmed the wrong crate being sent to the wrong initial address. I immediately emailed the company, so those mistakes could be fixed before the crate was sent. An automated artificial intelligence email was sent back to me which seemed to fix the address but not the crate. There is no customer service number provided on the website, so again I emailed the company so the correct crate could be sent before it was mailed. I did not receive an answer until after the company had mailed the crate. Then there was a series of emails about the issue because I had already purchased other materials to go with the topic that was supposed to be sent first. The subscription was to be a gift for my granddaughter, but the first crate was supposed to have been sent to me so I could gift wrap it with the rest of the presents. This option was part of their ordering process. In the end, the wrong crate was sent directly to me and not my granddaughter, thankfully. But the company would not exchange the crate for the correct one even though the company admitted in previous emails that they were at fault for sending the incorrect crate. Instead I was informed that subscriptions could not be returned. I then asked if I could get the correct topic sent to me as the next subscription topic. I was then informed that subscription crates are random even though a specific first topic was advertised on the website when the subscription was started. So I immediately canceled the subscription and purchased the crate from a 3rd party instead which ended up being cheaper anyway.
Hi there and thanks for reaching out. It sounded like you've started a subscription with a specific crate using a direct link. We'd be happy to take a look at your account and further clarify. We've reached out for additional information and we hope to hear back soon.
I had paused the subscription because my daughter did not really cared for the crafts theme, and I was hoping maybe switching themes but they kept sending boxes without my consent. They ignore the pause hping you won't notice or won't care. It a hassle to return the boxes. Now I have cancelled my suscription.
Hi there and thanks for checking in. We're sorry to hear that! We'd be happy to take a look and further assist you with your subscription. We've requested additional information and hope to hear back soon.
It’s off putting to be buying tech and stem stuff from a company with such a poorly designed website. The crate was cute but not top quality and for an active 9 year old it was a little brittle. Then trying to renew the subscription after they sent an email saying that it couldn’t renew but not telling me why, I finally managed to get in contact with them and was told they’d never sent an email and that the payment would come out a week later. It didn’t, again, and then I was told the subscription has expired and I can’t renew but I can start over. Nobody mentions that the first crate has already come and if I’ll get it again if I restart. The site isn’t at all user friendly and the explanations are lacking. Basically it’s not confidence inspiring since what Im looking to purchase is tech stuff. Basically it’s all cheap and nothing works quite right
Hi there and thanks for reaching out. We're sorry to hear that your experience with our website did not meet expectation. In further investigating your account, it looks like there was an issue with the payment on file which prevented the reactivation of the current subscription. We're sorry if there's any misunderstanding. If you'd like, we recommend placing a new order with a different card. We'd be more than happy to make sure that your subscriptions are link to avoid any duplicate crates. Please feel free to follow up with us if you have additional questions.
I would give this company 0 stars if I could! Avoid!! My son was stoked to get a stem kit for his Christmas present. There were parts missing. So he couldn't finish it. Ive contacted customer services 3 times and been ignored. Son is devastated. Waste of money! Update - Kiwico have sent out the missing parts now (currently waiting to receive but grateful that they have responded) but I do not accept nor appreciate that they say they did not receive the emails. Emails were sent to customercare at kiwico.com as per their website. I only received a response once I left a review here and on social media.
Hi Eleanor- thanks for reaching out. We're sorry to hear that and we'd like to further assist you. We've requested additional information and hope to hear back soon! Update: Hi there and thanks for reaching out and providing the additional information. In reviewing, we cannot find any prior contact with our team with the provided email. However, we've sent a follow up email and sent out the replacement part for your son's crate. Please feel free to follow up if you have additional questions. Thanks again for allowing us to resolve this for you.
The actual products can be good but are hit or miss. My kids enjoyed them though. With that said their customer service is HORRIBLE. Literally I have prepaid for things that have never shipped and they won't respond or they respond in automated messages. I would warn people against them, there are so many boxes out there and their service HAS to be better
Hi there, Thank you for sharing your feedback. After looking into your account, we've confirmed that you did purchase annual subscriptions with the expectation that each crate would ship each month until the end of the term, which has been honored. You've never alerted us that you've missed a crate delivery, and all of the orders show that they have been delivered. If you are missing crates that you were expecting, please message our team and provide more details so that we can look into this for you. As for the communications with our team, we have been responding to you, and you have been replying to us. Our average email reply time is between 24-48 hours, so we apologize if we were not quick enough to respond to your emails. Thanks again, and please let us know if you have any additional questions we can assist with.
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.
Hi there and thanks for reaching out and providing the additional information. We apologize to hear that you still have yet to received your crates. In reviewing, it looks like the crates are stuck in international transit and we do not have a way to track it once it gets scanned by your local postal service. Our team did go ahead and request two replacement crates to be shipped via worldwide express. Again, we apologize for the delay in your shipment and hope that the replacements will be received shortly. If you have additional questions, please reach out to our team via email and we'd be happy to further assist you.
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.
Hi there and thanks for reaching out. We're sorry to hear that you've yet to receive your order. We'd be happy to further investigate. We've requested additional information and hope to hear back soon. Thanks for the additional information. We'd like to provide additional context to clarify what had happened. In reviewing your account, it looks like the order was placed on September 20,2025, however, during checkout, it seems that the subscription was selected to start in February 2026. This is why the subscription had not began shipping the crates out yet. We apologize if there was a misunderstanding. As requested, we've canceled and issued you a full refund. Thanks again for bringing it to our attention. Update: We sincerely apologize for any misunderstanding regarding your order. Upon further reviewing your account, the crate that you see in your account was a preview of the upcoming shipment and was not schedule to be shipped out until February. We regret if this information was not clearly communicated to you when you first reached out. When the replacement was requested and shipped on 1/23, the tracking is showing it was delivered into the mailbox on 1/31. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to our team for a follow up.
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.
Hi there and thanks for reaching out. We'd be happy to help make changes to your current subscription. We've requested additional information and hope to hear back soon.
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.
Hi there and thanks for reaching out! We're sorry to hear that our service did not meet expectations. In reviewing your account, it looks like our agent had assisted you with the address correction for the subscriptions. Again, we apologize for the frustration that this may have caused. If you need additional assistance, please reach out to our team. Update: We apologize for any confusion. It looks like you recently had a follow-up call with one of our team lead and we hope that they helped clarify the situation and get it resolved. Thanks again for your patience and understanding.
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.
Hi there and thanks for reaching out. We apologize for your recent experience. We can confirm that the first crate was lost in transit and when the agent requested the first replacement, it did not process successfully. We're truly sorry about this. We've gone ahead and issue a full refund for your order. Please reach out if there is anything else we can do for you.
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