Urthbox

Was charged 171 Canadian dollars via their auto renewal system that is apparently agreed to in the «terms and conditions», which is not clearly outlined upon registering. What they fail to do is give you a heads up that you are about to be charged for that auto renewal or make visible on their site as to how you can cancel! It’s not until you try several times to call their line that they then notify you the only way to cancel is to email them? You have to send them an email requesting to not be charged… and you have to do so a month prior to the charge, which they don’t even let you know is coming up. They will just bill you and then you will probably get the pleasure of talking to Sara (who you can easily find online via linked or the CEO Ben Behrouzi). Sara thinks she’s queen of the castle because she is the supervisor so she will attempt to tell you there is no one higher up that you can talk to — that’s a joke.
So basically what I would like to share with the world is this — don’t subscribe to Urthbox, even if you get a discount. Because later down the road, they will fail to assist you in avoiding being charged and they will attempt to refuse a refund. Maybe this is because the company is not doing so well and every penny counts. This is what a company that won’t last long looks like.

This company is a scam. My story is similar to all the other customers. They prey on customers through Groupon and hide through fine print. Near the end of the subscription, no reminder emails were sent for renewal. I was charged $ 178 USD or $ 257 CDN for 6 months ($ 40/​month for 12 snacks?) worth of snacks that I did not authorize or sign up for. When I requested a refund, the customer service ignored my emails. When I finally called, they did nothing to try to resolve the issue and hid behind fine print. I will never deal with this company again. Do not be fooled by the low introductory cost. They purposely try to nail you and charge you full price. I would NOT recommend this company and I will warn all my friends to not use this company at all.

So I got a Groupon for 6-​months. Boxes arrived super late, a lot of the time the snacks were meh and there would be 1 – 2 items in each box I really liked. I had noticed they’re pretty slow to respond to emails. For my first box, I noticed that while their address box allowed me to full my first address on one line, it cut off my apartment number. They got back to me a few days later and said it was too late to fix it for that month. (It worked out okay because my USPS person knows my name and apartment number). So I emailed during the last month asking to cancel but never got a response. I didn’t think too much about it but then on the first of the month, there’s a charge for not one month of subscription but SIX.
I pulled up my Original Groupon and read the fine print to cancel «by the first of the month» so my email on the 1^st when I noticed the charge should count. UrthBox said Groupon had a typo and I purchased through UrthBox and their policy if before the first of the month. I opened a dispute with my credit card and submitted the receipt. If you’re in the same situation, check your Groupon Fine Print to see if you have the same wording.

My first vegan box has whey in it. The Mediterranean lentil crackers. This was bought for me as a gift, 6 months of vegan snacks. It took a while to get started because they initially insisted I give them my credit card? This was bought and paid for by a family members card so you dont need or get mine. After I told them to just refund her, they sent it. They were pretty adamant.
Im all for healthy snacks, I think its a good idea. Sans the fact that you pay maybe $ 20 a mo. for a few .75oz bags of weird stuff. Im vegan and I eat anything but well see.
The credit card thing pissed me off. they managed to make a xmas gift nice and awkward. bad form. Now i ate whey because I thought it would be vegan. I read everything I eat but, if its supposed to be vegan and healthy, i think maybe a bit of sugar? I did look at some nuts ingredients and the 2^nd ingredient was cane sugar– not sure how thats healthy? Seems like money making biz thing. thats all. Doesnt seem anyone could give 2 shits and send dairy in a vegan box. Good luck wasting your money on some samples. I dont write reviews like this but thta credit card/​gift thing really chapped my ass. more so than eating dairy

Terrible customer service. Bought a subscription on Groupon — they use very shady tactics to continue re-​billing you after the subscription period has ended.

Terrible customer service, a joke of a point system (they want you to promote them on social media for points, but there is no indication on how to even redeem those points on their website), gross food samples and impossible to cancel! Buyer beware!

Your review
I was pretty excited to try this product with a groupon for three months. I thought it was okay and there were a few products that I really enjoyed. I too, was unaware of of the automatic renewal for $ 75. Immediately upon seeing the charge I called to ask for a refund. The shipment wasn’t even due to be sent for another three weeks. I was told «too bad so sad, read the fine print.» No refunds after the first of the month. Yikes! I hadn’t even been charged until after the first. Horrible customer service unlike other snack companies I have tried. STAY AWAY from Urth box.

This company manipulated me into signing a contract with them that I did not agree to. I signed up for 6 months and that is all. They then, charged my card for 6 more months afterwards and I did not agree to those terms. Their language is hidden and ambiguous. When I tried to call them, multiple times, no one returned my calls. I then disputed with my credit card, to which, and only then-​did Urthbox respond-​to them. They have a HORRIBLE business practice. They trapped me in a contract and then basically said too bad. For such a healthy business this company is toxic and manipulative and have poor customer service and a horrible business practice. Stay as far away from them as possible.

This was definitely a lesson for me. Read reviews BEFORE signing up for stuff!
I signed up for three months pre-​paid of the small urth box earlier this fall. My first box arrived about a month later and I could immediately tell it wasn’t for me. Products were very small sizes, some were kind of weird, and several were not actually food. For example, my first box included a small carton of water and a packet of flavored powder that could be added to food. For reference, I ordered the regular box (not gluten free, vegan, etc), so there should have been many snack options they could have selected.
At this point I went online and read all the negative reviews about this company. It seems like they really fight people on cancellations, so I made sure to email them well in advance of the deadline letting them know I was cancelling the service. I made it very clear in my email that I still had one more pre-​paid box that should be arriving in November, but after that nothing more. Received an email back from someone named Sara saying sure, no problem, we will send your last box in November.
Well, it’s now December and the last box never arrived. I also never received their usual perky email saying that my urth box was «queued up» and ready to go. I emailed the company and received a response from Sara that sounded kind of air-​headed, but basically said that they show my package was delivered and provided a tracking link for me. When I click on the tracking link it only shows that a UPS package was shipped on November 16^th (much earlier in the month than previous two urth boxes) and delivered on November 23^rd, it doesn’t say who sent the package or what the delivery address was. Seems kind of shady. Needless to say, I have lived in this locked apartment building for years and my other packages arrived.
Basically at the end of all this I feel a little silly for getting caught up in this «box» fad and allowing myself to be taken advantage of. For $ 74 I ended up with two small boxes of snacks that I could have purchased at many of the local stores in Los Angeles for much less money. Not to mention that terrible feeling you get when you just got screwed over.
I was planning to give this company two or three stars because the Jackson’s Honest potato chips, You Love Fruit, and You Love Veggies were actually very good and I even ordered more on Amazon. But not sending me the last box that I had already paid for? One star.

I truly hope people research this before signing up. I got a great deal on a 6 month subscription and was super excited about it. Being a gluten free household, it can be hard to find good quality products and a lot of time they are very expensive and we don’t try them. Enter Urthbox and a «gluten free» snack box.
The first box arrived and I started to regret paying anything, even with the deal. A carton of liquid had leaked all over the box. As I unpacked it, I had to wipe each item down. The items were packed in so tightly that many fragile items like chips and crackers were completely crushed. The box itself had no damage so this was not a shipping issue.
Next strike was that a couple of the gluten free items said «May contain wheat». Having a family member with celiac disease, this is absolutely not ok! It would be fine if there was a disclaimer about their gluten free boxes, but I haven’t seen one.
Six months go by and we’ve had more leaks and crushed snacks. Some good snacks but nothing I wanted to partake in again. This part is my mistake… but I’m reviewing my October credit card statement and I see a $ 179 charge from Urthbox. Um… ok no issue, I’ll just call customer service and cancel. Even XM radio lets me cancel anytime I want and refunds my money. Urthbox WILL NOT REFUND ANY MONEY. These individuals take your money without so much as a subscription renewal reminder. What a lovely business practice.
After some back and forth from «Customer Service», I received notice that my subscription will be cancelled in April. You know, after they’ve sent me 6 boxes I do not want. I will be following up with Discover (who is wonderful) to remove the charge and get these boxes stopped. I can’t say I’ve ever run into customer service that made me so eager to write a bad review.
Run away! Far far away!

This review basically echoes everything said in other reviews…
Terrible customer service. They don’t return phone calls, and hide behind policies. As you can see by the 3 dollar signs, the service is not cheap. I tried the service through Groupon, Bought 3 months for $ 35. Products weren’t great, some was okay. For what I got, about $ 35 is warranted, making it less than $ 12 a month. Then BAM charge for $ 74 on November 2^nd. The full price of $ 24.67 (with a discount for 3 months!) is crazy and not worth it. Hadn’t read the fine print on Groupon that my subscription would renew. So I offer to pay the 1 month of $ 29.99 for my bad. Through email and finally getting through on the phone (after many tries and waiting like others have said) they quoted policies and FAQs and refused to give me the refund difference. They say they had sent me the fine print in the initial order. The one from Groupon?! How many people pay attention to that? Like it was said on here, this sounds cool but is more of a scam. Legit businesses would help out their customers and not penalize them. Also they would have some flexibility with «auto-​renewal.» I better not get charged again. I wish I had gotten a refund like one user who reviewed.
SO SHADY AND WRONG. DON’T DO IT!
UPDATE: After posting on Unilocal,I was contacted by the Business Owner and referred to one of their Customer Service Specialists. She was helpful. We reached an agreement for a partial refund. So to get something done, you have to get past the first line of customer service if you want something done. I will add a 2^nd star because they did help out in the end. If you do purchase this product, just be sure to read the fine print in the agreement. And watch out for your renewal date so you aren’t caught off-​guard by a charge.

I had to block this merchant from charging my card. There is no way to delete your credit card info or cancel subscription in the admin. When you call customer service you are prompted to leave a message lol I submitted a support ticket for cancelation. This company is trying every shady tactic to keep the recurring billings rolling.
Shady Shady Shady
The product is awful as well. I couldn’t wait for my 6 month subscription to end. Curry flavored granola, yuk.

I was going to give one star, but Urth Box refunded me so I upgraded to 2 stars.
While this sounds like a cool business, in practice it is run like a scam. If I want to try a sample, PLEASE DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY CHARGE ME $ 77 FOR A SUBSCRIPTION. While that might be legal and shame on me for missing fine print, if you are a legit business, you should not have to count on people missing the fine print to run a business. If your product is legit and a good deal, then people will pay for the subscription on purpose. Don’t scam me into getting a subscription.
The snacks arrived, and while tasty, Im not going to get a subscription with a company that does the automatic subscriptions. They cannot be trusted with my credit card info.

1. Horrible customer service– from every angle. And, they say they will stop your subscription and then… Bam, another $ 102 on my credit card.
2. I got the Medium diet box. Only 5% of the box is edible. I can’t even give this stuff away. It’s not edible. The point is to showcase products which do it right, not get crap for free, put it in a box, and charge me $ 35 for it.
AVOID. Don’t do it!

I have had Urthbox for a year and a half. I was really excited when I first signed up, excited to not have to read labels for the vegan box, and know that I was getting all vegan products. The first slight taste of what I thought was dairy, I went ahead and read the labels. To my surprise, it had dairy in it. Urthbox promised me this was a one time mistake and it would not happen again. I carefully checked the next two boxes, which I received two more items that were not vegan. I told them that I wanted to cancel, since I could not be certain I was receiving vegan items and their website clearly said «cancel anytime» on the face of it so that’s what I was doing. I didn’t ask for a refund of those boxes, I just assumed I would get the remainder of my money back for the upcoming boxes. The only thing I received back was a snappy little response from their customer service person, which reminded me that if I read the FAQ’s I would find that I could not cancel after my 6 month membership was automatically charged (which I didn’t realize that was to happen either). She literally quoted the FAQ’s. Now, call me crazy, but when I purchase something, I don’t read the FAQ’s for hidden messages that may or may not apply to me in the future. If it is something I need to know, then tell me when I make the $ 150+ purchase! Not the way to do business, especially for one that is still attempting to build a name for themselves.
I will say that there have been several other times that I have had to contact customer service and the experience has been great. That was all until I was asking for them to refund me money because I was not happy with their service any longer. Also, the points that I have been accumulating since my first box, are now just going to sit and probably be forgotten about by me. I have asked several times when I will be able to use those points for something, like to purchase my favorite products, and I am told each time that the online store should be open soon. That has yet to happen, but I am told by customer service that those points don’t expire. We’ll see.
My last box is on it’s way and I have proof via email that they are going to cancel my subscription after that. I’m hoping for no further issues with them, but I would say to wait until the kinks are worked out to sign up for a subscription.

Not ONE edible shred of a snack the vegan box I ordered. This is a pretty much a scam. I ordered the ONE time one month box to try it out and I was and am SO DISAPPOINTED. I called and said I didn’t want the garbage box they sent me, and they wouldn’t even refund this purchase I didn’t care to even look. I never EVER give one star reviews, so this is my first one and hopefully that last one I’ll even have to write. ALSO IT TOOK 45 DAYS TO ARRIVE. The one star goes to the nice man on the phone, but that’s the only reason it could possibly get any stars at all.
I am so disappointed. SO extremely disappointed. I highly recommend NOT ordering this.

This company does not even deserve ONE star. I got a 6 month subscription to the company only to get an auto charge for another 6 months that I DID NOT AUTHORIZE. After 30 plus emails asking to cancel the account, to STOP the orders, they REFUSE to give my money back.
So far with my «new» subscription, I have received ONE box in FOUR months… yes just ONE. The others were «lost.» If only I could do more to urge you not to subscribe to this company. They have no ethics or care for their customer and only care about getting money out of you.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

A dear friend got me a 6-​month subscription to Urthbox for my birthday. Urthbox has introduced me to some amazing vegan products I may have never known about! I love that they have vegan and gluten free snacks and the box was always abundant!
Yes, it’s like any typical subscription box, so you have to read the fine print because they actually did bill me at the end for another 6 months, but all I had to do was reach out via email and they refunded my money (minus one month, since it was already on the way). Their customer service is great and totally on it and willing to go the extra mile.
I thought it was a nice gift, and my only criticism, is that if it’s a gift, you as the receiver should probably not have to give your credit card info – perhaps an email first asking if you’d like to continue with the service would be better received-​no one likes a «surprise» charge on their card. :(
Either way, I’m giving them a 4-​star rating because the snacks were certainly yummy, and I had no issues getting my money refunded.

Wow, how many 1 star average businesses do you find? Not many. I certainly haven’t written many myself like this one. There’s a reason for this. Coupon codes do not work or work correctly. There are other issues, too.
I emailed them about canceling and haven’t heard back yet. If they don’t respond, I’ll let my bank know. If they do respond, I’ll update this post.
UPDATE: I heard back about 2 weeks later. My subscription was finally canceled. Interestingly, they just contacted me again months later to ask if I ever contacted the BBB. I didn’t because my subscription finally got canceled as requested.

MY REVIEW IS FOR THE PRODUCTS RECEIVED
honestly, as in any subscription service, read the fine print, be careful etc. and i can see that there has been some individual issues, and it seems like there may be some needed improvement in clarifications/​support.
That being said, the ACTUAL BOX is the best healthy snack box i’ve ever received, and i’ve done about three others that i’ve cancelled since then. The products are very different, one pleasantly duplicated (the peanut butter cup!), and all different sizes and quantities, some are drinks, others resealable snacks. I did the medium classic, three month deal with 1^st timer deal, initial cost was $ 92, but doing the math the price is actually worth the product, the time it takes to shop for them, plus its like chirstmas, surprises every time! (~ $ 7.60 a week of snacks for 3 months) so, the price of a beer/​2 cups of starbucks/​a chip bag, soda, and candybar… my next bill will be about $ 102, so $ 8.50 a week…
I’m very happy with what i have received.