Witch Crate Subscription Box THE SAGA
Zero Stars.
Wow, never thought I'd see the day this box actually showed.
At the end of June I had a new client for my tea shop inquire about placing my teas in a subscription box for their business. I replied back that my teas had been featured in SabbatBox for Beltane 2015. I was very proud of that fact, since it was the first one. I thought I'd share the unboxing video that went with it with those clients to show how well my teas have done in the past.
As it happens sometimes, I fell down the YouTube rabbit hole and found another subscription witchy company, Witch Crate. "Half a dozen magical artifacts" were promised in each box. I watched an unboxing video from one of their subscribers and thought the things included looked pretty good for the price point and thought I'd give it a try. I found the website (no link in the unboxing video) and gave it a look.
The website didn't seem all that well put together. I had to hunt for any information on the subscription. I knew they had two price points from the unboxing video, fifty dollars, or a hundred and fifty dollars. Instead of subscription information, I had to request an application.
You read that right, an application. To be 'allowed' to buy from this company. The owner, "Rika Athena" seems to be under the impression that she's forming a coven instead of selling witchy supplies in a 'curated' box format. "It is a commitment to magic, Herself." Huh?
Questions on experience level were asked. As well as others like "What inspires you to study witchcraft and magic?" and "What will entering The Circle mean to you?" I assume she was hoping to add mystery and sadly just winds up sounding like a bad extra from "The Craft" especially when capitalizing "The Circle".
I figure the kitsch is all a part of the selling point and move on. I fill out the application and wait. I mean, is she really going to turn away business? I was truthful in my application, I've been practicing for so long it would be nice to have fresh ideas to enliven my practice.
A day or so later I was "approved" and told that the minute there was an opening in her "Circle" I'd be notified and allowed to purchase. Yup, allowed.
Another few days goes by and on July 18th, miracle of miracles, I'm "allowed" to sign up. There are a BUNCH of caveats and agreements to sign. Uh, this isn't Fight Club, guys. Otherwise I couldn't write this blog post, right? ;)
I am told I 'qualify' for the July box and I'm just in the nick of time, because they'll be shipping soon. You remember the beginning of our story right? It's now September 6th.
On July 27th Rika Athena and /or the auto system she uses started trying to bill me for a second box, after still never having received the first box. Which was promised on or about July 26th. I try and hit up her Facebook for the company. Note to self: ALWAYS DO THIS BEFORE SUBSCRIBING. It was filled with disgruntled witches and seekers alike who were all pissed that they hadn't gotten their boxes, that they were no where near as valuable as she claimed and attempts at discontinuing their subscriptions had been met with silence and auto-renewal notices. I sent a private message to the store, no response. I posted to their wall, no response.
Luckily the card that had been used originally couldn't be billed for a second box. My credit union sent everyone new credit cards after hearing of another data breech at another chain store in the area.
On August 1st she sent out a blast email to all of her subscribers apologizing for the delay in sending out the July boxes without any real excuse as to why. She apologized for lack of communication again, no explanation. She says she'll be mailing all the July boxes on Aug 6th. August 8th rolls around. A full week later. I get an email saying "A package of witchery is on it's (sic) way." Enclosed was tracking info. For a full additional two weeks, there was no movement on the USPS tracking info. After two weeks the information started coming back with error messages.
I cancelled my subscription. Obviously. I was in the process of trying to figure out how to get my money back, since this never appeared. So color me surprised when this came in the mail this morning.
Yes, September 6th, 2016 my subscription box from JULY came in the mail. I'll admit I loved the little raven seal.
So there's a theme.... Mother's Primal Path. Talking about Motherhood's unconditional understanding. I start reading to see what I've gotten myself. I start seeing spelling errors and am even more disappointed. I edited a magazine after being one of its contributing columnists for over a year. So this makes me wanna dig out my red pens.
"Pendent" made me cringe. When I saw "shinning surface" my first thought was Groundskeeper Willy from The Simpsons and their parody episode of "The Shining".
At least she spelled pendant right on the note card. Listed retail $21.
Bloodstone less than 1"
Tumbled Stone Retail $11
Are you kidding me? Eleven dollars. For those of you who don't know me personally, I've worked in witchy shops in a few states. I've wandered 'New Age' markets in four countries. Pendulums made out of bloodstone, $7. If I bought a pound of these retail, it would still only be a dollar a stone.
Amulet Bag "Mother's Tongue"
Retail $20
It doesn't list the herbs in there, or the properties, or even the reason they were chosen. Just "various magickal elements infused with intention".
Nor was it explained how she came up with a figure of $20 retail for less than an ounce of chamomile, lemongrass and lavender.
The Green Witches Purse Retail $15
This interested me, so I pulled open the cotton bag and found less than an ounce total of three herbs and "graveyard dirt". Since she says the dirt came from a fountain, not a grave yard, I'm not sure what she thinks I'll be doing with this. Again I'm wondering where the $15 figure came from. I'm a business woman and have been in the magical community for nearly two decades. I know what these things cost. I also know what plastic baggies, labels, cotton bags and the time to put them together costs. That's not it.
So I'm looking for the sixth item in the box and not finding it. I start going back over the materials and items and count only five. I start shuffling through the papers that came with the box figuring they were instructions for using the materials provided, as I had seen in the unboxing video. The last item wasn't a "carefully curated item". It was a membership letter to an online community. Estimated value, $100. While writing this review, I open my laptop to see what they're talking about because last I checked there was no online community, much less one worth $100 a year. I'm hoping it was a year, there were no details in the pamphlet, or the enclosed letter, for all I know she thinks this haven for the magical is worth $100 a month. What do I find when I've pulled up her website? It's been shut down by CrateJoy. The icon of dusty crates appears with an admonishment that the owner of the store should contact them. Keep in mind that in research for writing this review I submitted a new request for application so I could quote the application questions. You'll notice the 7:41 time stamp on the application email. She was still taking applications at 7:41, and by 10pm the website has been shut down by the originator website. I haven't even published this review yet. :chuckle: I hope no unfortunate souls paid her for the next box before she was shut down.
So, here I am once more, in search of a little joy in the mail. I know that the next subscription service I want to devote my expendable income on will be throughly researched (read: I'll google the hell out of them and see if they have a FB page before ordering.)
Stay tuned!
5 comments:
Thanks so much for this. I just sent in an application today and thought it was weird but thought - eh, why not? I'll play along with her marketing strategy. But then I got the e-mail that said what to expect next, and it included links to her Facebook page that no longer exists and an Instagram account that requires approval just to follow it. I already work hard for my money. I have no intentions of having to work this hard in order to spend it too. Especially for a product that isn't worth it. The way she set it up sounded like I was joining an actual group who might Skype together or at least have an active private group on FB. Obviously not. So again, thanks. You've made my life SO much easier today. :) Do you recommend SabbatBox? I was looking at them too.
SabbatBox is well worth the money. The problem is they are so great they filled up immediately and I have been on the waiting list for almost a year. I hope they feel they can expand soon. More people need to experience the awesome.
If you're still curious about that $100 letter you received it was basically an invite to join her online coven. It costs $999 a month to be a member. Also I have a question regarding your letter. When I saw someone else's picture of it there were 2 estimated values written on it. One said $100. The other was $187. Did yours have the same thing?
I saw that in her follow up email. A thousand dollars?! And she swears she's not a con artist.
The $100 was the estimated value of the Flight of Ravens BS. The $187 was her "estimated value" of the junk in the box.
ThornFeather, the reason she deleted her Facebook, and made the Instagram account private is because she got called out for being a scam artist by a big IG page, and is basically trying to hide. The problems with Witch Crate started back in May when the quality of the boxes started to go down, and were arriving later. Amy, since you joined in early July I'm not sure if you knew any of this, but the May boxes arrived in the middle of June, and the June boxes in mid-August. Throughout all of this people were still being charged monthly, and the button to cancel subscriptions had disappeared from the website. People took to emailing her to get their subscriptions cancelled, but she would blatantly ignore them (posting on her personal Facebook all day). I'm sure one of you got the 2 mass emails that she sent where she basically blamed everyone for not being patient, or magickal enough, and took zero responsibility for her companies downfall. It eventually came out that she isn't even Pagan, but a social media marketing expert (most likely why she talks like that all the time) who uses hypnosis to make sales. When Cratejoy shut her down everyone was unsubscribed, but she's trying to get them to come back. Like Sabbat Box, she got really big. The difference is that Sabbat Box actually did something to remedy the situation instead of letting it grow so big that he couldn't handle it anymore, and eventually give up trying to.
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