Yogi Surprise Subscription Box Review – November 2014

Glad someone addressed the oil thing…I thought I misinderstood/misread what fragrance I was supposed to receive when I saw the peppermint…good to,know I am not crazy.
I was disappointed about the beads, but I would not have known about it had they not sent the mailer…so not sure how great that was, except it kept me hanging on…which was tough, as we have hit some harder times. I was crossing my fingers that 3 friends would sign up, but so far only one. Guess I will have to cancel soon. I get that the value is much more than we are paying, and so far loving most of the items, but too expensive for me…amd most in my area…hence the lack of friend sign-ups.
I did not expect just “yoga stuff”, and am also grateful for that, as I have plenty! So am enjoying the lifestyle enhancers for us all to try, whether we are already patchouli-wearing, green juice drinking, essential oil diffusing yogis and yoginis or not…

I received this deodorant brand in a different sub box, and it broke me out in a truly painful rash, so you are not the only one. Its too bad, really, as the scents are great.

I love this box! I’m happy the mist made it’s way in this month as it was my favorite item. I planned on using things in the box for gifts but after seeing the items I decided to keep everything 🙂 I cannot afford this every month but it will be something I will treat myself to a few times a year. This being their second box I think they are doing a great job of listening to feedback and learning from all the bumps they encounter. I’m sad I can’t get a box every month!

I wanted the beads, I would have been mad with the way it was handled. Thankfully, I skipped it.

Hi all, Jen from Yogi Surprise here. I wanted to chime and address the missing beads. First off, I wanted to clarify, we weren’t trying to be misleading or dishonest, that’s not who we are. We literally waited till last minute for the beads to arrive and when they didn’t show we had to quickly print the apology cards and order three new products (the body mist, the lip balm and the mat wipes). We tried to make it right with the extra products and we thought printing the apology cards was a more thoughtful approach to sending out a mass e-mail. Again, we apologize for the miscommunication.

okay, this is YOGI surprise – not YOGA surprise. it has been very clear to me since day 1 that this box was meant to appeal to someone who lives the lifestyle of someone who practices yoga, i never one time thought that i would get all my yoga practice supplies from this box.
also, it is so weird (and i guess i shouldn’t be surprised because i run into this in real life too-) that a bunch of yoga practitioners are literally SO ANGRY about something like this. things happen, pick your battles.

then, the beads – i kind of get why they didn’t just want to send them all separately after the fact. a sub box is a nice little surprise to receive, and i’m sure it would have cost a fortune to get the beads packaged up all pretty with notes and cards re-apologizing for the mistake, and sent WITHOUT that it would seem like a meaningless afterthought, to me – like, here’s your damn beads. after being handcrafted in india, assuming they were made with care, i would prefer them to be delivered in the same manner – with care, not haphazardly. this is a really unfortunate situation because there is no way they could have dealt with it that would make everyone happy. i think i would have preferred a credit on the next box.

I am SO angry about this box. Massively angry. This box was a complete waste of money as far as I was concerned. I wouldn’t have paid $10 for everything in this box and ended up immediately listing nearly all of it for swap; the ONLY thing I kept were the wipes.

I am particularly furious about the beads. I agree that the way they dealt with this was all wrong. They apparently didn’t have time to get them in after they released the spoiler, but they DID have time to get glossy card-stock excuse notes printed up to go in the boxes. A reputable box would have said they were sorry they were late and they would ship the item later OR sent a note saying the BOX would be late once the beads arrived. This qualifies as a bait and switch.

I also received a different oil from the one that was on the card, and after a lot of searching could not find the one I got on their website. What I know is that, based on the style of the box and the name, this was NOT one of their chakra wellness oils; it was one of their perfumes from nature, and the prices on those are just nuts. The idea of paying over $20 for a couple of ounces of peppermint oil is just insane.

While I am not quite to the point of disputing the charge as fraud, I am done with this box. There was nothing in here worthwhile. At least the first month included the little towel and the yoga mat deodorizer/cleaner. There was nothing in here at all that said “yoga” to me or that was in any way useful to my practice, and certainly none of the kinds of things they were showing on their website when they started. I have far better things to do with my money.

Although I’m not currently a subscriber, I’m actually glad they’re NOT sending out yoga blocks, straps, etc. I have all of that stuff. In fact, I have two mats, two sets of blocks, two straps, a yoga bag, towels (one large non-slip one for over the mat and a smaller one for drying off with), socks, a non-slip sock + glove set, and about 30 yoga DVDs (plus 12-15 yoga books). (For what it’s worth, I also have maybe 5 or 6 malas, so I don’t need more.)

So I wouldn’t want a box that sent that type of stuff, and it wouldn’t be sustainable in the long term. They’d send out a set of blocks one month, a strap the next month, socks + gloves, and towels, and then they’d have to start repeating themselves. There’s a limited number of accessories that can be sent. And then people would complain about repeats and unsubscribe after 4 or 5 months.

This is really stuff that goes with a yoga lifestyle and is not just for physical yoga practice. That lifestyle suits me and so the items suit me (mostly — I’ll never be sold on natural deodorant).

There’s kind of a split in the West, though, between people who think of yoga primarily as exercise and people who get into the spiritual/lifestyle side of things. (I happen to fall into the second camp, but to each his/her own.) And one box is probably never going to satisfy both groups.

I am so irritated with this company.

Does anyone really believe that they didn’t know that the beads weren’t going to come in time?! They posted that spoiler just days before they sent these boxes out.

It is so dishonest to use a spoiler to advertise, and then not notify anyone beforehand that they aren’t going to get what they were sold. If they had emailed and said, “Hey, there was a mistake. But don’t worry! WE WILL MAIL THIS SEPARATELY WHEN IT ARRIVES IN ORDER TO KEEP OUR PROMISE,” that would be different. It would be mildly annoying, but mistakes happen. Nothing in this box (other than the oil, and it turns out that isn’t even close to the value they stated) is over ten dollars, so even if they did put in two extra items, it would not make up for that value. Then to tell me that I have to get another box to get the item I was promised in the first place is just… it’s downright shady.

On top of that, we didn’t get the oil they have listed on the card. Has anyone noticed that? They list an oil that is a jasmine essential oil blend infused with Carnelian and is 2.125 oz. Instead, I got a different energy oil that is just straight up peppermint and only an eighth of an ounce. This is the one we were supposed to get (the one advertised in their spoiler) – https://www.goldenearth.net/store/chakra/chakra-2-125oz/. The one we *actually* got isn’t even on the site and is certainly not anywhere close to that value. So even if they *really* meant it was only “like” this oil, they still listed that value and it’s definitely not that.

What a ripoff. I am so angry and I’m going to contest the charge since this is actually fraud. I immediately cancelled my membership. I’ll see what Buddhibox does this next month and possibly try them out.

I enjoyed reading the review and learned about new to me products. The Jo-Sha wipes interest me. I’m still going to wait a few months although I would had enjoyed this box very much if I received it.

It was good of them to replace the beads with 2 products and send a note about it. Still I don’t understand why some sub subscriptions are reluctant to communicate with their customers. I think they could had handled it better by also emailing their customers to let them know especially since they are a new unknown/unproven box. It didn’t help that some people did not receive the card which adds to the confusion.

I like this box, but my biggest issue is that I joined this box hoping for more yoga accessories. Straps, blocks, yoga DVD, meditation/practice music, anything!! I really wanted to build my collection and they had pics of most of those things on the website when they first started taking orders. Even the promotional photo they still have on Facebook has a strap in it! Maybe these are things to come but I would think they would try and get some items like that out in the start to get people interested.

It seems like EVERY sub box gives out lip balm (or even worse, lip scrubs). How many can one possibly use? Personally, I never use lip balms (prefer gloss or lipstick).

I would’ve liked this box, too, if I’d been able to stay subscribed, although I’ve decided natural deodorant isn’t for me (the Schmidt’s gives me a rash, plus I live somewhere that it’s hot for a good portion of the year, so I need something stronger). The mints are great, I think we got the same brand from Yuzen a couple of months ago. It’s fun to see where this one is going, and hopefully I can rejoin one day.