Wittlebee.com
“Kid’s Clothing Club”
A few weeks ago I posted about a new company called Wittlebee. You pay a monthly fee ($39.99) and they send you a small box with around six pieces of clothing for your child each month. The clothing in your box is mainly determined by your child’s favorite color and the three questions below:
1. What is your shopping experience like? I have no idea how this helps them determine what my kids look good in.
2. What type of personality does your child have? Options: Preppy, Diva, Princess, Sporty, Hippie. I selected Preppy because their preppy picture looked more Hipster to me (picture below). Basically it was the closest I could get to something I thought I site below.
3. What type of climate do you need clothes for? Options: California Dreamin’, Cold Weather Cuddles, Around the House, Summer in the Country, Rainy Days. I went with Summer in the Country because again it was the closet thing I could relate to (picture below). Again it had a Hipster look. They need a Toddler About Town category.
Three weeks later my boxed arrived….wait until you see what was inside!
The items I liked were the three pieces from American Apparel: two t-shirts and one pair of sweat pants. Great but not exactly rocking my world.
The items I hated were the “Caddy Shack” looking, scratchy shorts that I am not even sure my grandmother would wear and the matching babyish airplane T-shirt. (Label: Gioberti). These pieces were totally mass-produced in China and of low quality. Next we have the Park Ranger PJ set that must be seconds because they have obvious flaws, scratchy pj bottoms and I can already tell this is going to shrink like crazy when I wash it.
The piece de resistance has to be the red mary jane JazzyToes socks that were also in the box. It was pretty much an identical scene as to when Ralphy from the movie A Christmas Story pulled out the pink bunny Pj’s his grandmother had made him for Christmas. Honestly they get points for making me laugh. Especially since there is a typed note thanking me for trying Wittlebee and that everything in this box was hand selected for my “boy”. Two words: NAILED IT!
Overall I think they did a really bad job of delivering a quality product and good styles. I am however going to keep the box and I will tell you why. Wittlebee cost $39.99 / month. I filled out all my information on their site and then chickened out and never made the purchase. So they sent me a promo code for $10 off. So I paid $29.99 to get my first box. The three American Apparel pieces I like retail for a total of $40 so in the end I made out by default and CLEARLY the red JazzyToes are priceless.
So for now I will remain my children’s chef, laundress, housekeeper, chauffeur, fun finder and HEAD STYLIST (except hair by Jenny at Crimson. I have my limits. ).
Worth Nothing:
* Looking back the personality survey missed some major questions like: what brands do you normally wear or what stores do you buy your child’s clothing at.
* They don’t tell you on the website that it takes a long time for box to ship. When I called to check the status of the order is when they tell you it take two weeks to pack your box. They told me they are working on speeding that up.
* What I find interesting is that they have an icon right on their page that says 100% Satisfaction Guarantee but when you click it- it just take you to the personality survey. There is zero information about what to do it you are not Satisfied.
* They also claim that a stylist will be calling you to talk about the items you want in your box in more details. That never happened and to be honest I don’t have time to do that.
* I first heard about Wittlebee through a deal on PlumDistrict.com (a daily deal website for moms). That just goes to show you that those site could care less about the quality of the companies they are doing business with.
* I will be regifting the Jazzy Toes so I apologize in advance.
I love your blog, but I have to disagree with you on this one. Wittlebee is a terrific service, assuming you understand that you’re getting an amazing deal and not everything they send you will be exactly the style that you would choose yourself. However, it saves the hassle of going to the mall with your kids, dealing with parking, trying to get them to ignore the candy store, etc. etc.
As a single mother of two, I’ve been using Wittlebee for several months, and I think that the service is excellent. They respond extremely quickly on Facebook to any customer service issues (thanks, Lucy!) and when I had a problem with one of the shipments they completely made it up to me by sending me replacement items extremely quickly. We need more mom and pop services like Wittlebee that break the paradigm set by the big box retailers, and I’m a proud supporter of what they do.
(and I rarely, if EVER, endorse a brand like this)
Hi Jenny.
Thank you so much for your comment. It means a lot to me that you took the time to write it. I ALWAY want people to give a shout out if they have a different opinion! And I do agree with you that their customer service does respond really quickly. I am glad you have found a great service that works for you! Now do you happen to have girls and need a pair of red polka dot JazzyToes Socks?
I have boys who would definitely NOT allow me to put those things on their feet…but how big are they? I can always use some Jazz for my own toes
They are for little feet for sure. They will go to a lucky lady baby at H’s preschool tomorrow!
oops — I meant will *not* be the style you choose yourself.
Thanks for the heads up. They might of hade good intentions but need to work on customer service. New follower from Mombloggers Club. Feel free to check out my blog!
I think those socks are supposed to look like crocs, so maybe they technically they can be for a boy? I have girls though, so I can’t tell. LOL!!!
Not to be!!!!
Awful experience from start to finish.
Please read reviews.
http://www.subscriptionboxes.com/wittlebee/
argh sorry about your experience. I was disappointed by the results. I got it off a deal with PlumDistrict.com. I find they don’t really check out their vendors. These deal companies are going to have to start getting standards.
Wish I had found your blog before I ordered my first box. I would have traded my horrible box for yours. I guess I was naive in that they would want to impress me with my first box! Luckily, I only paid $14.99 for our one and only box. We live so close to outlets that I can get many of the brands they put in their boxes. Plus I would get to pick what I want and leave behind what I hate. I just plan to send the stuff into daycare in case my little one pees on himself because otherwise I wasted money on a fancy bee box! Definitely canceling the service.
I hear you. The service just falls short! Thanks for your comment it always helps to hear about different experiences.