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Note: As of April 2014, Stork Stack has merged with bluum.
I have been delaying posting my January 2014 Stork Stack review because I didn’t want to have to come back and edit it 20x, but I think all the issues associated with this one (and there were a lot) have been resolved, so let’s begin!
Stork Stack ships via USPS and took the standard few days to arrive. This month’s box was delayed and shipped almost two weeks later than Stork Stack normally does. I believe the first delay was because of the holidays which is understandable and then it was because of the cold weather (per their Facebook page).
The first look? Kind of brown. I knew Stork Stack had partnered with a new company this month so I thought maybe that was what they were supposed to look like? I was already a little confused.
Stork Stack had been posting that they were trying something new for their January 2014 Stacks, so I think everyone was super excited to see what this would mean! It turns out that the surprise was that they partnered with a brand new company “A Harvest Company” to allow us to be some of the first people to try their brand new products, which are made from “natural & recycled materials like rice hulls, wheat straw, wood, potatoes, corn, wheat, soy, bee’s wax, bamboo, cotton & cardboard”. You can read more on the card here. Sounds cool right? I totally thought so when I got the e-mail, but when I got my Stack in the mail I realized that something was up! Here’s what was going on:
~A Harvest Co. Cork Block Stackers: The tag on these says it was a set of five, which turned out to be an error as there are were only three. Stork Stack says that there were only suppose to be three, so okay, whatever. The real problem here is that these are made out of, well, cork and crumble if someone bites into them which a baby totally would since they are labeled 6+ months. As a result, A Harvest Company has issued a voluntary recall on these (aka stop using these and throw them in the trash) and Stork Stack is offering everyone who was affected by this a $15 refund (you can read more on that here). A Harvest Company says these should have been labeled 3+ years of age, but then again we wouldn’t have received them (nor would have Stork Stack have likely ordered them since they only go up to age 3) if they were for kids 3+. There are no prices on the Harvest website, but $15 is half of the box price, so that seems fair?
~A Harvest Co. Wheaties Car: At first glance I thought, umm, okay, this looks unfinished, but then thought maybe that was the idea? Turns out it is NOT the idea. The products posted on the Harvest website look 100% different than this one. It appears to be that Harvest bit off more than they could chew with this one and when they realized that they wouldn’t be able to properly finish these in time, they just sent them as is. The difference in the pictures is night and day!
~A Harvest Co. Bunny Car: Same story with this one as the last one. I thought at first this was just the way it was (which would have just made it a boring looking toy), but no, it’s flat out not finished. I know some people had trouble with rough edges and the like, but mine was fine in that regard. It just wasn’t done. Again, the comparison pictures are like night and day.
~KIND Bar: Nothing wrong with this one! It was good and probably the best KIND bar I have ever had.
~Child’s Play Eating Well Book: Cute book. WB wants to rip the flaps off this one so badly, but so far I have been quicker than he was!
Since the A Harvest Company website doesn’t list any prices and that was mainly what was in this box, there is no way to do a price breakdown on the box. However, after the refund, the box worked out to about $15 for two unfinished toys, a book and a snack. Not exactly worth it! Had the toys been finished and just the cork stacker been recalled, I likely would have been more okay with it and would have just thought the cars were a little young for WB (although he can happy ram any car into a wall, even a car for babies).
In emails sent out from A Harvest Company to Stork Stack subscribers (I believe these should all be sent out by the end of the day tomorrow?), they have started that they will be issuing a $15 credit towards their products for all these problems. That’s on top of the $15 refund from Stork Stack. However, since I have no idea how much these toys are, I wouldn’t know what that would even be able to get you?
All in all, while I am generally happy with Stork Stack every month, I feel like they should not have sent out these boxes this month. In hind sight, they probably should have just issued refunds once they realized that the toys were unfinished (I am assuming they knew they were not suppose to look like that?) and explained what happened.
Did you get Stork Stack this month? What’d you think? Are you sticking with then for another month or did you cancel? If you are interested in signing up or just want to learn more, click here and use the coupon code “popup20” to get 20% off your first Stack! I am hoping these next few months are fabulous to make up for this month!
