BREO BOX — Local services in Royal Oak

Been a subscriber for over two years now. I was very impressed and found it fun and worthwhile in the first several boxes, but over time it’s gotten a little less enjoyable, repetitive and quality of products seem to be hit or miss in each box. I’m not sure I will continue after this next membership expires but I want it to succeed, so I’m hanging on for a few more boxes and hope Breo gets back to what it was. For example: The first several boxes arrived in a nice nice wooden box, they were sized as needed for the products and kept everything safe and well packed. It wasn’t perfect, but it was “special” and it had utility after shipping. Now it all comes in a cardboard box; it’s not an Amazon brown box, but more like a nice electronics product box. But product shift and bounce around in shipping and it’s clear it’s not at the same/initial quality. Now, onto the products in general. There was great variety it types of products and brands. Often I liked the ideas of the product and I would enjoy trying out the new products and making them part of my life. Even resulting in me buying additional units for gifts for others. If there wasn’t something you like/wanted you knew someone who would appreciate it and see it as a nice gift. In recent months, I’m seeing one or two products at most, that seem like something of interest or something new I’m excited to try. The quality of some of the smaller products don’t live up to expectations. Many rechargeable products don’t ship with charging cables or outlets (clearly a cost saving measure.) From box to box, I’m getting products that feel repetitive either in what they do, or from the same manufacturer. For example, Show me one type of UV cleaning product, if I like it, I’ll look into getting more. But don’t send me a new UV cleaning product every other box. Often these companies are spin off brands that do not have a strong online presence. So you cannot find documentation, ordering info or manuals on line. If it’s a battery product they don’t last as long as you would expect. If a company has a great product, they should share that one product and encourage cutomers to see what else they offer. Don’t give us a bunch of mediocre products from a company that only specializes in replicating other products. One recent exception to this was a $30 Yeti cup in one of the boxes. It’s my first Yeti, and a nice product with a good chance of me wanting to use it a lot, but unlike any other item I recall; there was a dominate Breo Box logo etched into the cup. They used this quality product in hopes you would help promote their product. But they never did this with other products. Seems more like a marketing product for Breo then a traditional product I expected from the BBox. So there’s a lot of negative thoughts above, why am I staying subscribed? It started as a gift to me and I liked it a lot. In the early boxes it was a present every quarter and worth the cost per box exceeding what was paid. Now, The cost is high, but I do feel when you look at a couple boxes together, you can justify the cost, maybe not exceed but it does meet the price paid. The two time’s I had an issue customer service, Breo Box has been amazing, they do care and do go out of their way to try and please the customers. I have been very impressed with them on this alone and feel like a company willing to try deserves opportunities to correct the path. I also understand it’s a growing business, and while they grow to meet increased demand they are trying new practices to fulfill demand and turn a profit. If they want to get better they will and I’ll stay on with them, but if it continues in this path, and I feel like the value is limited, I...

2020-21 Winter Box: Meh

While Breo Box is a nice company, terrific customer service, and a cool idea, the latest offering is pretty mundane. Given that it's the time of the year when CES used to meet, winter should be their most exciting. Sadly, it's a box most can do without.

The Breo Box winter 2020-21 box is filled with unremarkable and downright cheap items. Starting with the most expensive item, the LSTN "The Palladium" wireless earbuds. While they sound pretty good when listening to music, the mic for using them on phone calls is terrible. The people I was talking to said it sounded like I was speaking to them from under a blanket. Also, the shape and fit of the buds could use some work. Walking around my house, the buds would fall out after about 10 steps. I've yet to take them outdoors for fear that they'll fall out on the ground or into a storm drain. Also, Breo is a little deceptive when saying on their site that the buds cost $129 when on the LSTN website they're only $99.

Next is the UV sanitizer, the Lume wand. Since I'm not a scientist, I can't speak to its effectiveness, I can only speak to ease-of-use. The small surface area the Lume covers and the 10 second per area requirement limits the utility of the wand to small items like keys and phones. Doing anything larger (car doors, subway seats) would take an inordinate amount of time.

At least Lume exists as a company. The next two items come from companies that don't exist or, at least, don't have websites (which in 2021 equates to no exist). The Sohp touchless soap dispenser and the Casalink smart WiFi plugs. I went looking for the websites because, unlike the other reviewers, my soap dispenser delivered too much soap! I couldn't find any company on the web called, "Sohp". I was trying to figure out how to moderate the amount that poured out of it. After the usuall expected amount, people pull their hand away before it's done pouring. You end up with a minor mess and a lot of wasted soap (the soap that comes in the box is just expensive liquid soap, nothing special).

Also, Casalink doesn't exist. When trying to set up the outlets on a generic app, they don't connect to my Pixel phone. I went to look for the website to try and troubleshoot. There's nothing on the box that indicates how to contact the company. Also, I couldn't find a "Casalink" company on the internet. Without connection to your phone they're basically unusable. Two product fails.

The last item in the box actually sounded pretty cool - except that it only works with paper cups. Like many people, I've stopped using paper cups for coffee. I use a Yeti tumbler because of the environmental impact and the effectiveness of the tumbler in keeping drinks hot (or cold). I was hoping that the cookie would go in the mug to heat the coffee not the mug. Nope. It's a coffee trivet. You set your coffee on it and it warms the outside of the cup, helping warm the coffee inside (they say it will work with ceramic and glass mugs but that's pretty inefficient). I guess in this time of COVID and few coffee shops allowing you to use your personal mug, it's handy.

In a nutshell, the winter Breo box is pretty underwhelming. Save your money, get a pair of Skull Candy or Anker wireless earbuds, a Yeti tumbler, and a Method hand soap dispenser. If you're a real germaphobe you can get the Lume product off...

I’m really disappointed in this service. I wanted to like it so much! The earbuds that came in the winter 2020 box broke rather quickly. The left one just stopped connecting, the sound quality was great but what does it matter if you can only hear out of the right ear? The coffee cookie didn’t come with a charger and that was weird so it just sits there waiting to be used. The design of the soap dispenser was really odd it’s intended to be touchless but the barrel of the dispenser is so thick that your hand always touches it when you put your hand underneath the soap spout. I think it’s flawed by design. Then with normal subscriptions that I have usually about a week before the charge appears on your card you will be informed and asked to look over you order etc. With this subscription all of a sudden I get one email that says my box is coming, I’ve been charged, and guess what here’s your tracking info! No time to consider anything else. It is my own fault for not remembering what day of the month the charge would appear, but now my bills are going to be jacked up because of this “no warning” charge on my debit card. What was intended to be something fun has been nothing but inconvenience and disappointment. My advice, read what is in the boxes once they’ve been released, look up similar products in the industry, even possibly on Amazon, and purchase those! You’ll be much happier if...