I find it odd. When searching for actual customer reviews & testimonials for LetterJoy, there aren’t many. I WONDER WHY?
If you haven’t heard about LetterJoy, it’s a subscription letter service that sends one historic letter a week to your mail box. Their tag is something like: “History’s best letters to your door.”
The boy gifted me a 3 month subscription this past Christmas 2018. When I heard what he picked out for me, I was geeked. This was going to be the gift that kept on giving, and I was eager to also get additional information about their educational letters since we homeschool.
HOWEVER… I’ve had 3 separate issues and have been given the runaround by whomever mans their FB messenger – which is where I first contacted them to (hopefully) resolve my issue(s).
My general overview and review of the LETTERJOY service is: cool concept, but too many glitches, lackluster customer support, and I feel they still haven’t rectified my account situation. In short, I was awarded TWO WHOLE ADDITIONAL LETTERS “for my troubles” and still crossing my fingers, toes and eyes whilst I await their arrival!! Below is my blanket review of LetterJoy for anyone that cares to read:
Got LetterJoy as a gift. Have had 3 separate issues with my account. Since this was a gift, I contacted them through their FB messenger. My first letter arrived (late- but I figured NBD) was excited, and happy… at first. Then my second letter arrived with 2 duplicate pages. I contacted c/s- was told they wouldn’t send a replacement- that they would add a letter to the end of my subscription (after a lot of verbal run around)… ok- so incomplete letter #2 – letter #3 never even arrived. I live in a pretty big city, no inclimate weather conditions, and got ALL my other mail timely. After a lot of back and forth I was given excuses, and ambiguous solutions that I had to ask for actual clarification… more than once. SUPER FRUSTRATING. Felt like I was dealing with a bot. As it stands, I’m NOW awaiting letters #2 and #3 – which I have been advised they are resending, and then hopefully whatever else is supposed to arrive as per my gift subscription – oh and TWO whole additional letters “for my troubles” As of now, I’m definitely underwhelmed. Hopefully others haven’t had my same negative experience with LetterJoy’s customer service. It’s a cool concept and I was totally geeked when I initially found out about my gift… BUT- it doesn’t feel like Christmas every week when I open my mailbox and get NOTHING!!
…
I sent copies of the letters, and the post marks for what I received as proof or WHEN they mailed my letters, and their contents.
Thought I’d add the correspondence with their c/s dept for the record.
So the subscription ended, we didn’t renew, and THEN the CEO reached out. Nothing came about the message he sent to me. For what Josh paid for this gift…I think it was around $50- the service did not live up to the expectation. Customer Service 101, make sure your customers are happy, do whatever you can to attempt to make that happen.
Did you enjoy the letter you did receive?
Hey Brett,
My general overview and review of the LETTERJOY service is: cool concept, but too many glitches, lackluster customer support, and overpriced. If LETTERJOY would have been less ambiguous during my conversations with them, less headachy, my opinion may have been swayed. I’ve worked c/s (at the happiest place on earth, so good c/s is really important to me.) A good rule is to treat your customers the way you would treat a friend, they’ll be more understanding when things go wrong, and more likely to become a repeat customer.
And for the record, I DID NOT RENEW MY SUBSCRIPTION. *sad trombone. 🙁
I was really hoping to check out the more educational aspect of their other offerings, as I homeschool, but that never happened.
Final note: For the price, I felt the product fell short in what it really could be. I have all sorts of little fixes and ideas that I believe would improve the actual product… but I’m not on their payroll, so I won’t be posting those gems to my blog.
BTW, thanks for reading my blog post and leaving a comment.
I’m all about the pixie dust,
~thatgirljen
SO glad I read this! Thank you! I was going to give it to my brother for his b-day. I guess I thought it was something else. I thought it would be personalized to my brother from like someone during the Civil War. I don’t want it if it’s just random letters. So, geez, you just saved me some bucks!
Hi Mary,
Thanks for reading my post, glad it helped… so what did u end up getting your brother for his b-day?
Curious,
~thatgirljen 🙂
I too am incredibly disappointed. I wish I would have read this review before I purchased the letters for my 13 year old son who is a geek for American history. We received 1 letter. Two weeks ago. Just another scam.
Hi Jennifer,
Sorry to hear you and your son were disappointed with the LetterJoy service. I would have hoped that over the years, there would have been some changes to how they handle customer service, and their delivering of their product. I too love history, and was underwhelmed with the letters themselves. If you happen to come across anything cool, let me know. I’ve been thinking about getting a subscription the to the MYSTERIOUS PACKAGE COMPANY or the RESYSTANCE box. I like history and mystery.
thanks for the comment,
~thatgirljen
I purchased two subscriptions as gifts. Arrivals of the letters are sporadic. Out of 12 letters, they have each received 7. Customer service? Nope. Never again!!
Jane,
I really had hoped that over the past few years that LetterJoy would have gotten their act together and figured out how to actually successfully send letters in the mail to their paid subscribers. Sorry to hear that you too were underwhelmed. I’ve been looking to try a “MYSTERY subscription box” after Easter. If I find one that’s good, I’ll be sure to blog about it.
Thanks for the comment, ~thatgirljen
I may have missed it, but how did your conversation with the CEO go?
Hi @ resort.letdown (Jen) –
I posted my conversation with the CEO- Michael Stiver in the original post.
He reviewed my customer service issue and reiterated that 2 letters wasn’t enough of a way to fix the situation. I answered, “correct” and that was pretty much the end of the conversation. It seemed my customer service issue and HOW they handled things on their end, really wasn’t much of a concern to them. The amount of time I spent with customer service and the entire experience, gave me a pretty good indication of how their lack of follow up and attention to detail was the least of their concerns when it came to actual customer service.
on a side note: It seems they’re still cranking out letters and are in currently still business. Mu husband actually received an email from them a month or two ago promoting their new “subscribe and save” option. LOL
Thanks for reading and for the comment.
~thatgirljen
As I was reading the responses, they always said letters as in plural. So I’m not sure how you got one from that. I’m debating ordering for my son and to be honest the responses they sent to you solidified my decision to order from then. The customer service seems great. They tried to recify the situation and their website has always said it takes 10 days to process. I got my son a sample letter and he loved it. Thanks for your kinda Karen review, I’ll diffently be ordering.
Hi JoJo Peck,
Glad your son enjoys the letters and that you are happy with your purchase. Unsure if you were responding to my initial review and critique of LetterJoy service, or lack thereof.
My review of the product and experience was originally written 3-4 years ago. I’m still surprised that people are continuing to have issues with LetterJoy… I really had high hopes for them as a budding product.
As for my dis-satisfaction of the way customer service handled my particular situation, I just wanted to refresh you on WHY I happened to be unhappy with the outcome. I had more than one missing letter. Multiple missing letters and then being given the run around when I inquired as to how they intended to rectify the problem. Since I had so many missing letters, and story lines that would have in theory began and then had no resolution… or started in the middle of the sequence… I felt the entire offering from LetterJoy was lackluster.
Yes, I did ask for clarification as to HOW MANY letters I would then be receiving to rectify the situation. Simply because I wanted an exact number, that they would be accountable for. In the end, it really didn’t matter because as I received the content sporadically, I really didn’t look forward to getting the letters whenever they showed up, with partial story lines. For me, I expected more.
Thanks for the comment,
~thatgirljen
THANK YOU FOR THIS. I was thinking of getting this for my husband but not now!
NP Raquel. My experience was a definite let down for sure. Had they provided good customer service, and rectified the issue at the start I MIGHT have had a different opinion of their service. Oh, and 3 whole months LATER, the CEO finally responded to my messages, (and after reading my blog review of his product) confirming that 2 letters wasn’t enough to make amends. So that just further shows how important customer relations is to them… BTW- thanks for reading my blog and leaving a comment. 😉
My husband got me letterjoy as a gift. I am not excited about the letters at all. The premise was interesting, but the letters are not interesting, don’t draw the reader into further curiosity, and they are extremely random. I would daresay I loathe letterjoy for falsely leading history buffs into a thick, tasteless mire that is……muck.
EXACTLY, and well said Kristi.
I do feel that the letters could have had more congruency, the topics and content are both rather random. interesting concept, but could have been done so much better. I have a few ideas on how to improve their offerings, but hey… I’m not on Michael’s payroll. LOL
I’m always looking for the next new, interesting, or intriguing gift- bonus points if it’s got a historical flair to them. So if you happen across anything worth mentioning, LMK, by posting a comment here.
Thanks for reading my blog and for your honest opinion.
~thatgirljen
1) I appreciate you sharing your honest experience and opinion with Letterjoy. It gave me pause before ordering.
2) Do you realize how entitled and whiny you sound?
I’d love for there to be a more reliable, more predictable, more well-explained product offering out there. But…. there isn’t, apparently.
Calling out subpar customer service is one thing. Expressing where that service could have been better is another one thing.
Going out of your way to insult the CEO’s attempts to reconcile the issue and provide some form of recompense is a little much – especially when you didn’t seem to ask for a refund or propose any other solution, instead just insulting an entrepreneurs efforts to create a meaningful product that doesn’t exist otherwise.
I WILL NOT RENEW MY SUBSCRIPTION TO YOUR WEBSITE!
(doesn’t feel too good, huh? Maybe a little insulted? aggravated? annoyed? feel like I’m a jerk? After all, you built this whole website, and I only invested in a google search and a few $ worth of my time to partake.
see what I mean?)
Respect if you have the courage to post this on your site as readily as you have the courage to post your personal correspondence with the service providers you engaged with.
I’m not interested in engaging with this any further, so I’m strategically not sharing my name, and using a spam email.
Just as frustrated with subpar customer service as you, in general, but even moreso frustrated by entitled millenial mindset that businesses should 100% cater to our every whim – those businesses are just people too.
I’ve just ordered Letterjoy for my dad’s birthday. Hopefully the customer service kinks have been worked out, and it’s a silky smooth experience that makes my Dad rave about a thoughtful, exciting, super unique gift.
If not, well…. maybe there’s an opportunity for you to snag some of Michael’s revenue flow. Or some other kid smarter and more driven than us.
Cheers.
LOL… Nothing better than having your courage questioned by an anonymous internet coward.
Defensive first things first:
1) Theres a difference between strategy and cowardice.
2) I generally choose not to provide my contact information to people who seem eager to quick-label/slander others or presume negative intent where there’s minimal evidence of anything but imperfection or inability to meet your (apparently) exacting standards. Maybe I’ve just had the shit kicked out of me by abusive people more than you, and generally recognize that the world can be a dangerous place, and sometimes choose not to invite danger, even if I want to try and make my thoughts heard?
3) Is there truly nothing better than the less polite parts of my comments? I’d argue that polite, civil discourse and open minded appreciation of underlying intent is better. But you have your writing style, and I have mine, I suppose…
But anyways:
Color me impressed. You definitely have my respect for posting my (somewhat unkind, admittedly accusatory) words.
And apologetic. I was having a stressful day and hoping I would find joy in fulfilling this gift idea for my Dad. Your review was the only one I could easily find. And relying on your (tough, but fair, so long as everyone is *entitled* to their opinion?) review made it even harder for me to decide if the pros/cons of whether $4 per letter was worth it to me.
(It is. Despite your valid frustrations, I decided to give it a shot, because, as I attempted to point out in my original post, there aren’t really alternatives available, and as much as I’d love to have the capacity to tackle the “mail Dad historical letters” project myself, if someone else can do it reasonably well for $4 dollars a week, well… hooray for economies of scale and economic specialization providing us all the surplus of capital etc that we can spend time crafting websites and dialoguing on those websites, instead of fighting with sticks and rocks for the limited food rations.)
So yeah, I share your frustration that there aren’t better reviews available.
And I share your frustration that there aren’t more reliable, customizable products available.
I’d sincerely love it if you were on Michael’s payroll (LOL TROMBONE NOISES, i guess?) and able to improve the product offering. Sounds like you have some good ideas. I really liked the bit about the monthly letters progressing on the theme (i.e. how rad would a 3 month civil war series following a soldier up until a big victory / tragic loss be? That would be so heavy to follow along with…)
Here are some of mine, in case you, Michael, or anyone else out there wants to act on them:
1) customizable themes and preset offerings:
E.g. upon subscription for a 3 month package, since my dad is a pilot-veteran, patent attorney, and enjoys presidential history, I’d love to be able to choose the 4 letter themes on subjects like “Aviation Innovations”
“Famous Inventors personal letters of excitement”
“President’s personal letters to their sons:Abe Lincoln to his son considering joining the Civil War, Theo Roosevelt to his son engaged in the WW1, Eisenhower’s letter to his son throughout the Watergate scandal, George HW on the eve of the Gulf War”
I’d love at least the option to know what to expect. And the option to keep it surprising for my giftees.
2: Two party system:
Two sets of letters as part of a historic back and forth letter conversation between to writers/readers.
One set is delivered to Person A, the other to Person B. Person A and B have to chat every now and then to share the contents of the letters they received and build a cohesive conversation. Person A role plays Figure A as best Person B can relay an understanding of Figure A to Person A, and vice versa.
Holy shnikes that sounds so fun. Now I actually want that to be a thing.
Fight me, coward :p
Fight me by proving you have better ideas and are gonna start a business based on them so I can shut up and send you my money. ok thanks byeeeee.
Well, if you ever decide to give my blog another chance and subscribe, maybe one day one of my ideas will come to fruition, and land in your inbox! 😛 Hope your dad liked his Father’s Day gift.
~thatgirljen
Thanks Jen. Best wishes and warm regards 🙂
Yikes.
I jumped the gun. Looks like the issue may be with my father throwing away the letters mistakenly.
Letterjoy support staff has been exceptionally responsive and helpful. They’ve offered that I check USPS Informed Delivery to see if it was sent, but unfortunately my father not set up subscription to that system.
I trust and respect the service Letterjoy has provided so far.
Will know within the week if my father is actually recieving letters sent.
Just wanted to let you know in case you were considering sharing my last note.
On a personal note, thanks for your patience with all of my feedback to Letterjoy via your site, and the blow-by-blow storytelling.
As a fellow Texan: Cheers! Hope Oktober is going well down there. Sure do wish I could head to Fredericksburg and Enchanted Rock for some polka music and sunsets over the prairie…
Cheers!
Making insulting, blanket assumptions about someone just because you think they’re a “millennial” is neither logical nor helpful.
The reviewer paid for a product and a certain level of customer experience to go with it. The CEO himself has acknowledged that she didn’t receive, what she paid for. It’s reasonable for anyone to write about their negative experience with a company whether its idea is entrepreneurial or not.
I personally don’t think that just mass mailing people random historical letters is especially innovative.
In my opinion, your entire rant consists of little more than cowardly, thoughtless implied and direct ad hominim attacks.
This review is very fair-minded.
The degree to which you’re taking it personally makes me wonder if you have an undisclosed connecti on this company.
Are you the CEO’s brother-in-law or something? Are you an employee who doesn’t want to see the company go under?
I’m also using my real name and email address even though I’ve been harassed online too. Most people probably have. In fact I’ll even tell you that I’m 43, so you can make assumptions based on my age too.
Obviously
you have no business questioning anyone else’s integrity or courage, buddy, if you’re just going to act like an abusive, anonymous troll.
I think that this reviewer will be just fine without your subscription. Suggesting otherwise seems narcissistic.
Hello Janna Chan,
Thanks for replying to the commenter on this post. It’s nice to know my opinion was defended… supported or not. And thanks for using your real name. I do hope that after a few years that Letter Joy has ironed out all the kinks; however I do receive a few “customer support” emails on my blog from their customers trying to contact ANYONE that can help them with letter issues and customer service complaints. Maybe one day they’ll figure it out!
Have a great day and thanks for your response,
~thatgirljen
What’s your problem sir? She wasn’t AT ALL “whiney” or “entitled”.
I had a similar experience w/LetterJoy. They charged me TWICE for 1 subscription. At least 3hours of MY time, UNPAID, attempting to work it out. They wore me down. Givethem the money, just don’t let me have the nagging feeling that I need to do something about being screwed..
I think this guy is connected to the company in some way. He did nothing but attack the reviewer very personally and illogically.
Obviously the reviewers age has nothing to do with her content.
Maybe this guy is the CEO in anonymous guise. Whoever it is sure took this balanced review very personally.
Yes, we’re both Jannas!
LOL 2 Jannas have found my blog? That’s kinda cool! 🙂
~thatgirljen
I can’t agree more. To me this review it’s what I’d call a “karen” review. She didn’t even understand what “letters” meant.. she thought it said letter and her own proof shows they said letters the first time.. lol.
I think their customer service response was great and not too mention it states on their site 10 days to process. She is ls making a negative review for something she got as a gift “at no cost to her” but she wanted more free letters in my opinion.
Anyone with a brain can read the CS responses was great and yet they had to clarify “letters” meant more then one. Lord I’m happy I found this Karen review that showcased letterjoys great Customer Service.
Hi there JoJo Peck,
I always find it funny when people use the word “Karen” to describe a person (woman) who is dis-satisfied with something, and complains about it. But that’s all part of customer service and the exchange of money for products, goods or services rendered. Not everyone will be happy, especially when a customer has to make multiple attempts to get an actual representative to assist.
I want to clarify that the GIFT was from my husband, not some random person. So it actually was “at a cost to me” since we share finances in my house. The 3 month subscription didn’t put my family in any sort of financial distress. it didn’t cost a million dollars. And… I wasn’t wanting a lifetime supply of LetterJoy letters, I simply wanted them to rectify the subscription and work on their customer service work flow. They were a small company at the time, and had some growing pains to overcome.
Yes, I did ask for clarification as to HOW MANY letters I would then be receiving to rectify the situation. Simply because I wanted an exact number, that they would be accountable for. I had multiple missing letters, and the content itself was sent sporadically. I expected more, based on their initial offering back in 2018.
Sadly, it seems like there are still customers to date (2023 MARCH) that are currently experiencing the CONTINUED lack of customer service with LetterJoy when it comes to a dissatisfied consumer.
I wrote and shared my experience with LetterJoy to share my personal experience. Of course YMMV. It sounds like your son is enjoying the letters. Glad you had a positive experience.
Thanks for the comment,
~thatgirljen
From a different angle – there are ‘careers’ advertised on the Letterjoy site – to which I applied just recently. I received a response that invited me to do a ‘paid trial’ as a way to ascertain my writing abilities. In the application, he asked for a pitch for a monthly theme. For the paid trial, he asked for the complete theme to be researched and written: 4 letters and postscripts in total.
The offered compensation was $500. No waiver for how the final product would be used. No contract.
All he needs are 12 schlubs to be duped into submitting copy for $6,000 and his next year’s worth of product is done.
I declined the offer.
Hello A Historian,
This is an interesting glimpse behind the Letter Joy curtain. Kinda explains as to why the letters seemed random as per Kristi’s earlier comment on this thread. So the content is kinda crowdsourced? Interesting concept… I’d also be wary of submitting anything, without a contract, and then the possibility of not getting paid for the effort- especially if supplying useable content for the service.
Thanks for the insight, for reading my post, and for the comment!
~thatgirljen
A Historian,
I forgot, one other question, maybe you can clarify: So SOME of the letters that LetterJoy sends are not actual letters, but are fictional, rather than historical? Meaning that a “Staff Writer” might actually create the letter, and it’s not really an actual letter that wasn’t “ONE OF HISTORY’S BEST LETTERS” since it could have been recently written?
…curious
~thatgirljen
The guidelines state that the letters are historical items – with slight editing for length or extraneous material. The post-scripts are original, contemporary writing, based on research.
The reason stated for the ‘paid trial’ was to shorten the interview process for a permanent position. This is not standard business practice. A potential employer may request a writing sample or even give a *brief* assignment, with no money being exchanged and a waiver stating it would not be used without permission. One does not work for pay without contract, creating usable content for a business, with only a potential at future employment. Everything about it set off warning bells within my professional circle. I will grant him the inexperience of youth but that is all.
A Historian,
Very insightful, thanks for sharing your information and experience.
~thatgirljen
Wise of you, I think.
How much did you really expect to earn? They are a business. And I’m sure there’s much more that goes into it than the writing. $500 isn’t bad for 4 letters. Most companies ask for unpaid writing samples before you’re hired.
This looks like a question directed to “A Historian” and not me. I never worked for or wrote content for Letter Joy. I did find it interesting to hear from someone who actually experienced the back end of their content creation process. Maybe if “A Historian” sees this comment, they will reply?
Thanks for the question,
~thatgirljen
This was a gift from my grandchildren. The first was received postmarked January 18, 2019. That last received was August 12, 2019. I have received a total of 27 letters. It should be 35. Right? Please reply. Maxine Traudt
Hi Maxine,
You may want to contact LetterJoy with your question and issue. I don’t work for them, and am not affiliated with the company at all. Hope you get your issue resolved soon. Thanks for reading my review.
Maybe this link to their support center will help you:
https://cart.letterjoy.co/gethelp
~thatgirljen
Hi Jen,
I ‘m following up on this thread to let you know that since ordering my Letterjoy package August 9th, my father has not received any letters, even though I scheduled them to begin arriving in September.
I have requested a refund and am eagerly providing negative feedback on all formal review platforms I can find.
Apologies for letting my frustration with your justifiable frustration with product quality as the gift RECEIVER instead of the gift PURCHASER get in the way of realizing that you were forewarning me that this company has no commitment to executing.
If I had to guess how they’re still in business, I’d wager that they are focused way more on big clients than the one-offs. Which is gross. Letterjoy, just turn off your offerings to one-off clients, if that’s the case!
Otherwise, they simply don’t truly care that the product quality is so consistently abysmal, and all of their outreach is, as you implied, simply half-hearted insincere damage control in order to keep the money flowing.
Final a quick, mostly personal followup here to say that:
after a snafu of my father trashing the letters believing them to be spam, and Letterjoy providing unexpectedly attentive customer support follow-up, I’ve been notified by my father that he has received the letters.
I cant speak to the quality of the content, and I think this gift buying and evaluating adventure has run sufficiently course of my attention span…
But just wanted to close the loop on my earlier “you know what, you’re right, these assholes dont care” screed.
Cheers!
Hey Bobby Nemo-
Sounds like you were able to get everything taken care of for your dad’s gift. Good to hear that! I was really bummed when you first posted that there was an issue, however sounds like you issue was resolved. 😉
I will say the letters do look a bit like “junk mail” when receiving them, so unless the recipient is aware that something is coming in the mail, it would be easy to toss the letters away unknowingly, which seemed to be the case with your father’s gift. Hope he liked his letters.
~thatgirljen
I cannot find a way to co9nbtact them directly! I am amazed you SPOKE to someone. How?
Hello @Angelynn,
Hope you had a nice holiday, and thanks for reading my post about Letter Joy and my experience with their service. Much of my correspondence was done via FB messenger, my personal e-mail and REDDIT, along with my original attempts to contact their c/s through the website. Oddly enough I have a suspicion that the Founder/CEO of LJ may have even happened upon my little part of the inter-webs after I had written this particular post outlining my experience and dissatisfaction.
I’m saddened to hear that you are currently experiencing some problems with their service, which seems to be hit or miss… still. What exactly is your issue, maybe I can steer you in a better direction in order to get some assistance with LJ.
LMK, ~jen
Ugh — I got LJ for my parents and my in-laws for Christmas. I wish I’d read online reviews before I signed them up!
It was supposed to start January 1, and apparently they’ve received one letter, with an extremely lackluster “post-script” containing an elementary-school level history lesson that they remembered from elementary school… in the 1950s…
My parents called to ask if they were supposed to receive more letters and more/better info. I said I thought they were *supposed* to. Sad trombone is right 🙁
I
Hello Carrie,
First, thanks for reading my post about Letter Joy, and leaving a comment. 🙂
Second, I’m disappointed to read that Letter Joy is STILL missing the mark and haven’t taken the past year (or however long it’s been since I’ve written about my issues with them) to improve their offerings, customer support and over all product.
*sad trombone indeed…
If you’d like, I’ll send your in-laws a postcard from the Lonestar state, just because! I mean really, people love getting things in the mail and I have a few extra postcards available to share! LOL
Hope to hear back from you soon,
thatgirljen
PS- you can DM me on twitter @thatgirljen to give me an address and info for the postcard.
I received this as a xmas gift that was to be received in the mail in Jan. That was the only information given; I didn’t even know it had to do with a company called Letterjoy. About 1 wk in, I received an email to confirm the name and mailing address; 2 weeks after that a letter arrived. The envelope was from “Sherlock Holmes” with a Washington DC address, though the letterhead was a banker in a town in England; it was requesting Sherlock’s help and laid out the scenario.
The writing was in the style of the period but clearly a recognizable plot, not necessarily one from a Holmes story. The 2nd and 3rd letters came on the same day about 3 weeks later and the 4th letter came about a week after that. No instructions arrived either by mail or email during any of this.
During the last week of Feb, I received two letters on the same day. The envelopes were #2 and #3 in the lower right. The were from another Holmes adventure but more disjointed than the first. Envelope #1 did arrive this week, which cleared that up but still left me with the wtf-is-the point-of-this feeling I’ve had since it started.
Granted, the gift-giver is not the best communicator but I feel that if some business is sending things directly to a recipient of a gift, ALL information pertaining to it – except, perhaps, the price – should be supplied.
A look at their website, which does not provide a way to contact them, either! I scanned the FAQs and found a way to send an email if you had another question – great! WRONG!!! You had to choose a topic and all of those were the FAQs. I just picked one and sent my email.
Great idea — lousy execution.
Hi Terri,
I 100% agree… Letter Joy had a great idea, but fell short in so many ways. When I fist received my letters back in the beginning of 2019, I was really disappointed in their service, communication and most of all the product. I felt it looked really generic. I nearly tossed the first letter because it just looked like junk mail… thankfully my husband was like, oh no, that’s your Christmas gift? and even HE was a bit let down with the overall lack of quality. I do wish they would figure it out and create a better platform and product. HECK if Michael would have HMU I would have consulted for him and shared my few ideas with him to help with what I felt they were lacking.
I do hope that you get better answers regarding your gift. I can’t believe it’s been 2 whole years and from what you’ve share, it seems they still haven’t learned from their mistakes? It’s too bad.
Thanks for reading my post, and have a great day!
Stay safe and healthy,
~thatgirljen
Hello. I was wondering if you have tried any of the other LetterJoy type services? I really like this concept and can’t seem to find a whole lot of reviews for the different versions. HistoryByMail and HistoricMail are the other two I’m seeing and I’m wondering if you have heard anything about these?
Hello Sean,
I haven’t tried any of the other letter delivery services yet, but I’d be interested to check them out for sure. If you have a link for either – send it my way! 😉 Thanks for reaching out and reading my post.
Hope to hear back from you soon!
~thatgirljen
Please add my apartment number to my mailing address, to read: 2080 Oak Bay Avenue #401.
Hello Frank,
I am not affiliated with LetterJoy, nor do I work for them. If you’re having an issue or need to update your address with them you’ll need to contact LetterJoy directly.
Good luck,
~thatgirljen
Thanks for the review. I was considering giving this product a try, yet your review and that of others has convinced me to take a hard pass on it.
In particular, lots of people are complaining about not receiving the letters they’ve paid for. It sounds like the customer service department has been given no way to address that very important problem.
Sorry about the “mansplaining”comment from Mr. Courageous Troll.
I found your blog after Googling “Lovejoy reviews.” I’m subscribing to your stuff for what that’s worth. I certainly don’t think that your business hinges on my subscription.
Thanks again!
Janna Chan,
I actually appreciated the mansplaining to the Courageous Troll. In a world full of screens fake names and people hiding behind them, it’s nice to have a comment that is supportive. I strive to provide an honest review whenever I DO review a company or situation, while also remembering to remain diplomatic with my responses. After all I’m just one person with one experience. YMMV
I’ve done a few other posts detailing my disappointment with other products or services. Usually that happens only after attempting to rectify the situation directly with the company first. My blog has become a place where I have from time to time, created a post to let other consumers know of my experiences. And yeah- I also have written good reviews of products and companies too on my blog.
I’ve also been fair when people don’t agree with my opinion… dare I say courageous? LOL
Sincerely, thanks for the response and thanks for subscribing.
~thatgirljen
PS you can also find me on YOUTUBE at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMw00gabX-9jYq-SWDgij-w/videos
Hi Jen, Here’s my experience:
I cannot tell if this was a SCAM or Incompetence, sad but true. I first bought 6 weeks of letters which was good.I renewed for 1 year, and it fell apart. They skipped many weeks, often I did not get letters from them. Must have sent 8 emails asking after, they auto-replied, couple times even a human replied. In response to missed letters sent they sent me a couple DUPLICATES, of which I already received. Now it’s ben about 5 weeks in a row that they have failed to send them. GREAT IDEA, but for me they completely blew it. I REALLY WANTED this to work, but have come to my limit, I cannot spend more time attempting to solve this non-receipt of letters (paid for in advance, mind you). I write this review of bad service/Failure to live up to the deal so that others know my story with them. Too bad, I wish it were different. Great Idea, Poorly Implemented. I WOULD HAVE BEEN A LIFETIME CUSTOMER, but after 8 missed weekly letters I’m calling it quits and leaving it at that.
While looking to place my review elsewhere I found yours, and though a copy of my experience will fit here too. Thanks,
Dave
Hi Dave,
I’m sorry to hear that your experience with LetterJoy seems to mirror my experience from back in 2018.
I really had hoped by now they would have implememted a better customer support and user experience. Their company is a few years old, so one would think that the kinks would have been worked out by now. Should you find any other service that is similar, and decide to give it a try, drop me another comment. I happen to really enjoy historical writings.
Thanks for the comment,
~thatgirljen
Thanks for your review. I wanted to send a subscription to my MIL. She just lost her husband and I thought this would be something to look forward to during the next year since she is such a history buff. I have had a (flawless) subscription to the Flower Letters before so I was thinking this would be great since it wasn’t fiction and right up her ally. So glad I read your original review and all the follow up responses up to this year. I certainly don’t want to chance disappointment for her so I will keep looking for something more reliable.
Hi Debra Lynne,
I know Letter Joy has a new pay as you go option, if you wanted to check out the content… OH and thanks for posting about Flower Letters, I haven’t heard of them. Did you like their service? I’ll have to look them up!
~thatgirljen
Hi, Jen. Like so many others, I was fortunate to read your review before gifting gifting LetterJoy to my husband. The funny thing is, when I asked the person who introduced me to the idea what her opinion was, she really liked the “one letter per month ” that she received. I can’t help wondering if there is a variety of subscription plans, or that she was blissfully ignorant of missing 3/4 of the package??? I have researched the other companies with a similar product and will follow up by checking reviews.
PS The text thread on this issue was possibly more interesting than some of the historical mail floating around. What a
study!
study!
Hi Patricia,
Let me know if you find a different letter of the week (or whenever it happens to arrive) company. I’m always on the look out for historical stuff.
Thanks for the comment,
~thatgirljen
Hi Jen,
Thanks so much for your blog. I had read reviews about questionable and inconsistent service from LetterJoy in 2019 when they first started up. I thought they might have fixed their workflow and so ordered the Military package from them for my husband’s 50th birthday. I was promised to receive the first letter within the first few days of August, but…..nothing. I emailed them to cancel the subscription and….nothing. Thanks to all the other reviews, I decided not to pursue receipt of services and called my credit card company to cancel the subscription. I feel like I dodged a bullet. Especially after reading everyone’s experiences here! So thanks for sharing your input- appreciate it! Cheers!
Hi Aimee,
I’m sorry that your husband’s gift didn’t meet expectations. Similar experience as mine. Glad you were able to cancel through your cc. I hope you find a FABULOUS makeup gift for the LetterJoy experience, or lack thereof.
Thanks for the comment and the update on their customer service,
~thatgirljen