Everyone loves getting surprises, if you don’t well then you’re probably a bit of a party pooper. So naturally when I heard by word of mouth about a service called Loot Crate which sent out a small box of unknown random geeky and gamer goodies based around a monthly theme I instantly became intrigued. It’s taken off massively over in the old US of A and their neighbours Canada, but surprisingly unlike many cool services you get over the North Atlantic Ocean it is also available in the UK and Australia which confused me as to why I hadn’t heard about it before. Fortunately I have heard about it now though and when I approached the lovely people at Loot Crate they agreed to send us a free crate to see what the fuss was all about.
I waited patiently for it to arrive looking out for the postman every day but it never seemed to come. I was becoming impatient and agitated; it was like waiting for my Birthday and Christmas to come around at the same time. Then the day came when it arrived, covered in papers from Customs having travelled all the way from LA to sunny old England. On first look I wasn’t sure of what to make of it; this tiny little box just sitting there on my shelf staring back at me, surely there couldn’t be much inside. Gladly I was wrong though and as I slowly lifted the lid I saw a bright red Transformers t-shirt with a time travelling transformer on the front called Marty McPrime, safe to say it put a smile on my face that went from ear to ear, then I put it to the side to see what else this box full of loot held.
There were a few more transformer themed treats inside with the first thing I noticed being a small box from the Loyal Subjects with a small Series One transformer figure inside which is currently residing on the top shelf next to my bed making sure Decepticons don’t come to take me away in the night. Other bits and bobs that went with the whole Transform theme included a special transformer Hex Bug and a Decepticon transformers sticker which I suppose I can put on my car to trick them and go undercover for the Autobots if they ever need my help. The retail value of these few items alone would probably be equal to the value that the crate costs without incorporating the cost of the awesome shirt and what other goodies the box also held.
Other items present in the box aren’t themed though; they include a few things such as a lovely MLG sweatband for your wrist which comes in very handy for keeping sweat from dripping into your eyes after a workout or a hard-core gaming session. There was also a $5 MLG voucher to encourage you to get online and compete with other gamers and a bunch of stickers for a few big name eSports teams. There were two remaining items of which one was a few extremely sour Warhead candies and believe me when I say they are an acquired taste because the packaging doesn’t lie; I mean forget the saying having a face that looks like you’ve been sucking on a lemon, these were at least 10x worse. The final piece of the puzzle was a small booklet which contained various little things from a piece on this month’s theme and an interview with the loyal subjects to a lovely little maze puzzle for you to do to help pass the time.
So now you know what kind of great loot you can find in these crates it’s time to get to the more technical side of the service. To start with the customer sales experience; I originally wrote to Loot Crate asking if we could have a box as a sample to review for our lovely readers so we could give you all a glimpse at how great a service Loot Crate is and that people in the UK shouldn’t fear the fact they’d be ordering their goods from abroad. They got back to me very quickly and everyone I spoke to was extremely friendly and helpful, they really couldn’t do enough for us. So if this experience is anything to go buy then Loot Crate customers will be happy to know they are in safe hands.
As for the pricing side of things it doesn’t work out too badly as each crate contains items to the value of $40.00 or more and if you’re from outside the US you’ll never pay more than $29.95. If you’re lucky enough to come from the USA it’ll obviously be a lot cheaper to buy with customers paying no more than $13.37 + $6.00 for shipping and handling with discounts of $3 and $10 respectively for their three month and six month plans. If you want to order from Australia, Canada or the UK then prices will obviously go up due to international shipping costs and any customs charges that may be applicable but you’ll pay no more than the $29.95 that I mentioned above. Again customers can save money though by purchasing three and six month recurring subscriptions corresponding to savings of $5.85 and $17.70. Now you’re probably wondering what this actually equates to in the UK; well at the current exchange rate for one month you’re looking at paying £17.50, three months would leave your purse/wallet £49.10 lighter and the six month subscription would leave you £94.70 out of pocket.
I guess that leaves us with the question, “is Loot Crate worth it?” Well for me it is a big massive YES!!! It’s never a bad thing to buy something for a lower price than it’s worth and when it’s something you actually need or want rather than buying something for the sake of it being cheap it feels so much more rewarding. Add to that the fact you’re getting a monthly surprise delivered straight to your door, it feels like being able to celebrate Christmas once a month. Plus for one lucky person every now and then the lovely guys at Loot Crate will send out a random Mega Crate containing some epic loot like a Wii U or a 3DS XL. Therefore if you’re a geek or gamer you’d be a fool not to get in on the action because I guarantee you won’t be disappointed, and if you are? Well the Loot Crate gang being the helpful souls they are will no doubt try to do all they can to resolve any issues or annoyances you have. So what are you waiting for, get over to the site now and sign up for Julys crate which will definitely contain another cool t-shirt inside.
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