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Mystery Experiences Company Reviews

Updated October 30, 2023

Mystery Experiences Company

Become part of the story! We provide immersive mystery experiences that begin through the mail with mysterious letters and notes, newspaper clippings, historical documents, artifacts and relics, journal pages, coded messages, original artwork, photographs, and unusual items. Participants may receive emails, phone calls or texts from story characters depending on their level of participation. Exclusive online content provides additional storyline, puzzles and clues. The deeper you dig, the more you will find!

$39
99 per month
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Mystery Experiences Company Reviews + Ratings
         
45 ratings

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  1. Thomas Tolley
    10.30.23
             

    They keep sending us the same mysteries over and over again. The last 3 have been duplicates and communicating with them is impossible, we only getting automated responses that tell us nothing.

  2. J Carter
    08.16.23
             

    They bill me and send me duplicates that already have. I try to contact customer service and they do not respond and keep doing it.

  3. Glenn
    04.07.23
             

    Wish I had checked first. Only two weeks in and I’m the “total lack of customer service” hole. They quickly charge your card. Immediately send an email congratulating you on being a sucker and never, never provide anything!

  4. Rachael
    06.16.22
             

    Last box had no motive was just simple elimination and no story etc, so I emailed to ask of this is typical for the boxes now as we haven’t done one in awhile (a year maybe). They answered none of my questions and simply told me ‘We would encourage you to look elsewhere for your entertainment.” My reply was ‘Wow, that’s really the type of customer service this company has?! You didn’t answer a single one of my concerns or questions to see if this was a one off deal or the way they are moving with the boxes but that’s fine I guess 🙄

    Not a great way to retain customers as well as super rude and unhelpful. ”

    All I received back from them was, ” We offer a limited number of memberships and we are selective about whom we keep as members. We wouldn’t be interested in continuing to have you as a member. ”

    Which I know if nonsense because we’ve subscribed a few times I know under different emails because we changed ours and both had purchased some and have gotten into this ‘exclusive membership’ everytime. Very snooty and rude honestly, I’m done with a company that only seems out for my money and can’t even address simple questions/concerns about the product they sell.

  5. Sarah Schmidt
    05.25.22
             

    This box has multiple errors due to lack of proof reading (for example they can’t even keep the names straight). They also leave out pieces because of poor quality control, as in they forget to pack everything so you can’t solve the mystery. They do not respond to inquiries and refuse to engage with the customers at all. Do not buy. Absolutely terrible.

  6. Jennifer
    03.31.22
             

    Don’t waste your money. We tried one over Christmas as a family fun night and it was junk. Lots of inconsistencies. We found many mistakes that should have been caught by a proof-reader. I cancelled the subscription but have been charged for four months now. There’s no phone number and emails aren’t returned. I’m about to file a lawsuit.

  7. jeff
    02.04.22
             

    read all the BBB complaints against this company prior to ordering.

  8. Shawna Fulton
    11.07.21
             

    I purchased this box at the beginning of October, understanding that it would ship at the end of the month. November 2nd rolled around and the subscription renewed, but I still had not seen my first box. I reached out to customer service and they simply repeated their shipping policy listed under the FAQ. At this point my package was sitting in one location for 7 days. I decided to give it a couple more days in case it’s just an extra long delay on the shipper’s part. I emailed again after 9 days of it sitting in the same location. 2 days later (so we are now at 11 days in the same location) they respond and tell me that they are not USPS and that it is now out of their hands. SO after giving them my money I have nothing to show for it and absolutely no attempt to help fix the issue I feel like they took my money and ran. Lesson learned when it comes to just “giving it a try”.

  9. Tina E
    10.17.21
             

    We have been subscribers for over a year. But now we are starting to get duplicate mysteries. In May we got a duplicate and they sent a new one after I emailed them. (Even though there was no reply to my emails.) Now the last 2 out of 3 are duplicates. I’m going to cancel my subscription and hope they will reimburse me for the duplicates! We did enjoy doing them but their customer service is not responsive and I don’t want to deal with duplicates.

  10. Emily
    07.21.21
             

    SCAM ALERT!!! Took my money and didn’t deliver. Stay away!!

  11. Jason
    07.21.21
             

    The worst group of people I have dealt with.
    Stay away!!! This company billed me over a $100 for a gift subscription. They never delivered it. I emailed customer-service 4 times, no reply. When I found their phone number I called, only to get a message telling me to email.

    I did finally hear from them once I filed a complaint with my credit card co. They then told me that they ship the last week of the month and missed it (I order over a week before the last day of the month). They also told me that the person who responded has a disability, and if anything was unclear to ask for clarification. So I did!

    What proceeded was unacceptable. I asked what day of the month do you ship normally. The response I got was, “I already answered your question. Reread my email.”

    Companies that offer this type of “Service” are bound to fail, and in a working economy should fail. They offer no value. Stay away from them

  12. Kait
    09.04.20
             

    If you have ever considered using this company don’t!!! They would have to have some shred of customer service to call it abysmal! All I have gotten was blocked from their facebook page for politely enough asking that they address an issue that was going unanswered by email.
    Ya’ll it wasn’t even a complaint all I wanted was to know the contents of my box since it arrived opened! No one wants to dump 2 hours into a mystery to find out a piece of the evidence wasn’t in there🙄
    Don’t do it just spend your money elsewhere

  13. Nigel
    01.11.20
             

    I ordered a 3-box package for my wife’s birthday. One of the boxes didn’t arrive so I contacted their customer support. To say they are rude and unhelpful is an understatement. They said I must have had a mistake in my address and it was not their fault, despite me showing them the invoice with the correct address. They have flat-out refused to help – they won’t even give me the shipping tracking number for the package that apparently was not delivered, so I have no proof they ever sent it.

  14. Landon C. Morse
    09.18.19
             

    This, my far, is the worst idea ever. What a total pile of dog crap. Why somebody thinks this is a good company, or idea, blows my mind. Customer Service is as useful as the metro rail in DC. Goodbye!

  15. Stef
    09.12.19

    The “puzzles” are lame and are either completely predictable or completely unsolvable. It was a total waste of time and money.

  16. Lauren ZuckermanBooth
    07.31.19
             

    The worst. Bad product and the worst customer service EVER. Don’t believe the positive reviews; it’s probably their bizarre customer service.

  17. Hannah
    04.06.19
             

    Their customer service is terrible. I had a simple yes or no question about a box with the links not working and they gave a rude response. Not even sad to have to cancel my subscription.

  18. Sheena
    02.28.19
             

    My husband go this for me as a gift and at first it seemed like a really neat idea. We went through everything, the newspaper looked real, you would call a number and get a prerecorded clue, but then it went down hill. For starters the first two days after we got the box, one of the websites wasn’t working… not a big deal, but a sign of things to come.
    We had a theory, but ended at a dead end so we read the solution. It was hardly a solution… it had several contradicting statements, wrong dates, etc. Even after reading the solution you couldn’t tell what or when everything happened. I wrote a letter explaining it was my first box, but it seemed like there were some contradicting statements in the solution and asked a few questions to see if I was missing something.
    I got this response: “Go back and read the Start Here guide for information on how to handle contradictory information …

    PLEASE NOTE: Our company has a hiring preference for people with disabilities. You may occasionally see a missing letter or transposed characters in an email from us. We thank you in advance for being respectful and courteous in your emails to us. We are proud of our excellent service team!”
    It came off pretty shotty, not even a Thank you or anything… I’m the idiot for expecting a legit solution.
    While I respect their hiring preferences, this wasn’t just a transposed letter. I could have bought that if the only thing wrong was the date, but it wasn’t…. these weren’t typing errors, they were complete sentence that contradicted each other.
    In the end, it one of the more expensive murder mystery boxes, but it was horribly disappointing to see the quality. There was very little ‘evidence’ and way to many assumptions. I ended up finding more of their errors than evidence on the case.
    Maybe next month will be better (since they bill a month in advance, we’d already paid for the next month before we figured out what this really was), but their customer service has something left to be desired.

  19. PF
    09.11.18
             

    The company has now changed their name to Murder Mystery in a Box. I believe this is an attempt to distance themselves for all of the low ratings on this site. I will be leaving a similar review to the new company name

  20. R. W.
    09.07.18
             

    My review is similar to the others on this page. I have been a member since almost the beginning (over two years). I have spent around $1500 with the company by buying all of the premium content. The customer services is reprehensible. Between not responding to emails and then blocking me on Facebook when I asked if there was another way to contact the company. My question was easy. I needed a transcript of a message a phone number was supposed to give me. When I started with the company one of the draws was that the external information would be available as long as the company was in business. Then people started reselling their mysteries for tons of money and the owner was upset he wasn’t seeing any of it. The company then changed their policy. The company stated that the phone numbers and other external content would remain valid for a year. (All of the boxes I was working on were within that time frame). Still I received no response or help from the company. Many of their mysteries can only be solved with this additional real life content. The owner has an incredibly fragile ego and will not tolerate anything that questions him. I would highly recommend spending your money elsewhere.

  21. Mike
    08.21.18

    Complete lack of customer care. The monthly mystery boxes are cleverly put together and are very entertaining to solve. Unfortunately, if you ever have a delivery issue, you won’t get any support from the customer care team. I had a box that was either stolen or mis-delivered. After repeated emails to the customer care team, I finally got a response that was nothing more than a copy/paste from their FAQs. No apology for the problem, no offer to resend the box, no offer to issue a refund – absolutely nothing. They simply don’t care about their customers. Recommendation – find another mystery company that cares about their customers.

  22. Barry Davidson
    08.14.18
             

    Perfectly serviceable for kids, as the puzzles as such are very simple, very limited in number and all of the same type month-on-month.

    As an adult-oriented monthly box, it doesn’t work however. The phone lines are disconnected far too quickly, re-sale is not only frowned upon it gets you banned from the single Facebook community – which also bans people for any even slightly perceived negative criticism. What customer support exists comes with a scowl not a smile, and woe betide you actually try to cancel.

    It’s no surprise that most positive reviews are just a line or two – it’s because these boxes do not stand up to a detailed critical analysis. Far easier to say “it’s brilliant, I love it” and move on, which renders most of these opinions irrelevant. The Late Harlan Ellison once said “everyone is entitled to an opinion, sure…an informed opinion”. As stated elsewhere, MEC boxes fail the puzzle test compared to Sleuth Kings, Boxed Locks, Empty Faces – and fail the narrative test compared to Dispatch Breakout, Hunt A Killer, CosyKiller – and fail the “feelie” test compared to many of these boxes plus Letters From Dead People, and the dearly departed Curios And Conundrums.

    There is nothing here that other boxes don’t do better – so kudos to them for their longevity; it’s unfortunate that the dinosaur that is MEC hasn’t moved or evolved with the times.

  23. Kim
    08.13.18
             

    I love working these mysteries! I like the deductive reasoning, along with a few a couple of puzzles. It’s really a great distraction from my real life work as a forensic investigator

  24. Teresa Clark
    08.13.18
             

    I love these mysteries and look forward to my box each month. I have a group of friends who gather together and we have dinner and solve (or try to, anyway) each month’s mystery and put it together with the others. I’ve been a subscriber since November 2016 and wouldn’t dream of cancelling. So much fun!

  25. CS
    08.11.18
             

    I don’t see a problem with fans wanting to give this amazing game a rating that it deserves. It has a wonderful community, the stories are engaging and have been a member for many years. I would suggest this company to anyone.

  26. Sue
    08.11.18
             

    I always look forward to the new box each month. I love to solve puzzles and each box always contains several different puzzles that make me think about things in different ways.

  27. Elizabeth
    08.11.18
             

    The positive reviews from this weekend are a direct result of a Facebook appeal to bring up the ratings. This is first-person observation and there for all to see.

  28. Elizabeth
    08.11.18
             

    Cultish online community; puerile censorship and bullying members. Difficult and contentious “support.” Self-important and elitist perspectives within membership, but why? The mysteries are not particularly challenging and the themes are overworked. Far better monthly boxes are Hunt a Killer, Empty Faces, Deadbolt Mystery Society, Sleuth Kings, even the little ol’ Letters from Dead People.
    One more thing: Members are selling pre-owned boxes on ebay, which should be as perfectly acceptable as reselling books, puzzles, anything else legally-allowed. However, those posts which even suggest such a thing (Facebook, forums) are immediately flamed by others and deleted by admins.

  29. Deanne
    08.11.18

    I love, love, love this box! It is a must have!

  30. Elizabeth R
    08.11.18
             

    LOVE my subscription to The Mystery Experience Company! My mom and I live in different states, but we both get this and solve the puzzles and mysteries together. The stories are very detailed and well thought out. There are lots of cool clues in every box. We’ve had our subscriptions for almost two years and we’re keeping them!

  31. Nancy Hardin
    08.11.18
             

    I wait for the mail every month for my mystery box. Who could not want to be a part of the Forrest City bunch? The murders are great – villains galore! Not only are they outrageously horrible – many are also literary like The Raven, and The Mad Hatter. The puzzles are wonderful – codes, numbers, artifacts and are solved in ingenious ways by calling telephone numbers found in the newspaper and other marvelous methods as well as just plain hard thinking. One of the best parts is the Facebook bunch.
    We celebrate when we get a box, and commiserate when we get stuck. Helpful souls help with hints. What’s not to like? Remember when you sign up for subscriptions to read the small print. I use a calendar to mark when one is due for renewal. Never have a problem. Come join the fun.

  32. Michelle Berta
    08.11.18
             

    My family has so much fun each month solving these mysteries. Each story is unique with so much detail. These are NOT EASY to solve. The customer service has always been excellent when they are needed. In addition the online community is fabulous! The owners of the company are actively involved in the community and willing to answer questions and provide help when needed.

  33. Sarah
    08.11.18
             

    I enjoy doing these mysteries. I haven’t had any troubles with my subscription in the year and a half I’ve been with them. I recommend them to others often.

  34. Amy N
    08.11.18
             

    Love the box. Can’t wait for it to come every month. I have had nothing but a great experinece from this company. Customer service has always been helpful and kind when I have had an issue.

  35. Jax
    08.11.18
             

    I love getting these boxes every month. Each one is a complete story with everything you need to solve the mystery. They just keep getting better every month

  36. Cyberchick
    08.11.18
             

    Challenging and different styles of puzzles every month to keep it interesting! Great community to work with. Love the way the creators have built a rich, immersive world in which each puzzle centres. Absolutely brilliant, you won’t be disappointed!

  37. Aly C
    08.11.18
             

    I’m surprised by the negative reviews. I received my subscription as a gift. When I noticed that gift subscriptions did not auto renew, I was afraid I’d miss a box and emailed customer service. I immediately received a form letter response saying they would get back to me and within a few days, an actual response with instructions on how to renew. When the time came to renew, I followed the instructions and it went without a hitch, no duplicate boxes, no break in service. Granted, I’ve never tried to cancel, but why would I want to?

    It took me a few boxes to get the hang of it, but now I’m addicted. If you’re looking for one-off stories or a lot of puzzles every month, this may not be the box for you. But if you’re looking for an immersive experience with recurring characters and storylines, a variety of problem solving challenges, and a friendly, supportive social community, then join us! And don’t worry Christopher Forrest explained to members why some numbers were deactivated, and they have found a solution for the problem.

  38. Christina Sills
    08.11.18
             

    This is such a wonderful company. I have been with them from the beginning. Everyone I have introduced this to has also fell in love with the mystery and the city. He emerged, solve crimes, and have a strong community experience.

  39. B. Price
    08.11.18
             

    So far I’ve done the first 15 boxes of this company, and I am addicted! The immersive story and history of Forrest City and the colorful characters therein have me hooked! Imagine being a detective in a city with villains like the Mad Hatter, The Raven (an Edgar Allan Poe junkie), and a murderous clown! That is what this box is about. Sometimes the puzzles are easy…sometimes nearly impossible (I know very few who have solved on of the puzzles from the very first Archon box)…but always fun!

    This box isn’t about solving ultra-realistic crimes, but instead is based on puzzle solving, intuition, and sometimes just good guesses. The nature of solving can be very different from box to box and the variety of documents and artifacts varies, but each box has been absolutely worth it for me! My subscription remains active, even with a pile of 15 boxes to go!

  40. Mike G
    08.01.18
             

    Puzzles were ok. Customer service is terrible. They will bill and rebill you, and if you want to cancel, too bad. They stand behind their policy, and even if you haven’t received a product, you will get charged if you didn’t cancel early (with no reminders from their part). Also, their website might break when you go to reset your password like it had for me.

  41. Donna D
    06.17.18
             

    The external links like phone numbers are disconnected quickly leaving you with unsolvable mysteries if you don’t do them right away. That’s the most disappointing thing….sometimes life happens and you have to tend to other things.

  42. Chris L
    05.18.18
             

    Great, difficult problems and lots of fun.

  43. Anne
    04.16.18
             

    Just cancelled my subscription after 1 year. The universe created is immersive and the city’s backstory is interesting, but the monthly boxes just aren’t fun. Many of the puzzles are tedious to complete and after spending a lot of time doing them, you find out that they aren’t even necessary to solving the box. The author says this is intentional so people don’t have to complete the really hard puzzles to solve the mystery, but it’s annoying to spend all that time and have it not be worth it. In one box, a particularly long puzzle actually made solving more difficult as it implicated someone other than the murderer. There also doesn’t seem to be a lot of depth to the mysteries themselves and motives are often lacking.

    I have also found instances of grammar or continuity mistakes. The author and some fans claim these are clues for the “meta-mystery”, but I’m not 100% sold.

    I haven’t dealt with customer service, so cannot speak to it, but what others report here does not surprise me, given the company’s statement that you will not be allowed back if you ever cancel your subscription and the author’s attitude to constructive criticism on Facebook (someone simply brought up the fact on the discussion group that the solution to the mystery I talked about above did not make as much sense as a different possible solution based upon the clues in the very hard puzzle I described. I, and a few others, agreed with her and we received angry feedback from the author basically telling us that we weren’t supposed to go into the mystery too much, just eliminate suspects with alibis and the one left had to be the killer)

  44. Amanda
    02.19.18
             

    Wow, I can’t believe this company actually allowed some non-stellar reviews to be published online! This was not the case when I had to deal with them about a year ago.

    I enjoyed the boxes. In the third month of my subscription, I received two boxes. I realized that my mom’s gift to me had auto-renewed (unannounced to her) and I had my own subscription that month as well. No big deal. I contacted customer service and was immediately met with hostility. I was truly being kind and hoping they could help cancel my gift subscription, but instead I was told that I was not a “good fit” for this company because I was rude. I simply asked to not receive a second box every month and for my innocent mother to not be unknowingly charged. Though they have an extremely strict “no refund” policy, I asked for a refund of my second, unopened box and also offered to ship it back at my own expense, so they could have it in their inventory. In retrospect, asking for this refund must have been what set them off.

    I can go on, but many rude email exchanges later, I was consistently met with hatred and hostility. Within minutes of me not being a “good fit” for the company, I was blocked on every Facebook page or group they have. I looked to Facebook because I was truly confused as to what had happened. I am the first to admit that I have been rude to customer service people when I am frustrated, but this was not one of those times AT ALL. (I should mention that at first I believed I was emailing with a hostile employee that was not representative of the company, though Christopher Forrest, the founder, followed up with equally, if not more, hateful and hostile emails.)

    Also since the company had effectively wiped any possible trace of negative reviews from the Internet, I turned to the BBB. When I told Mystery Experiences I was reporting them, they said it didn’t matter because the BBB was an arcane, antiquated agency. Their response on my BBB review is that I was lying. I was not lying. I rest my case.

  45. Tracy
    01.23.18

    This box was marginally ok at first and then it just deteriorated to terrible. I had the same problems as other people commenting her have had – nightmare auto renew, rude responses and a couple of times there was NOT EVEN ONE puzzle in the box. I mean, if you want to sell short stories that’s fine, but don’t market it as a puzzle experience. With the last few boxes we would have the most entertainment laughing about how terrible it was. Don’t buy it!

  46. Jen
    01.11.18
             

    I played 3 boxes, and I can tell you each one is completely boring, and unimaginative. I had some critical pieces of information missing. The quality control is terrible. It is the same mystery over and over. Don’t believe all the positive reviews!

  47. Andrew
    12.01.17
             

    Buyer beware. They will sign you up for a subscription and you will have to go go find your login and password and navigate a website that doesn’t want you to cancel something you had no idea you signed up for. Also when you contact them via email to ask why you are being charged for something you never asked for or received you will be told to pound sand. We got 6 months worth of this product and honestly I think it was about 7 months too much. Do yourself a favor don’t buy this, the only mystery here is how they are still in business after ripping people off.

  48. Belinda Egan
    11.01.17
             

    I bought a six-month subscription as a gift but forgot that it was auto-renew. Suddenly, with no renewal notice, there was a $199 charge on my credit card. The company refused to cancel and refund the charge, and even refused to refund a prorated amount, for 5 of the 6 months. Ugh. Would not buy again.

  49. Allen
    10.18.17
             

    The concept is a great idea, but the execution is pretty terrible. While some people are definitely fans, the fact that they don’t allow reviews on their cratejoy page should tell you something. I’ve learned to temper my expectations with subscription boxes, but this company still makes you feel like the value is not there. While I could complain about the quality or quantity of the content, the real problem is that it’s just not interesting or imaginative. It kind of feels like a bot could have assembled the story or puzzles, and probably would have done a better job at it as well.