Cardboardboxes Reviews 

794
TrustScore 1 out of 5

1.2

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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Looking at 90 reviews, most reviewers were let down by their experience overall. Many people were dissatisfied with the delivery service, citing incorrect delivery times, significant delays, and orders that never arrived. Customers also reported issues with their orders, including missing items, incorrect products, and poor quality goods that were not fit for purpose. The refund process was a major source of frustration, with many struggling to obtain refunds for undelivered or incorrect items, often being told they were not entitled to one. Reviewers frequently encountered unhelpful and rude customer service, with representatives often providing vague responses or denying responsibility. However, some people were satisfied with their orders, receiving products that were perfect and delivered earlier than expected, despite initial communication issues regarding delivery times. A few other people also felt that customer service was helpful and prompt in resolving issues, even when the problem originated with the courier.

What people talk about most

Delivery service

Customers consistently note negative experiences with delivery service, frequently reporting significant... See more

Order

Consumers consistently express significant dissatisfaction with the ordering process, frequently reporting... See more

Refund

Reviewers express significant frustration regarding refunds, with many reporting difficulties and delays in... See more

Product

Reviewers highlight significant dissatisfaction with the product quality and accuracy. Customers frequently... See more

Customer service

Customers had negative experiences with customer service, frequently reporting rudeness, unresponsiveness,... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Deceitful company. Delivery times completely wrong. They give you a tracking number at the start to say oh “we’ve given it to the delivery company they’re just delayed” even though tracking shows they... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Liars and Scammers The order of 60 boxes was 20 short, they denied responsibility and claimed I had them, when quite clearly the packages would not fitted them in! Impossible to get hold of... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Quite possibly the worst company we have ever had the misfortune to deal with! We ordered and paid £1,188 for 100 bespoke / printed cardboard boxes from this company on 16th January 2026. Lead time or... See more

Company replied

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Terrible service ! I ordered and paid online for 60No. Tuff wall Boxes on 20th June. They delivered 27 on the 23rd June. I kept contacting them to get the rest delivered but after many assurances non... See more


Company details

  1. Packaging Supply Store

Information provided by various external sources

Established in 2001, Cartons Direct supplies Removal Firms and private individuals alike, it has built its business on quality service with most business now coming from personal recommendations. Custom Made Boxes At Cartons Direct Ltd, unlike a lot of on-line box suppliers, we manufacture on site. This means we are able to provide you with boxes to your exact specifications, in the quantities you require, at prices to suit your budget. We pride ourselves on our ability to understand our customers needs and are flexible enough to manufacture as few as 1 custom made box if that is all that you need. We manufacture in both Single and Double Wall and are able to glue or staple most styles and sizes of box according to your requirement. We have diecutters on site to cater for the demand for self-closing boxes. We are a family owned business who value our customers and much of our business is repeat custom as customer service and quality is paramount to what we do. We are without a doubt one of the most competitive manufacturers of cardboard boxes in the UK. NO GIMMICKS - JUST CONSISTENTLY LOW PRICES We believe we are the most competitive supplier that you will find on the internet. We keep our prices realistically low without using misleading “loyalty” or “discount” gimmicks. We do not inflate our prices to cover the cost of “free delivery” nor do we charge excessively high delivery rates. We just keep our prices down!


Contact info

1.2

Bad

TrustScore 1 out of 5

794 reviews

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1-star

No recent history of asking for reviews

This company hasn't invited customers recently, so reviews may not be representative

Replied to 10% of negative reviews

Typically replies within 2 weeks

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1.2

All reviews

(794)

89 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

DO NOT BUY!

DO NOT BUY!

I entered my moving date of 16 May in the Order Notes, as the website states this at checkout, "If your order is required for a house move please enter your Moving Date into the Order notes section to allow us to ensure a timely delivery".

However, despite calling ahead to check if the TV box would arrive in time for my move, I can now see the Evri tracking shows the item was not handed to Evri until 16 May (my moving date), so the company had no intention of 'ensuring a timely delivery'.

Yet, when I called to request a full refund, I was told they charge a £10 admin fee and the return shipping is at my expense because they do not guarantee delivery dates since that's the courier's responsibility (impossible to arrive on time when you don't give the courier the parcel until the requested arrival date). At that rate, I'd be breaking even for this delinquent company.

Not once did the company contact me to flag any delays or cancel, and after reading other reviews I think the box was only sent when it was because I called to check.

Reporting to my credit card to reverse the charge and reporting the company to Action Fraud and Trading Standards. If you've been affected, please do the same to save others from this fraudulent company.

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As we are all human and nobody is perfect, I can accept that I misread the line in the company's response about my moving date as ‘did not’ rather than what was written, ‘did’. I take full responsibility for my actions and I have removed the line about ‘lying’ to resolve my mistakes in a reasonable and mature manner. I wish this company would do the same considering I am not the only person who has had issues and mine is minor in comparison with others.

May 17, 2024
Unprompted review
Cardboardboxes logo

Reply from Cardboardboxes

We have contacted the reviewer for further information. However we would like to point out as previously stated on this site that the admin fee is only applicable to companies not indviduals.

Edit after receiving information from reviewer.

We are sorry to hear that you are not happy however we feel some important context needs to be stated.

You placed an order for a TV box at 1347 on Friday 10th May. As our delivery page states our standard delivery (which you selected) is approximately 5 working days this means the expected delivery date would be 17th May as obviously weekends are not classed as working days.

You did state on your order that you were moving on the 16th and as we do strive to meet requests for shorter leadtimes your goods were despatched on the 15/5/24. Unfortunately due to the bulk nature of our pickup Evri do not scan on collection and it does appear there was a slight delay as the first scan is at the national distribution hub at 0940 on the 16th, (as such the goods were picked up from ourselves, took to the local depot and shipped to the national hub before being scanned). the goods were subsequently delivered on 17/5/24 (which is within our expected standard delivery timeframe.

As the goods were delivered within the delivery service you requested you are responsible for the return carriage however the Admin fee only applies to companies and not individuals so does not apply in this case.

We would also like to point out that as this item was urgently required there is a next working delivery day option at checkout which you decided not to take advantage of, instead relying on standard delivery which is a non guaranteed service.

Further edit.

The fact that the reviewer has now updated their review to totally mis-represent our comments (eg we did not state we had contacted them and did not deny they entered their moving date) is we feel an indication of how unreasonable this person is.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

VERY disappointing experience

I had a very disappointing experience. Despite clearly stating my moving date when I placed my order, the box did not arrive on time. I even contacted their customer service to ensure timely delivery, but that didn't help. Upon checking Trustpilot, I found many similar reviews, suggesting this is a common issue. It feels like the company is overpromising and underdelivering, making it seem like a scam.

Contacted for a refund and was told I would need to cover return costs despite their error. Terrible customer service and I would strongly advise avoiding this company and looking elsewhere. I will be reporting the site to the NCSC and I'd encourage others to do the same.

May 17, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

A total con - use at your peril.

A total con!
Ordered mid April a custom box for 2 week lead time and 4 weeks later it had not arrived. Despite chasing many times and reassurances it would be ready and then that it had shipped, the day after our deadline, they said it would arrive a week later. It was then useless to us and we had let down our customer. They were vague with information, constant claims of 'we need two check with dispatch' and basically lied. Then refused to cancel order when the box was of no use to us. Still waiting for it to arrive!

May 9, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Really poor service

Really poor service, £30 order with a £8 delivery charge. It was shipped ( still not delivered) 6 working days after their maximum delivery time. Making it a total of 13 working days before I received the order after the original order date.

If you are in a hurry, forget it.

May 13, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful long times and they don't aknowledge they can't fullfil the order

I was looking for cardboard boxes and I found this website. Really bad of me, I was in a rush and didn't check Trustpilot for a review.
I needed the boxes in 2 max 3 days; I checked their website on the delivery information and found this:
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1) Our daily cut-off time for dispatches is 1.00pm (except for Saturday & Sunday deliveries when the cut-off time is 12 noon Friday).
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Naively I thought to make the order on Sunday and they would have dispatched on Monday afternoon (I needed the boxes by Wednesday). On Monday evening I send them an email asking for the order and they reply they will work the order in 2-5 days as by their standards; this is not mentioned in their website, they only advise on delivery days based on location; while it seems they dispatch by 1pm from their wording.
On Thursday I asked to cancel the order because it was completely useless to me also if I had to pay the £10 admin fees (another unbelievable cost); they replied they will accept returns as from their policy once I would have my order received.
I received the order after 15 days; this means as by their website they worked the order after 10 or 11 days (delivery takes 4-5 days), hence the first email response I had was a complete lie. They didn't work the order in 2-5 days.
I will ask the Credit card company not to pay this order. Their website seems a scam to get orders in and also their behaviour was no helpful; they could aknowledge their were not going to deliver to me on time and make me the favor, or give the advice, to cancel the order straight away: I even left a note in the order asking to let me have an estimate delivery. Really bad service.

As usual for these cases 0 stars would have been more appropriate

April 7, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Need to work on lead times and information

Good prices, and decent boxes but they overestimate the lead time for shipping stock items. I contacted asking for an update on our first order, and was told it was five days for shipping and the order was in process. Because I needed the boxes sooner than that, expensive alternative from Davpack, only to have the boxes from carboardboxes arrive the next day. Not a disaster, but an avoidable expense if I'd had the correct information.

If it hadn't been for the inaccurate information, this might have been a 5 star review.

One word of warning - if you want to cancel your order, they say they charge you a £10 admin fee (which I doubt is legal).

So overall, a frustrating experience because of the stated long lead times. BUT, I've moved from saying I'd never use them again to probably givig them another chance, providing I didn't need the items urgently.
This is an edited review because their response below suggests that they do actually care, so there is hope.

Box quality was actually pretty good, and certainly represents excellent value compared to Davpack, Viking or Kitepackaging. They just need to do some work on the logistics, communication and bringing lead times down.

[This is an updated version of a previous review]

April 17, 2024
Unprompted review
Cardboardboxes logo

Reply from Cardboardboxes

We have requested further information fropm the reviewer so we can look into this further.

EDIT:

Thank you for providing some more information on your order which has enabled us to look into this further.

We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied and wish to address some of the points you raised.

Regarding the delivery time our approximate 5 working day delivery time is stated in the delivery information section of our website, however this is a guideline not an absolute and as a small business compared to the competitors you mentioned we do strive to deliver parcels as fast as possible. We can see from our records that the order in this case was placed on 15/4/24 and delivered on 18/4/24 which is 3 working days. If you do require a guaranteed fast delivery please contact us prior to placing the order as we may be able to offer a next day service for you.

The admin fee does only apply to businesses and we believe is a fair amount as if the order has already been passed to despatch for processing we have to physically find the parcel and relevant paperwork to prevent the items being despatched.

We hope that you do use us again and that we can fulfill your needs in future.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

This is the worst company I have ever…

This is the worst company I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. They dont care that my order was placed on 25th March for some boxes required for a move for a project. The date is 17th April and only some of the boxes have arrived. I said that I dont need them now as I had to make alternative arrangments. I was told they wont cancel the order or refund them. So i said when will i get my order and they quoted 17th which is today and they still havent arrived. I called and was told they are now due on the 19th April. I asked if they dont arrive can i have a refund and they have said we will cross that bridge WHEN we come to it (when being the key word) Steer clear do not use this firm they dont care and arent willing to help.

April 17, 2024
Unprompted review
Cardboardboxes logo

Reply from Cardboardboxes

We have requested further information from the reviewer to allow us to investigate his comments.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Goods 7 weeks late and refusing refund

Ordered in mid Feb for 3-5 day delivery. Goods did not arrive over a week later. Chased up via email numerous times and received no reply. Contacted via phone and was told goods had been sent out so I asked for tracking. Very evasive and wouldn’t provide tracking as said it has no info on it so would be pointless to me.
I told them I needed for a specific date and they said they would follow it up. Now, 6 weeks later they decided to deliver. I refused delivery only for it to be left elsewhere. On contacting them again they are refusing to refund which is against UK law.
I’m happy to take this further as they just cannot be allowed to treat customers this way.

April 15, 2024
Unprompted review
Cardboardboxes logo

Reply from Cardboardboxes

We have requested further information from the reviewer to allow us to investigate and respond

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Scammer Company.

We ordered in August 2023.

It is now Mid March 2024 and we never received our items, refunds were also refused.

You are dealing with thiefs here.

August 24, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Terrible customer service

Boxes had arrived after an email prompt. However, did not arrive with any packing material as promised. Emailed customer service who said they would investigate but no response since. Will not recommend or buy again.

March 7, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful customer service

I placed an order for some boxes on 20/02 that were needed. The boxes were due to be delivered 3-5 working days and have only just been delivered on 11/03, 21 days later. When following it up previously, I kept being told they would be delivered by the end of the week. We no longer need the boxes as we had to find alternative means of packing, and now we are being refused a return/refund.
I have explained this and been told that there is nothing that can be done.

March 11, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Poor poor poor

I placed an order that was shown in stock. It did not arrive a week later, although apparently if I paid extra I could have had next day delivery. I needed the order for a time critical return. No one bothered to reply to my emails nor provide even an estimated delivery date. I have cancelled the order but after reading the reviews I suspect that I will not easily get a refund.

March 4, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Vile company

Vile company. Owned by thieves. The law will catch up with them one day

March 8, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Poor customer service

I ordered boxes on 6 February and as of 8 March still have not received them despite many emails. Package is in transit somewhere but their customer service makes no effort follow up or ensure delivery. Don’t use them if you need boxes on a schedule.

March 8, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Boxes for moving house

Hello , just around the corner from me so used recycled boxes to pack everything and anything .
The men working there have always been lovely to me .Even carrying boxes to my car . Heather .

January 21, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Totally unethical company

Totally unethical company. Never use them. We asked for a repeat order, and they accidentally used the wrong cardboard (so they wouldn't even fold into boxes anymore!). They refused to replace the boxes, as it was more than the 3 days since we'd received the order (we like to order before we have totally run out and assumed our vendor was capable of repeating an order). They didn't dispute that they had screwed it up, just that they weren't replacing it as more than 72 hours.

Clearly crazy from a business standpoint too - your existing customers are (or in this case were!) your best ones!

February 14, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Very Poor Customer Service

This is the first time ever i've left a review for a company, this is how disappointed I am at how I've been treated.
I placed an order for boxes in December and paid by bank transfer which is what they requested.
Chased up the order in January as there was no sign of it and they then informed me they didn't have the stock but are refusing to refund me (only offering a credit note which I don't want as they no longer stock the specific box I require). What they are doing is against the law, and I'm now having to take legal action to get my money back.

December 19, 2023
Unprompted review

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