POBox.ph Review

Want items so bad but they're not available here? Worried about exorbitant shipping fees? Why not give POBox.ph a go?

How does POBox.ph work?

1. REGISTER - Go to POBox.com and register.

Signing up is free. You just have to upload 2 valid IDs and fill up the form.

2. SHOP - this is my favorite step. Shop online and have them delivered to the POBox address using the name you used to register at POBox.ph

Just make sure the site allows delivery to POBox address. You can check this in the site's FAQs page (usually). 

Also note that it's not safe to ship electronics and gadgets via POBox.

If the site does not accept credit card with non us billing address, you can call/contact POBox, give the site and items you want to buy and they will shop for you for a minimal service charge. 

3. TRACK - track your items in the POBox site. They will update this tracker once they receive your items. Note however that tracking is not real time which makes the wait excruciating. Especially when you read delivery notes like "Left at the docks", "Received by Michael" etc.

I used to log it per tracking number. Sometimes items in a single order are separated into partial deliveries.

4. BOX IT - select the items you want to be consolidated into a single box and request to box it.

  

POBox will consolidate your orders and will be billed depending on which box size your items will fit into.

To give you an idea we bought the following items (yes I have my own tracker :p). 10 shoes (without boxes), 2 slippers, 3 card games, make up and some other stuff as well and they did fit into a black box (the smallest box).

My 2 cents: I was nervous because it's our first time trying POBox. I was freaking out if I entered the correct address and if they delivered it to the correct authorities (as mentioned above). Hence the personal tracker. I was being paranoid. We had some minor problems like deliveries not being marked as received for a long time even though they have already been delivered. So I had to call POBox from time to time to have updates and reassurance that no items would go missing. Their customer service was pretty amazing though not 24hours available.
Once our items were completed we had them consolidated and they did a really good job at it mind you. We got discounts from Citibank promo code so shipping cost was just around 2000.
What I like about ocean shipping is that they don't care about the weight but the size of the items. Though it takes longer than air shipping, if you're not in a hurry it's more economical. So I think we got a pretty good deal.
The last item was delivered February 4, We requested to pack it Feb 14 and we received the box March 23. (It was delivered to a provincial address so maybe it took a little more time). They will give you a tracking number which you can check at forexworld.us
The package arrived in one piece and with all the items complete and intact. (No issues or additional fees encountered) So good job POBox!
Will I try POBox again? We're actually already window shopping for our next box :p

UPDATE: 11/26/2016

For our second box, I actually have pictures!!! yay!!!
We started ordering items from amazon as early as September 1, 2016. It was just the start of the ber months but we already had trouble with the shipping. Most of the item's delivery were late by a week or more and we had to follow up or had our orders replaced.
In fairness, POBox PH has improved. They already have email notifications when they receive the items.

Plus we just learned that not everything you buy from Amazon is authentic. We bought a Kylie Birthday Edition Mini Lipsticks which was sold and fulfilled by Amazon but then after we ordered it the reviews started to say that it was fake. Our item was already delivered to POBox but we were able to return the item and get a refund for it. Kudos to the POBox Customer service for helping us facilitate the return.

But we were surprised that a box of the lipstick was still packed and compared it to an original Kylie Lipkit and yes the mini lipstick from Amazon was fake. So we were really glad we had it refunded.

Blue Box

The black box was about half the size of this box.

We requested for the box to be packed by September 24, 2016. They finished packing and sent us an invoice for a blue box which costs 72.5USD. We got our tracking number by October 25 and the estimated arrival in PH was November 15 but it arrived as early as November 11. The box reached UMAC Cargo ( the courier) by November 19 and promised us the box will be delivered within the week but Friday came and there was still no box. We couldn't wait any longer and decided to just pick up the box from their Marikina warehouse which was surprisingly open for 24hours.

Note: If you're going to pick up the box, you have to inform them one day ahead so they can search for the box in the sea of boxes in their warehouse.

I was really disappointed to see the box was not filled to the brim unlike before. Also, they did not remove the shoe boxes as I have instructed in the notes and I feel that if they had put in a little more effort, the items could be put in a smaller box.

Mystery Manila

Are you a fan of Sherlock Holmes? Detective crime solving movies and puzzles? Then you should definitely try Mystery Manila.

1 room.. 1 mystery.. 1 hour.. 1 way out.. Can you solve it?

Yeah, no I'm not gonna spoil anything. If you want to enjoy the game.. DON'T CHEAT!!!

Mystery Manila is located at Eastwood, Libis near Acropolis.

There are currently 3 themed rooms (3 mysteries to solve).
1. Justice for Jamila
2. Ticking Time Bomb
3. The Chained Chamber

Minimum of 2 (PHP550) and maximum of 5 (PHP400) can play per session per mystery.

The game lasts for 1 hour at maximum depending on how fast you can solve it.

Basically, you will be trapped inside a room and you have to solve a puzzle in order to get out.

We tried the Chained Chamber and we really enjoyed it. Nope I'm still not telling you anything.

This is us before we entered the room. :)

This is us after. Fooling around a little XD

While the other team tried Justice for Jamila

Before

After

The Ticking Time Bomb looks promising as well but you'd have to go outside for this mystery which is quite troublesome specially when it's raining.

It feels good to be able to solve the mystery. But it feels even better if you get something out of it. If you solve the mystery within 30minutes you'll get a shirt. If you solve it within 40minutes you'll get a pen. If you solve it within 50minutes you'll get stickers. You'll only get one out of 3 :)

We solved ours in 37minutes so we get to have these pens :)

It was a fun filled experience overall and I hope to try the other rooms in the future as well.

Thank you Mystery Manila for the discount coupons! And thanks to our sponsors for the team building budget as well ;p

You can reserve online via their website:
http://www.mysterymanila.com

UPDATE:
They have a new branch opening at Makati on August 25,2014 with 2 mysteries to solve namely Rebecca's Room and Sinister Sensorium.