Customer Reviews

Melissa & Doug Mailbox and Mail Set

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a really fun toy for kids ages 3-6 that requires some thinking. While many 1-2 year olds enjoy putting the mail in the box, it can be frustrating for these toddlers. The wooden letters are of different thicknesses, and with the wooden stamps attached (by velcro), the letters must not only be put into the correct slot, but they must also be oriented the correct way to get them into the slot (see the close-up picture). The wooden key that opens the box is big (so it hopefully won't get misplaced), but ours is difficult to turn at times. There is another door that opens without a key. The only bad thing I see is that the brightly painted wooden mail, gets knicked up when it bangs together going into the mailbox.

My son absolutely loved this mailbox, but not two hours after he started playing with it the locking front door broke off. The door is held on by a very small dowel, but it wasn't the easily replaceable dowel that broke. It was the mailbox itself that broke--the wood where the dowel sits is very thin. He's three, and is relatively gentle with his toys. There were a few other problems with the toy too.
For instance, there are three slots on the top for the different size envelopes that come with the mailbox. Unfortunately, if you use all the slots the mail will pile up in a zig-zag fashion. This means you can only get a two or three pieces of mail into the mailbox at one time unless you're really lucky, as the case may be.
In addition, the rear door of the mailbox isn't secured. Any envelopes put in the slot over this door tend to knock the door open when they're dropped in.
We've had a lot of Melissa & Doug toys and he's loved most of them. The idea here was fantastic, but it just needs to be re-designed. Until they do I can't recommend it for anyone.

The mailbox is adorable and the letters and stamps are fun, but unfortunately, the lock was broken the first day and the whole door finally came off within a couple of weeks. If your kids aren't as boisterous as ours, it may last longer, but as far as I'm concerned, it's no match for a 5 year old boy. It's a shame too, because I have lots of Melissa & Doug toys and this is the only one that didn't hold up well.

This mailbox is not as nicely constructed as most of the Melissa and DOug Toys are. The first day we had this toy, the door broke off. This was with pretty gentle play. The door is just held on with a wooden dowel and it broke very easily. We were really disapointed in the qulaity of this toy. The idea is interesting but, the execution poor.

I was delighted at the sturdy construction of this product when it arrived. However, within just 20 minutes of gentle play use in my nursery school class, BOTH doors broke off because they are attached with weak lightweight dowels. To ship it back would be cost-prohibitive for me so I will repair it myself using a sturdier hinge... very frustrating. Besides that, it is adorable, and hopefully with the repair will last years in my classroom.

I m a great fan of Melissa and Doug products. However, I am very disappointed on the construction of the Mailbox. Both the front door and the rear door are held together by weak wooden dowel as hinghes. On the first hour of play, one of the wooden dowel snapped and the front door felt off. Thumb down on the Mailbox set !!

My children were very excited about this toy because my son has a mailman costume and he and my daughter love to play dress-up but just like all the other reviews, within an hour of opening the toy, the door was broken. It was difficult to even keep it closed because the wooden letters seemed to heavy and were pushing against it. Since the toy is only a week old, the door is currently being kept closed with tape until we can find a better way to fix it. Despite all that, the kids love it and they've been playing with it non-stop. However, I wish I had read these reviews beforehand because I would not have made the purchase.

The mailbox is neat but not very sturdy. Just like the other reviews, both doors broke off without excessivly rough play within DAYS. More disappointing to me is that we called the 1-800 number for Melissa and Doug about this and got NO reply. If you aren't going to field and address questions or concerns, don't print the number Melissa and Doug!

I purchased this for my daughter's 3rd birthday. I think that the idea of this toy is great, very educational, however, this toy is not very well made. The little door that opens with the key, fell off the first day, the little piece that holds the dowel that the door is attached to is very thin. If it was better constructed it would be a great toy!!!

I had read other reviews on this product before purchasing. I contacted Melissa & Doug via e-mail to ask if the complaints I read about the door hing (a dowl rod) breaking was fixed. They told me it had long ago been fixed. I ordered the toy and the door broke within the first 1/2 hour of play. My husband had to fix it himself by adding a piece of hardware with a drill. I'm sure the company would have replaced it but it would just brake again since the problem still has not been fixed. Very disappointing.