Not watertight half barrels be warned!
I bought three different sized half barrels, all listed as watertight. I spent £131 including shipping so, not a small amount of money. After discovering they are in fact not watertight I contacted them. I made sure I had given the half barrels plenty of time to swell with the water being kept topped up (I had planned on using them for tub ponds). I was told that they check them before they sell them (for how long though?), that it’s been very hot this year so the wood shrinks (which doesn’t matter in my case because they were constantly full of water and topped up regularly) and finally that they have lots of happy customers and aren’t trying to rip people off. This is all great information except, I still have three expensive half barrels all of which leak. I might add, you cannot sell something as watertight if it’s only water tight in certain weather conditions. It is only 25 degrees this week, it has rained and they still aren’t retaining water. I cannot afford to send them back for a refund but even if I could the company have now gone silent on me and not replied to my last email. So now I’ve got to decide if I try to sell them or fork out for pond liner which will cost me extra. I have included photos of how low the water gets without me constantly topping them up. One of them has completely emptied. Very very unhappy about the entire thing. Especially the response. I was completely dismissed and to be told “well other people are fine” is intentionally missing the point. I wouldn’t recommend and I won’t ever use the company again. I suggest you go elsewhere if you want genuinely watertight products. Edit to reply: I last emailed them Tuesday, not Friday-so add lying to the list. You could sell 1000 half barrels in a day, I don’t care, if the three that I spent over £100 on leak then that is a problem for me. The dismissive attitude is what I was most frustrated about. Yes, warm weather is a problem but you cannot justify selling something as watertight if it stops being watertight in the warm weather. It has been 25-30 degrees on average where I am in the UK and that’s enough to stop all three of these supposedly watertight barrels being watertight?! The moisture in the air point they keep raising is moot, they have been consistently full of water. They are 100% not fit for purpose. As of time of writing I’ve received no contact despite them saying they are going to contact me. Final update:6 days after they replied to this review, they still haven’t contacted me.
By Noggin The N.
Response from Wine Boxes Etc· Jul 27, 2026
Thank you for your review and I am sorry to see that you`ve given us a 1 star. I am happy to respond to the comments given by our customer who indeed has ordered some watertight barrels. The summer of 2026 so far has been amazing for some, too hot for many and a nightmare for barrels due to the barrels being made of wood and the wood shrinking in the heat in between being cut and being delivered to the customer. It`s not something we can do anything about as wood is a natural product and it naturally increases and decreases in size depending on its moisture content. The barrels are all tested before leaving us to make sure they are watertight but sadly some barrels have dried out AFTER this time. Never a problem in the cooler months but this summer has been more difficult. I have tried to explain this to the customer on our last email exchange. The reason for "going quiet" on the customer is because it was the weekend - We`re a family business and time with the family is important than work time. Yes, working 7 days a week seems a bit "old fashioned" in this day and age, but weekends are our down time away from the stresses of work. Nothing wrong with a break and we have not seen her email until today, Monday. We`ll be replying to the customer now to work our a solution. For context We sell roughly 80 - 100 barrels everyday and our reviews can be seen all over Ebay, Etsy and Amazon.. Sadly Trustpilot only seem to attract the negative reviews, so If would highly recommend looking and the day to day reviews on the selling platforms to show a true representation of our company.