Sometimes stocks are not sent because they are sick or have died, or the demand for a certain stock was too great for our supplies. A separate email will be sent detailing any stock numbers that were not sent and unsent stocks should not appear on your stock information sheets. You will not be charged for those stocks (a credit will be issued if you paid in advance). If your group still needs a stock that was not sent, please wait two to three weeks and order it again from our website. If you have questions about an unsent stock, contact Kim Cook or send an email to our general BDSC mailbox.
Is it time to worry? Check your order status to determine when your stocks should have shipped. If the stocks have been shipped, the order status will be "SHIPPED" and the ship date will be listed. Stocks sent by post should arrive within 10 days (USA) or 3 weeks (international) of our shipping date, but it is not unusual for shipments to take 2 weeks to reach a USA destination and 4 weeks or more to arrive overseas. If you believe the shipment is missing, please check first within your institution (we find that most missing shipments within the USA are somewhere "in house"). International shipments may be delayed at points of entry. Contacting your country's Customs office may be necessary if this is a recurring problem.
Has someone else received your stocks? Check with others in your user group. Multiple requests for stocks on the same account in the same order round are combined and shipped in a single package and addressed to the account holder. Be sure that someone else has not already opened the package and dealt with your stocks.
Find out if your stocks shipped. Log into your account and check the status of your order. If it is marked “SHIPPED” the ship date will be listed next to the order.
Request replacement of a missing shipment. If your stocks were shipped at least one (USA) or three (international) week(s) ago, you have confirmed that the package did not arrive and you shipped using overnight courier (USA) or courier (International), order them again as replacements (see Dead Stocks below for details).
A dead culture is one in which the eggs and larvae as well as the adults were killed in the shipping process, or one in which the adults you have are unable to reproduce. If you receive vials that have no living adults or larvae, please wait a few days to see if any eggs survived. If you still have no larvae after a few days, please read our Replacement Policy and then order a replacement from our website within 6 weeks of the original shipment date. Type the stock number in the Order Form and add it to the cart, click "Checkout", then check the box in the DOA column and submit the order (see Checkout to Submit Your Order on the How to Order page for details). We share the risk of shipment loss with you by replacing any stock that dies in transit once without charging a stock or handling fee (but you will pay for insulation if requested). You will be required to pay any shipping charges. If the replacement shipment also dies in transit our normal charges will apply to additional orders for the lost stock or stocks.
It is not necessary to contact us in advance about DOA orders. However, if you wish to delay placing your DOA order (due to upcoming inclement weather, for example), please contact us to request an extension of the normal 6 week deadline.
IMPORTANT! Please note that you must use a a domestic overnight courier or international courier in order to be eligible for free (no stock or handling fees) replacement of stocks.
User feedback is a crucial source of information about genotypic problems with our stocks. If the phenotype of a stock you receive is not consistent with the genotype please contact us with the relevant information.
Although mites are a rare occurrence in our stocks, we cannot guarantee that the subcultures you receive will be mite-free. If you find mites in a stock you receive from us please contact us immediately with the stock number(s).