I've described this company as "poor" not as a total bad guy because, although I find problems with them, they haven't cheated me out of money or even attempted to; they're just not reliable.
www.silkworm-supplies.co.uk is also known as 'Seritech labs', and they're one of 2 mail order companies for silkworms in the UK.
I decided to grab some worms as a treat for my dragon after Xmas, and seeing that they were out of silkworms, I thought I'd splurge and try hornworms (aka goliath tobacco worms). I ordered on the 4th of January, paying upfront with paypal, and received my paypal receipt. I did NOT receive a shipping estimate or any indication of what shipping courier the company uses. I searched their website and found no information about shipping, either.
3 days later and there are no worms or an email from the company letting me know if I can expect them. I've found with other livefood couriers that if I don't get a delivery estimate, they reliably send within 1-2 days to ensure the insects are handled as little as possible. So I was a little concerned that my order hadn't been processed, and wanted to check up on it.
I tried to ring the company; no response. I sent a few emails to both his private email (which was listed on the Paypal receipt) and the company email. Again, no response.
On Monday he finally responded to my email, explaining they'd never intended to post until that day. Now, he never gave a reason for this. Usually when shipping is delayed by so long it's due to the worms being the wrong size, a lot of orders to process, even the workers having days off (all understandable). He made NO attempt to explain why he took my money but then waited 5 days to post the worms.
He was, however, very polite and promised that I'd see the worms on Tuesday or Wednesday (today).
The worms did indeed arrive today, and are in good condition. However, he sent them via Second Class Royal Mail (standard mail here in the UK) in plastic tubs in a manilla envelope (the ones with the very thin layer of bubble wrap). The tubs were all dented from the mail, and I feel lucky that none of the worms were squished.
I have *never* before had a livefood courier (in the UK or US) send livefood through the normal mail service; let alone second class, which can take anywhere from 2-5 days. It's just too likely for such parcels to be damaged in transit, particularly when you don't specify that the parcel cotains live insects (which he did NOT do). Plus, I really feel that the worms survived by sheer luck considering how poor the packaging is. I'm also not even sure it's legal to send livefood through Royal Mail. I could be wrong, of course, so I'm not accusing him of breaking the law; I've just never encountered livefood ever being sent through this service (particularly without a label saying what they are).
To summarise, my problem with the service are as follows:
-very poor communication
-very difficult to talk to a real person
-no explanation of shipping times or courier
-no explanation of why he waited 5 days to ship
-no email to let me know he'd be waiting that long
-very poor choice of courier that could have left me with dead worms
-no caresheet on his website for hornworms
The good points are that it cost me £10.00 for 10 very large hornworms (shipping included), and that *luckily* the worms arrived in one piece.
Overall, I'm not saying Ron (the man I dealt with who I assume is the owner) is a bad guy, but the experience of ordering from him was very frustrating and unprofessional. I've never encountered these kinds of problems with livefood sellers in the past. Maybe I've been lucky, but I'm not comfortable buying from him again.
Considering his is one of 2 sellers I've found in the UK who sell silkworms and hornworms, I felt people should know about how he conducts business so they can make an informed decision.
The hornworms are great, though, so if you live in the UK and want to try some, be prepared for a long transaction.
Linear Mode
