Product Guarantee & Terms of Use
Thank you for taking the time to read our product guarantee carefully. We have attempted to create a guarantee that is straight-forward and specific so that there is no confusion.
In the event of a Dead-On-Arrival (DOA), you have two choices: You will receive a credit towards future purchase for the loss, or we will reship the replacements free of charge on our next ship day. However, if you choose to have the order reshipped, we cannot give any refunds or credits after a second failure. Re-Shipments will be via Priority Mail unless you would like to pay the difference to upgrade to 1-2 days shipping.
EXCEPTIONS
✔ We cannot offer a live guarantee for shipment to daytime high temperatures of 90° and above or to daytime high temperatures of 40° and below, regardless of time in transit. Shipment to such temperatures is at your own risk. This is the daytime high temperature according to weather.com, not the temperature at time of delivery. Heat packs should be ordered if high temperatures in the destination city are below 40°. Please order the heat pack along with your order. Heat packs are $3.50. Please Contact Us regarding shipment to extreme temperatures.
✔ If your priority mail shipment takes longer than three days to reach you (a rare occurrence) and the high temperature is above 40 and below 90 degrees F, the live guarantee will be amended as follows: We will reship the order free of product charge, but the customer must pay for reshipping costs.
✔ We cannot offer reshipments, refunds or credits after a second DOA failure.
✔ In order for the live guarantee to remain in effect, you must notify us of DOA's or other problems within 24 hours after receiving the order. DOA notifications must be made via Email so that we will have a written record of the problem.
✔ Claims due to carrier mistakes must be handled through the carrier.
✔ We DO ship to Alaska, but DO NOT offer a live guarantee
IMPORTANT
* In the event of a DOA, DO NOT DISCARD THE DEAD ITEM(s). Doing so may void your live guarantee. We may require a photo or that the item(s) be returned to us or USPS may need to inspect and document the damage when filing a claim.
* If your egg case does not hatch, there will be no refunds. But, we may replace it if the customer pays shipping. If egg cases are out of season, you can wait until next season or choose a living juvenile instead. Other items purchased with egg cases or items in a kit (such as fruit flies or other living food for the mantises) will not be replaced in the event your egg case does not hatch or is late in hatching.
* Egg cases may take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months to hatch. Therefore, while we do recommend that you order mantis food with the egg case, we cannot guarantee that the mantis food you buy with the egg case or that is included with our kits will still be alive and/or propagating when the egg case actually does hatch.
* We will not be held responsible for delays and/or DOA's resulting from incorrect addresses, including wrong zip codes.
* We do not give refunds.
* Orders are shipped with 10% more worms than the stated quantity to cover any incidental DOA's.
* Reshipments and credits will not include food ordered with silkworms.
* Fruit fly food containers should be kept in the fridge until replacement flies arrive- we will only resend the flies.
GUARANTEE AFTER ARRIVAL
Once the customer has taken possession of the live feeder, The Praying Manits Shop cannot offer a further live guarantee. Even if you follow the directions exactly, something could happen. The product may be subject to an adverse environment, such as airborne bacteria, hot sunlight, moist conditions, cigarette smoke and on and on. We provide care sheets and we attempt to educate the consumer about product care on this website, however, your praying mantises and other insects may quickly die due to any numbers of circumstances completely beyond our control.
There are seldom problems in keeping all of the critters we sell for an extended period. The best care is common sense. Also, please take a minute to read the care sheet that comes with our mantises, fruit fly cultures, silkworms and other critters.
Many customers attempt to raise silkworms to moth stage and the eggs to hatching stage. Or folks are interested in raising our juvenile mantises all they way through their life cycles. While The Praying Mantis Shop encourages such attempts, we know it is not always an easy thing to do, and we cannot be held responsible for any losses after arrival.
SOMEONE MUST BE HOME WHEN THE ORDER IS DELIVERED
Please retrieve your package immediately upon delivery. Live insects cannot be left outside on a porch. Packages left outside may be subject to excessive heat and sun or cold. They may be infested by ants, which will kill the live merchandise.
SPECIAL DELIVERY INSTRUCTIONS
We Cannot Accommodate Special Delivery Instructions, such as "Leave package at the side of the house behind bush" or "Deliver between 1 and 2pm" or "Deliver to front door, not mail box." Postal carriers may not read or follow such instructions written on the package, and we have no control over what time orders are delivered. Although we will usually write the instructions given on the box, we will not be held responsible for DOA's resulting from the failure of mail carriers to follow special shipping instructions or from shipments not delivered at a specific time of the day or week.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT OUR GUARANTEE
- A few worms or fruit flies may die during shipping.
Therefore, we always provide more of the product than the stated amount. When you order our juvenile praying mantis, we will include an extra just in case one doesn't fair well during shipping. - The insects may be dormant if conditions are cool or too hot. Allow some time before judging its condition and before feeding to your pets.
- Don't mistake skin castings for dead praying mantis or silkworms. This is the skin they shed during molting.
- The number one cause of DOA's is heat during shipping. If destination temperatures are below 90° and above 40° F, the heat / cold shouldn't be a problem. However, even in mild temperatures, the product should not be sitting outside in the sun/wind for any amount of time.
RETURNS
Please see our Return Policy HERE.
INTERNATIONAL SHIPMENT
We ship neither living nor non-living items outside the U.S.
We do not ship living items to Hawaii or Puerto Rico.
ORDER CANCELLATION
All orders that are cancelled after being placed will incur a $3.50 service charge.
PAYMENT DETAILS
- We accept many types of payment, including MasterCard, Visa, American Express, PayPal, Apple Pay, personal checks and money orders.
- Orders will not be shipped until payment is received and/or verified. Personal checks may be held for up to seven days until the check clears.
- Credit card payments will appear on your statement as "The Praying Manits Shop".
- If you are paying by personal check or money order, after you check out at our store, make payable to The Silkworm Shop (our parent company) and mail to:
The Silkworm Shop
PO Box 84773
San Diego, CA 92138
SHIPPING WARMER
If you live in a HOT/COLD area, the temperature shouldn't be a problem, unless the product is shipping to areas of 90° or more or under 40° F. Shipping warmers should be ordered when daytime high temperatures are below 40°. They are $3.50 plus 1lb extra shipping weight. It is the responsibility of the customer to order a shipping warmer. Please select "winter shipping" from our main store menu to order one. You should be available when your order is delivered and be sure the package does not sit outside in the cold for any length of time.
We do not use cold packs because they don't provide any protection unless shipped overnight with a Styrofoam box -- that gets too expensive for an inexpensive product.
If Shipment is to areas of 90° and above or under 40°, we cannot offer a live guarantee. Please see our Live Guarantee above for more details.
TERMS OF USE
By placing your order and using this website, you agree to accept all terms and conditions set forth anywhere on this site, including this page and all the information contained on our shipping info and disclaimer and terms of use page.
The Silkworm Shop (our "DBA" or Doing Business As) reserves the right to accept, refuse, or limit your order for any reason, including, but not limited to, credit review, the unavailability of a product, errors in the prices and product descriptions posted on this web site and failure to answer emails from The Praying Mantis Shop regarding your order. By placing your order, you agree that The Silkworm Shop's total liability, under any legal theory or claim, shall be limited to the purchase price actually paid to The Silkworm Shop for the product giving rise to The Silkworm Shop's liability.