Carnivero

I ordered seeds Sept 29. They shipped Oct 3rd. The tracking got stuck in Austin Texas. They never left the city they were mailed from. On Oct 11th I contacted Carnivero and first got a canned response about tracking taking a while to update. When I pointed out that the tracking hadn't moved, they said they would contact the postal service. October 19th I voiced concerns about wether the seeds would be viable when/if they did arrive. Nepenthes seed loses viability rather quickly. They replied that day and said "We are confident the seeds in your order will still be viable when they arrive. If they have not arrived by Monday 10/30 please reach out to us again and will consider the parcel lost. At that point we will send out a replacement order. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns." October 20th they repeated that a replacement would be sent if the seeds didn't arrive. The email stated "We are very sorry for the inconvenience and any frustration this situation is causing. We have contacted the post office and were told the issue was resolved, but seeing that the tracking has not updated yet it seems to be lost. We do have a policy of waiting 3 weeks before a package is deemed lost because we have seen this issue in the past and it is sometimes resolved in that time period. We will plan on sending you a replacement on Tuesday if there are no tracking updates by then." But, on the 25th they emailed and said: "We have not heard back from USPS about your package and have not seen any updates on your tracking. We are currently out of the Nepenthes ventricosa BE x undulatifolia seed pods, but we would like to offer you store credit for the seeds and shipping to use at your convenience. We will be updating our seed inventory in the next month, so there will be some fresh stock to choose from. Please let us know if this is how you would like to proceed." I replied and reminded them that they promised a replacement. They had weeks to set one aside while they asked me to wait and assured me they would replace the seeds. I won't be ordering from them again so store credit is useless. They replied with "We apologise for the inconvenience and if we misspoke and promised the same exact seeds that were lost by USPS. Our policy for lost parcels is that we will ship out replacement plants or issue store credit. We do not offer refunds as we fulfilled your order, gave it to the courier and it was lost in transit. We understand that this situation is frustrating and we would like to resolve it by issuing you store credit for the cost of the seeds, plus shipping and an additional $5 so you can select another seedpod or plant. Please let us know if this is a satisfactory solution for you." I understand lost parcels aren't their fault. But promising they could replace the seeds while asking me to wait, then saying they didn't mean that, is terrible customer service. I sent a copy of the emails etc to PayPal and disputed the charge. PayPal refunded me. A day after I was refunded, the seeds suddenly left Austin. They arrived November 1st. I returned to sender because I'd received a refund already.