Shipping and Replacement Policies

Shipping Policy

Cultures are only shipped on Mondays (or Tuesday following a Monday holiday) unless requested by the customer and approved by the Business Manager. No cultures are shipped during the weeks of Christmas and New Year's Day.

When an order is received by Wednesday 5pm CST/CDT of a given week, it can generally be sent on the following Monday. If an order includes items that require longer preparation times, the shipment is delayed until all of the items can be packaged and shipped at the same time.

Some countries have restrictions that limit, control, or prohibit the import of living algae. It is the responsibility of the customer to know which laws apply to the country that is to receive the shipment. Shipments to some countries must include an import permit to ensure that the shipment will not be confiscated in transit. The official permit may be prepared by the purchaser and sent via email to info.utex@utexas.edu. Please include your order number in the email subject or body of text.

Replacement Policy

All requests for replacement strains must be sent to the UTEX Culture Collection Manager within 48 hours of receiving the package.

UTEX will provide replacement cultures to customers if their order has been affected by one of the two issues listed below:

• Arrival of a non-viable or incorrect strain due to an error by UTEX (i.e., in preparing or shipping a culture):
• Please fill out and submit the replacement request form and provide the UTEX Order Number along with a description of the error. Replacements will be sent free of charge only if it is evident that UTEX was at fault and it has been authorized by the UTEX Culture Collection Manager.
• Arrival of culture(s) in a poor condition or non-viable state due to a circumstance during transport (i.e., shipment takes longer than the carrier guarantees, or a culture has likely experienced a temperature extreme en route):
• Please fill out and submit the replacement request form and provided the UTEX Order Number and a description stating the quality of the culture(s) upon arrival. Only the replacement culture(s) will be free of charge; customers are responsible for the cost of shipping and handling. All replacements need to be authorized by the UTEX Culture Collection Manager.

*Shipment of a replacement culture may be postponed if a temperature extreme is reported along the transit route.