Highly recommended if your local temperatures (or ours) are not within this range during the week or week after your order will be shipped: Live Plants: 32F-80F Live Animals: 60-80F unless otherwise specified Not sure if you should add a Heat Pack, Cold Pack, Thermal Bubble Wrap Insulation, or a combination of the three? Then add this to your order and let us do the work in determining the appropriate packaging to ensure your plants or animals will arrive safely! When you add this to your order, we will personally check the weather conditions from our location to yours, and take all the necessary precautions to ensure your plants or animals arrive safe and healthy no matter the cost (such as using heat packs, cold packs, special packing materials such as thermal bubble wrap insulation, extra bubble wrap, styrofoam, or holding your shipment till better weather permits shipping) to ensure that your plants or animals arrive safely and healthy. If your plants or animals don't arrive safely and healthy (as long as you follow the guidelines to our Live Arrival Guarantee Policy), we will either give you a refund via store credit for any plants or animals that are DOA. By purchasing our Hot/Cold Weather Insurance you can rest assured that your plants and animals will arrive safe and healthy in the weather-appropriate packaging for your location. Why does this Weather Insurance cost extra? Most times we need to use additional packing materials to properly insulate and protect live shipments during warmer months in Summer or colder months in Winter, especially if one lives in a state or area that experiences much colder or warmer weather. The additional cost simply covers what it generally costs us in packing materials and additional time spent researching the weather conditions in your area and surrounding areas to ensure your plants and animals arrive happy and healthy in hot or cold weather conditions and we generally do not make additional profit from this. We care about our plants and animals and want them to arrive safely and healthy! What happens if I don’t purchase this Weather Insurance? Orders that do not contain either this Weather Insurance or the additional packing materials purchased a la carte (e.g. Heat Pack, Cold Pack, Heat Reflective Bubble Wrap) will not be covered by our Live Arrival Guarantee Policy if we determine that any unhealthy or dead plants or animals are due to Weather conditions or temperatures beyond our control. You should only decide to not purchase this if you have already checked the local weather conditions in your area and ours (Chicago can get really cold during Winter and Hot in the Summer!) and have determined that they are within the suitable range for shipping during the week and the week after you have ordered (32-80F for Live Plants OR 60F-80F for Live Animals), OR if you have already purchased a Heat Pack, Cold Pack, or Heat Reflective Bubble Wrap separately as you have deemed appropriate. I forgot to add this Weather Insurance to an order I already made, can I add it later? You can add this Weather Insurance to your existing order any time up until 12 hours before your order is packed or shipped by placing a new order containing just this Weather Insurance and shooting us an email at [email protected] to let us know so we can take note of it. If your order has already been packed or shipped we will not be able to add any additional packaging materials to your order. If you're not sure whether your order has been packaged, scheduled to ship, or already shipped, feel free to email us to ask if we are still able to add this insurance to your order! We will try to respond as soon as possible. Is this Weather Insurance refundable? Once purchased, this Weather Insurance is strictly non-refundable in any case and can not be exchanged/replaced with anything else. Can I combine two orders with this Weather Insurance? If you have placed multiple orders and want us to combine your orders into one shipment, we will be happy to do so as long as you give us prior notice (at least 12 hours) before they are shipped. We won’t be able to refund your extra orders’ Weather Insurance costs if you have paid already paid for Weather Insurance or any of the other a la carte shipping upgrades as it is strictly non-refundable once purchased as stated previously. We will follow our normal procedures for refunding additional shipping costs on combined orders. (See our Shipping Policy for details on requesting order combinations). I purchased this Weather Insurance but my order arrived without a Heat Pack, Cold Pack, or Extra Insulation — why is that? Certain plants and animals may tolerate temperature differently. In some cases, using a Heat Pack or Cold Pack in their box can actually damage or harm them due to the prolonged exposure to the cold or warm heat source right next to their container or package. During winter and summer, we take extensive precautions to ship our plants and animals with different temperature needs/tolerance sensibly. We consider the local temperatures of your order's journey from us in Chicago to your area when planning and determining their packaging needs. In the rare event that you purchase this insurance and we determine to exclude certain packaging/shipping materials from your order which causes your plants or animals to not arrive safe or unhealthy, we will take responsibility and issue any refunds or replacements deemed necessary as long as you notify us of any issues within 2 hours of the 1st delivery attempt and follow the proper procedure for submitting your DOA Claim via the DOA form which we have QR Code for in the instructions we include in your package. Even with the extra packaging, we highly recommend that you do not let your package be exposed to extreme weather conditions (including rain or snow in an uncovered driveway/porch, etc) for a long amount of time, and to ensure you have signed up for notifications regarding your shipment via the relevant shipping company's website/app, or are checking the tracking number daily while it is in transit. Please also ensure that either you or someone else is at home to receive the package during the expected delivery time-frame so you can start acclimating your plants or animals to their new home as soon as possible.
