I order from them fairly frequently, and just received my latest order from Wirsiy at Forest House Cameroon two weeks ago.
I find them very good to deal with. I have a USDA permit, so my seeds never get confiscated.
As for sprouting en route, yes, I have had that happen on several occasions, but that is certainly nothing that FHC can control. Recalcitrant seeds are traveling half way round the world through a sometimes very "iffy" African postal system. I just throw those puppies in the dirt and jump back! I always order way more seeds than I need in case of low germination, then usually wind up with a dozen weird African trees that nobody in Idaho wants.
I do know that they personally sprout seeds from each batch to make sure they are good.
Recently they processed a special order for me, which took months. They had to find growers for the vegetable plants I wanted, pay them to let the plants go to seed then harvest the seeds, travel to pick up the seeds, process them and ship them. Wirsiy planted his batch of seeds about two weeks before I did, and immediately notified me when he noticed that his germination rate was fairly low. These were plants that the locals only grow from cuttings, and they had no experience growing them from seed, but my permit doesn't allow cuttings
. I told him I was willing to take the risk. It isn't like buying from the local garden shop. And that was all for less than the price of two movie tickets and popcorn! Can't beat that.
Plus, these folks are doing tremendous good by training young people to use their forests in a sustainable manner to help support their families, in an area where the logistics of getting these seeds sent out is affected by civil unrest, government shutdowns, power outages and wet season weather.
So I would say give them more chances, and remember that not everything to do with the shipment is under their control.
Carolyn