Zoli and Nimfa are husband and wife. Up until the point of August 2018 we worked closely together, and now we have split up geographically for a couple of months, and She runs the family (3 kids) while I took over all communications and posting topics etc.
Except for some packages in the very beginning (before mid Aug 2017) I did 99% of the packaging for you guys. so I feel entitled to speak.
About polystyrene:
This is our choice for sending seeds for almost all of our packages, after experiencing some major issues with moulding in coco peat. Most of the times we send the seeds from rainy seasons, because that's when the fruits are in season. We couldn't control the amount of spores getting into our packages, so we switched to synthetic material.
We have no place we could call home. I would be the happiest if I could just go to a store and buy 50kg perlit and 50kg vermiculite. Put it in a corner and offer the choice of selection for our customers for medium.
In reality we have to carry our gear on our backs with all our stuff and 3 children. This is how we can find these rare fruits. And as for Costa Rica, I haven't found perlit and vermiculite yet.
Polistyrene, cardboard, hydrogen peroxide and plastic bags are available worldwide and we have satisfying overall feedback for using these materials in our processes.
As for the seed swap... we work with no stock. The aforementioned order had about 8 different D. zibethinus varieties 2 of which I think we weren't able to source. So there I was after dragging my family around Penang Island to find the needed seeds, on our last fiull day in Penang and had to make a choice. Either I start emailing about the situation with someone in the opposite side of the globe (sleeping obviously), or I take action and swap with two other varieties that I as a fruit lover who is experienced with durian find a good fit and valuable to send. This is what I did.
I swapped the varieties and recorded the changes in our system and sent out the shipment info including the exact varieties that we sent.
Again I am sorry for your experience, and we learned not to take EMS orders that have to arrive unsprouted, with this complexity. Too many varieties need to be found at once, and the rest of the seeds can't wait because of the customs regulations (no sprouting)
In the same situation I think I would do the same. I have learned though not to send any more packages with green yellow label, its just a pain (EMS, unsprouted, running up and down to print, sending seeds straight for inspection).