When a vial does not match its report: a Québec City guide

For Québec City researchers ordering by mail, inspection on arrival is the only quality check you personally control. The lab report describes the material before it shipped. Everything after that is between you and the vial in your hand.

Two minutes at the kitchen table settles it. Most people skip those two minutes and lose the ability to raise anything afterwards.

What we ship

The four-point check, before the fridge

1. Batch number. Scan the QR code and confirm the batch identifier on the report matches the one printed on the label. A mismatch means the document describes different material.

2. Seal and stopper. Seated, crimped, undisturbed. A compromised seal is the one failure that can happen silently in transit.

3. The cake. Dry, whole, uniform. Collapse into a glassy film, a tacky surface, or material shrunk from the vial wall all point to moisture getting in.

4. Colour. Compare against the appearance the report describes. Discolouration where the report says white is a question, not a judgement you make alone.

Photograph before you open anything

This decides whether a problem is a conversation or a stalemate.

Photograph the vial, the label and the seal in good light, before handling. Note the order reference and batch number. If something is wrong you now have evidence of the state it arrived in, rather than the state it was in after you investigated.

Thirty seconds, and it is the difference between a replacement and an argument.

What a replacement policy should say

Ours: a vial that fails its lab report is replaced, reported within 7 days, with no return-freight argument.

Where the report comes from

Every vial we ship carries its own QR code, opening the third-party lab report for the exact batch it was filled from: HPLC purity, mass-spec identity, appearance, testing lab and date. Different production runs open different reports. Scan a sample at /track before you order.

Ordering in Québec

Shipping is free to Québec, Lévis, Sainte-Foy, Beauport - and every other Canadian address - in plain unbranded packaging with no product references outside. Payment is by Interac e-Transfer with a reference number issued at checkout. No account and no minimum order. Ce guide existe aussi en français.

Research use only. These are laboratory research materials, not drugs, supplements or foods. They are not approved by Health Canada or the FDA and are not for human or animal consumption. We publish no dosing guidance.