Swell UK Ltd Reviews 

Messaged these people twice on Instagram. First time was questioning my delivery because I paid extra for next day delivery and I didn't even receive a dispatch email until the day it was supposed to be delivered, the second time I messaged them was because of one of the items I received (a UVB bulb) was faulty. They didn't read the messages until the next day and they left me on read (they didn't reply but they read the messages). Honestly what kind of customer service is this? Yeah their shop is amazing for reptiles and aquatics, but their customer service is absolutely terrible. If you do decide to order from them, DO NOT choose next day delivery because it will most likely not turn up the next day. Seen multiple people having the same problem with this company. I will start using Northampton reptile centre from now on.

Placed an order over £300 no dispatch notification i emailed to cancel order 3 days later & was advised I couldn't & to just refuse delivery & once they received it i would be issued a refund, well I refused delivery item was returned to sender which tracking leads to Kkc hu13 9dd on 16/12 ...it is now 12/1 & I'm still chasing refund they've been told another week & I'm doing a chargeback via card issuer... update refund received 14/1

I ordered my 7 x live shrimp and NT Labs medication on the same day (Wed prior to 11:30am), As per their confirmation email, i should have received the order the next day.
The next day came and nothing,
I waited for the following day and i have a notification that the order was out for delivery with Yodel.
It never arrived.
I thought it would arrive on the Saturday as it had now been 3 days since my next day delivery should have been received.
The order was with yodel since 4:30am Saturday morning.
at 3:00 i reached out to yodel asking for this delivery, and they told me it was now going to be on Monday.
This was now 5 days since the order of a next day delivery.
When i reached out Swell told me they are now coming with a different courier,

The live animals didn't arrive on Monday and turned up on Tuesday, 7 days after the next day delivery.

When they arrived, with a different courier There was only 6 live shrimp in the bag, and no NT labs medication.

When i checked the water parameters of the shrimp bag, it had over 250ppm of Nitrate, which means a huge amount of ammonia as well, the animals were swimming in a gas chamber.
I raced against the clock to get them into a stable tank with clean safe water, while not shocking them too much.

Unfortunately within 24 hours, two shrimp has passed away and i am trying to keep the other 4 alive as best i can.

My NT labs neds arrived on the Wednesday the following week.

I reached out to swell about the two dead shrimp and 1 missing shrimp from my order (At £7 per item i was £21 worth of dead/ Missing livestock)

It has been another several days and still no contact from them accept a £5 refund for some reason.

This company, considering claims of being good, is a terrible company to purchase from.
They don't support their customers and they don't keep their stock in safe environments.
That is borderline animal cruelty for the live stock and bad practice for customer support.

I strongly advise no one buys from this company and save your money.

I ordered 6 black mollies on the 1st jan, recvd email next day informing me of dispatch 2nd Jan, arrived 5 days later in Freezing cold water full of excrement. I managed 2 save 4 of them, took me 2.5 hours to save them. Offered me a refund for handling. Wanted a photo of the fish, the last thing on my mind was to take a photo, I was saving the fish.
No care about the suffering of the fish just about the money from Swell UK. Would not use them again.

Ordered a 485 liter tank along with some wood & a water test kit, everything arrived on time as expected then a week or so passed and the issues began the supplied filter pump failed within a week then supplied water heater was insufficient for the tank size and struggled to get upto temperature, the supplied led auto timer failed does not work at all.

Tried reaching out to the customer support multiple times no reply (tried the contact us form on their website at least 5 times, emailed them directly around 3 times everything had gone unanswered, started calling the shop called probably around 5 times each time got told nobody was available to deal with this at the moment and I'll get a call back.... Guess what no call back.

The funny part after multiple times trying to get this resolved I decided to see if they'd reply to a email asking for a recommendation for a light upgrade... Oh look at that within 24 hours a reply pointing to a premium light listed on their website. Funny how they can reply when it could get them a sale but when theirs a problem you get nothing!

AVOID - Customer service is none existent.

Theives and Liars.
Order part on Wednesday paid additional money for NEXT DAY delivery, that was 2 days ago and still hasn't shown up. If Next day isn't an viable or available option it should never be offered, they have basically stolen money from myself for failing to uphold offers they promote, thus liars and thief, won't ever buy directly from them again, will use other parties that guarantee next day deliveries.

Vivarium arrived, glass didn't fit. Emailed over photos and videos. Was told they would get back to me... almost 3 months later, they're ignoring my emails and I'm stuck with a vivarium that cannot be used. Second time ive ordered from this site and second time the order hasn't been right.

Avoid.

Thought had fault with pump supplied July but the fault was me not swell and they were superb in sorting for me friendly and helpful one of best companies I have dealt with special thanks to Nathan but I spoke to another gentleman and lastly holly I can’t understand all bad reviews ??

Spoken to Nathan from customer services, who again I can not praise highly enough!
He is polite, professional and very helpful with my questions and queries. Fantastic customer service all round, well done Nathan!

Nathan was very helpful with my questions about products and pricing making sure I received best available prices. Definitely recommend

Had a delivery of 3 tubs of water additives, along with a few more items, when the large box arrived the 2 smaller tubs had split open with the contents spewing out all over the place and all over my hallway carpet. There was no internal protection or packaging and no void filling allowing the tubs to move about causing the tubs to split and lids to come off. I took photos then disposed of the damaged tubs and the box straight into the bins, as, by this point, the contents had truly gone everywhere. Swell UK have sent 3 emails trying to avoid liability and the latest offered a 10% refund only instead of a full refund the damaged goods. I have firmly rejected this and intend to have my card provider initiate a charge back.

I paid £22 inc £10 for delivery of frozen reptile food.
Supposedly next day delivery. Took 5 days and the food was unusable.
Contacted them and was fobbed off with they 'needed pictures' obviously no pictures were taken because the food had already been disposed of.
So, they were unable to help and I've wasted £22
Doesn't look like I'm alone in complaining. Won't use them again. Email was from customer service agent was Lyndsey

I have used Swell several times. Previous orders have arrived quickly and just as described. This time the product was damaged in transit arriving on Christmas Eve. I used Swell’s online messaging to let them know. First morning they were open I had an email confirming they were refunding me in full and 5 mins later I had confirmation it was in my account. So 10/10 to Nathan and colleagues for terrific customer service both when things go well and, importantly, on the odd occasion something goes wrong.

Avoid this company at all costs
Unbelievable incompetence
I’d give -1 star if I could.

I ordered essential food for a new fish on 7 Dec. Courier “damaged” it on the 10th — Swell said they’d reorder. Fine… or so I thought.

By the 18th, still nothing. After DAYS of phone lines being “closed for training,” I finally got through — only to learn the replacement order was never even placed. They reordered again.

On the 22nd, still nothing. I emailed and got a lazy copy-and-paste excuse about “seasonal pressures.” Clearly nobody even read my complaint.

So I called again on 28th when I was told the parcel was “damaged again" previously damaged was reported to me by yodel, so having received zero proof or an email from from Yodel I simply don’t believe it.

The attitude on the phone was flippant and dismissive. I explained repeatedly that this was critical for a new fish — they simply did not care. I paid, chased, waited — and received nothing but flippant attitudes from all!
They are still advertising next-day delivery. In reality? Delays, lies, and no accountability.
Never again.

Poor customer service and unacceptable delivery handling.
I contacted Swell UK to cancel my order due to repeated delivery issues before the parcel was delivered. I received no response, and the order was not cancelled.
The parcel eventually arrived severely damaged, despite containing a very delicate item (aquarium lamp). The packaging was clearly crushed, and Swell UK chose to use DX Express, a courier with ongoing delivery problems.
I have not opened the parcel and requested a return and refund, but I am still waiting for any meaningful response.
Extremely disappointing experience. I would strongly advise Swell UK to reconsider both their customer service standards and their choice of courier, especially for fragile items.As a disabled customer, this situation has caused unnecessary stress.

I don't who the bad reviews have dealt with but I've had a brilliant first experience ordering from Swell. Id ordered from another supplier and was told my order wouldn't arrive until after Christmas. Unfortunately I need my item quick so put an order in with Swell as their prices looked good and they had the item I needed in stock whereas every where else had sold out. I noticed another item I needed so called to see if I could add it to my order. Nathan was more than helpful and even double checked the warehouse to see if the item was definitely in stock. Which they did, the last one. After merging my orders I then had a knock on the door. The company that told me my order was on back order had sent the full order! I then called back to amend my order again and this time Lyndsey was super helpful. Items I didn't need were removed and refund arrived the next day as well as my Yodel delivery of the item I was desperate for. I will 100 % use again and my personal experience with them was fantastic.

Order arrived very late and very damaged, the unit for the aquarium looks like it has been thrown around multiple times I have been trying to organise a return with them for nearly 30 days, will soon be taking to small claims if no resolution as this is getting ridiculous.

We had an issue finding a part for our aquarium pump that broke during maintenance. But thanks to Nathan at swells help in 2 emails he was able to find and sort out delivery of the replacement part at no cost!!

The emails response times were extremely good
Swell and Nathan have helped save our Christmas for our fish

Extremely happy with swell and won't be ordering from anywhere else going forward

Awful customer service. Generic responses, order not received, feel like I’m talking to a brick wall. Don’t waste your time ordering from Swell!

I have used Swell for a good number of years and my experience has always been a positive one. In December 2025 I placed an order online for an Oase biotec filter kit and placed the order at the weekend. On realising that I needed the next model up i sent an email to immediately cancel the order and followed that up with a phone call on the first working day. My experience was a positive one the customer services cancelled and refunded my first order then took the new order and acknowledged my original email. I later received an email from Holly confirming that my new order would be delivered on 12th December. I emailed to arrange an alternative date. Holly responded promptly and arranged a new suitable date with the couriers. In fact Holly responded promptly to all of my emails and my purchase arrived on the agreed date and in good order. I have read the negative responses which if I am honest caused me undue concern, so I decided to post this positive response