The Bugmaniac

Hi,

I ordered from Alain van Vyve several times in time when his company was based in Belgium. Never had any problems. Now I know he moved to Indonesia so I did not order from him in last years due to I prefer deals inside European Union. Anyway last time I visited his website I read that parcels are shipped from France from some preson. But I do not know if Alain is still owner and responsible for orders or anybody else.

Jan

I did an order of bugs from BM just before X-mas & rec'd the parcel just a few days ago... with no problems. Parcel appeared to be shipped out of France...

The following additional comments are strictly my own experiences with Bugmaniac in the last 3-4 yrs. I have had numerous problems with the BM over the yrs.... mostly small, but irritating things like missing specimens, ZERO data on some specimens, missing books, poor quality prints; worst experience was when he first began selling those "art quality" insect prints about 3-4 yrs. ago... I placed 2 orders... the first order arrived & I was absolutely shocked at the poor quality of the prints (BM told me knew of the problem beforehand but tried to pass them off because he said he had been scammed by his printer & had to recoup the $$ loss by making it back from customers... very dishonest business practises. The 2nd order never did show up (he says he shipped the prints with no insurance, tracking). Having said all that... he did return my money (a yr. later after I complained again of the missing 2nd parcel prints) & he did try to correct his mistakes.

I have dealt with many insect suppliers/dealers/ebay sellers/individuals throughout the last 10-12 yrs. & can truthfully say that BM is... by far... the one & only supplier I have had the most problems with... again he does eventually correct his mistakes, but involves numerous emails & unnecessary hassle & time wasted for the customer. The only reason I still take a chance to do business with BM is that he does carry unique specimens unavailable elsewhere...

My experiences only... many others praise him highly... I am always cautious... & again my recent order came through in good time, was complete, & I was satisfied... No problems with giving him a try as he does eventually come through...

John K.

I ordered a couple of times from BM, the last time being last October. The parcel arrived from France and very quickly too. The only problem with BM's material is the collecting data which sometimes is too generic. He should make it a point before buying specimens that unless the collecting data is full, possibly even with coordinates, he shouldn't buy any material. Otherwise the deals with BM are fine.

I had similar problems when buying from him before he moved to Indonesia, sometimes there were quality issues, but I really had to push him for data. I haven't bought anything from him for several years now, as I decided it wasn't worth the hassle, and then virtually stopped buying due to the economic situation the past couple of years or so.

Adam.

I don't think there's ever been any suggestion that he's not honest.

I've not dealt with Alain since he left Belgium, but in several dealings with him before that I had the same sort of experience as everyone else here. His data was not usually very precise and the quality was frequently below what was listed. However, whenever I complained about the quality he was always quick to refund or replace.

Bob

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to be facebook friends with someone calling himself Bugmaniac. He used part of Alain van Vaive's banner and website display on his facebook page (obviously copied), but email was not from Alain. I suspect a scammer pretending to be Alain received your funds. As far as I know Alain has a great reputation as a business man.
Bill Oehlke
Send me a private message with the address to which you sent funds and I will compare it to the one I have for legitimate Alain.
I would not be surprised if more and more scammers will try to pass themselves off as reputable dealers in future. Copying part of legitimate
images, prices and website design may be part of scammer's mo.

I sent information through info@thebugmaniac.com and paid directly to the website through Paypal. Account statement came PAYPAL *RAHMATHASAN». It took 4 days,as they told me that they sent a parcel, but while on the website "Post" information about parcel with my number was not found. Wait , Paypal refund within 45 days after the payment, the time I still have.
Alex