maxwerks

I completely agree with you , there is no questioning that , and I will be the first to say that Vadim's handling of the matter was awefull, BUT if there is another person who is communicative in a better way, without the smoke and mirrors, and is willing to orchestrate a solution...should nt that be considered.. even with what you said being true?

[/QUOTE]Some members here expressed great optimism for the outcome... I take it that these memberse are not the ones that are owed money.[/QUOTE]

Again I truly agree, this post shouldnt invite the " TALKING HEADS " if you know what I mean , thats why I suggested a post that will contain all the people that are IN FACT owed money or parts... as much I appreciate moral support.. frankly I dont need cheerleaders, or opinions except from people in my position or truly and ACTIVELY involved. I for one am one who is owed money and parts.

[/QUOTE]Many have been waiting for over 6-months, some over a year!!!. If anyone here has ever been in the business of collections you will surely know that the longer the debt remains unpaid, the more unlikely that it will ever be unpaid. Collectively, Vadim has burned members for over $50k!

Do you realistically think he will pay that amount back, voluntarily?[/QUOTE]

I am not aware of the details of the financial arrangement has been made between Vadim and Leon....what I do know is that there is someone who says that there is one....and at least it seems he is putting himself on the line.....exploring what the outcome is prudent. IMHO.

None of this will make the bad taste go away, and frankly there is no sugarcoating what took place....( Pig and Lipstick if you remember !!) ..
Bottom line is the money spent and parts owed....whats is best outcome.
Thats it . My best regards,
Max

hooleyboy

There is a "Vadimf" who is a new member as of yesterday. Is this the same person IDK? It worth looking into.

maxwerks

Hooleyboy, you sold those HRE monos before I got to you and for that you will never be forgiven !!!! LOL ( Kidding of course !!)

Karlson

Not bad guys, you started all these legal talks 5 days ago and now someone is afraid and starting to defend himself.

REALA2R

This is a real bummer...you know, it is a travesty that there are a lot of people who have been financially devastated in this economy. If he is doing well still, karma is a *****! I don't know all the facts of this case, but I think the relationships we forge on this board will obviously grow exponentially when (I'll be optimistic) our economy does expand. I don't know any of you personally--I am too busy trying to keep my real estate business afloat. But the one thing I can say is, my honesty and integrity have kept me in business doing what I love still. A quote I live by, "You can have all of the money in the world, but you can't buy class." Now for the catcher...I almost gave Vadim a full tune, throttle body job, header job, I/C pump, H/E, etc. As a newbie who just bought a 2004 E55, I am so grateful for a certain member who tactfully, but ever-so-STRONGLY urged that I re-consider where I do my mods. I am truly grateful ! I don't want to rub salt into the wounds to Vadim, I don't know him personally, but my instincts told me he was by far after my money versus giving me astute advice. Because I will say, he was giving me incorrect info regarding some of our mods--could it be that he didn't offer some of the mods he was discouraging me from buying ?

I look FORWARD to getting together with you guys to your next events--not to change the topic, but when is that?

AZIPOD

I'm glad you saw the red-flags BEFORE you gave him your money.

Believe it or not, Vadim is still taking orders this very minute! What a joke!

LCat

Only reason Vadim answering right now is because he finaly seeing a light at the end of the tonnel and can possably give some meaningful answers to the community.

I'm the one who suggested what now is a time to answer

LCat

1) Even whough Vadim is doing 3 10K+ projects right now he is doing it for previous obligations and he is not making much on them. I would say to the tune of $8-$10 an hour. He woould be in much better financial position if he just walks and works for somebody as an engeneer or even a MB salesperson where he did greate. He is trying to turn thing around then he has an easy way out. And trust me then my leagal advisor looked at his situation he sad - "dump everything and walk"

2) I'm very suprised because in the past - even as recent as 2 month ago he have steered me away from some of his products towards some other things which are more applicable in my situation and allways gave me a very sound engeneering advise. Hi might be a bad buisnesman and might not have a level of responsability to stay on top of all of his commitments but In many years of knowing him I've never seen him compromising his integrity as an engeneer - moreover I firmly belive that it's a main thing hi prides himself on and that's what helping him to pull togetherr in a VERY dificult times for him

Also it was a comment before what Vadim has defrauded community to the tune of over $50K

I was going over this numbers with Vadim in late November and revisited them 2 days ago. Since I'm the one trying to help him to make things right I doubt he would try to make this numbers smaller. From what I'm seeing total ammount of money outstanding to varios parties(and some of it is questionable) is about 3 times smaller than a $50K number quoted.

If Vadim was trying to deliberatly defraud community this numbers could have been in the high 100Ks

Again - if you personaly think you have an outstanding isuue with Vadim please contact me and if it's possable I will do my best to solve it for you

My phone number is 516-551-4213
Email is leonr@hotmail.com

maxwerks

First , I strongly suggest that we limit the comments and opinions from members that are not owed money or parts. Not that your opinions dont matter, but frankly , the priority should be for the people owed money and/or parts, afterall the thread is addressed to them.

Second , to the wronged members , all I can suggest is to do in fact contact Leon ( LCat ) individually or collectively, and pursue that at least as an option. I am not in a position to tell anyone that it will be resolved or to what degree , as it is not my position to do so , but also , I am sure the cases vary quite a bit. However, I think it is prudent to take him up on his offer and pursue a resolution with him.
As for me, I in fact enjoyed speaking to Leon on the phone, he was quite courteous and realistic. I CHOSE to compromise on my claim before he even suggested that I do, I did that because we are ultimately enthusiasts dealing with a hobby, my wife would be the first to call it a rather illogical expensive hobby !!! I am not dealing with the daily driver the one I use to take my kids around, or make a living of of it ..it is my hobby car. BUT even despite that, I was never willing to back down from what I believe was an extremely ILL HANDLED transaction . In that context, I chose to SUGGEST the slight compromise as a good gesture to Vadim and Leon, but in return I needed my refund . Next morning Leon made good on his agreement with me .

For me , and as I said before, it was never about hurting anyone , ...that to me accomplishes nothing...having spoken to Vadim for a long time, and even when I threatened to take legal action, part of me was still wondering if his actions were in fact malicious or just simply bad business man as suggested. I still dont know that for sure... but I personally would rather err as opposed to knowing later that I hurt someone who made a mistake. I do not expect for anyone to follow my lead or accept any compromises.. I do urge the rest of the members to concentrate on what truly matters, what is the bottom line , and at least give the communication with Leon a chance and at least see what it leads to. As I said my matter is in fact resolved and I am satisfied... I wish you all the same, I am available for anyone should they need to contact me .. by PM, email or phone...
Best Regards,
Max

AMGSC

How do you know that? Is he taking orders or taking payments before shipping parts. There is a difference. If the latter, I woud recommend COD only or go elsewhere until his finances and solvency gets sorted out.

LCat

So nobody else feels like they have anything outstanding from Vadim?
So far only Max have reached out to me and I was able to take care of his problem. Again - if you feel you have an outstanding isuue with Vadim (not VRP) please contact me and I will try to reasolv it.

CWW

This really isn't hard to figure out...

Let's say you're worth $500MM and $450MM of it's invested with Bernie Madoff. One day you run into him on the 18th hole, burying duffel bags of cash or whatever the fukk else he did with everyone's money, and muttering that his hedge fund only has $100MM left in it. Obviously you just realized at that moment that it's a ponzi.

So what do you do? If you run around telling everyone, then the money will surely stop flowing into Bernie's door, and you've got no chance of ever seeing your money again. But if you shut your trap, or even better if you smooth things over when others badmouth him, then it just might keep on rolling long enough for him to pay you back with money from new suckers.

Same thing's going on here, but on a smaller scale. Obviously a pile of people have paid for stuff, but the money's already been spent and there are no funds left to deliver the goods. Whether the people who paid in January ever see their parts or money again depends entirely on new suckers walking in the door in February.

The guy's obviously figured out what's up, since he was the first to blow the whistle. Then he calmed down, and now he's trying to let the whole thing limp along long enough for him to get his money back or his project finished. Understandable? Yes. Unethical? Highly.

Crescendo

I enjoyed reading this post.
+1

AZIPOD

+1000!

Perfect explanation as to why Vadim is still taking orders today. And by taking orders, I mean he is collecting payment, not simply writing your name down on a piece of paper noting that you're interested! duur!

I say again, the one clear example was Vadim's summer blowout special! He posted excellent prices but only to lower them some more when you contacted him to inquire further. It was most likely an attempt to generate more cash to pay off his existing debts. Did anyone ever even get their parts from this scam.... uh, I 'meant blow out special?

jangy

HAH!! He had me borrow $5k to loan to him as a friend for one week. I am still paying off the interest so please add that to your list. We won't even get into the thousands of dollars in damages that will also be sought.


LCat:
If this is really a deal you want in on, then you have to be clear on who the claimants are and for what. You also need to know the history of the few people still vouching for him. It is all public knowledge and I assume you would do your legal due diligence before getting involved. This is in no way a threat but any good business man knows to check into the liability associated with a new venture.

We have begun actions, so you may be a bit late in this thread. There are many more that he owes parts, labor to that did not meet the "fraudulent" aspect of this so they are taking their own action or none at all. Might I suggest that you begin an new thread and reach out to them there? As I said, there are many, and they can likely be satiated with more promises of labor.

CWW

What else can I say? Sorry to hear about your loss, Jangy.



From this point on, moving forward, LET THERE BE NO ARGUMENT, anyone who puts money into this thing, does so KNOWING that *ahem* "it is what it is"

maxwerks

Jangy I am really sorry to hear of this , if there is anything I can do please let me know.

As for other tuners/ suppliers... I cant help but think of one experience, I bought my crank pulley from Omey ( AMS ) when there was plenty of controversy surrounding
the pulley and some major attacks on him on the forums....I read all of them.. the pulley didnt fit perfect and my installer didnt want to file it himself...it took less than
a day for Omey to get back to me offering me a new pulley... almost instant emails and responses.. I ended up filing the key slot myself , had it installed , been working perfectly ever since ( Knock on Wood !!!) ,point of this .. wether it fit or not... it was Omey's response that I will never forget and will always appreciate. we are not dealing with Renntech or Brabus here.. we are dealing with small tuners/ mechanics/ mainly enthusiasts, who are setting up a small venture..I am all for supporting that .. but what remains paramount is the way they deal with us the buyers.

AMGSC

I too want to hear from people OTHER than Maxwerks and Jangy who are actually owed money or parts! I am still investigating if the $5,200 I paid for my transmission upgrade was ever performed. I asked for the old tranny parts numerous times and he's failed to give them to me. I asked again tonight and he tells me that it may still be at the Powerchip facility or thrown out. If I don't get those old transmission parts then I would seriously question if the upgrade WAS EVER performed. I am taking my car to Renntech or Evosport for a thorough inspection to verify that everything that I paid for were in fact installed. I also tried contacting Wayne@LET to verify that he did in fact sell Vadim a HSTC for my car but never got a response after REPEATED PMs. I know the major tuner shops will know how to determine if the HSTC was stock or a high stall conversion which cost me $1100. I just hope that I was not ripped off for $6,300. Plus the fact that I paid $2K for a tune that I never got from Powerchip so I had to pay another $1K to Kleemann for.

I know I got ripped for $2K since Powerchip refused to tune my car after Vadim took my money. Now I just need to verify if the tranny and HSTC was a scam too! If Evosport or Renntech can prove that the tranny and HSTC WERE upgraded then I will post the confirmation here. BUT I still got jacked for $2K for the ECU tune that never happened. The car only makes 420whp right now after 1-1/2 yrs in his shop. After all this money spent the car makes LESS hp than with two damaged pistons. If I knew in advance he didn't know how to tune it, then I would have sold the car rather than dump more money into it!!! Terribly dissapointed customer up to this point!

I was promised a dyno chart today and a video of the dyno but was just told he did not have a camera/camcorder and that his computer caught a virus. I really don't know what to believe.

Zod

man.....gl, u have been through enough i feel...u might be the icing on the cake for this law case, if all your parts are stock.

best of luck!

jturkel

Vadim is a crook. he owed me money for 6 months, after sending me an unfinished product i was supposed to install on my car....after tons of PMs, emails, phone calls, and threats, thank god he paid me back (it was after threatening to post all over mbworld)

jangy

Hey, like I said before. This is now a matter of principle. that is why there is no argument from my side. If this action saves one person, then it is worthwhile. Ideally, we want to stop the cycle but I'll take anything we can get...

jangy

I dunno why Robert is turning now, other than maybe his work is finally done?

While his journey has been heart tearing, it has nothing to do with the complants I have.

loungn14

wayne doesnt work for LET anymore, could be why the pms are not replied to...

SLK55R

If Renntech touches your car ... they must be on crack.

jangy

Just replied to a PM from LCat. He seems cool, but the song and dance is the same just with a new partner. I won't violate the TOU by posting a quote of a quote, but Vadim is clearly still denying the truth. What he forgets is that the information is all here. Since LCat already knows the amounts and dates that VADIM claims, why not do the searches to see just what "work" was done on my car since that time? I posted EVERYTHING about my build, good and bad, so it is there.

LCat: I appreciate the attempt but I am more riled up than ever. You need to either step up and mediate or step out. Being his new voice is gonna get you burned and for what? There is only one way to save face and have people accept that much of this is due to timing, luck, bad business savvy, etc. But what you are missing is that all of thos scenarios imply that Vadim was simply a victim of circumstance. If that were so, then why would he be lying about the people he stuck? No disrespect, but we aren't SHO people. I sued my neighbor for having his tree in my yard. You really think I won't force Vadim to stop making an easy leaving while he is still living a lie? Tell him to look in his son's eye and tell him the same. I told Vadim before. I used my son's savings to pay off the loan. What kind of man would I be to let that slide?

This thread is long enough as is and we have all of the input needed. Good luck to all and we will be telling some CRAZY MHP / VRP / Vadim stories very soon......