Most people that follow what we do will know all about the on going issues we have with the company Carbostuff Engineering, and the proprietor Dominik Bahn.
After months and months of problems, and excuse after excuse, it was time to make some decisions regarding getting back our money that had been paid to him some 14 months previously, we know that a lot of carbon parts are bespoke, but 14 months worth of excuses had taken its toll, so the VAD crew along with our good friends over at Amber Performance, who happens to be in the same position as we are, which is basically handing over wads of cash and no sign of any parts.
With the date set, and channel crossing booked it was time to hit the road, and what better way to test the awesome new Amber Performance / JW Racing Fiesta ST than a European 1400 mile round trip, and the car didn’t disappoint with its Amber Performance 270 bhp stage 2 upgrade consisting ECU enhancements, air filters, intercooler, blow off valve, exhaust, 18” wheels, all finished off with some carbon styling additions to the bonnet, sills, wing mirrors, & rear hatch spoiler, this little pocket rocket looks as good as it goes.
With the crossing done and on French soil, it took us just over eight hours to drive through France, Holland, Belgium into Germany, with Neumunster being at the top end of Germany, by Hamburg, so not too far away from the border of Denmark, well it would be would it.
The first point of call was the most obvious, Segeberger Str. 76 24539 Neumünster as it’s the one Carbostuff use on all of their headed paperwork and on all email address signatures, but as you can see by the pictures attached, this is merely a lock up garage, where you could just about store a car, so no company, no house, no business and certainly no manufacturing of carbon parts.
Our next point of call was the address we had from the domain name registration for the company www.carbostuff.com Hermannus-Mueller-Weg 1c, Neumuenster, 24536, Germany, again as you can see by the attached picture, is a small house with no one coming or going, and no one there at any time we made a visit, certainly not the home of the illusive Dominik Bahn.
Our last point of call before we called it a night after our non stop eleven hour drive from door to door, was an address we happened to stumble across paperwork that had been sent to us, with an address we didn’t have, and as far as we are aware, it isn’t listed anywhere, Rudolf-Diesel-Str. 7a 24536 Neumünster … BINGO! We hit the jackpot, outside these premises to confirm this was indeed where Mr Bahn and Carbostuff trade from, was the letter box with Carbostuff Engineering label and looking through the window confirmed we had found the base, unfortunately it was late, so all locked up, but we planned a visit first thing the next morning.
We gave Dominik the benefit of the doubt, and called him on the evening when we got back to our hotel, we told him we were in town and would like to catch up, he read every me whats app message which he ignored along with our calls, were we surprised, not really, in hind sight it wasn’t such a great idea, as we now knew what we are dealing with, a conniving coward, who is very, very good at what he does, which is to prey on people around the world, obtaining money by deception.
We arrived at the Carbostuff head quarters the next morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed and low and behold it was all locked up, we waited a few hours and even drove back to the previous address we had already been to, but to no avail, he simply didn’t show, and didn’t open, so obvious there is no business operating from these premises, if there was and it was busy as he had always stated, then how can you shut down a business operation for 3 days.
With Dominik deciding to keep a low profile, and taking the choice to ignore the fact we had driven the best part of 700 miles to see him, to merely discuss our options on the parts or refunding us, we were left with no other choice to find the local German Police station, and to say they were helpful was an understatement, they referred us to the local Crime squad who took our statement and were fantastic, it’s amazing what we were informed, but unfortunately can’t discuss, what we can say is they now have a photograph, Vehicle Licence plate and 3 address, along with all of our evidence, and although it doesn’t help us get the funds back, it pleases us to know that this is a criminal offence and they have taken it very seriously. So this along with working with a fantastic Lawyer, that specialises in criminal activity, we are on the way to hopefully getting this guy to court, and with what we have found out over the last couple of weeks, it’s quite a simple process and very inexpensive getting this process into the German court system, our funds reimbursed and we can then move on from this complete farce.
On a more pleasant note the Amber-Performance Fiesta ST 270 Performed effortlessly, and we must admit to being quite taken back how good this little pocket rocket really is, Amber through their sister company JW Racing have done an incredible getting 270 usable BHP from this little 1.6 turbo charged engine. the chassis is also worth a mention, with a full load and the coilover suspension was very good, it felt beautifully balanced sitting on its 18" wheels and 215/35R18 tyres, quite an incredible achievement. With all of the other tasteful mods it make for one very special little car, we can't wait to see what they do with their new 2016 Ford RS Focus MK3 that they have just taken delivery of, watch this space as we also get involved with this one, assisting on the wheel side of the enhancement upgrade package, for the ultimate RS upgrades in the UK, visit the guys at Amber Performance / JW Racing and tell them the VAD crew sent you.
For any details on any of the discussed upgrades for the Fiesta ST, The all new Ford Mustang or the up and coming RS Focus MK3 contact the sales team.