Beware of ZNM Performance in Pompton Lakes NJ

Rob09msport

Major
Oct 28, 2017
1,929
664
0
Monroe CT
Ride
09 335i msport le mans 18 x5
Since I started this thread, I never imagined what was going on in the background with ZNM Performance. It begs the question of how did this happen and how could someone scam so many of us? I am thousands deep in this and continue to ask myself how I got here. I have 20+ years of successful business acumen and experience. I have dealt with plenty of scammers, liars, and all types of fraud over the years. I have seen it all and have never been scammed by anyone…until now.

When you first meet Matt, he represents himself very well. He is very polished and offers a sense of trust and transparency about his business. Take a look at how well written the link below is. This will give you an idea on how well Matt portrays himself and his business when you first meet him.

http://znmperformance.com/about-znm/

My wife and I even had a nice chat with Matt and his girlfriend Elyse during a visit when we were wrapping up all the details before starting. It seemed very legit at this point. It was a few weeks later that I would receive the B.S. call about needing a new head. Matt is a good planner and waited until I was working out of the country to pull it off. Matt is a particularly cunning liar/scammer. He is a master at stall tactic lies and will look you right in the eye as he scams you with no regret whatsoever.

Matt is especially tactful in how he controls customer communication and reviews, both online and on social media. I researched him quite thoroughly end of last year on the forums. There was no negative feedback or reviews that I could find at all. When I started to suspect he was lying to me, I started searching deeper outside the forums. I came across a few negative stories on Yelp reviews that put me in contact with a previous customer of Matt’s who tipped me off. Matt immediately contacted that customer trying everything he could to have him take the review off of Yelp which the customer did not.

When you finally have enough and you confront Matt, he will apologize and he will try to make you think your incident is isolated. He will promise to fix it and make it right for you no matter what it takes. This usually encompasses something very big for free that you did not pay for; or he will tell you he is not charging you any labor for the inconvenience. Big promises! These deals are very attractive, but in the end will only lead to more excuses and deeper bullshit. Eventually his communication will fade. Excuses like “I will send it as soon as I land” or “Sorry I just saw this text” 3 days later will become the norm. His plan is to string you along until the situation just fades away and you give up or you are too embarrassed to post, or just want to move on.

As I said, Matt is very keen and will go to great lengths to keep any negative information from spreading, especially online. When I created the thread, Matt contacted me within hours by sending me the compensation email I referred to in my original post. Funny how he claims he sent it twice over several days and I have received nothing. Funny how this email offer arrived within hours of creating this thread and the first two never were to found. See below.

I’ve sent this twice from my work email to you. Alternatively you could’ve called me saying you haven’t received anything. In any event I have no issue proceeding with this, but not in a manner of having our entire correspondence online. If you’d like to remove it and sign/date the attachment I sent to you and send back to me so we both have copies, I’ll happily proceed with having the form notarized.

According to Matt, once he has the letter notarized, and sends it to me, he will then be forced to pay me back. LOL!!

Interestingly enough, we now jumped from a 3k refund on the turbo kit to $8,900 according to the letter??? Again, Matt is going to take this letter, with my copied signature, to a notary to be notarized, and then send me a copy? I can get $8,900 as long as I sign it, take our correspondence offline, and send it to Matt!!! Well I didn’t bite and we are now up to 15k in restitution per Matt. All I need to do is sign, send the letter to Matt, and remove the thread!!!!

As I said before, great lengths to control online damage. He keeps you on the hook with apologies and promises.....It all seems so genuine. Matt will make this right for me!! 15k!!!!!!

That is how Matt kept feeding the scheme. Madoff style.
You deserve huge amounts of respect for not selling out and turning down that money. If you turning this down turns into you not getting anything back I will personally send you money and help you set up crowd funding with whole story cause you as corny as it's sounds are the definition of a hero.
 
  • Like
Reactions: N54whore

9krpmrx8

Lieutenant
Nov 5, 2016
508
290
0
San Antonio, Texas
Really ? Where were they located ?


Actually, I just went back and looked and it was ZN Performance, a guy named, Xavier neely. So different from this company, but same story guy ripped off a bunch of people in the rotary community under this name and the Mazda "zoom zoom" store and then moved on to the FRS community. Sorry for the confusion, similar name.
 
  • Like
Reactions: N54whore

The Banshee

Corporal
Nov 18, 2017
175
104
0
Lehigh Valley PA
Ride
2008 335xi coupe 6466 MT
You deserve huge amounts of respect for not selling out and turning down that money. If you turning this down turns into you not getting anything back I will personally send you money and help you set up crowd funding with whole story cause you as corny as it's sounds are the definition of a hero.

Thank you for the very kind words and the gracious offer but it isn't necessary. For me, its a moral obligation. Don't get me wrong, I worked hard for every penny Matt Malave stole from me and I deserve to get it all back.

The reality is Matt is broke and I will never get that money or time back. If I did get it back, I would always wonder who's ass it came from. I feel even worse for the locals who are victimized by that shop and never even know it.

I'm an eye for an eye type of guy and in the end it will certainly cost that piece of dog shit more money than he stole from me. ;)
 
Last edited:
  • Agree
Reactions: fmorelli

jsandor91

New Member
Jan 3, 2018
6
1
0
Ride
N54 LCI E90
What money? You mean, like the $100,000 I'm going to offer you for your car?

Filippo

Filippo, This is the shop that has my car. I mentioned to you my n54 motor swap nightmare a while back.



All,

When i have time i will write up my full experience with ZNM / Matt but lets just say he has had my car for 143 days when it should have been 1-2 weeks.
 

fmorelli

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Aug 11, 2017
3,748
3,592
0
57
Virginia
Ride
E89 Z4 35i, F10 535d
Time to find an n54 owning lawyer in New Jersey on our forum .....

Filippo
 

The Banshee

Corporal
Nov 18, 2017
175
104
0
Lehigh Valley PA
Ride
2008 335xi coupe 6466 MT
Filippo, This is the shop that has my car. I mentioned to you my n54 motor swap nightmare a while back.



All,

When i have time i will write up my full experience with ZNM / Matt but lets just say he has had my car for 143 days when it should have been 1-2 weeks.

If he still has your car I suggest you go get it now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: N54whore

Jeffman

Major
Jan 7, 2017
1,618
1
628
0
Time to find an n54 owning lawyer in New Jersey on our forum .....

Filippo
Since Matt is apparently broke and apparently a menace to the community and has apparently committed various acts of fraud, I think the OP should call the assistant attorney general’s office in Passaic County to explain what’s going on.
 

N55xi

New Member
Nov 14, 2018
2
0
0
Ride
2011 E92 335i xDrive 6MT
I spent a lot of money on my 335i at ZNM before realizing the scam he was running. This was last year.

Took the car to him 1 week after I bought it. Car seemed like it had a slipping clutch but quickly realized there was more to it. I wanted to get the opinion of a BMW shop as this was my first BMW.

He looks over the car and tells me I should take it back to dealer and he'd back me up as far as stating what's wrong with the car. But there's a catch. The dealer (Jeep/Dodge dealer) did the brakes before selling the car but according to Matt the brakes were gouged. So I figure if the dealer
couldn't do brakes correctly they likely couldnt fix the rest of what's wrong properly.

So I give Matt the go ahead and he does the service I ask for: clutch/flywheel, brakes, oil pan gasket, axle, wheel bearing and tires. Get the car back and it keeps jerking and stalling out. Take back to him and he says it needs new transmission but wont charge labor. Get the car back after that and everything seems well. Belt started to squeak so I had him "replace" the belt tensioner, pulley, oil filter housing gasket, and front main seal. Squeaking stopped for a week then slowly came back again. Take it back it him and now it's the AC compressor. "Replace" that and it's still squeaking. Now it's the power steering pump. I naively tell him to do that.

Guess what? Still squeaking. To top it off he says the front end of the car looks like it was in an accident. That's what really made realize he was running a scam. I brought that car to him the week after I got it when I could still go after the dealer yet decided to take advantage of me. Matt said I should just get rid of the car. I end up taking the car to the shop my dad got work done on his Camry way back. Just a small time mechanic. He does the belt and tensioner and pulley again. Shows me the belt and the other parts and it's obvious it hasn't been changed. No more squeaking either.

I still have the car and have been doing work myself but I'm in a difficult position now. I just had to replace the oil filter housing gasket again. From my understanding that isn't something that gets changed yearly. I've spent so much money on this car but I can't sell it showing maintenance receipts (nearly $9k) because I don't know for sure if the work Matt billed me for was actually done.
 
Last edited:

fmorelli

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Aug 11, 2017
3,748
3,592
0
57
Virginia
Ride
E89 Z4 35i, F10 535d
I've spent so much money on this car but I can't sell it showing maintenance receipts (nearly $9k) because I don't know for sure if the work Matt billed me for was actually done.
If not did you even replace the tensioner pulley and belt, which an eighth grader could do, it's doubtful that anything else was replaced...

Sorry to hear about your troubles

Filippo
 

STE92

Corporal
Mar 3, 2017
224
83
0
Ride
E92
Dam glad I saw this thread...i was about buy a twin disc from this guy. Smh