Might I suggest having the spare dusted for prints. Contact your states DOT and see if you can file a complaint with them, the DOT is to dealers as the IRS is to tax evaders. Contact your lawyer and get some advise from him, at least find out your rights. Last but not least, keep a diary of everything that has gone on. Keep dates and times and what the conversations were about, it could come in handy if it were to go to court.

 

Great minds think alike! I checked ebay and Craigslist the first day I noticed it because I've read in the papers that ebay has become the biggest front for stolen goods.

I didn't see anything.

If the police draw a blank then I'm going to track down the diesel techs at this dealership, every damn one of them, and take a ride past their homes and see if I notice anything.

 

That's good advice.

I'm definitely the type to follow up on this too and contact our local consumer advocates, the local press and the Better Business Bureau. I'm not backing down on this one.

 

Sorry to hear about your misfortune at the dealer. Hopefully, it will be resolved in a timely matter.

Last year, I brought my Cobra in to a dealer who tried to rip me off by adding excessive labor hours to a job that was clearly covered under warranty (A/C compressor went bad). Instead of fixing it under warranty, the service manager tried to claim that I hit something which caused the A/C unit to freeze up. In addition, they even charged for the parts needed on a TSB!!!

I filed a complaint with the department of motor vehicles and got every penny of my money back. Two months later the dealership was out of business.

 

Good luck KC. Don't back down. If they're screwing you, imagine how many they have gotten just like you. Do us proud and let us know what happens

 

dirt bag's like that service writer are "NOT" worth going to the slammer over,btw who is this dealer/stealer and zerox all your paper work and keep the original's in a safe place.

 

I for one would like to see the OP's original window sticker showing the spare as being a additional H-D wheel. I have a '04 H-D and my spare is a 16" steel wheel with a 265/75R16 tire, this is the way the truck came from the factory. It clearly states in the order guide under the H-D package details that this is correct. See link to order guide below.

If Ford would have offered the option to have a extra H-D wheel as the spare, I would have ordered it. But it was not offered from the factory even though it would fit. So either the OP had it installed as a dealer option (which would not show on the widow sticker) or it was never there.


Link to '04 F-250 order guide...

http://www.sunrisefordfleet.com/pdf_files/order_guides/2004/2004%20Super%20Duty%20F-250%20Order%20Guide.pdf

 

My truck was a special order and the window sticker clearly shows, in the option column, an extra Harley Wheel and 18" tire as a spare.

 

the local D.A.

 

Since you tire was replaced with a steel wheel, I don't think you'll find it on ebay. Your H-D wheel probably took the place of an employee's steel wheel on his or his friend's truck.

 

I doubt it. I mean, how would it look if an employee drove to work one day in a Ford pickup with only ONE Harley wheel?

I think this wheel probably ended up in someones garage until the heat blows over or at a flea market. I filed a police report and they are conducting an investigation. I'll wait until the investigation is completed and I'll take it from there.

 

Couple things, and to play devil's advocate...

The news doesn't care about a stolen wheel and tire.

Also, if someone told me I stole something and didn't have any proof other than it was there but now it's gone, why would I pay for it? Turn the situation around and ask yourself if a customer came to you and said something was stolen out of or off of their car while they were at your place of business, would you immediately issue them a check, or would you want additional information, or some kind of "proof" it was related to when they were at your place of business? The dealership has to take your word for it that they are responsible for it being stolen, but why would they accept liability? Based on what? What's to keep anyone from saying something is missing from their truck if a place of business pays for the missing item without proof they are liable?

 

Good argument.

First off, local consumer advocates DO care about consumers getting ripped off, it's their job to identify and publicize the vendors who are thieves.

Second, I DO have proof that it was on the vehicle. I have the original window sticker clearly showing an optional Harley rim/tire provided.

Third, the dealership has a security camera system and the police are now reviewing the tapes. If the tapes cannot account for every minute my truck was in their shop then I will continue my claim. If the tapes shows nothing happened, then I will drop my claim because I won't have a leg to stand on. I would STILL at that point, with all the overwhelming evidence, believe that this dealer swapped/stole my Harley spare. If there is a history of things going missing at this dealer or if any other people have been ripped off then the general public needs to know this. I told the service manager it would behoove him to look into this because one of his employees is a thief and would eventually be stealing from HIM (if he hasn't done so already).

Fourth, I'm a good customer at this dealer. I paid almost $50,000 for this truck and have given them a considerable amount of business in the past 3 years. They know me, they know I'm not a whacko who would make such an outlandish claim. I've tolerated a lot of problems with this truck in 3 years and have not once complained to the dealer about having to bring it in for warranty repairs 30 times in 3 years.

Lastly, as someone who majored in business management in college I know that it will cost the dealer 9 times as much to gain a new customer than to keep an old one. It just makes good business sense to work out an amicable agreement for all parties.

Yes, I'm upset and ****ing PISSED OFF. But if the dealer replaces my Harley spare THAT ONE OF THEIR EMPLOYEES STOLE, then all will be well again.

I don't make false accusations and I NEVER would have levelled this one without being ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE about it.

Thanks!

 

I Agree with "PowerStrokeHD." Even if he did "order" it from the factory w/ a spare H-D Rim it would never happen.FoMoCo doesn't do that, if anything the selling dealership would have ordered one and added it to the deal, in witch you would need the "We owe" from the deal to prove it was on the Truck.To all of us we are hearing one story from one man and i plan on not being bias. I work here at a dealership in parts and i know how these things works. That Rim didn't come on the truck from Ford like that.Your salesmen ordered from a parts counter man who then billed it to your stock# of the truck in witch you later got billed for. Your only way to prove that it was once on the truck is to have the selling paperwork, without it you really have no case and the dealer, the advisor, and even myself (those of us whom have spent many years working for ford) know that the truck never came with that from the factory. Listen i don't mean to **** you off or have you start flaming me i just feel that you should know the facts.

 

"Fourth, I'm a good customer at this dealer. I paid almost $50,000 for this truck and have given them a considerable amount of business in the past 3 years. They know me, they know I'm not a whacko who would make such an outlandish claim. I've tolerated a lot of problems with this truck in 3 years and have not once complained to the dealer about having to bring it in for warranty repairs 30 times in 3 years. "




Doesn't your salesman still work there? Can't the sales department say weather or not it came on the truck or not?