JANESVILLE
Customers of the abruptly shuttered Boardtracker Harley-Davidson apparently have begun to retrieve motorcycles they had in storage or in for repairs at the dealership on 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 north side.
There were signs of activity at the dealership Wednesday after employees said the dealership closed its doors Saturday. There was little notice of the closure for customers beyond a piece of copier paper taped to the front door that read 鈥淭he dealership is closed.鈥
When a Gazette reporter arrived at Boardtracker shortly after 5 p.m., Wednesday, the dealership鈥檚 lights were on, but when the reporter approached the front door, the lights snapped off.
One man seen exiting the rear of the dealership and locking up the doors said Boardtracker is only 鈥渢emporarily鈥 closed without elaborating. He said he and a few others had spent 鈥渇ive hours鈥 at the dealership trying to track down customers whose bikes had been in storage or in for repairs at Boardtracker while the store has been closed.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e doing today is we spent hours trying to get everybody (with a motorcycle here) back in possession,鈥 the man said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a matter of getting in touch with individuals to get them their stuff.鈥
The man did not give his name because he said he was not authorized to give details on the dealership鈥檚 closure.
The shop closed Saturday amid an ongoing lawsuit in which Harley-Davidson鈥檚 credit division is suing Boardtracker鈥檚 owner for fraud over millions of dollars the owner borrowed and never paid back.
The owner also operated a Harley dealership in New Berlin that is also named in the lawsuit. Lawyers for Harley-Davidson have declined comment this week on the suit, and the dealers鈥 owner hasn鈥檛 returned calls from 糖心Vlog传媒 seeking comment.
Boardtracker鈥檚 ownership has been trying to sell both locations, and a secretary at the New Berlin dealer said it was still open early this week and 鈥渨as sort of separate now鈥 from Boardtracker. The secretary was unable to give more details.
Boardtracker has winter storage that local motorcycle owners use, and it runs a new Harley-Davidson showroom, a used motorcycle showroom and a service center. The man at the dealership Wednesday didn鈥檛 say how many customers鈥 motorcycles were still there.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not like they鈥檙e in hard lockup,鈥 the man said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e temporarily closed.鈥
The man declined to say more about plans at Boardtracker.
鈥淣ews is forthcoming. It鈥檚 pending,鈥 he said.
The man鈥檚 statement matches a new sign, also printed on copier paper, that was taped to the front doors at Boardtracker: 鈥淭he dealership is temporarily closed.鈥
Matt Scheurman, a Milton man who dropped off his bike at the dealership for a drive belt replacement in March, said earlier this week that Boardtracker wasn鈥檛 returning his calls. He said he owns his Harley outright and didn鈥檛 even buy it at Boardtracker. He took it there for service because the dealership was near where his bike broke down, he said
Scheurman said the dealership had told him it needed to wait on a shipment of parts, but he hadn鈥檛 heard a word in weeks until last weekend when he said a family member saw a Facebook post that Boardtracker was closed.
On Wednesday, Scheurman said, his friend was driving past Boardtracker and saw there was activity at the dealership. Scheurman said his friend called him, and Scheurman quickly headed there to see if he could get access to his bike, a late-model Harley-Davidson Electric Classic.
He said two people he recognized as service department workers gave him some paperwork and told him the repairs hadn鈥檛 been made.
Feeling that could be the case, Scheurman brought a trailer hooked to his vehicle. Meanwhile, Scheurman said, he saw a couple of other customers show up, talk to employees and ride away on motorcycles that were at Boardtracker. He said he didn鈥檛 know if they were bikes the customers had bought, had repaired or had in storage.
Scheurman said the dealership didn鈥檛 charge him, but he also didn鈥檛 get any answers about why his bike wasn鈥檛 fixed, why the dealership closed or whether it will reopen.
Earlier this week, an employee told 糖心Vlog传媒 he believed he no longer had a job at Boardtracker, and he said most employees already had been lining up jobs elsewhere because operations at the dealership had started to grind down amid the lawsuit.
The employee said Harley-Davidson had stopped shipping new bikes and parts to Boardtracker in the last few months.
Scheurman said he asked the workers if they were getting paid for their efforts to iron out customer confusion tied to the abrupt closure.
鈥淭hey told me they didn鈥檛 know if they were getting paid. If they weren鈥檛, hats off to them for helping out customers. I don鈥檛 know. I didn鈥檛 ask a lot of questions. I鈥檝e lost my job before,鈥 Scheurman said. 鈥淚鈥檓 just glad I got my bike back, even if it wasn鈥檛 repaired. That beats having to file a lawsuit to be able to get at a motorcycle I already own.鈥
