After 18 years living in Phnom Penh I returned to Australia on a permanent basis in September 2018.
I received a job offer in Queensland too good to refuse, at 56 years of age any job offer is a job offer too good to refuse.
I still had 5 Harley Davidsons which I decided to sell, for those who don't know me, my name is Murray Heath and I did Harley Tours in Cambodia from around 2006.
The 1st bike I sold to a mate so no problem there. The remaining 4 bikes were to become a big problem. Against my better judgement and despite warnings from friends I did a deal with Steve Wornes of Dyno Tuned. Wornes had been a regular drinking buddy and a "mate" for as long as I'd been in Cambodia. The deal was done when I visited Cambodia in March 2019. He would tidy up and sell the bikes, as each bike sold he would deposit $4000 into my Acleda Bank Account. Wornes was very happy with this deal as he told a couple of mutual friends after I'd left our meeting.
Next time I was in Cambodia was in June 2019, I went to check out the progress on the bikes. All 4 bikes looked great, the oldest bike, my original Heritage Softail Classic, which I had imported from Australia was waiting for a part before being collected. He said it had been sold for 6k and he was keeping the entire 6k to cover his costs for preparing all bikes for sale. Not wanting any sort of confrontation I agreed, foolishly thinking the next 3 bikes would sell soon and I would get my 16k.
I’d been back in Australia for about 5 months when I contacted Wornes regarding the sale (or more correctly the lack of any sale) of my Harleys. He claimed business was slow and nothing was moving. I said I’d put the word out through a few mates and within 2 weeks Id organized the sale of the second Softail for 6k. Wornes said great but demanded the first 2k for himself, (this conversation still remains on my messenger). When I pointed out I would struggle to get my 16k he basically suffered amnesia and was ignoring our deal. Not only was he demanding 2k for the 2nd Softail he now wanted another 2k to release the Dyna and 1.5k to release the Sportster!
On top of the 6k he’d already pocketed he was demanding another 5.5k and he obviously had no intention of selling any of the bikes. Had I paid him the 5.5K he was demanding to release my 3 remaining Harleys on top of the 6k he had already pocketed he would have received $11500! Good money to tidy up 4 bikes!
Here is an extract of our messenger conversation.

I contacted the one mutual friend Colin* who might be able to talk some sense into Wornes. I told Colin I would write about Wornes actions and make sure every expat bike enthusiast knew what he was doing. Reluctantly Wornes released the Softail with no further charge, but he still had 2 bikes that were out of my control. I collected my 6k for the sale directly from the new owner.

I heard nothing further from Wornes. I had heard rumors (and saw an advertisement online on his website) that he was doing Harley Tours. I also heard other rumors that a family member of his had a new Sportster. It wasn’t till I went online in late September 2020 that I discovered Steve Wornes himself also appeared to have a “new” bike, my Dyna (to go with his own Dyna) and this family member had a “new” Sportster. The family member first appeared on his own public facebook page on August 18, 2019, “riding my own bike”. It was pretty obvious why my Harleys would never be sold by Steve Wornes of Dyno Tuned.

Here are 2 Facebook screenshots showing Wornes and his family member enjoying their “new Harleys”.



It was now I devised a plan of action to recover my 2 stolen Harleys. I contacted a mate Brian* in Cambodia and he would contact Wornes under the premise of a deal we were doing. The story was Brian would do some work on my house in Takmau and I would pay him by giving him the Sportster. As Wornes had already given this bike to his family member I knew this “deal” would and could never happen, nonetheless I was very interested in what Wornes would say and do. Surprisingly Wornes said no problem but first I had to pay my account of $945.

And here is that Account from Steve Wornes.

I found it rather bizarre that he was charging me 18 months storage on a bike he had given to his family member over a year earlier! He was also charging me for such things as a new tyre. (I gotta ask how does a tyre go bald on a bike in storage). I don’t think Wornes thought this latest part of his scam through too well. Also I was being charged for forward foot controls that did not exist.
It was now I made my first aggressive act. I told Wornes in the strongest possible way via email that my lawyer would be contacted shortly and if both bikes were not returned in excellent condition legal proceedings would begin immediately to recover 3 bikes. As I never received one cent for the original Softail sale it would be included in my action. I would also do my best to see he was charged with the theft of the bikes. It was a very threatening email. With time differences he awoke to this email, he responded a few hours later telling me I could take the two bikes but demanded a letter from me and a copy of my passport clearing him of any wrong doing.

Another mate Bruce* organized for two of his friends (who I do not actually know) to collect the bikes and ride them to Kampot, finally the bikes were free but first thing I noticed when I asked the guys for photos of bikes was that the new exhaust system on the Dyna was gone and replaced by the original pipes, it appears the 6k Wornes pocketed only included labour and not parts. I contacted Wornes insisting on the return of the pipes.

Wornes than emailed me accusing me of being untrustworthy, attempting extortion etc. etc. etc.
A couple more emails were exchanged with Wornes basically saying in his final email “Can’t we be friends and just move on”.

I then leaked to Wornes a preliminary copy of the photos and documents I intended to post in this article. He then finally showed a little bit of common sense by contacting Colin. Rather than putting his bullshit and lies in writing and online he verbally relayed them to me through Colin. He made it clear that if I post anything online Australian police were aware of my behavior and I would be charged with Cyber bullying amongst other crimes. And now Wornes was claiming not to own Dyno Tuned, and if anything nasty went online the “real owner” would come after me for defamation. The real owner, and apparently his new “partner” was suddenly a rich powerful Khmer!


My Dyna made it from Phnom Penh to Kampot which might have been more good luck than anything. My Dyna was returned to a bike shop in Phnom Penh soon after on a pick up. It seems to have suddenly and for no obvious reason developed serious electrical issues. First they thought it was just a flat battery but it was much more serious it turned out. I forked out $720 for a new regulator, transportation and replacing a lot of burnt out wiring because something suddenly went wrong with the Dyna. Perhaps it’s just coincidence I guess that as soon as both bikes left Dyno Tuned bad things happened. When the Wornes’ “owned” the bikes the photos online suggested no such problems.

The Sportster also back in Phnom Penh had issues which weren’t a problem when Wornses’ family member “owned” this bike. Amongst the problems with it when it arrived at Vannak’s were rear brake issues and a grossly overtightened drive chain which could have caused major issues but hopefully was picked up early enough.
One of the first problems discovered by Vannak was absolutely zero oil in the primary drive housing.

Unfortunately, it was after advice from others in Cambodia that I got the bikes delivered to Vannak’s bike shop. I found out too late that Vannak was mates with Wornes and they obviously shared similar business principles. Using and trusting Vannak turned out to be another mistake. I pressured Vannak to find out where he got the parts so easily and quickly to fix my Dyna. He knew the basic situation with Wornes and I had insisted he not buy any parts off Wornes because chances are I already owned them! Vannak has an annoying habit of answering messenger messages by sending dozens of annoying short voice messages. As soon as I could I paid Vannak (through Bruce) and got my bikes out of there. There are still dozens of voice messages I have never wasted my time listening to. He refused to supply itemised invoices regarding his work for either bike.
.
Over recent times (through Bruce) the Dyna has been sold.
Bruce has done me a great service, obviously after repairs were done my original guaranteed $16000 that I was to receive from Steve Wornes never eventuated. Over $2000 was spent on getting the bikes back to a roadworthy condition I lost thousands of dollars thanks to the behavior of Steve Wornes of Dyno Tuned

To this date I have never received a solitary cent for the sale of my original Softail for which Wornes pocketed $6000.

* Denotes not real name

Unbelievable arrogance...God sees everything

I've heard nothing but bad things about Steve, and this comes from many people who didn't know each other who each dealt with him separately.

Sorry this happened to you but none of it surprises me.

No trouble in 5 years of Steve looking after my bike, I wouldn't trust anyone else in town with it. Just to give some balance.

Have I read this correctly that you didn’t get your original agreement nailed down in writing? I mean for sure this guy sounds like a penis but the lesson for the rest of us should be get your Ts crossed and i’s dotted…

Have you checked out Dara yet? Idk if he could service your Harleys but it's worth a shot, he's always been good on my SL

maybe the wto of you can share info:

ask-the-expats-questions-answers/possib ... 48099.html

I am considering relocating from Canada to Cambodia later this year and will probably buy a large bike, maybe a Harley.
I read this story more than once and need to ask a couple of questions.
1. Is the OP full of shit?
Or
2. Is this typical behavior by an expat businessman?

Lost50 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 24, 2022 7:32 pm 1. I don't know but considering the amount of detail, I'd say no.
2. No & pretty sure you could conclude that yourself, a rather poor question

Re #1: Concur that the OP was a long-term (20+ years) expat of good standing, and is also well-known by many members of this forum.