nothing stops you from naming both the other customer and the shop as defendants in court
my bet is the cost of replacement bumpers and/or the rechroming is enough to be grand theft
We had a member a few years ago (Bruzilla- RIP) that had a shop switch out his engine and give it to another customer. Even though the employee that did the actual switching IIRC quit or got fired, he ended up getting his engine back.....after the cops got involved.
the Exact same thing happened to me in spring lake NC back in the early 90-s.
i took a 340 duster in for a timing chain and a flexplate swap and did a " dropby" one day and Caught them installing My 340 into a Van.......Yeah.
the vans 318 was sitting Next to my duster and it was Obvious what they were going to do...
lets just say that those 3 guys were terrified because it was a Really small office and i was Really pissed off.
1 small desk and 3 asshats cowering behind it even....
so i called the cops they came and wrote all the vins down and told the guy he had 24 hours to get my motor back into my car running driving and Fixed or They were Going to arrest him for Theft,grand larceny.
he actually got it done and i drove away from there and never went back.
but,just imagine if i Hadnt done a dropby,
how long would it have been before i figured out why my " 340" was suddenly so down on power??
how would i have proven it if i hadnt caught them redhanded?
this,is the dilemma the OP finds himself in now.
all he has is the shops word and no bumpers,
tbh,it doesnt sound like their word is worth a damm.
i wish you the Best of Luck, in this ordeal,because i think you may need it.