HALLBERG MARINE INC

We worked with Brian Nelson on the sale he was great not high pressure, let us look and decide on our own. At first we purchased a Bennington nine passenger then the next day we decided to upgrade to a Premier Twelve passenger. No problem Brian took care of all the revised paper work and the sale was complete. They said delivery would be in two weeks and it was three days early. Two days after receiving the pontoon there was a problem as it would simply stop and it may or may not start again. I called Tammy in service & talked to Austin at 4:30 on a Thursday afternoon, explained the problem and told them that we were expecting company on the weekend and wanted the problem fixed by Friday PM. The pontoon was at our cabin about seventy miles away. On Friday morning Cole called from the shop and said that he would be at our cabin by noon on Friday. He found a bad connection related to the ground wire to the block which he repaired and double checked all of the rigging for other problems. My experience with Hallberg service was five star, responsive and professional with excellent results. Duane Pederson, Cumberland WI Wisconsin

Jean the owner was extremely rude on the phone today and overcharged us. Horrible and sometimes they run late. I would not use them again.

They could not tell me how long it would take to service,or how much it would cost. there web site says indoor Storage for Service Customers Bring your boat in for service in the summer months and it will be stored indoors before and after we repair it at no additional charge to you. Not every dealer can say that. Just one more thing we do to set us apart. they left it outside for 8 days through 4 rainstorms with no cover. Never again

Boat had damage after the storage. I will not use them again, this the 2nd year in a row the boat had damage. see photo for one example

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We were called back to Hallberg about 2 weeks after the purchase and told they needed more paper work. We brought in all of the things the sales man said we needed. This morning we got a call this morning from the folks who are keeping our boat - a 5 hour drive from home - that the game warden ticketed the pontoon for not having a current decal. We called Hallberg and asked when we should expect the needed decal. They replied that we had not delivered all of the paperwork and they would not send in to the state until they got what they wanted. We had no idea we were missing any of the paperwork, they had not told us. We are going through channels to get what they want, (trailer title), but this takes time. We have to wait for this and Hallberg will not send the paper work to the state until they receive the trailer title. Mean while, the game warden is ticketing US for something that is Hallbergs fault.

Good, but after taking it out on a test drive, noticed it was sluggish; now it's back in there shop to have it checked out.

He turned out and leased the boat that I had paid for, and everything was under my name, but he sold it because the other person was financing. He kept $900 for the commission for the boat that I didn't have. I went down there, and the boat was gone. I would tell people to stay away from him, he is a crook. They will say anything to make a sale. I paid them half one day, and then I came back the next day, and paid him the remainder, they were supposed to deliver it, then he said that they don't deliver. Everybody was coming down for the 4th of July, and it was planned, but he sold the boat to another party, and the only way I could get my money, was if I bought another boat from him. They have an excellent product, but the salesman and the owner are crooked. I wound up taking him to court, and it wasn't professional. He sold stolen property, because I had paid for it. I have talked to several people, and they have had bad experiences with him as well.

Hallberg Marine winterized my boat incorrectly causing a hairline fracture in the intake manifold, which then led to getting water in the oil and a damaged long block after running the boat for a few minutes.  Although they did admit fault and fixed the issue they would not give me my money back for the winterization and spring startup services and were also unwilling to pay me for my other losses (boat rentals, not being able to use it all of July, etc).  The boat was in their shop from July 6th ? August 2nd.  See below for more details.
When this first happened (on June 30th, beginning of a week long vacation at the lake) I called a couple local shops and they both said it was almost certainly caused by a winterization issue and said I should bring it back to Hallberg.  After I returned home I brought the boat back to Hallberg and after looking at it they tried to charge me $6500 to replace the damaged long block, claiming there was no water in the oil.  When I asked how the damage could happen they didn't give a clear answer but did allow me to speak directly with the mechanic.  After doing some of my own research to better understand the issue I talked to him and he was actually very honest and said it could have been caused by a hairline fracture but it would take a bit of labor to get to the intake manifold and inspect it.  I then talked to the service manager who said they would take a look but if no damage was found on the intake manifold I would be charged for the labor to inspect it.  I decided to let them go ahead.  To my surprise they did come back, admitted fault and said they would take care of the damage.  The day before I picked it up I talked to the mechanic at the shop and he took me back and showed me the cracked intake manifold and explained that the boat was not level enough during the winterization process so the anti-freeze didn't get where it needed to be, leaving water in there and cracking over the winter.
The next day when I picked the boat up I asked for my money back for the winterization and spring startup that they performed and I was told I needed to talk to the service manager.  By this time I was very frustrated with Hallberg and decided to not only ask for my money back but also requested compensation for my other losses.  I was told by the service manager that I needed to talk directly with the owner of the company (he would not do this for me).  I then talked with the owner who decided to blame me for the cracked intake manifold and damaged block (claimed it was caused by freezing nights and late ice outs in northern Minnesota lakes after I picked it up on May 17th) and recommended I consider reimbursing Hallberg.  Although the boat was stored in my insulated garage from May 17th ? June 29th and his own service department admitted fault I decided to check weather history and found that the lowest temp recorded (according to wunderground.com) in the county I live in from May 17th ? July 6th was 37 degrees on May 24th.
I highly recommend NOT going to Hallberg marine for any service work needed on your boat.  Since this happened I've told my story to friends and family and have found that others have also had bad experiences dealing with this company.

Hallberg Marine do a fine job.
It is convenient as they allow me to use their trailer so that I can come and pick up my boat in their trailer. I get the use of their trailer twice. They do everything on time and their work seems to be of good quality.

They are very professional. It has been nothing but a good experience.

When they do the service, they do everything that we talked about or what needs to be done. They do it at a fair price and it always come in either at the estimate or below the estimate; which is good. Their prices have been pretty steady as far as any increase in the last 3 years is concerned. Even though they have got so many units that they store, we just have to give them a 3-day notification when we would like to take our pontoon out and they will have the pontoon ready to go either on the pontoon trailer that we rent from them or they have a location where we can bring our pontoon trailer to them.