Helmut's Marine Praise from a satisfied customer!

To Volvo Penta:

I would like to congratulate you on the quality service that was provided to us by Helmut’s Marine. Roughly 4 weeks ago I had the boat at a local yard to do some fiberglass and gel coat work. Before getting to the yard I had booked Helmut’s to come look at the engines and inspect a crankcase pressure alarm that had gone off. Upon arrival at the yard and after reading the yard agreement I noticed that all outside contractors had to be approved before they could enter so I called the manager to let him know I had planned for Helmut’s Marine to come look at my engines; he told me that they were a Volvo dealer and they don’t allow other dealers onsite unless it’s warranty work from that particular dealer. So because the problem I was having was not caused by Helmut’s I canceled the appointment with them.

I eventually took the boat out on a sea trial with the yard's Volvo technician and after about 7-9 minutes at 2300rpm the engine lost RPM with no warning and started to pump oil out the turbo. The technician was sitting next to the engine when it happened. After returning to the dock I talked to the manager. He said he would have to open another claim on the engine and then wait to see what Volvo would say. This made me very nervous because in all my dealings with Volvo through Helmut’s there was never a question on any warranty issues they just took care of the problem. I’m not suggesting in any way that that yard would not have been able to do this job, from what I saw the technician was more than capable to do it. I was just concerned about getting billed because I was charged $800 for the sea trial (I still have not been reimbursed). I know if Helmut did the sea trial I would not have had any out of pocket expenses. I decided to get out of the yard and took the boat straight to Helmut’s Marine.

Larry was assigned the job and he was very methodical and professional in his diagnosis of the engine, as you are aware this process is very time consuming but critical in finding the problem. Once it was figured out that the engine was bad we knew it was going to be a big job, right from the start you could see the best way to do it was remove the engine from the boat. I honestly believe this saved at least an additional weeks work. The way they pulled it out and put it back in was exceptional with no damage to anything. If you look at the boat now it looks in better condition than when they started.

I have been in the yachting industry for 12 years as a Chief Engineer on 50 meter (165ft) plus vessels. I hold a Y 1 chief engineer license and a Master Class 5 captains license. For the past year and a half have I been captaining this small 54ft Viking sports cruiser. Over the years I’ve dealt with warranty issues with Caterpillar, Northern lights and MTU. The experience I just went through with Volvo was by far the best, stress free and professional. I can’t thank you enough for keeping companies like Helmut’s Marine at the forefront of your dealerships. As far as I’m concerned Volvo is number 1. When we bought the boat we had a choice between Volvo or Caterpillar. We are so happy we decided to go with Volvo. Sincerely one very happy customer.

Cheers,

Laurence Dickinson
Captain
Elan

P.S I have to also mention that Helmut, Larry, Dave, Jeff, and Ode all make a great Volvo team because removing and replacing the engine was a big team effort, it was all hands on deck!