Do you like outdated high pressure sales tactics, grey moral areas, dealing with lawyers, and…read moregenerally wasting countless hours of your life? Then come on down to Munson Ski and Marine, where you too, can make the worse purchase of your life! I run a boat rental business in California, and we were recently looking to expand our business and purchase another boat. We finally found what looked like the perfect boat on Boat Trader from Munson Ski & Marine. We talked to Marc Biasco, one of the sales associate, over the phone and everything seemed to be perfect about the boat. So I told him I'll drive out to Illinois  over the next couple days, check out the boat, and if it looks good I'll buy it and drive it back. He then proceeds into talking me out of coming to see the boat (since it's so far away) and starts telling me about the "old lady" who's interested in buying the boat. I tell him that's fine, and to sell to the "old lady," even though I had my doubts the "old lady" existed. A couple days later I get a text message from Marc saying the "old lady" didn't end up buying the boat (surprise surprise) and they are willing to take some money off the price. At this point, I have already found another boat in Arizona, which is new and a little more expensive but is way closer to us. I tell Mark this and then he starts sending me long paragraph text messages about how I shouldn't buy the new boat, the brand is low quality, their boat is turnkey ready to go, and a high quality brand. I tell him no, I'm going with the new boat but thanks anyways. I then find out the new boat won't available for three more weeks, which is a problem for our company since the boating season here is so short and we would lose out on 3 weeks of rentals. I call Marc back and inquire if this boat is still available. He tells me it is, but now there's a "fireman" that's there right now and wants to buy the boat. Same selling tactic? Really? Long story short we negotiate the price down a little, arrange for expedited shipping at a premium cost through Uship and buy the boat. Three days later:  The boat arrives. The first thing that the guy who transported the boat says to me is that he had to tell Munson Ski and Marine to take some mussels off from the back of the boat so he could pass state inspection stations on the cross-country drive. BIG RED FLAG. I take the boat to our local inspection station, as required by law, and turns out there are Zebra mussels EVERYWHERE. These mussels are illegal in the whole state of California, dead or alive, and shouldn't even be crossing state lines. The boat gets immediately quarantined for a month and I have to start talking to our local game warden and other local agents about what I need to do to get the boat up to our state's standard. It turns out we will need to cut off the chimes on the side of the pontoons, clean them, unmount the motor, clean that whole mounting area, and the inside of the motor. I get quotes from local shops and they tell me it's going to be $10-20k to get all this done and even after all this, they aren't sure if it will be clean enough to launch in our lake. We reach out to Marc to ask him about last time the boat was in the water and what lake it came from, he says it hasn't been in the water since last fall and it was last in Lake Genova (a lake known for Zebra mussels). He says he reaching out to his boss, Matt Munson, and he should be in contact with me shortly. We get the phone call from Matt Munson, and told him what we learned about the boat he sold us.  Because the shipping company told the dealership about the mussels, Matt Munson was clearly aware of the condition of the boat and that this would be a problem for us in California. We told him that because he was negligent in advising us of a contamination, we wanted our money back. My business partner was kind enough to say we will eat the cost of shipping to California, Munson would just have to ship the boat back to Illinois and give us back our money, no hard feelings. Matt says he has to talk to his Dad about this and he will get back to us shortly. We don't hear anything else from him. I call multiple times over the next couple days and he doesn't reply. Eventually he writes me an email saying he checked with his lawyers and they did nothing wrong. They went to a lawyer first rather than working with us. In reaching out to our own legal counsel, we discovered that we did not have a solid enough case to pursue. That being said, this is morally reprehensible and this business should be held accountable for their shady dealings. We will be contacting the BBB and strongly recommend that other people go somewhere else for their boat purchases.

I just purchased a Mailbu boat from Mike Misch and I would not buy a boat from anyone else. He will…read morego to all lengths to fit you in the right boat in your price range. He is extremely professional and know his products. He actually skies and teaches as well so he understands which boat would best fit your needs. He really does his very best to make you happy and comfortable with your decision making process. He truly is an expert and has worked with Munson for 25 year plus. He is straightforward and super nice. I highly recommend him. Cindy L. Blue Spring Lake WI

I want to share my honest experience with The Boat House Chicago (Bald Knob Rd, Johnsburg). I…read morebought a brand-new boat from them this spring, so I'm not a one-time customer -- which makes how they've handled my older boat all the more frustrating. That older boat went into their shop twice last year, and after the second visit I was told it was fully fixed. It sat in storage over the winter, came out this spring, and again I was assured it was working. When I went to pick it up on May 13th, it barely started and wouldn't stay running. The service team didn't have time to deal with it, and a month went by before I got an answer -- they said it needed a new fuel tank. I asked them directly to run the boat and make sure it would start and stay running, and they promised me it would. They delivered it to my house, and three days later I went to take it out: it wouldn't start, and it wouldn't stay running. Every single time, they say it's fixed. Every single time, it fails. They've serviced it again and again, guaranteed it was resolved, and the boat still doesn't work. Meanwhile it's the boat I'm trying to sell, sitting useless. After buying a new boat from them, I expected to be treated like a valued customer. Instead it feels like once they had the new sale, actually getting my old boat running stopped being a priority. I'd think twice before trusting their service department.

Don and his team were incredibly helpful getting my boat in and taken care of. The Boathouse is a…read morefantastic full-service marina with knowledgeable staff and excellent customer service. In my opinion, it's the best marina on the chain. Everything was handled professionally and efficiently, and I felt confident my boat was in good hands. I'll definitely be returning for future service and highly recommend them to anyone looking for a reliable marina.

Pick up and delivery was so smooth.. Our boat was so secure.. we always worried about any rodents ,…read moregetting dinged up etc.. NOT A PROBLEM with this company! They offered to clean it out if we wanted to in the spring. They pointed out as well a potential problem with a floor board and a mounting bracket that we never noticed before.. attention to detail.. thank you guys!

Fixed my skeeter and winterized it. Fantastic job! Great to do business with. Will definitely use…read morethem again.

Everything! We have had a boat for 53 years. Scott is the best person and repair we have ever…read moreworked with. Recomend him 100 percent !

called for some questions I needed a answers and they were straight to the point for me!read more

As far my experience, having kept my boat here for the last four years, this is a great place for…read morean annual slip as well as over the winter. I think there were some updates in management and they have been treating me really great. I always have something small that I need or requests or whatever it is, it gets handled. I appreciate their attention and care for my boat.

John has always treated his customers with kindness and respect He always would explain what he was…read moreselling and would back it up

I went to Munson ski and was very grateful to have met Jenny, she helped me find a chaparral. She…read morewas really knowledgeable and sweet. She understands that this is a big purchase and made sure that I understood what I was getting into and what all my options were. I was on the fence on different models and brands and she helped me with a side by side comparison so I picked the right one with options that I need. It was a big purchase for me so she wasn't pushy, on the other hand she also welcomed me with open arms and made me feel comfortable since I have had trouble in the past with sales people not wanting to approach me since I don't have the appearance of being rich. She didn't hesitate to greet me and help me out. Later after we made sure that we had the right make and model she introduced me to one of the owners Matt. We sat down and he dialed me in with the price. It was like a no haggle thing since I was shopping and knew what this should cost and he was below anyone else. He was very very helpful and was a pleasure to do business with. This is a family business and they treated me like family. Not only do I recommend Munson to strangers on the internet but would recommend them to my friends and family. All of their boats and products are top notch and they been in the business for like over 60years (I think). So that tells you something right there they would not be around for so long if they didn't know what they were doing and doing things right.

Peter is amazing, made us feel super comfortable and like family. we love our Bennington!!! Thank…read moreyou to Bill for being friendly and easy with my dumb questions. We had a 1000/10 experience with Munson, thank you!

I, my parents, and grandparents have entrusted our boats to Reed's Marine since 1964 and I have…read morenever had a complaint. Moving back "home" from Alaska in 3 years, I will be able to store my current boat myself, but will still use their service department for routine maintenance and an annual detailing. Kirsten has always been friendly and prompt to answer questions. My boat has always been delivered on or before the requested delivery date and hauled out on time as well. Boats are expensive, but I feel that the dollar value they provide is worth the money spent. - Rick from Alaska.

I would like to say thank you to the family at reeds. While…read moreyou made our family feel like family, it was a pleasure to meet and speak with jason owner and Kendall sales. Teresa thank you as well. The atmosphere was friendly and just a overall great experience. Thank you for taking you're time to show us everything we needed to know about the boat we purchased. I would highly recommend stopping in to have a look around . Thank you again. The woodall family.