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June 2024 by Jim Maletich
Immaculate repair at a fair price. I also really appreciate your willingness to text and communicate clearly. Thanks Bill!
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May 2024 by Rebecca Coughlin
If only I could give a 0 star rating…. Please never bring your boat here
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May 2024 by Justin Coughlin
BEWARE!! This was by far the worst, most unbelievable experience I have ever had with a business. I took my boat to Billy at Bottoms Up Boat Repair in April of 2024 for some gel coat work. He seemed very knowledgeable and friendly. I was happy with the quote and hired him for the job. During our conversation, I asked if he does interior detailing as well and he said no but his neighbor next door named, Abraham, does and he would recommend I hire him for the interior detail to make my life easier because my boat is already there. The next day I call Abraham and hire him for the interior detail. Couple days later, Abraham texted me that the boat is finished and asked me to pay. Since I live an hour away I asked him if it was ok if I pay him when Billy is done with my boat in a couple weeks. He said that was fine. 5 days later, I politely texted Billy asking if he can check to see if the poles on my boat are taught because we got some heavy rain and he said yes.
The next day, I get a call from Billy and I wish I had it recorded... He was literally screaming at me over the phone accusing me of not paying his neighbor. I explained that I had spoken with Abraham and he was ok with me paying when Billy was done with his work in a couple weeks due to me living an hour away. Billy screamed, "you didn't ask him, you told him you'll pay him then and that's unacceptable. We are two separate businesses, if I refer you to someone I expect you to pay right away and by the way, I don't pick up poles in boats. You come out here and fix your poles." Now, I can't type as aggressively as he was screaming these words and there was more than that I can't even recall because I was in total shock he was screaming at me about something that wasn't even a problem. I said, "Billy, dude why are you yelling so agressively? I'll pay the guy today, I don't care, I just didn't yet because he said he was fine with me paying when I come pick it up in a couple weeks." He again yelled "pay him today" and hung up on me.
Meanwhile, I am supposed to still get this gelcoat work done by this guy?! I took off work early to pay Abraham and pick up my boat because I don't know what this crazy guy is going to do to it. Thankfully, Billy wasn't there when I showed up - it could have easily gotten ugly. My wife and I opened the cover just to make sure the interior was in fact detailed before paying - just to find out the upholstery was still dirty, seadek had dirt/footprint, dirt in the crevices - not what I paid for. Spoke with Abraham about it and settled on the cost of service due to my disappointment. No knock on Abraham whatsoever - this post is strictly about Billy. He was next to Billy when he called/yelling at me so I asked him about it and he even said Billy causes a lot of problems and yells at customers often and has lost some marina's business due to berating customers in the past. I have never had someone talk to me the way that he did. Can't believe there aren't any other bad reviews on here. Can't believe he is still in business. Honestly hope this review will help fix the way he talks with customers.
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April 2024 by William Brandt
I had a older Ranger boat with a lot of rock damage Decision was to put money into repairs or sell as is .Agreed on a time and drove 1.5 hrs up to their location after getting a run around locally with marinas. boat dealers in my area .Met the owner who took one look and said its too cost prohibitive to repair. Sell it as is as Rangers hold there value even with gel coat damage Wanted a honest opinion and got it plain and simple and No B.S or gold digging . Honest opinion is what i asked for and got from a professional. I would go out of my way to use this business for repairs in the future
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April 2024 by Andrew Mironov
I am an actual customer of this business. I have paid to use their services and have seen the quality of their work firsthand. I don’t go around slandering local businesses without ever having spent a dime at them solely because I didn’t get my way. Only an immature and vindictive person would do something like that. Billy at Bottom’s Up Boat Repair has always been fair and up front with me anytime I’ve reached out to him or worked with him to fix my boats. He does fantastic fiberglass work to the point where it looks like factory new when he’s done. You can see photos of my boat’s hull before and after repairs to see what I mean. He also does great work with insurance and helped me get the insurance adjusters to see the true value of damages to my lower unit that needed to be covered. Simply put, I trust Bottoms Up with any of my boat repairs and Billy does great work.
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April 2024 by David
Bottoms Up Boat Repair in Johnsburg does fine work. Billy winterized my boat and provided me an estimate for other recommended repairs once he had my vessel at his shop. He provides pictures and status via text and always responds to my messages. I am bringing my boat back to him for additional work and will continue to be customer of his business for years to come.
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April 2024 by Wildtimes forlife
Bought a boat and didn't realize the rear deck had not been latched, so it came off on the highway. Caused a lot of damage. Bottoms up took care of me and understood. Dropped the boat off. The gave a fair price and went above and beyond to fix my boat! Thank you Bottoms up!
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March 2024 by Jeremy C.
Right off the bat the owner starts being a douchebag to me but there's something very fishy about how this place does business especially their estimates and how they poorly communicate with their customers. I have never seen anything like it before how they can't even bother to pick up the phone to be upfront with a new prospective customer shopping around for the right shop to fix their boat. The only thing they did do was send me a brief short text telling me to bring my boat to them for an estimate and that was it and they refused to answer any of my questions asking them for some very important prerequisite information that anyone should be informed about before you go to any repair shop. They just expected that I will just blindly bring my boat to them without confirming they even offer a service to do the type of repair, the cost that they charge to do the estimate, and a rough cost quote of how much they typically charge for the type of repair. Only an idiot would be stupid enough to blindly bring a boat to this place. If they have to get any boat into their shop just to see it to tell you they can do the job when you can clearly see a picture that shows 2 spots of minor paint damage on a motor they sound like they don't know what they are doing or talking about. My insurance company wrote up an estimate from a virtual inspection. My insurance didn't need my boat in any shop to estimate the damage but the shop that already diagnosed my motor already told me what needed to be done, a minor paint job but they don't do paint. Anyone who would blindly go to these clowns has to be dumber than a door knob. Their requirement for you to pay them for an estimate first without giving you the necessary information you should know up front is just an excuse to lure new customers, who don't know any better, in the door to pay them for an estimate. No one goes to an auto repair shop without shopping around for and finding out from at least 2 to 3 shops how much it costs to do an estimate as well as the labor rate and a rough cost quote of what the shop typically charges to fix a car problem. Everyone knows that once you walk through that door to pay the estimate is when they got you but you should have enough information by then to have made your decision. No one wants to waste money bouncing around to different shops paying for estimates. So come on, I wasn't born yesterday and boat repair shops are no different. Something sounds too good to be true about this place. How can they have so many 5 star reviews but have very poor communication skills with new customers and not know how to answer a few simple preliminary questions up front thats important for any new customer to know? There are a few things I know for a fact why I do not trust the owner's high number of 5 star reviews and neither should you. He is very manipulative and narcissistic. He went to great lengths to suppress my review on Google and I've seen other people's negative reviews from years ago taken down recently but whenever someone happens to post a 1 star review he tells all his friends on the company Facebook page to post a bunch of 5 star reviews clearly to manipulate the public into believing the 1 star reviews are not real or accurate. In addition, When I tried to post my Google review of this place the owner retaliated against me with a lot of horrible things he said about me but none of what he said is true. Unfortunately Google does not provide reviewers any good methods of recourse against a business owner who chooses to respond abusively in a defaming manner. You can message them to no avail and hear nothing so I'm done with Google and I know not to take reviews on Google with a grain of salt. From now on I'll believe them when I see it happen. Beware unless you are ok with getting ripped off and just don't care what it costs to fix your boat. If you go here it's at your own risk that if you are not happy with their work they could try to get your review removed and slander you
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March 2024 by Jeremy Curran
The owner is a total douchebag, is very unprofessional, rude, and after giving it some real thought about what happened in my encounter communicating with him yesterday I believe he’s a criminal who is out to scam people. Don’t be fooled by the 5 star reviews, his actions immediately off the bat in his interactions with me were very bizarre and far from the norm of how a boat repair service shop would normally behave interacting with a new potential client. He avoids communication over the phone except only via text without giving potential new customers any indication of whether he’s capable of even performing a job that needs to be done. He refuses to even tell you ahead of time whether or not he can perform a job without bringing the boat to him for an estimate first which another reviewer on here said he charges for so that right there is a scam. His vague text messages telling clients to just bring their boats to him for an estimate but his refusal to tell a prospective new client whether he even is able to offer a service to do the type of repair that needs to be done without seeing the boat first is his method to lure customers into his scam. But that’s not all. If you start asking him legitimate questions that any service shop should be able to answer in advance which he refuses to answer and if you threaten to leave negative feedback on Google and decide to go elsewhere he will post your text conversation to his business’s public Facebook page and take what was said out of context to defame you. This is exactly what he did to me but he failed to mention I called and left a message asking for a call back and there was no call back nor any introduction conversation that a potential new client would expect from a legitimate boat repair shop before going to this place for an estimate. Regardless, not only was his post of my private text conversation with him to Facebook an act of defamation, it’s against Illinois Privacy Law. Illinois is a 2 party consent state when it comes to disclosing a private conversation to the public and he had no right to post that conversation which Facebook rightfully removed. As a business he has every right to ask for the customer to come in for an estimate, which I don’t have a problem with, and refuse to do the job but the customer has every right to call ahead of time to verify what services are being offered, the labor rate and costs to make an educated decision about whether to go here or not. However, he is very in the wrong to post a private conversation on social media to defame a customer. What kind of business does this that is a legitimate business? I can’t think of any that do but that’s what criminal actors do when they are backed into a corner. They do whatever they can to defame the person who is questioning what does not sound right to turn it around and make the good guy the bad guy to get the pressure off of them. This guy is very shady and he tries to defame potential customers who are smart enough to pick up on his bullshit. I don’t know about those 5 star reviews which lured me to inquire about taking my boat to this place but I’m telling it like it is how bad my experience was before he even had a chance to get my boat in his shop. Thankfully, I’m very glad I noticed immediately how odd and fishy that first text and encounter with him over text was that I decided to cut it off right away and go somewhere else. You will regret taking your boat to this place if you go here.PS: His response below is so full of crap, nowhere on his website does it say his estimates are not free but that’s more a reason to verify he actually can do the work before I go to avoid a waste of money and time. It’s so laughable that he thinks my legitimate questions to him he refused to answer are harassment and verbally abusive. And by the way my reviews never got taken down, it’s what’s called you are only allowed one review per business so I edited my review after thinking through more clearly what he was trying to do to me yesterday. Clearly he’s a liar and is making this up.
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June 2023 by sandy ledbetter
Too Notch Repairs
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May 2023 by mark burlison
Quarter size damage above the rub rail. All 3 colors of metal flake in the damaged area. 1st shop shot me 3500.00……Bottoms Up quote was very reasonable. Outstanding repair with 3 colors involved. Highly satisfied customer, very reasonable rate, done in a timely fashion. Highly recommend this shop!Service: General repairs & maintenance
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November 2022 by nanners a
A sad day..... Putting our boat, "Baby" in storage for her winter slumber..... But boy, she went in looking her best thanks to Bill at Bottoms Up boat Repair. I had several scratches which I couldn't stand looking at from docking at a bad dock. He is a true artisan. He not only did a beyond superb job on those scratches but went over the entire boat to make it look it's best. Nobody's going to put this Baby in the corner!!! Thanks Bill!!!!!!Services: General repairs & maintenance
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July 2022 by Jeff Boncosky
Our boat was damaged in February 2021 when the roof collapsed on the building where it was in winter storage. The boat was substantially damaged to where it would miss the 2021 boating season. After a local marina decided the work was beyond their ability, I was directed to Bill and Bottoms Up.Bill did a great job not only repairing the boat, but thinking out of the box in regards to fixing parts that were no longer available, being an advocate for us with parts suppliers for the windshields ordered by the initial marina, being an advocate for us with the insurance surveyor, keeping us updated, and explaining how he would go about fixing everything that was damaged. Bill was patient with us as we waited, and waited, and waited for the windshields to arrive so that the job could be completed. A shout out to his daughter for her help and Mary Pope Custom Sewing for her incredible job with all new canvas as well. Definitely recommend Bottoms Up for boat repairs!Service: General repairs & maintenance
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October 2021 by Shawn Bergfalk
Bill is a great resource and has helped me on a number of fronts. He has gone up and beyond when helping repair our boat. Texting is best means to communicate.
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June 2021 by Mike Staes
Have used Bottoms up several times over the years and have always had great results and service. Just had some scratches fixed in my gel coat and they came out beautiful! The work was completed quickly and I was kept informed the whole time my boat was at the shop. Highly recommend!
