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Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
Re: Hasselman Maritime Services, Inc
Posted By: JohnV8r In Response To: Re: Gas Repower (John D)
Date: Friday, 28 January 2005, at 3:03 p.m.
You should check out the thread on Boatdiesel.com about David Hasselman of Hasselman Maritime Services, Inc before considering used diesels from his company. He seems to have quite a reputation for screwing people, including some of our own.
Here's are some of the posts:
I purchased a pair of Cummins 300hp marine engines and transmissions from Sun Power Diesel & Marine on November 11, 2002 for $18,000 plus shipping. The invoice number was 247102.
Their representative, David Hasselman (now of Hasselman Marine), represented to me prior to the purchase that the engines were in good running condition and had low hours that they estimated at approximately 1300 hours total. I relied on those representations of the condition of the engines in making my decision to purchase them from Sun Power Diesel & Marine. The purchase contract included Barry control isolators and Morse control cable clips with ends. The photographs they sent me included turbo boost and pyro gauges. The engines arrived without any of those items. Furthermore, they failed to inform me that the exhaust elbows needed to be replaced until after the contract was finalized.
I completed the installation of these engines in late September 2003. Within one month of completing the installation, it was apparent the engines were not what David Hasselman held them out to be. By early November 2003, the port engine refused to start. I had only used the engines for a total of one hundred hours.
I had three separate certified Cummins engine technicians inspect both engines. An engine oil analysis revealed iron and copper present in the oil. I was advised that this is indicative of a critical problem that is not typical of an engine with only 1300 hours. Upon the recommendation of the Cummins technicians, I had the compression checked in the port engine. I was advised that the compression should be in the 350 psi range. The compression test revealed cylinder #1 had 150 psi, #2 had 275 psi, #3 had 170 psi, #4 had 175 psi, #5 had 110 psi, and #6 had 220 psi. The aftercooler was inspected and found to be flooded with oil that was blowing by the valve seals.
The Cummins technicians advised me to have the port engine head removed and reconditioned. Upon delivering the heads to the repair shop, I was advised that the intake valves showed wear well beyond 1300 hours of use and needed to be replaced. Additionally, the cylinders were measured with a micrometer and were found to be sixteen-thousandths over the maximum specification. The Cummins technicians have informed me that the evidence of wear on these engines taken as a whole indicate they are at the end of their service life. The technicians believe these engines have at least eight thousand hours of use, not thirteen hundred hours.
In the course of investigating the actual condition of the engines, three separate Cummins mechanics identified that the serial numbers on the engines had been altered. One of them contacted Cummins directly to be certain there was not some error. This alteration prevented the mechanics from reviewing any historical information on the engines service records, which obviously would prevent them from determining the actual age and point in the service life of the engines.
The repair costs to recondition these engines to the point that they should have been in had they only had 1300 hours of use and were in ‘good running condition’ is estimated to at $21,246.19.
I have elected to replace the engines entirely with Cummins remanufactured engines I am purchasing directly from a Cummins dealer.
I have sent a demand letter (legally required before filing a lawsuit) to Sun Power Diesel & Marine. I forwarded a copy of that letter to David Hasselman last night to get his perspective on the transaction. Here is what I received today via e-mail from him:
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Dear Wayne,
I received a copy of your e-mail statement and "Demand Notice" today. I find it very strange that you never contacted me during the past two years regarding even one aspect of these alleged problems until now. Not once!
You have acknowledged the purchase was "As Is, Where Is" and despite your erroneous thoughts on my liability under "contract law," this disclaimer is valid and enforceable.
Additionally as I was never informed either orally or in writing during the past two years about ANY of the alleged issues you had on a purchase over 26 months ago I don't feel the claims are a.) legitimate or b.) my responsibility in any form or fashion.
As to the claim the engines were misrepresented. We have never knowingly misrepresented a piece of equipment in all the years we have been serving the marine community and our customers. I believe you were offered the opportunity to have the engines inspected by an independent Marine Engine Surveyor (as this is recommended to all our customers) at your cost, prior to the sale and a start up, compression test as well as an oil analysis could have been done at that time.
Regardless of the condition of engines at the time of the sale, doing repairs and then trying to get a third party to pay for them without prior discussion, documentation, notification or consent is neither lawful or even very smart!
Even if a warranty had been supplied or implied with the sale of the engines, by having not been given even one opportunity to review your claims in advance and take care of any warrantable items we would have no responsibility legally or morally for so much as one penny of the alleged repair costs.
Since you have now raised these allegations, for my records and just for my personal edification, would you please provide the following.
1.) Copy of the original sales agreement and any other related correspondence.
2.) The written reports from inspection of the engines by "the three different Cummins Techs" and their companies names and addresses.
3.) A copy of the oil analysis report.
4.) Proof of proper installation following Cummins B and C Series Installation Guidelines.
5.) A copy of the receipts for the labor and materials from the alleged repairs.
You can send these to my address.
David W. Hasselman
C/O Hasselman Maritime Services, Inc. 1108 Guava Isle Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33315 (954) 525-6670 Ph/Fax
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Above all else, I think this e-mail accurately illustrates the type of businessman David Hasselman is. I do want to respond publicly to a couple of his allegations to set the record straight.
First, I did contact Mr Hasselman immediately upon receiving the engines regarding the condition of some of the external parts, including the elbows. He immediately hid behind the "As Is, Where Is" disclaimer. It was clear then what Mr Hasselman's position would be regarding the condition of any other part of the engines.
Second, I mistakenly believed that the "As Is, Where Is" disclaimer precluded me from taking any legal action against Mr Hasselman's then employer, Sun Power Diesel & Marine. I have now received legal advice indicating that the disclaimer is not valid in cases of misrepresentation.
Third, the statute of limitations on a contract dispute is three years. I was under no obligation to contact Mr. Hasselman or Sun Power Diesel & Marine. They have breached their contract with me by misrepresenting the condition of these engines. The only issue now is liability for damages.
Fourth, I was never offered an opportunity to have the engines I purchased surveyed. Rather, David Hasselman told me that I had to make a decision by the next morning because he had another buyer in the Bahamas that would purchase the engines if I did not. He was not willing to wait for me to get someone to take a look at the engines.
Fifth, when I originally posted on www.bertram31.com about my experiences with Mr. Hasselman, I was shocked to receive information via e-mail regarding six other engines that Mr. Hasselman sold with altered serial numbers. Some of the engines in question were shipped out of the country by the purchaser. They were held at customs because of the altered serial numbers. This purchaser has documentation from a U.S. government agency indicating that all of the engines he purchased from David Hasselman and Sun Power Diesel & Marine had altered serial numbers. To me, this is indicative of a pattern of fraud and misrepresentation.
If Sun Power Diesel & Marine respond with the same position as Mr. Hasselman, the legalites of this matter seem destined to be settled in a court of law. A civil suit will certainly follow. I have also been advised that all the information I have collected regarding the additional engines with altered serial numbers will need to be turned over to the Broward County District Attorney's offices and the Florida State Attorney General's office for criminal prosecution.
HOWEVER, my purpose here tonight is to simply rebut Mr. Hasselman's attempt to repair his credibility and reputation. Based on my experiences, I tend to believe the poster who had problems with engines sold by David Hasselman and Sun Power Diesel & Marine.
If there are ANY questions regarding the factual accuracy of the condition of the engines I received, I will be happy to bring these engines at my expense to Tony Athens at Seaboard Marine for inspection. I will also bring him copies of all the documentation that I have regarding the oil analysis and the Cummins technicians inspection of these engines.
Regardless of who the original poster in this thread was, I agree with him that David Hasselman should NOT be allowed to advertise on Boatdiesel.com. He is as unscrupulous a businessman as I have ever dealt with.
Sincerely,
Wayne FultzI am writing to make you aware of a very unfavorable circumstance that you are obviously not aware of.
Several years ago, my dad and I purchased and paid for a pair of marine engines and transmissions from one of your advertising marine dealers for use in our small charterboat business here on the Maryland Chesapeake Bay. They were represented to be very clean excellent running take-outs. When the engines arrived they did appear to be in very good condition. A day later we attempted to start them in our shop only to find out they had been sunk and completely locked-up with water and rust!
We immediately attempted to return these engines, but the marine dealer would not refund our money or take the engines back. We attempted to recover our money through legal channels to no avail. . Our money was lost to this unscrupulous dealer in Florida. After this ordeal he disappeared for a while. Now, we notice that he is advertising again on your website.
Over a period of time we have learned that he has done this to other people that we are associated with in the charterboat business. This dealer apparently re-advertises equipment that he does not even own, adding to the cost of the equipment without regard to its actual condition knowing full well that once the equipment crosses state lines that it is very expensive and very difficult for the customer to recoup his losses.
We believe this individual is very dishonest, a scam artist, and a Spam artist. Therefore we are requesting his removal from your web site in the interest of protecting the unsuspecting patrons of your website.
The above can be easily verified by legal documents and photographs. We do not look forward to seeing one David Hasselman of Hasselman Maritime on your web site again.
Very Sincerely Yours,
Craig KelleyI dont have the time to put forth full detail tonight, but I will tomorrow. I am in full agreement about David Hasselman. I bought a set of cummins 6bta's from him that turned out be completely worn out, and they were represented as low hour (1200-1500hrs) engines. In my case I shipped the engines to Guatemala and had them installed in the boat prior to discovering the problems. A brief summary: 1. engines came with no serial numbers. Huge problem with US customs when you attempt engines with no serial numbers. 4-6months of problems. 2. Serial numbers supplied in the sale doc were for 250hp motors and they definitely were 300's. 3. Both motors were completely worn out with high hour usage per the cummins dealer in Guatemala. After looking at the parts I would agree. 4. Cracked head 5. Scored crank, it had to be replaced. No hardeneding on #1 bearing area. 6. flex plates worn out, and bushing gone 7. both trannys also had to be rebuilt. Rear seals in both were bad. 8. Injectors had to be rebuilt, worn out tips. 9. Multiple pistons/cyclinders with scoring from piston slap. etc.......
When i contacted him, it was my impression that he was insinuating I was trying to put one over on him. He did agree to get me the parts at a good deal to rebuild both motors, and his pricing was higher than every other vendor I contacted.
I still have the old parts and pics.
I would not do business with the man, and would advise others to not either.
I received an incredibly similiar response from David via email, and had a very similiar experience. Scarily similiar. This sure seems to be a pattern on David Hasselmans part.
Hasselman needs to go..................
BrianYou can see the entire thread at Boatdiesel.com under the "Services" forum. Once you're there, click "Dealers" and you will see it.
Sorry for my long absence, but I've been buried with work and haven't really had much time ot do more than lurk lately.
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