The pilot reported that, prior to departure, he performed a preflight inspection with guidance from one of the helicopter's owners over the telephone. He determined that "everything was normal." As he prepared for startup, he was unable to close the helicopter's cabin door. He discussed this with the owner, and then removed the door and secured it in the rear of the helicopter. Upon lifting to a 3-foot hover, the helicopter began to turn left, and he was unable to correct the turn with right pedal input. He lowered the collective, and as the helicopter touched town, it "did a hovering auto bounce with slight movement to the right and forward and came to a stop." The pilot called the owner to discuss what occurred and subsequently performed two test hovers. He checked the pedals and controls, and the helicopter performed normally. The pilot then flew to the first of two intermediate destinations, and the helicopter performed normally with no abnormal vibrations or noises. He picked up a passenger without shutting down the helicopter, and proceeded to the next intermediate destination, where he shut-down the helicopter to refuel. During a walkaround at this stop, the pilot noticed that part of the horizontal stabilizer was "chipped off." The fueler reported to the pilot that he had previously seen the helicopter make several "scary hard landings" during previous flights. The pilot and passenger then flew to the final destination without incident. Subsequent examination of the helicopter revealed substantial damage to the fuselage consistent with a hard landing. The pilot at the time of the hard landing , and the date and time of occurrence was not determined.