Complaint Review: Yacht Central - FL

In short, I plan on filing charges and suit against Brian Hill and Yacht Central !

To quote reputable boat broker "I've never seen anything like this! The pictures in the ad are not even the same! This is shameless!"  This broker also recommended the "Ripoff Report" after i told him the entire story of how i was repeatedly ripped off by Brian Hill.  

I also met with a Lt. at the Treasure Island  FL. Police dept. and he was amazed. So much so, that he was kind enough to advise me for an hour wherein he described and printed off detail of how many statements that Brian Hill made that were FALSE and what anyone should have provided me with much less a BOAT BROKER! Many were FL Statutes ! 

Not being from FL I was unaware of certain lies that Brian Hill told, such as "you can use the boat registration and sticker on the hull until it's expiration, (10 months) if checked, just show them the Bill of Sale" which is FALSE !

Another was "you can use the trailer with the Bill of Sale when transporting the boat out of State"  FALSE !

The VIN # on my Bill of Sale DID NOT match the one on the trailer !!! When i was at the Clerk of Court attempting to get a temp tag, I called Brian Hill and had him speak to the Supervisor. He provided her 3 ! yes 3 different VIN#'s of which NONE was the correct number to match his records. Therefore, the Supervisor told Brian Hill that they could not issue me a tag because there was no proof that Brian Hill owned this trailer to sell it to me ! So i left the DMV empty handed.

One would think that Brian Hill would be remorseful, apologetic or try to remedy the situation....but NO....Brian Hill became spiteful and claimed that i was harrassing him !! Just because I needed the legal paperwork !

This story was even worse before i discovered this. He sold me a boat with a 150hp Johnson OB engine of which he admitted had been sitting for a long time but when he ran it a few times per year, that it "ran like an ape"... He also claimed his mechanic named Frank Dudley, whom had worked on all his boats for years, had checked this engine out and all was great. Although, the day i was driving to pick the boat up, Brian Hill called me to advise me to turn around because the power pack had blown out and it was going to be replaced. So i further insisted that Frank check everything out and confirm pressures etc. Brian Hill claimed he did. After i finally picked the boat up, i was on my FIRST tank of gas when the engine blew ! When i called Brian Hill, he immediately became hostile when I suggested that we work something out to repair this engine. He told me with explitives to sue him!  He also blamed me for not having oil in the resevoir and that was the reason for the engine to overheat and cook. I told him there was oil in the resevoir as witnessed by the mechanic i hired after being towed in. I was referred to another mechanic by a marina operator and this mechanic found out that it was BAD GAS that clogged this engine up and caused the damage!

Brian Hill on more than one occassion made a point to mention that "i even topped off the gas for you" to point out that he was being generous in the deal.  Well, as the mechanic that rebuilt my engine said " you can't pour good gas on bad gas and expect it to all be good".  One would think that a BROKER would know this ! yet Brian Hill is no honorable enough to even meet me partially for the expense.  I even offered him 3 separate options including buying the boat back from me repaired and sell it again fully rebuilt.

 His arrogance is beyond description. So, after he acts like your best friend at the point of sale, dont be surprised when he turns on you like a snake as soon as the check clears.

Clearly, i should have done more homework etc. But that is NO excuse for someone abusing the situation. 

I have never posted anything on this site previously and hope i will never have to again. But heed my warning !! JUST GO ELSEWHERE !!!

Good Luck

Victim of Brian Hill and Yacht Central