I hired Rich Richardson to do an inspection of a used boat I was looking to purchase. This was the first boat I've purchased so I did not know much about boats or engines and so I was relying heavily on his inspection before buying a "used" boat. He advertised on craigslist and claimed to have 30+ years experience.
He met me and the seller at a wet slip where the boat was docked. He did an external inspection of the engine, the boat and a test drive. I thought at the time it didn't seem like he did much to earn my money, but who was I to question someone with "30+ years" experience. After the test drive, he tells me everything on the boat looks great, the engine looks good, etc. etc. And so I ended up buying the boat for $16k in cash.
After driving the boat three times I had another mechanic look over the boat and he said the boat has an internal water leak, there is long term damage to the engine and his recommendation is to try and get my money back.
I called Rich Richardson with my new findings and asked him why he did not do a compression check on the engine (other mechanic told me it was the only way to know if engine is in good shape). His response was "I don't know what you want from me, we test drove the boat and everything looked good, blah blah". Then I started talking again and he hung up on me.
Whatever you do, do not hire this guy! He wrote on his invoice his business name was Accurate Marine Service and that company is not even listed with the North Carolina Secretary of State. The guy clearly is a fraud and I'm writing this in hopes he won't be able to dupe anyone else.