Beware of this guy!!

[jip40]

Below is a copy of message that I just posted on The Hull Truth & I thought it might save someone here the pains that I went through - as this is my first post, the introduction is appropriate as well -

It is time to bring this issue back up to hopefully save some of you the pains that I experienced in my encounter with Jim Lawrence, NW Florida Outboard. But first, as this is my first post, let me introduce myself.

I have been a frequent visitor to THT over the past three years and have enjoyed reading the posts in a number of the forums. I have been an avid fisherman and boater for too many years to admit to. I live in Atlanta and keep my boats in Carrabelle, FL.

The boat that I am reporting on is a 1988 Pursuit 2200 (cuddy cabin) with an original 200 Suzuki 2 stroke. In January 2009 (about 8 onths before the first post in this thread) I found NW Florida Outboard on the internet. I contacted Jim and got sucked into purchasing a 2001 Yamaha 200 HPDI totally rebuilt with a five year warranty.

Rather than bore you with 5 pages of details let's net it out to the following: I have had the use of the engine for a total of 40 hours over the past 2 ¾ years; the engine has been back to NW Florida Outboard a total of 6 times to repair issues related to the faulty rebuild – the 5th time Jim insisted the problems were caused by bad gas and refused to honor the warranty, resulting in me having to pay an additional $1,400 to get the engine back only to find that he didn't connect the exhaust hoses, so the engine wouldn't run with the cover on – he picked the engine up the second week of this past June – after months of broken promises and multiple unreturned phone calls, I finally got the engine back last week after enlisting the assistance of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's office and one tough friend from Carrabelle.

At least one of the prior posts insinuated that there have been a bunch of allegations against NW Florida Outboard without substantial backup, I will provide names and phone numbers of the mechanics and technicians in Carrabelle that went through this with me, to anyone that is considering dealing with this guy.

Needless to say (but I will), Jim Lawrence is a habitual liar, a totally dishonest individual and an incompetent mechanic. If any of you are considering dealing with him, I recommend that you contact me at jeff@maggielyon.com and let me provide contact with the mechanics mentioned above.

Thanks for reading my vent.

[Barhopr]

Sounds like you need to get a Yak.

[Chalk]

Rebuilt 2001 plus a 5 year warranty would have been the first red flag for me

[Flint River Pirate]

Sounds like you need to get a Yak.

HA!!!!

[jip40]

I have 3 yaks and try as hard as I could, I couldn't get the paddles to reach the water in the Pursuit for the 2 + years it was laid up. The only good thing to come out of this this that the wife got so tired of listening to me bitch that she agreed to buy a Grady 330 a couple of months ago - maybe I should have started complaining a long time ago.

[Jumptrout51]

A little Google search goes a long way. After reading this I searched to find out only 2 in 10 are happy with this guy or his father. Two separate businesses same dishonest story.