Fontain Motor Issues

[fdussud]

Has anyone else who uses Fontain Motors in Iver, Bucks had any problems with them?

Each time I go there I feel like they are ripping me off or there is something wrong with the car.

My first visit to them was about a cooling problem. My fans were not turning on. I was told they did not have the part, it takes 2 hours to get to the part, and that they wanted to keep the car for a few days so they could get the part off, order it, get it in, and then put it back on the car. I decided to go visit my friend who is a VW tech and together we found the faulty part, took it off in 30mins, got a new part at his garage, and replaced it in another 30 min.

The next time i went for a service at Fontain, someone ripped the bottom of my leather steering wheel and did not want to do much about it.

 

[jdp1962]

Have you raised these issues formally with management at Fontain? If you have, what was their response?

 

[Rev-head]

Steer well clear ......They are willing to rip you off the first time i would not be back if it was me .......regarding steering wheel i would do as jdp says straight to management

Dan has a car from fountain and he will tell what bother he has had sure he will pop up soon

 

[jdp1962]

The angle I was coming at it from is that you should complain to management first & give them a chance to respond. If you already have, and they've fobbed you off, then fine, but if you've not given them a chance to put it right, then it's not fair to complain in a public forum first.


And yes, it's well known that I'm a long-standing satisfied customer of Fontain, but I do believe in fairness. So, if you haven't already, speak to them & see if they'll put it right for you. If you've already done that, and they won't, then they deserve the adverse public comment.

 

[fdussud]

I did talk to the manager about the steering wheel, he just look at it, tried to rub the torn area and told me that the leather will mold itself back to its normal shape.

 

[Beerzo]

I would mould my fist in his face for a comment like that. Thats him acknowlaging and dismisisng the damage all at once!!!!

 

[S2Avant]

Get yourself back, tell them you are looking to upgrade to something rare and expensive.
Then take a test drive with some sharp rings on.
Leather Moulding heaven.

 

[fdussud]

I was ****** off with the comment, so I wont be going to them for another service.

I also feel like they dont take me seriously because I am only 26 but look like I am about 20.

 

[quattrokid]

jeez... THEY HAVENT CHANGED HAVE THEY............

My girlfriend bought an RS4 B5 from Fontain. I saw it in Audi Driver mag.... so after getting down to London ( from Scotland) we turned up to see the car which had been moved into the showroom sat under a strobe light.... boy did it look gorgeous. We took it for a spin, had a look around it and spotted a few wee issues that needed addressing......

Fast forward to the day of the races and collected the car.

a) couldnt find the service history ( good start) we have the service log book but this isnt the "history" to me. Whats ever been done outside services?
b) Drove it to Leeds en route home to stop off overnight... we found that dispite having a PDI inspection the car STILL had these defects:

1) passenger side indicator was hanging off its wire by the time we got to Leeds, surely 70 mph (ish) isnt fast enough to peal off items of the car?
2) the ashtray wouldnt open ( being a non smokers we aint to bothered but still a useful place for bits and bobs)
3) the rear screen demister was tempermental
4) there was a bulge on the tyre wall on the passenger side dispite being a brand new tyre
5) cruise control wasnt working
6) took it to my local dealer for them to have a look it it... "where's the undertray"...??????????? I phoned Keith who sold me the car, oh thats where its from, we have found an under tray here!!!!! well blow me over with a feather but when you "forget" to refit the undertray and take the car off the ramp, SURELY that 3 foot by 2 foot plastic thing sat on the floor MAYBE a clue?
7) passenger side headlight self leveling arm wasnt connected to the suspension strut.
8) the rear bumper must have been resprayed in a hurricane becuase when the car was on the ramp at my dealer, the fuel tank has over spray all over it, so who ever did the " repair" couldnt even be bothered to remove the bumper....
9) fast forward 2 years, took the car to Unit 20 in Chester for its timing belt change, upon removing the front bumper, the passenger side intercooler wasnt even on its mountings AND that was also covered in over spray!!!!
Now I am not sure if Fontain went anywhere near that car prior to selling it or the paintshop must be down the road from the car being painted, also the quality of the paint is *****!!

NOW by this point I was getting somewhat ****** off, it wasnt exactly a 5 minute drive back to Fontains so my local dealer gave it a very thouough check over and gave me a shopping list of things wrong with it which wasnt obvious when looking at it in the showroom.

Fontain did sort out the costs to rectify these defects with my local dealer.

Dispite a few semi heated calls to Keith, eventually I did get a half hearted reply from Marcus who owns or owned the company at that time.

I wouldnt go near them again EVER to buy a car ... ESPECIALLY since someone I know of up here was looking at an other RS4 which has had extensive damage and been repaired, he found out by shear luck that this car he was looking at buying had been repaired, when confronted with photos of the car before and after its repair its staggering to hear that Fontain did know about the cars history but decided NOT to inform this chap of the damage sustained. Needless to say he didnt buy it.... but someone has.

draw your conclussions folks but how Fontain win these annual gongs at the A.D.I is beyond some of us.

 

[PaulAr]

I bought my car from Fontain.

Because it was exactly what I was looking for, I travelled from the North East to see, and subsequently purchase the car.

I did find them a bit arrogant as they would not budge a single penny on price, or even a tank of fuel!!

BUT, to be fair, the car was very well priced and about 3K cheaper than equivalent local franchised dealer stock. Im pretty sure they knew that and thats why they were sticking to their guns wrt price.

Although they should IMO, have offered some kind of token gesture bearing in mind I was spending 25K and doing a 500mile round trip in 1 day!!.

But the car was as described and Keith was pretty personable when I got there so not a painful experience by any means. (apart from opening a can of pop in the car which fizzed all over the dash after just 1hr of ownership)

Besides, Ive been messed around FAR more by franchised dealers, and even had to return a car once to Chester VW because it ws mis-sold to e (and a bit of a pup).

So in summary, I would consider using them again but would exercise caution (but not judge) based on the experiences Ive just read about.

My 2p.

cheers
Paul