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Anyone come accross these guys? Fontain Motors

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 8:16 pm
by Vorsprung_Durch_Technik
As thread title

has anyone come accross there guys?

www.fontain.co.uk

I bought My S4 Avant from them, travelled almost 300 miles to go and see the car, took a bit of a gamble admittedly and flew down, but the car was immacualte. Everything was just spot on; the way the car was presented, the level of service, and the professionalism were all outstanding!

Would definately buy again :)

Just wonder if anyone else has used them.

They are In Iver, Bucks.

RE: Anyone come accross these guys? Fontain Motors

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 8:30 pm
by derdle
Well known to us all here. If you do a search for "fontain" you'll probably find loads of posts.

Paul

Re: RE: Anyone come accross these guys? Fontain Motors

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:43 pm
by Vorsprung_Durch_Technik
derdle wrote:Well known to us all here. If you do a search for "fontain" you'll probably find loads of posts.

Paul
Yeeah thanks i feel kinda of silly now :lol:

t

RE: Re: RE: Anyone come accross these guys? Fontain Motors

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:37 pm
by derdle
Hey fella, now need to feel silly...we've all done it.
Oddlly enough I actually sold my S4 to them almost 4 years ago.

Paul

RE: Re: RE: Anyone come accross these guys? Fontain Motors

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:28 am
by rikrose
They're not too far from me. I looked there when I was first looking - I didn' tbuy a Noggy blue one because it was noggy blue - I wanted darker. If they'd had that nice dark green or a ming blue, I'd have bought it. While I was waiting for the salesman to find the keys to the S4, I wandered into the engineering area. I saw one guy working on a car properly, making sure to put each tool back in the right place when he put it down, so he knew what he'd left inside the car, and another guy cleaning up hte splashes of fluids that the first guy had spilled, and generally keeping the area clean.

I was impressed with how they maintained the workshop, and so I'd trust them doing OEM repairs to my car.

Of course, they're marginally further away than MRC...

RE: Re: RE: Anyone come accross these guys? Fontain Motors

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:12 am
by tartan_rob
My first Audi came from them. An S2 estate. I had it 6 weeks and got fed up with having to top the coolant up so took it to Dialynx. It had a Cracked head. They agreed to pay some of the repair but I was seriousely pissed off as I could barely afford to run the car let alone buy it from them with a cracked head and then have to have the big repair bill....

Car was nice though apart from that.

Re: RE: Re: RE: Anyone come accross these guys? Fontain Moto

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:19 am
by Vorsprung_Durch_Technik
rikrose wrote:They're not too far from me. I looked there when I was first looking - I didn' tbuy a Noggy blue one because it was noggy blue - I wanted darker. If they'd had that nice dark green or a ming blue, I'd have bought it. While I was waiting for the salesman to find the keys to the S4, I wandered into the engineering area. I saw one guy working on a car properly, making sure to put each tool back in the right place when he put it down, so he knew what he'd left inside the car, and another guy cleaning up hte splashes of fluids that the first guy had spilled, and generally keeping the area clean.

I was impressed with how they maintained the workshop, and so I'd trust them doing OEM repairs to my car.

Of course, they're marginally further away than MRC...
Yeah when we picked the car up it was parked in front of the workshop so i went for a nose. very tidy and clean!! polite and friedly staff too!

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Anyone come accross these guys? Fontain

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:27 am
by Nige_RS4
I didn't think they had their own workshop - I understood they used TAP Audi (local VAG specialist) for the major stuff??

I bought my S4 from them - good guys.

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Anyone come accross these guys? Fontain

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:43 pm
by rikrose
They've converted the garages at the back.

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Anyone come accross these guys? Fontain

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:30 pm
by Vorsprung_Durch_Technik
Yes they definately have their own workshop now. Look Ok too. I would certainly buy again from them, and their salesmen do not BullSh*t unlike many.

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Anyone come accross these guys? Fontain

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:18 pm
by DolphiN_Tech
Don't normally like leaving negative posts, especially first ones, but sadly my experience with Fontain was not exactly brilliant...

Bought an S6 from thema year or so back, was told that it needed a new secondary air pump which would be done before purchase, which seemed fair. Come back a week later to collect it, and the engine management light was on. Workshop closed so cannot reset/check, am told to take car anyway and come back during the week, which I was not particularly happy about (another 2hr round trip), and really had to push to get this in writing.

Go back midweek, and have it cleared. 2 days later it's back, so go back again, they check it over, declare it fine. Light comes back on the next day, eventually they decide that some of the air pipes have fractured and replace those also. End of problem (at last).

About 2 weeks later, the seat height adjuster stops working with the seat stuck in my mum's position, leaving car undriveable by me, main driver. They diagnose a dead seat motor, which then takes 3 weeks to arrive (which I was particularly unimpressed with, as I phoned Recaro myself to be told they had them in stock and could get them to me in 3 days). Unable to use car at all during this period, as apparently they cannot lower the seat manually. :(

Motor arrives, gets put in. Go to pick up car, seat is still in high position, so I go to lower it...nothing. "Did you actually test the repair?" Leave car there, come back again a week later after they've replaced the switch pack.

To cap it all off, a few weeks after this, the aircon starts having a mind of its own. To cut a long story short, the car spends a month there while they "fix" the problem, with me returning every weekend to find that they actually haven't. By this point I've had enough, I'm so angry I cannot actually speak, just making "ugh....mmmfmm" noises while punching the wall in frustration. In the 4 months I've owned the car, I've driven it properly for about 2 weeks, and made over a dozen trips to them. My issue wasn't so much with the car (it's 6 years old, it's not going to be perfect), it's the complete inability (dare I say incompetence) of the garage to fix the problems, and check they're fixed rather than letting the customer do it.

Suffice to say I will never be darkening their door again! I was so hacked off with the car I sold it the week it came back, and it very nearly put me off Audi's for life. Fortunately it couldn't snuff out the spark completely, and I'm off to see Nick Johnson on Monday about an RS4, confident of a good experience there.

Oh, and hi everyone! Lol.

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Anyone come accross these guys? Fontain

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 2:28 am
by rikrose
Sounds like you got a lemon there. Personally,I'd ahve said words to the effect of "car not fit for purpose", and shouted at the manager until I got my money back, plus the interest I'd have got in the bank, and drove a banger until I found what I wanted again.

Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Anyone come accross these guys? Font

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 8:08 am
by GrahamS4
DolphiN_Tech wrote:
Oh, and hi everyone! Lol.
Hi DolphiN,

Now then a B5 RS4 sounds like a fine choice!

Shame you never got that ride in the S4, but we were all a little shaken after Mac decided to spin his Elise!

Is this as well as the DC5 but instead of the 530?

Plenty to read here (the forum), everything you need to know in fact.

Good luck, keep us posted

Graham

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Anyone come accross these guys?

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:13 am
by tartan_rob
Let me know how you get on with Nick Johnson. I may be going to see him shortly too....

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Anyone come accross these guys?

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:39 am
by DolphiN_Tech
Hi Graham, thought I might find you here! No, this will be a grand sell off - 3 cars and 3 bikes when you're on your own is just unworkable. I've managed to clear 2 of the bikes already, leaving me with the GS Adventure. The SL is being shipped out to Italy to my dad's place, I will drive it when I'm over there, and he'll keep an eye on it the rest of the time.
Work have just changed their parking scheme, and I'm sure I will lose my place, so I'll ride the GS in and claim the 4-figure green incentive they offer. This leaves the 530d and the DC5 only being used at weekend, which means they'll just end up sitting. There's nobody else here to drive them, and I don't see that changing anytime soon (just spent the last 2 weeks avoiding a golddigger!) - as much as I love them (especially the DC5), I can't live in the past anymore, and it's not going to work in the future. I can at least say I've owned them, and look back fondly on the memories while stepping up into a different league

Now back on topic :D Rik, I think that might be a little harsh on the car, the problems were actually quite minor (airpump and hoses, switch pack, aircon pressure switch), it was the consistent inability to diagnose and fix them that was the problem. However I did raise the point of "not fit for purpose" but they weren't interested in the slightest, they'd got my money and weren't interested in sorting out a problem child. I probably would have taken it further but had far bigger issues on my plate at the time.

Rob, will keep you updated - so far my dealings with him have been everything I could hope for.