fountain27ho496

Just picked my boat up from jefferson beach on tuesday, its
been there since 10/25. First of all they did a great job, kept in contact and treated my boat very well. Tom on the vinyl and gel.
Bill on the mechanical.
Bought the boat new from national marine in aug. 01, took it back for my 20 hr. and some missed stuff. While driving home(spring 02) the locking snaps on the back of my cover sheared off and the metal grommet beat on my vinyl engine hatch and swim platform.
End result - ripped cover, minor gouges in the gel and ripped vinyl.
Took pictures and sent them to fountain with a letter, made several follow up calls, no response. Thought I was about to experience what others on this board have gone through.
I decided not to let it ruin my boating for the season.
When I pulled it out this fall I sent another letter and pictures
and suggested I would post them and my complaint on this site.
I had an immediate response from Steve Harrelson, He stayed on top of it from the beginning. Even arranging with jefferson beach (ex fountain dealer) to handle the repairs, not my dealer 5 hrs. away or fountain, 15hrs. away.
They replaced the entire hatch cover, repaired the gel and supplied a new cover with 5 locking snaps instead of 2.
It gets better, I took in to get winterized before taking it in and told my local guy to check my engine mounts, they didn't look right. It appears someone forget to bend the tabs that keep the nuts from backing off. The motor had dropped and I was running
all season out of alignment. The coupler had signs of wear,great.
I sent another letter to steve, he responded immediatley.
Said they would take care of it. Motor out, new coupler, motor in.
I am writing this because as much as we like to ***** when things go wrong we must congratulate those that step to the plate.
As a business owner I treat my customers this way, And am glad to see it returned. One of the reasons I bought a fountain is they are one of the most recognized performance builders out there and couldn't afford not to treat people well.
My last boat was an advantage and I fought with them for 3 of the four years I owned it, I wont bore you with that saga I'm just glad its gone.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and go buy a Fountain,
hell there half the price now. John

mama tryed

Great Story, John!!!!!!!

Audiofn

Good to hear with all the horror stories that have been floating around lately

Jon

SpectreBoy

It's a shame you had to threaten them with posting pics of it before you got any response, and then they couldn't be nice enough. Remember this next time you go boat shopping.

Jassman

The bottom line is it worked out, and it sounds that you are a happy customer. Thats what this hi-performance sport is all about, we all know stuff is going to break, but its that much better when factories and or dealers step up to the plate, enjoy your boat.

Payton

That is great!

Luv-N-It

My thought too. Although I'm glad Fountain came thru for ya. I have read several posts how things have went the other direction with Fountain "issues".

fountain27ho496

....It would have been refreshing to be treated this way on the first call. I wonder if the (threatened) oso exposure had anything to do with it.
We all make mistakes, own it , apologize for it and move on.
I'm just glad I didn't have to get beyond the phone and mail to solve this. I've had a harder time collecting from a few deadbeat customers.
And as big as fountain is, This cuts into profits.
I don't know the final bill but I bet it's over 3000.00
Thanks John

Blade38

That's great that you had good luck. I don't know why the missed some small things like Eng mounts, etc. but at least you were taken care of. Cosider yourself lucky. I on the other hand have had the opposite results with Fountain. Everyone from Reg on down have done such a poor job in handeling my situation, that we have to go to court. Every issue I had has is still exisiting and after four times at fountain the defect list has grown to over 50 items, including motor mounts. Jeff Harris did instruct Lake X to fix my drives so that did work out. Someone from there factory was inside the boat with a pen in there pocket and rubbed there asses everywhere. Fountain Fix was to spray paint over pen marks. Yeah thats right. Spray paint. Anyway take it from Fountain when you can get get it.

Blade38

Its right on time. First the dealer then fountain There allowed 30 days for there "right of discoveries". So they use every day. Were at the point of settlement and they never answered back. Which means they rejected my settlemenrt offer. So now we go to a arbitrator then if it doesn't get resolved then the final trial. The big thing with this case is the fraud charges. Putting damaged parts on the boat. Removing the part (Outdrives, etc) Saw they were damaged and reinstalling them damaged. Fraudulent history of the boat, etc. Just plain fraud. The dealer will go to court first then Fountain then if not resolved to my satisfaction I will go after each person in a civil manner. Especially the sales guys from Fountain and my dealer. I wish they would just fix the damn thing or trade me out. Crap its under warranty, Fountain just cant fix it without breaking something new. Anyway I will update the tread Fountain "Issues" when something happens.