Fountain Bashing ???
 

Some members think that listing fountain factory problems is considered bashing the factory. I consider it very realtime information. Specially since its happening to me. I've owned 3 fountains. I can sing the praises as well as the rasberries. If I had read this site before closure on my boat, I would have done things differently. These problems I'm having are big, real and FACT. Facts experienced by other members here. Shipping problems, Cacking all documented here. Spoke to Wyatt, oh yeah, he sold me the damn boat. Spoke to Reggie Fountain, spoke to everyone at fountain. Betty, Reggie's sec got me the return calls. Thanks Betty. Visited them 4 times times and they blew my list off. They said it was done, closed, handeled. Oh and they had there QC guys on board to generate there own list. One of these guys had a pen in his pocket. You guested it. Allover the new Bolsters, seats everywhere. I sent this crap back to the factory over and over. Nothing was done. Just lip service. Bashing huh. Screwups like mine should be handled without question. I work, you work for our time off. Time is limited for everyone. Its not just biz to me. I'm mad as hell. Madder than I was. Pissed off that this is a common occurance at Fountain, That it happened to other Fountain owners. Its because of this forum, Ive decided to take it legal. Im not going to wait around until November. This is a NEW boat. I rode it once till it broke to S!#t. Not because of abuse because they assembled it by hiding quality issues. My frigging galley fell out in front of my dealer. Bouncing around in the cabin. Bashing? I dont think so. Cracks appearing everywhere because the filler fell out. Bashing, I dont think so. Structural beams cracking because of the Gel cap that was supposed to cover it up fell out. Remember NEW BOAT HERE. Bashing huh!!!

As tempting as that whole rant was.........I'm not gonna go there for ya.......;)

If i had those types of problems on a NEW boat........I would crack some heads for sure............You my friend have some seriuos patience......;)

Holy busted galley Batman !!
 

If that was my boat, there would be no negotiations to repari the boat.....too bad shape.

It would be money back, or replacement boat....nothing more, nothing less.....:mad: :mad:

Good luck, and keep us updated.........

Sorry to hear about your problems...its absolutely ridiculous for as much cash as you dropped.

I've never been a Fountain fan, but, it sounds like everyone at the factory has their beak up their a$$.

Good luck man, I hope everything works out for you and your new CAT!!

What you and others have done is NOT bashing. You are relaying valuable information which is one of the most important reasons we all congregate here.

Bashing is name calling, lying to defame, etc.
I value all the experiences I read about here -- Good or bad. :cool:

DEFINITELY NOT bashing! You keep venting here and we will all be here for you. WHat has happened to you is bull**** and I would od the SAME THING! Hell I did the same thing about another member of this board and the amount of people asking me for help with him and other people they are in similar situations with is amazing and I am all to glad to assist. If it helps you get the situation resolved and warns others so that they do not have to suffer the same fate or at least have thier guard up, then it is well worth it. Those who call it bashing WHEN IT IS TRUTH cannot face reality and that is their problem, NOT YOURS!

Best of luck and keep us posted.

Shane

sorry to hear about all your problems. hopefully everything will eventually work out in your favor.

Doesn't sound like bashing to me. I don't know the history more than this thread, but it sounds like your getting screwed. This is one of the primary reasons for this board. Let them have it right between the eyes!

p.s. Maybe send them a copy of this thread and tell them how they can reply.

I really feel bad for you , and the stress it is causing you. You should be enjoying your new boat. Especially when you have to read how much fun others are having this summer, and you've paid big -- but don't have a boat to play in. :(

When we owned our boat company, we knew the customers worked very hard to get their 'toy'. Most of them refrained from buying other luxury items (and sometimes even necessities!) to buy a high perf boat they could enjoy! For most, it was a lifelong dream to have a 100mph craft.

But occasionally, a boat would come out of the shop that was below par. Not because of sloppiness, but these things just sometimes happen to 1% of the production.

When this did happen -- we never passed it on to the customer. We'd offer to fix, reduce the price or replace the boat. If it was just a cosmetic flaw, many times the customer accepted a reduced price. But we never liked anything to leave that wasn't perfect, to maintain our reputation. But when a guy wants his boat "NOW", you have to let them go sometimes. But we would not let the customer leave til he was satisfied. And for this, in ten years of business, we never had an angry call or letter from a customer - ever.

Instead we had a scrapbook filled with thank you's, kind words, and photos of great times in their new boat.

A good boat company would realize that for every ectatic, thrilled customer they send out the door -- they will sell at LEAST two more boats just on his praises of the product to acquaintances alone. Even though replacing a boat negates all profits, and sends the company into the red temporarily, this policy worked for us for years; longterm.

Happy customers = Double sales

More boat companies should realize this.

The people that are accusing you of bashing are die hard Fountain fans that have never had the slightest thing go wrong with their boat (I have nothing against Fountain) but you bet your sweet a$$ that the minute they get screwed over they will be on here complaining about it too. So no I do not think that you are bashing one bit

Bashing. . .
 

Thanks for the support. For details, Ive been running a thread in the Fountain Section.

Thrillseeker pretty much sums it up correctly.

IMHO, I would add that when a company sees the gold at the end of the tunnel and decides to go public, they usually don't look down the road much farther than that. In the name of shareholder value costs will be trimmed unfortunatly it appears that it is at the expense of customer service in Fountain's case. When the principals spend more time playing than taking care of the core business it can only spiral downward and that does nobody any good (the employees, customers, or shareholders). It's just too bad because it doesn't have to happen:(

is'nt there a lemon law in the Marine industry???

I'm sorry for your experiences, and that they are not uncommon, but hasn't there been a history of companys going public, or being bought out by a larger company and quality decreasing? You know the founders of the company dont want this, but it's like the power is taken out of there hands, and quality suffers in the name of profits. It happened to most company's brunswick purchased, then they come back up to par after it's too late and reputations are tarnished and need to be rebuilt over time. To me there is one way to do things, That is the right way, and Fountian definitely has proved that they do know what that way is from thier history. What could change this, and why would it change? The materials they use wont change, they use the same glass, resins, putty, and lay-up schedule's they have in the past, I would think. Has there been a shake up in the workers, where people glassing and assembling for years were replaced by people that are new to the game to reduce the cost of the workforce? I dont get it, you dont forget how to do things right, do you?? I just dont get it!! Someone from the factory needs to explain why this happens, and then why they suck at taking care of it until the factory reads the posts here and decides they better repent and make everybody on oso get the warm fuzzy again for fountian.

Here's an Idea... Take out a full page add in Offshore Mag, take tons of pictures of everything that is wrong with you boat and put this at the bottom: Life suck's when Reggie Fountain uses all the Gel to hold on His Toupe.

As for smaller private companies being bought out by big ones, and quality suffering......remember when AMF bought Harley?......enough said.

Sorry to here about your new boat. Maybe I can help, here is a number you can call 1-928-855-7420 Nordic Boats. Quality is outstanding!

The difference btwn what you just said hear and what some one else said yesterday is that you listed examples and such. The other guy just basically came on and said that Fountain sucked with no background. He then later listed his situation on the fountain board. I hope that your situation gets fixed to your satisfaction.

Jon

Fullthrottle42,

I really hate to hear about all the problems you are having. This is unacceptable with any brand boat, much less one with a reputation of good build quality like Fountain.

I just saw my new 36 Baja outlaw at the dealer today for the first time. We have waited over two months for it, and it is nerve racking wondering if everything will be right, work as expected, etc. etc. especially when you are spending that kind of money.

We currently have five different friends with Fountains and I have to tell you that they receive the best service of anyone on our lake. Please do not take this wrong, but Fountain is not for me. They just do not fit us. However I have said on many occassions that I wish I was buying a Fountain because of the local dealer service and support. The dealer is Britt Springs at Carolina Performance Marine in Charlotte. He goes well above the call of duty to service is customers.

You may want to call Britt for some suggestions. His girlfriend, Amy that works at the dealership use to work for Reggie and may also be able to offer some help.

These problems with Fountain really surprise me because of all the good dealer support I have seen my friends get.

One has owned three in three years, two 42's and one 38 sport cruiser, one has had a 29, now a 38 Lightning, one has had a 29 now a 35 and one has had a 27, 29, 32 and now a 35. They love their Fountains and are repeat buyers because of the good dealer support.

I wish you the best of luck in getting your problems resolved.

Mark

interceptor232 we think alot alike:D :D :D :D

Interceptor I missed that one on ther first read I am ROFLMAO :D:D:D

Let's see, it's Thursday afternoon. I called Fountain on Monday to see if they could tell me what props were on my boat when it left the factory (i'm second owner). Left a message with the hull I.D. number.
Simple request since they have the performance data sheet for each boat they build.
Walk to file cabinet, remove sheet , look at prop data and return call.

ed

Interceptor - try to get Gail Lane on the phone. She was more than helpful when I needed that sort of info for my boat. I think the key is to keep calling until you get a person. Also, check out the new Fountain website - They have prop info on there now.

Jana, I made the mistake of going to an answering machine in customer service. The prop info on the new site does not cover the hull/engine combo I have.
Must admit the new site is a great upgrade.