Fountain Auto Mall — Local services in Oak Ridge

Went in for a specific vehicle we saw online for $8,900. Drove 2 hours thanks to traffic on Black Friday. Arrived at the Acura section and the vehicle was on the lot for $9,999 with a 100 day warranty. Talking with sales rep he said "as is" I said it has a warranty and he said he would check on it. He verified that there was a sticker on the vehicle. (I also have a picture with it including the VIN#) He then "graciously" reduced the price of the vehicle to $8,900. I kept asking for the warranty sticker and was told that I would get it after they detailed it.

Note - we asked to drive it to our mechanic but was told no but we could bring him there but it was not feasible to do a round trip to pick up our mechanic as he was working. We were reassured that another old vehicle they sold the buyer had his mechanic look at it and it was fine. (like what that has to do with it I have no idea) Since it came with a 100 day warranty we decided to risk the purchase without having it looked at. (plus for some reason I thought there was a cooling off period and we would bring it back if it was really a bad car).

We were paying with a personal check and I was told I had to fill out a form for the IRS because of the high amount of the check (this was over an hour into the whole deal and I do not fully understand why everything was taking so long as we only pushed back one time on the price). Let me tell you paying by check or credit card is a nightmare! I also had to give them references....strange

About 2 hours into the whole deal we go back and sit with the finance guy. He wanted me to sign paperwork stating the car was "as is" and I would not. He rolled his eyes at me. He left the room and came back after that. He told me that I should sign the papers except for the "as is" part and that I could sign the warranty sticker in a little bit. I did not want to sign or initial any of the lines on that page UNTIL I signed the warranty sticker but I felt like I wasn't being given much of a choice. We were signing all the rest of the papers and the finance guy said something about a 30 day period in which they could take the car back. So I said "oh you get 30 days and I get 3?" to which he corrected me and said we get no days. So I stopped signing. Then he left again and the manager came in.

We discussed the whole issue with the fact the mechanic could not look at it, the fact there was no 3 day cooling off period and the manager reprimanded me for waiting so long to bring this all up. Then he told me he had bad news that he had to tell us that would be a deal breaker - there was no warranty on the car at all.

They looked at us like we had 3 heads because we were being cautious about shelling out over $10K for a car. "The car is old what do you expect blah blah blah". They want me to take their word that the vehicle was in good condition but would not back it up with a cheesy 100 day 3000 mile warranty? They also said we couldn't take the car off the lot to see our mechanic cause we might steal parts from it (are you kidding me?)

I ripped up the papers and asked for the paper that had my social on it, and was told they had to keep it. I was told it was because they ran my credit - that paper I filled out for the IRS cause I wrote a large check was really for them to pull my credit! I told them that was not discussed and to let me see this paper. So they let me see it, I ripped my social off of it and I was told I was breaking the law.

They are breaking the law. You do not put a warranty sticker on a car and wait over 2 hours (after being asked several times to confirm it indeed had a warranty) to say there is no warranty. I literally had only a few more signatures to go and I would have been out of there.

The sales person was pleasant and my only complaint is his misrepresentation of the paper I was putting my social on - next time I pay more attention.

The only way I would have left with that car is with the warranty being re-added but that did not seem...

The worst experience. On May 8th, I had to tow my 2024 GMC 2500 pickup truck with 20,000 miles and under manufacturer's warranty to the dealer because it wouldn't start. I called to ask about my truck. An Answer Machine answers, giving you many options, but none of them answered. Finally, after three days, they delivered it to me. I went home. In the morning, all the lights started turning on and off. Another couple of days in the shop, the same communication problem. On May 20th, I had the same problem: the truck wouldn't start. All the lights stayed on and blinked. I had to tow it back to the dealer. And again the odyssey begins, Call the dealer... They don't answer, and if someone does, they say they don't know anything but to leave my name, phone number, email and that they will call me back, (something that never happens). After 8 days of waiting and without a response, I call the Manager Nestor Diaz who obviously doesn't answer, I leave two messages on his answer machine, with my name, phone number and asking in a friendly way that they please give me an answer about the damage to my truck since it is very important to me, because it is necessary for my work. He never answers my messages, so I decided to go to the dealer. At that moment my truck was parked outside the shop in the same place it had been for 8 days; I ask about the status of my truck and no one can give an answer, I was able to speak to the Manager, who is supposedly the customer service person, and he responds in a rude and impolite manner that what I need to know, I respond that what is wrong with my truck, what is the problem and how long will it take, to which he responds that the technician is not there and that they are waiting for a spare part, that this is GMC and it can take from a month to 6 months for the part to arrive. I ask him about a rental car because it is too long, to which he responds that rental cars are a courtesy of the dealer and not for GM. That I leave my phone number and that when the truck is ready they will call me. I call GM, I tell them the problem, they tell me that there are no spare parts that can take that long, that they are obligated to give me a rental car because GM pays them and if they don't have one, give me a voucher for a rental car. The GM representative opened a case and told me the dealer had 48 hours to respond. After 5 days of waiting, I called GM again, and the representative told me they hadn't answered and that I should please give them another 48 hours... but there was never a response. After 35 days of waiting, the truck was still in the same place. I had to hire a lawyer, and as if by magic, the next day the truck was washed and fixed. It took them from May 8th to June 25th to replace a fuel pump sensor? I don't believe it. Thank you, GMC Fointan Auto Mall, for waiting, and I hope none of your customers have to go through...

Before you read my post.. Just know I was prepared for the police to be called on me if the right thing wasn’t done. I don’t think I will be going back to this location.

Thank you for doing the right thing Cristina-Service Manager. One good experience was Ingrid the CSR was more than pleasant on all the occasions I have called and brought my car up there to be serviced because I had multiple issues. I brought my vehicle up there 3x in the past 17 days which 5 of those days my car was at the dealership. I explained that I was having parasitic withdraw, key sticking in the ignition and check engine light.

Backstory: November 27th 8:00AM took vehicle in waited for 3/4 of the day to see if any updates called again before they closed and found out they couldn’t get to it. Picked up vehicle. December 4th, brought car in at 7:30AM called multiple times after 2PM and no updates called again before closing $280.00 for the diagnostic and tightening of the hose. Engine light off but couldn’t find anything wrong with my other two concerns. December 9th the key gets stuck again so I sent in a video along with a detailed email to the service manager Irvin Guajardo after already making an appointment for December 13th no call no response no acknowledgment to what I sent.

December 12th met with Irvin and he acknowledged he received the email but the system wouldn’t let him reply back and I guess a phone call is not protocol nor a text. He said it would possibly take two days for the mechanic to really check my car in detail…..

Well isn’t that what I paid for initially if not then why wasn’t I given the different levels of diagnostic that you offer? Guess what??? No clear cut answer but they found the issue this time but they wanted to charge me another diagnostic fee and they didn’t carry the part.. Absolutely not. They have held my vehicle for a total of 5 days which one of the days they didn’t even look at it. They did provide ride sharing which is a plus (thank you) for all trips paid for but I had to speak with the service manager Christina who looked over my file in detail and came to the conclusion of not charging me another diagnostic fee when others said I was responsible for it. Christina thank you for doing the right thing.

I am very skeptical of doing any business with them in the future, due to my experience with them in such a short time. We are people just like you not just a number please treat us as you would like to be treated. Again kudos to Ingrid and a thank you to Cristina for looking at all the paperwork multiple times and making the correct decision and doing right by the customer. Not sure what to rate them but it wasn’t satisfactory service it was actually below in...