MICHAEL Jackon’s multimillionaire former bodyguard claims he was ignored by staff in a Ferrari dealership because he was wearing a tracksuit – and they missed out on a £500,000 sale.
Matt Fiddes claims he is worth £120million and has enough money to buy every car in the showroom – but walked out after he and his wife felt snubbed.
A man worth £120m was ignored by Ferrari dealers because he was wearing a tracksuitSWNS
Matt previously bought a Ferrari 360 from the garage when he was 29SWNS
The 43-year-old visited the Dick Lovett car dealership in Swindon, Wiltshire, on Saturday, hoping to buy two new posh motors for himself and his wife.
But the ex-bodyguard – who made his millions from a string of martial arts schools – said they were left wandering around for 20 minutes while staff ignored them.
In the end his wife Moniqe, 29, got fed up and asked for help.
And he said once staff recognised him, they were ‘all over him like a rash’, but he had already made up his mind to buy elsewhere.
Matt, who lives in Tiverton, previously bought a Ferrari 360 Spider from the garage when he was 29 and went in again after taking an event in Swindon that weekend.
But claims staff might have assumed he was a time waster because he was wearing a tracksuit – and the dealership lost a huge sale because of it.
Matt said: “I wanted to treat myself to a new supercar, and I thought I would get my wife one too.
“I went in because I was in the area and I have had cars from them before – I bought a 360 Spider from the garage when I was 29.
“I walked in right past everyone and was ignored.
“We wandered around for about 20 minutes before my wife said this is ridiculous and went over to one of the salespeople and said my husband wants to buy a car.
“Then two sale people were all over me like a rash, but by that point, I already thought I would buy one elsewhere.
“I don’t dress up a lot; I’m in tracksuits 99.9 per cent of the time because I am a fitness guy. That’s who I am.
“To be fair to them, they probably have a lot of time wasters who just turn up, take a few pictures in the cars and then leave.
“If I had turned up in a suit and tie or been 20 years older, it probably would have been a different story or if I had walked in with Michael Jackson back in the day.
“I was prepared to blow between £400,000 and £500,000 on two cars.
“It’s a lesson in why you shouldn’t prejudge people because they lost the sale of two cars.”
A spokesman for Dick Lovett said: “I can confirm that Mr Fiddes visited our dealership on Saturday.
“Upon arrival, Mr Fiddes was initially greeted by our Showroom Host, and following a brief delay due to high levels of showroom traffic, one of our Sales Team spoke to him about a selection of our Ferrari Approved range of cars.
“Dick Lovett prides itself on maintaining a consistently high level of customer service for anyone who visits our showroom, regardless of their appearance or clothing.”
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