A new halfords thread

[Tin Pot]

that old one was getting really chuffing annoying.

I ordered a bunch of stuff online on Tuesday.

Received email saying everything would be ready for collection Wednesday.

Went to Halfords but they had nothing to give me.

They were very courteous and apologetic, offered me a further discount and promised to call when the order arrived.

Friday they called

Saturday I picked it up, and paid the discounted price.

No dramas!
Thanks Halfords!

 

[mjr]

No dramas... except the wasted trip? That sort of shugar is why I avoid them now, even for parts. That and mine failed to make the "it's here" call.

 

[Tin Pot]

No dramas... except the wasted trip? That sort of shugar is why I avoid them now, even for parts. That and mine failed to make the "it's here" call.

It's a five minute drive, there was little urgency on the order, and I got £17 off.

So yeah, no dramas.

I can see it being down to the individual staff, but I've been in this particular Halfords on and off for three years. It's usually a different chap, but they've always been very custimer focussed to me.

 

[ScotiaLass]

I've ordered online for collection in-store. I got a call and my items arrived when they should have.
I've no complaints.

 

[BrynCP]

My last four visits to Halfords:

Visit 1: Click and Collect. Wait in queue for 15 minutes while assistant struggles to work the till. Wait another 10 minutes while they find my parcel in the back.

Visit 2: Click and Collect (other store). Till girl tells me I have to go to bike hut as it's a bike related product. I have to wait 20 minutes at bike hut while the guy helps somebody pick a bike. As this is going on, till girl is still alone at the till chatting to another colleague, as two other colleagues are chatting in an aisle. Then some kids come in and ask the guy if he can pump up their tyres, so he abandons me and the customer he is helping to do just this! He never returns, when I finally get out, after almost 40 minutes, he's in his car having a smoke.

Visit 3: Inner Tubes. Supposed to be 5 for £10, till assistant doesn't know how to make it do this as it came up full price. Calls over colleague, he doesn't know either, refuse to honour £10 so I leave without.

Visit 4: Inner Tubes. Wait 15 minutes in the queue while the sole till assistant is on the phone ringing around branches to find if they have a product in stock for the customer in front of me. Colleagues are chatting in the aisle despite a large queue forming. She knows how to apply the 5 for £10 on the tubes, good start, but refuses to accept my British cycling card "what do you want me to do with that?". I explain, she tells me despite British Cycling say it applies on top of any other offer, I can't have it on ANY of my order, as I have already had the 5 for £10 inner tube offer.

I honestly have never had a quick or good experience. What gets on my nerves is the colleagues chatting in the aisles despite queues and their lack of knowledge of the tills.

I know what you're asking, why do I keep going back! It's the only place open after work.

My brother also wanted to buy one of their Boardman Road Bikes for £500, asked if they would build it up enough to check size, refused unless he actually bought it.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Ordered a few bits and pieces lately online delivered no dramas nice discount as well. Really can't say I've had a bad experience at any halfords branch. If you know what you want no issue I think the problem may arise when you don't know what you need and your asking for advice! Then I can see issues, however I get the feeling reading this thread that you can't please everyone thank god I don't work in retail I'd be sacked toot sweet !

 

[BrynCP]

It's probably down to the store. I have just had really poor experiences in both the Hull ones. My Visit 2 was supposed to be a quick click and collect on the way home from work that ended up being around 40 minutes.

To be fair to the staff, in most cases it's not their fault, if Halfords have too few staff to have somebody helping customers and somebody serving, then the staff either please me and ignore the customer who wants her to ring around, or make me wait and help the other customer. What I don't get is the staff chatting in the aisles - if they were stacking the shelves I would understand from their point of view. (Not unique to Halfords by the way, Sports Direct often have 4 or 5 of their staff just having a chat together). The common thing between the two is that their staff are all typically, on appearance, college age.

 

[NorthernDave]

Can't fault my local Halfords.
They were spot on when i was choosing, buying and collecting my Boardman.
I've used click n collect several times with no problems other than occasionally having to wait a few minutes while they're serving the customer in front.
I can only think of two minor problems and on both occasions they have been resolved well and I've been left in a far better position than they needed to do to sort things.

 

[jay clock]

The click and collect is a farce. The online system bears no relation to the real stock. So it allows you to order stuff that will be ready in an hour's time and when you get there they tell you it will be a few days....

 

[zizou]

Think it varies across the country depending on the staff / management in each store. The couple i use are pretty professional - a bit souless perhaps compared to a good LBS but overall i've had decent service and no complaints.

What i like in particular (common with Evans) is that if i order something or have my bike with them for some issue to get sorted then they always contact me promptly when its ready or if something else needs done. Most local bike shops never bloody get back to me and i need to chase them up.

 

[bpsmith]

I ordered last month. Parts due in 3 days. Email to confirm. No telephone call. 5 days later I call in to collect. No parts. They tell me no phone call means not in yet and advise that there is a delay.

Park Tools are always ordered in when bought and that's the delay. Asked if I could have the other bits and told that they weren't there. Asked if I could have the chain lube that was supposed to already be in store and told that they were sold out and never had it.

A further 5 days later and I call back, despite no telephone call, and the stuff has been there for 3 days already. Asked why no call and just get a shrug.

The guy then tells me that they are delayed because of Black Friday. I ask why, as that was before Christmas, and he says that they were a million picks down since then and their system has never recovered!

If true, that's just bonkers. If not, why make up such a daft story?

I am always polite when in any store, but I struggle to understand how they're still in business tbh.

 

[Tin Pot]

The click and collect is a farce. The online system bears no relation to the real stock. So it allows you to order stuff that will be ready in an hour's time and when you get there they tell you it will be a few days....

I think this is a problem.

I noticed that my order had been sourced from Chicken Cycles.

The chap explained they order everything from their sources when the web order is placed, get it all together then courier it to the store.

 

[Hardrock93]

The click and collect is a farce. The online system bears no relation to the real stock. So it allows you to order stuff that will be ready in an hour's time and when you get there they tell you it will be a few days....

Never had a problem with this at my local store (Stirling). If the system says the item can be collected in an hour, then it will be there. I usually receive a call from the store to let me know it's ready for collection.

 

[david k]

Sounds like click and collect isn't consistent, I rarely use this at any store as in my expernce the wait can be longer than the web suggests, I guess the best way is to not expect it to come in as quick as it suggests? I know that's frustrating when you want to collect what you have ordered!

I've found my local halfords very honest though, when there is an issue they explain what it is and what we are doing about it, my obs I don't trust, trying to sell me a bike I didn't want and extra work on a service I won't go in again

 

[KneesUp]

What's that? You don't care about my experiences? Ah well.

1) Click and collect - arrived in two days as they said. Took the chap about 5 minutes to find it because it was in a bigger box than he expected.
2) Buy in store (it's open on a Sunday, what can I say?) - item waws £19.99 on the shelf, or £16.99 and then a further 20% off if I bought online. No problems matching their own web price - it pays to check

As with all stores of their size though, everything is over-packaged - it's all vacuum packed onto hanging cards at least. I much prefer buying the item loose from the LBS rather than buying the item and paying for packaging that makes me feel guilty for wasting it.