Great service at Halfords!!!

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PaulB

Legendary Member
Location
Colne
My son is now working with Halfords (he's an NVQ assessor) so advised me to take a bike with a problem I couldn't fathom out to be serviced there. I just picked it up at 9am and have to say I'm very impressed! There was no staff discount (doesn't apply to labour costs) but in total, replacing the bearings in headset and BB, putting new brake-pads on, stopping the maddening squeaking/tapping, the cost was a very reasonable £15! And it's a Campag-equipped bike and the mechanic who did mine is renovating another customer's mid-70s Peugeot bike so they can turn their hands to anything and everything!
 

Cycleops

Legendary Member
Location
Accra, Ghana
That's good to hear. There was another thread recently that focused on Halfords service skills and one former employee confirmed it was very much to do with who you got. They are the biggest retailer of bikes in the U.K. so they ought to be able to sort themselves out and provide great service.
 

Bonefish Blues

Banging donk
Location
52 Festive Road
I think it's quite store-specific in terms of the skill of the bike team, but that applies everywhere. Mine used to be better than the LBS. Not used it since their ace guy moved on though.
 

MrPie

Telling it like it is since 1971
Location
Perth, Australia
Colnago c60 has internal cable routing and its a frustrating grey hair inducing nightmare to change cables if yer not properly prepared or know what you are doing. Would it be naughty to cut all the cables and drop her off?
 
Location
Loch side.
Colnago c60 has internal cable routing and its a frustrating grey hair inducing nightmare to change cables if yer not properly prepared or know what you are doing. Would it be naughty to cut all the cables and drop her off?

That's the most wicked thought I've heard of in a long time. Very funny. Unless you pulled that stunt on me on April Fool's day, our workshop would have double-charged you.
 

Mrs M

Guru
Location
Aberdeenshire
That's good to hear. There was another thread recently that focused on Halfords service skills and one former employee confirmed it was very much to do with who you got. They are the biggest retailer of bikes in the U.K. so they ought to be able to sort themselves out and provide great service.
It's the same with service anywhere, it's who you get that makes the difference.
 

Cycleops

Legendary Member
Location
Accra, Ghana
It's the same with service anywhere, it's who you get that makes the difference.
It's true but with an organisation as large as Halfords you would think they would have a training programme to ensure all their employees reached a similar high level rather than its customers having to accept pot luck.
 
I called in at the Musselburgh branch as I was passing through recently. I needed some brake pads and an allen key to fit them, but was not sure of the sizes. The guy I dealt with could not have been more helpful, he brought the bits and some workshop tools outside to my bike to make sure everything was suitable.
 

KnackeredBike

I do my own stunts
I have to say I have always had good experience in Halfords, not very expensive for service work and they tend to fix anything afterwards quibble free as well.

They have also lent me tools to do the job myself when they were too busy or it is a five minute job and I didn't want to pay labour.

However of course they are variable, unless they farm robots there will always be a bloke who had a heavy night out last night and just wants to do the quickest possible job. But there are plenty of those in any job.

Their accessories are a rip off though, I know they are targeted on selling those but I thoroughly approve of someone buying pointless crap is subsidising my repair.
 

MrPie

Telling it like it is since 1971
Location
Perth, Australia
That's the most wicked thought I've heard of in a long time. Very funny. Unless you pulled that stunt on me on April Fool's day, our workshop would have double-charged you.
Glad to be of service. :okay:
If you ever get some random nobber trying that particular shenanigan then check out the GCN 'thread and Dyson method' video....works a treat. Otherwise charging double is perfectly reasonable.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
They have also lent me tools to do the job myself when they were too busy or it is a five minute job and I didn't want to pay labour.
I have lent my spanner to a lad with a back wheel rubbing on his frame after Half odds claimed it was against company policy to lend out tools.

I avoid them for repairs after they screwed up indexing on my wife's bike many moons ago. They had no reason to fiddle with that for what they were repairing. More recently, the same branch handed a bike back to a neighbour and let him ride off with the brakes disconnected.
 
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