Halfords Cycle care plan opinion

[Lovacott]

£80 for three years care sounds cheap. What do you get for that? I doubt it will be three full services so what exactly has OP bought?

If it was three years worth of full services including parts, I'd be at the front of the queue.

The reality is that it's a couple of basic services where you get 10% off the cost of any parts required.

This is what the £80 deal gets you.

The maximum bike purchase value is £599.

 

[mjr]

I'm going to go against the grain here.
I don't see it's any different to buying anything else like a TV or a kitchen appliance, that don't have transferable service agreements so why should bikes be any different?
What they do for the money is pitiably little, just check, adjust and lubricate. These agreements are really a waste of money as the time you might have need of it it will be outside the period. Halfords know they are onto a money maker while have to do almost nothing.

Have you found the terms and conditions or are you just guessing?

Some household appliance care policies are transferable. Some aren't. It's generally made clear before you buy, in the small print at least. That doesn't seem to be the case here.

Also, I wonder what would happen to a non-transferable TV care policy if your TV gets nicked and you buy a new one from the same shop. I would be rather surprised if they didn't at least offer some sort of goodwill refund for the unused time.

 

[DRM]

In all honesty I would rather let next doors dog service my bike before Halfords, just watch a few Park Tool videos on you tube that show how to do repairs/maintenance on bikes

 

[Lovacott]

In all honesty I would rather let next doors dog service my bike before Halfords, just watch a few Park Tool videos on you tube that show how to do repairs/maintenance on bikes

It's part of the modern day health and safety culture that only fully trained and certified professionals should do anything at all.

So where 30 years ago you'd see people tinkering with their cars outside every other house on a Sunday, it's a rare sight today.

Retailers and utilities play on that culture by selling plans like Homeserve for your plumbing or extended warranties for your washing machine.

Reality is, these plans make handsome profits for those selling them and you will never get back the value you put in.

 

[FrankCrank]

Many years ago back there, I was doing shiftwork, and fancied a 'ghetto-blaster' type thing to use at work. Got one at a well known high street shop, and the sales staff did there utmost to persuade me to get insurance cover on it - which I declined. I later found out that it didn't cover portable devices - guess you can't blame them for trying.

 

[Lovacott]

Many years ago back there, I was doing shiftwork, and fancied a 'ghetto-blaster' type thing to use at work. Got one at a well known high street shop, and the sales staff did there utmost to persuade me to get insurance cover on it - which I declined. I later found out that it didn't cover portable devices - guess you can't blame them for trying.

A little while back, I bought my son a new mobile in Currys PC World in Exeter.

The young sales guy asked me if I wanted insurance cover and I said no.

He then told me that he was legally obliged to go though all of the benefits of the insurance cover so that I fully understood the possible consequences of not buying insurance?

I get the same thing when I collect stuff from Argos. Do I really need an extended warranty for a £30 fast boiling kettle?

Sales staff in these places are pressured into selling these unneeded extras. They are trained in what to say and act out various scenarios during their induction training. Branch managers are judged on the proportion of revenue generated from insurance sales. In fairness to my nearest Halfords, although they've offered me the care plan for each of the three bikes I have bought in the last year, when I declined, they did not persist. No doubt, their manager will be getting a kick up the arse from head office before long.

 

[DRM]

It's part of the modern day health and safety culture that only fully trained and certified professionals should do anything at all.

So where 30 years ago you'd see people tinkering with their cars outside every other house on a Sunday, it's a rare sight today.

Retailers and utilities play on that culture by selling plans like Homeserve for your plumbing or extended warranties for your washing machine.

Reality is, these plans make handsome profits for those selling them and you will never get back the value you put in.

The difference with modern cars is the electronics, if you don't have the software and lead you can't do anything, you can still do the basics, service it, replace brake pads/discs etc. but youngsters these days don't want to get dirty, it's really difficult to get a decent apprentice in any profession that is engineering based, but then again when I talk to my work colleagues, a lot of us are now over 50, and like creaking gates, we've had enough of being outside in the rain & cold, getting filthy with no thanks and then being micro managed by people who can't do the job, perhaps they are right to not bother.

 

[Lovacott]

The difference with modern cars is the electronics, if you don't have the software and lead you can't do anything, you can still do the basics, service it, replace brake pads/discs etc. but youngsters these days don't want to get dirty, it's really difficult to get a decent apprentice in any profession that is engineering based, but then again when I talk to my work colleagues, a lot of us are now over 50, and like creaking gates, we've had enough of being outside in the rain & cold, getting filthy with no thanks and then being micro managed by people who can't do the job, perhaps they are right to not bother.

It's also the fear of invalidating insurances and warranties.

20 years ago, where I work, if the lights went out we would try and find the cause. Nine times out of ten you'd figure it out and do a repair.

Now, you have to call a company approved electrician and he has to fill out a risk assessment and sign a visitors book before he does the obvious and flicks the circuit breaker from off to on.

Trying to do it yourself could result in the sack.

 

[AlCouper]

Update!!! After I complained to customer services I received a call from the local store to apologise but reaffirm that the careplan is not transferable. I said in that case I felt as though I had now been stolen from twice as I had paid Halfords for a 3 year service plan but only received 6 months cover. After I said this all of a sudden there was a change of heart and I was told if I could provide proof of purchase they would give me a whole new plan on my new bike, which they duly did at no charge. To be honest I've found all the store staff pretty helpful and friendly, bar one. Thanks again for all your input!

 

[chris-suffolk]

Update!!! After I complained to customer services I received a call from the local store to apologise but reaffirm that the careplan is not transferable. I said in that case I felt as though I had now been stolen from twice as I had paid Halfords for a 3 year service plan but only received 6 months cover. After I said this all of a sudden there was a change of heart and I was told if I could provide proof of purchase they would give me a whole new plan on my new bike, which they duly did at no charge. To be honest I've found all the store staff pretty helpful and friendly, bar one. Thanks again for all your input!

I'm still not sure I'd use Halfords for servicing my bike, even if I had a paid for service plan. Thankfully it's worth more than their £599 limit, so not a dilemma I'm likely to face.

 

[13 rider]

Update!!! After I complained to customer services I received a call from the local store to apologise but reaffirm that the careplan is not transferable. I said in that case I felt as though I had now been stolen from twice as I had paid Halfords for a 3 year service plan but only received 6 months cover. After I said this all of a sudden there was a change of heart and I was told if I could provide proof of purchase they would give me a whole new plan on my new bike, which they duly did at no charge. To be honest I've found all the store staff pretty helpful and friendly, bar one. Thanks again for all your input!

Thankfully some good news ,but really you had a lot off hassle to get something that common sense should have been straight forward swap the plan to new bike
Wishing you many happy miles on your new bike

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Whoever dreamed up the scheme and worked out the pricing, probably did so on the basis of most customers not keeping or actively using their bikes for the whole three years. Their thinking probably goes along the line that most buyers get a bike when they make some sort of keep fit/lose weight resolution, don't keep it up for very long, then sell the bike or stick it in the shed. THerefore most of the potential value in such plans is not drawn down on by the customer so equates to pure profit.

 

[Cycleops]

Rather than despairing in the non transferable plan the OP should hopefully be rejoicing in the fact that as The Who said he 'Wont get fooled again'.

 

[Lovacott]

Whoever dreamed up the scheme and worked out the pricing, probably did so on the basis of most customers not keeping or actively using their bikes for the whole three years. Their thinking probably goes along the line that most buyers get a bike when they make some sort of keep fit/lose weight resolution, don't keep it up for very long, then sell the bike or stick it in the shed. THerefore most of the potential value in such plans is not drawn down on by the customer so equates to pure profit.

Up until I started commuting a year ago, my Apollo had been out about half a dozen times in six years and done a total of about 60 miles. All of it on the nice tarmac cycle path which runs by the river, all of it in the summer in nice dry weather. I'd say that's pretty typical of the average Hal fords bike.

 

[Lovacott]

Therefore most of the potential value in such plans is not drawn down on by the customer so equates to pure profit.

"Unlimited inner tube replacements" sounds like good value until you consider that your local Half ords is probably about ten miles away from where you get the puncture and they are also probably closed at the time. So chances are, you'll fix the puncture yourself rather than walk the bike the ten miles to the store.

That said, you could live opposite a Halfrods and pop in daily for new front and back tubes so there is some risk on their part.

I wonder if any readers of this site have milked the Hlafords Cycle Care Plan?