Halfords Cycle care plan opinion

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AlCouper

New Member
Hi everyone, I bought a new bike from Halfords last November and paid an extra £80 for the 3 year care plan which I thought was good value. My bike was stolen in April and wasn't recovered so after a month of looking I bought another one from Halfords. When I picked my new bike up I asked the sales assistant to transfer my care plan to my new bike and was shocked to be told I would need to buy a new one as even though there was still two and a half years still to run on the care plan I purchased just 6 months earlier. I was advised to call customer services which when I did and was told again "the plan is not transferrable" and I would need to buy a new one. I feel as though I've been a victim of theft twice now and would be interested to know your thoughts on this and whether you think this is fair and I'm being unreasonable in expecting the plan to be transferable or not.
 

Oldhippy

Cynical idealist
Appalling in my opinion. Halfords are c*ap.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
@Oldhippy beat me to it.
Very poor from Halfords. But it's what we have come to expect from a car parts shop.
You could escalate to head office but I'm afraid that would get you nowhere.
Call them out on twitter if you have an account
 

13 rider

Guru
Location
leicester
Considering you bought your second bike from halfords they had 2 profits from you I would have expected them to transfer the plan or charge for 6 months to make up the plan but not surprised that when dealing a national company the Customer service is appalling and profit is put first
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
OP
OP
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AlCouper

New Member
Can you check your paperwork to see when you were told it was not transferable to a new bike from them? It is not mentioned on https://www.halfords.com/bikes/cyclecare/leisure-cyclecare---hydraulic-brake-3-year-730279.html so this smacks of selling you effectively an insurance that you possibly could not use in full and it may be misselling.

I think you have bren victimised four times but I have a very low opinion of "half odds" and their random service quality.

That's very helpful to know and will form part of my complaint when i get started on that. I understood it would be similar to a car service plan or warranty which are nearly always transferable to a new owner if you sell your car. Thanks so much for checking this!
 

Teamfixed

Tim Lewis
I buy the odd inner tube from them but nothing else. Not worth it in my opinion. Bikes don't really have service intervals, You're better off looking stuff up as and when its needed I would say.
Hindsight Eh? :okay:
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
There’s a reason they’re nicknamed Halfrauds…..
Is there? I prefer "half odds" because I reckon that's about the chance you get someone who knows one end of a bike from the other. I don't think they often stoop to deliberate fraud, even in this case: it might be a bait-and-switch fraud, but it smells more like misselling due to bad processes/QA.
 
OP
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AlCouper

New Member
Is there? I prefer "half odds" because I reckon that's about the chance you get someone who knows one end of a bike from the other. I don't think they often stoop to deliberate fraud, even in this case: it might be a bait-and-switch fraud, but it smells more like misselling due to bad processes/QA.

Seems like I'm making some progress already as now being told by Halfords if I provide proof of purchase they'll cancel the old plan and give me a new one. It seems there's no facility for transferring so that's hopefully a result, I think it's more of an admin/process issue as you say - spot on.

Thanks again and everyone else for your thoughts.
 
Location
South East
If it isn’t transferable, it might be good to understand whether that is between owners, or between bikes, and I would expect that to be in the T&Cs, and in detail, as if it just says not transferable and nothing else, that seems to be the end of the line for that enquiry.
If so, is it possible to cancel, as that may release some of the original £80 back to you at least?

Going forward, I think it best to get yourself up to speed with what a bike service actually does, March of which will most likely be ‘check & adjust’ things, which you can do yourself.
For the more detailed things, try to find a local bike shop and ask them to give it an annual ‘once over’ check, which you won’t need for a year or so if you can keep things good in the meantime.
 

Cycleops

Legendary Member
Location
Accra, Ghana
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.
 
£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 all he gets is a basic once over then he would be better off keeping his money and spending an hour on utube or something similar and learning a little bit about bike basics.

I've been around the block a bit (a lot???) and there's no way I'd pay that sort of money for a care plan....for anything.

Keep your money. Halfrauds are seldom worth the trouble unless you are really desperate.
 
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