I wouldn't discount anyone so completely. If, for example, I was tempted to buy a new Garmin 200 GPS thingy, should I ignore
Halfords and pay considerably more than the £56 it's possible to get it for there when the product received will be identical? I wouldn't cut my nose off to spite my face.
I happily ride two excellent Boardman bikes... the CX which many on here believe is superb, and the 2010 Team Carbon which received practically universal acclaim as the best bike you could get for the money back then by some margin. Both were bought from and built by Halfords and I don't regret the purchases one iota.
Now obviously there are always going to be horror stories. They will always get far more notice than the good experiences, and perhaps the customer service at times in the past has been very poor, but I believe as a company they (while still far from perfect) are making strides to address this.
My experiences with Halfords, have on the whole, been better than those I've had at my LBS, and I know and trust at least two of the mechanics that work there to do difficult jobs on my bikes to an excellent standard. So forgive me, but I will continue to recommend Boardman bikes and the particular mechanics at my local store to my colleagues who join the C2W scheme, to my friends, and to those of you on here who are willing to listen.