Halfords
- Thread starter dellzeqq
- Start date
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RecordAceFromNew
Swinging Member
- Location
- West London
summerdays
Cycling in the sun
- Location
- Bristol
sheddy said:
Yes - I'd forgotten that one! - The assumption is of course that you will turn up by car to buy your bike or bits for it.
Harbornite
New Member
A) Had a shocking experience with them generally about 18 months ago.
Sadly our company chose them as the sole supplier for our C2W scheme. They initially offered a discount on the bike & the withdrew it leaving me stuck with the incorrect amount of C2W vouchers, it took nearly 10 months to sort out. Dealing with Halfords , their CS (dreadful) & C2W was almost impossible.
My colleagues bike was in a dangerous condition when he collected it, headset so loose the bars dropped when he first rode it & gears incorrectly set up.
Armed with this information I was a more thorough during the handover process, that attracted a 'yoof' from in the store - made comments about me, price of my bike, that he didn't earn what the bike cost etc. It transpired he was a member of staff
.
I pointed out that the bars were not aligned so the wheel would point straight forward, he muttered that he couldn't see what the problem was. Re-aligned the bars & wheel & overtightened the headset so much it was an effort to turn the bars. In the end I left. I wasn't given a receipt, manual, notice free check up etc - just really poor service.
Letter of complaint from Halfords was duly sent & had a reply that was bluntly patronising; basically it said no matter how shoot their service was I still bought the bike from them.
I've been to different branches around the West Mids area & some staff have been really good & helpful. However thay have proved to be a rarity. Bizarrely I bumped into an old mate who had retired early & was working as a bike tech there to keep himself busy. He told me that they could not retain staff as the younger staff simply did not want to know - he described the staff entrance as a revolving door.
Further bike on C2W recently & they refused to put pedals on it so I could try it for size - as we know test rides are forbidden.
I can speak on behalf of a number of my colleagues who have been forced to use them because of the tie in with C2W & almost without exception there have been problems & thats with upwards of 50 bikes purchased.
The outstanding one was a colleague who went to collect his bike & was handed it in the cardboard box & told to build it himself
C) I know they sponsor a race team but I fail to see how that can impact on Halfords other than general advertising.
Race team or not, I would be there in a shot if they offered good & helpful service. They don't, so I use my LBS instead
Sadly our company chose them as the sole supplier for our C2W scheme. They initially offered a discount on the bike & the withdrew it leaving me stuck with the incorrect amount of C2W vouchers, it took nearly 10 months to sort out. Dealing with Halfords , their CS (dreadful) & C2W was almost impossible.
My colleagues bike was in a dangerous condition when he collected it, headset so loose the bars dropped when he first rode it & gears incorrectly set up.
Armed with this information I was a more thorough during the handover process, that attracted a 'yoof' from in the store - made comments about me, price of my bike, that he didn't earn what the bike cost etc. It transpired he was a member of staff
.I pointed out that the bars were not aligned so the wheel would point straight forward, he muttered that he couldn't see what the problem was. Re-aligned the bars & wheel & overtightened the headset so much it was an effort to turn the bars. In the end I left. I wasn't given a receipt, manual, notice free check up etc - just really poor service.
Letter of complaint from Halfords was duly sent & had a reply that was bluntly patronising; basically it said no matter how shoot their service was I still bought the bike from them.
I've been to different branches around the West Mids area & some staff have been really good & helpful. However thay have proved to be a rarity. Bizarrely I bumped into an old mate who had retired early & was working as a bike tech there to keep himself busy. He told me that they could not retain staff as the younger staff simply did not want to know - he described the staff entrance as a revolving door.
Further bike on C2W recently & they refused to put pedals on it so I could try it for size - as we know test rides are forbidden.
I can speak on behalf of a number of my colleagues who have been forced to use them because of the tie in with C2W & almost without exception there have been problems & thats with upwards of 50 bikes purchased.The outstanding one was a colleague who went to collect his bike & was handed it in the cardboard box & told to build it himself
C) I know they sponsor a race team but I fail to see how that can impact on Halfords other than general advertising.
Race team or not, I would be there in a shot if they offered good & helpful service. They don't, so I use my LBS instead
tongue_tied
New Member
Halfords have been pretty helpful when I've gone in to buy basic bits for the bike e.g. water bottles, tool kits, etc - not that complicated.
However, I would never buy a bike from there again unless I decided I had money to burn getting it set up elsewhere. Last year I decided to treat myself to my first ever road bike, and after looking at reviews and asking for advice, I settled on the Carrera Virtuoso as likely to be the best bike within my budget.
I'd never bought a bike from Halfords before, so along I went, the only one my size that they had in stock was the display model, but they told me to come back two days later and collect it after it had its full 'safety check'. Being thorough, I thought...
Anyway, picked the bike up, nice and shiny (I'm clueless about much else!) On my trip home, realised the gears were set up incorrectly, so went back and had them adjusted.
On way back home again, realised that the gears were still wrong, but different ones were problematic this time. Store had been closing as I left, so went back the next day.
In the meantime, I realised that the back brake would gradually come to rest against the rim on one side, with a huge gap on the other - incorrect adjustment. So I pointed this out too.
Lo and behold, when I got the bike back it was still set up incorrectly. So I decided to make what seemed like a smarter move, and take it to a different branch. They expressed surprise at how strangely the first store had set up the bike, and improved it slightly, but not by much - the brake problem was still there, and the gears still slipping/failing to shift in places.
So back to store number 1 as closer. This time I spoke to a more senior member of staff (I think) who listened to my rant (extremely frustrated by then!), agreed that it was unacceptable and wrote on the form that the adjustments this time had to be perfect, as I told him that otherwise I would return the bike. As if anything less than perfect should be acceptable anyway...By this point my confidence had also been knocked by seeing a printed list behind the counter for people on work placements/experience, or similar, which included bike building.
Needless to say, the bike on collection was no better, and they ended up having to refund me for the bike when all I wanted was for it to work. Ended up buying a secondhand Carrera Vanquish, decent bike for what I need and no messing about with Halfords, but it should never have come to that.
Since then, I have come across a kids' bike bought from Halfords years ago, and used only once as the child had an accident on it. On looking at the bike, noticed that the front forks were back-to-front. Scary.
Apologies for the lengthy rant, it's just one of those things that really annoys me whenever I think about it. Don't understand how these people can be employed when their incompetence puts people's safety in jeopardy, less serious in my case but other reports are horrendous.
Mind you, I have also had problems elsewhere, like the LBS who 'trued' my wheel leaving one spoke very slack, and then got stroppy when I questioned them...pity I didn't know any better and let it drop, as that wheel is now buckled with a broken spoke. Just wish it wasn't so difficult for the ignorant (e.g. me) to find somewhere trustworthy!
However, I would never buy a bike from there again unless I decided I had money to burn getting it set up elsewhere. Last year I decided to treat myself to my first ever road bike, and after looking at reviews and asking for advice, I settled on the Carrera Virtuoso as likely to be the best bike within my budget.
I'd never bought a bike from Halfords before, so along I went, the only one my size that they had in stock was the display model, but they told me to come back two days later and collect it after it had its full 'safety check'. Being thorough, I thought...
Anyway, picked the bike up, nice and shiny (I'm clueless about much else!) On my trip home, realised the gears were set up incorrectly, so went back and had them adjusted.
On way back home again, realised that the gears were still wrong, but different ones were problematic this time. Store had been closing as I left, so went back the next day.
In the meantime, I realised that the back brake would gradually come to rest against the rim on one side, with a huge gap on the other - incorrect adjustment. So I pointed this out too.
Lo and behold, when I got the bike back it was still set up incorrectly. So I decided to make what seemed like a smarter move, and take it to a different branch. They expressed surprise at how strangely the first store had set up the bike, and improved it slightly, but not by much - the brake problem was still there, and the gears still slipping/failing to shift in places.
So back to store number 1 as closer. This time I spoke to a more senior member of staff (I think) who listened to my rant (extremely frustrated by then!), agreed that it was unacceptable and wrote on the form that the adjustments this time had to be perfect, as I told him that otherwise I would return the bike. As if anything less than perfect should be acceptable anyway...By this point my confidence had also been knocked by seeing a printed list behind the counter for people on work placements/experience, or similar, which included bike building.
Needless to say, the bike on collection was no better, and they ended up having to refund me for the bike when all I wanted was for it to work. Ended up buying a secondhand Carrera Vanquish, decent bike for what I need and no messing about with Halfords, but it should never have come to that.
Since then, I have come across a kids' bike bought from Halfords years ago, and used only once as the child had an accident on it. On looking at the bike, noticed that the front forks were back-to-front. Scary.
Apologies for the lengthy rant, it's just one of those things that really annoys me whenever I think about it. Don't understand how these people can be employed when their incompetence puts people's safety in jeopardy, less serious in my case but other reports are horrendous.
Mind you, I have also had problems elsewhere, like the LBS who 'trued' my wheel leaving one spoke very slack, and then got stroppy when I questioned them...pity I didn't know any better and let it drop, as that wheel is now buckled with a broken spoke. Just wish it wasn't so difficult for the ignorant (e.g. me) to find somewhere trustworthy!
tongue_tied
New Member
Sorry, to stick with the numbered questions:
a) See above, about a year ago
Pretty much everything I hear about them is negative, including from a couple of clubs I've gone on (very) relaxed group rides with
c) Know nothing about racing, but wouldn't alter perception anyway, only way of doing that is for the in-store staff to be competent
d) Suggestions would be the blindingly obvious, much improvement in staff knowledge and customer service. Although cheaper prices on accessories would also be nice!!
a) See above, about a year ago
Pretty much everything I hear about them is negative, including from a couple of clubs I've gone on (very) relaxed group rides withc) Know nothing about racing, but wouldn't alter perception anyway, only way of doing that is for the in-store staff to be competent
d) Suggestions would be the blindingly obvious, much improvement in staff knowledge and customer service. Although cheaper prices on accessories would also be nice!!
brokenbetty
Über Member
- Location
- London
CopperBrompton
Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
- Location
- London
Bought a couple of things on a Sunday when everywhere else was closed.dellzeqq said:
A friend bought a Carrera Subway there, which was a pretty decent bike for the cash, but the setup was terrible - nowhere near right for her height, gears not adjusted properly, loose brake bolt!
Pretty much in line with the above.
I don't follow racing, so was unaware they had one and the news that they do doesn't influence me at all.
I don't see any prospects for improvements - they hire 16yo staff who know nothing about either cars or bikes.
It would, but for some reason nobody seems to have managed it.
Armegatron
Active Member
Update to the Brooks saddle I bought from the online side. I went into the store and the guy was helpful and had a try at straightening it. This didnt work and he said he will make some calls to arrange for me to get another one. Its been almost 7 days, and he said he works most days, and I still havent heard anything. Instead Ive bought another in the hope that it will be ok, and Ill return the faulty one for a refund.
[Update]
Returned to store to get refund after I got the new one, and they said they cant refund it because they dont have a code for it. Eventually they said if I leave the saddle with them they will refund it to my card, I had to ask for proof that Id handed it over though. Got home, checked my emails and theres an email from Halfords saying " Thank you for contacting the Halfords Direct Customer Service team about returning your order/part of your order.
When you called us a member of our Customer Service Team will have explained the process of returning an order to us and will have given you a returns authorisation number."
and that Id have to send it to them ... erm, its already with you???
Mostly Im annoyed at the guy not calling me back. Poor customer service doesnt encourage me to repeat shopping there.
[Update]
Returned to store to get refund after I got the new one, and they said they cant refund it because they dont have a code for it. Eventually they said if I leave the saddle with them they will refund it to my card, I had to ask for proof that Id handed it over though. Got home, checked my emails and theres an email from Halfords saying " Thank you for contacting the Halfords Direct Customer Service team about returning your order/part of your order.
When you called us a member of our Customer Service Team will have explained the process of returning an order to us and will have given you a returns authorisation number."
and that Id have to send it to them ... erm, its already with you???
Mostly Im annoyed at the guy not calling me back. Poor customer service doesnt encourage me to repeat shopping there.
brokenbetty
Über Member
- Location
- London
I have a third hand carerra. When I tried it out the front gear change was almost unusably stiff but I figured I'd be able to sort it out.
As luck would have it there was a free bike tune up session in a local park the next day (thanks LCC) so I took it along to get checked out. It turned out the frame was designed for a top pull mech but had a bottom pull one fitted. The cable just ran round the bottom of the mech itself.
I sorted it out with a slightly better bodge (http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-...Bottom-Pull-Derailleurs-to-Top-Pull-10815.htm), but I've always wondered if it had been messed up from new and both previous owners just lived with it.
As luck would have it there was a free bike tune up session in a local park the next day (thanks LCC) so I took it along to get checked out. It turned out the frame was designed for a top pull mech but had a bottom pull one fitted. The cable just ran round the bottom of the mech itself.
I sorted it out with a slightly better bodge (http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-...Bottom-Pull-Derailleurs-to-Top-Pull-10815.htm), but I've always wondered if it had been messed up from new and both previous owners just lived with it.
