How much worse can Halfords get?

[gavintc]

I took my bike to one of the major road bike shops in Edinburgh recently for some work. The shop called and claimed that the fork had welded itself into the frame and needed to be cut out. I was suspicious and decided to take it back to the shop who sold me the frame. The original shop, separated fork from frame with no effort at all in front of me. It needed a new headset. Needless to say, I will not use that Edinburgh dealer again. He also managed to lose a titanium skewer and has not replaced it.

There are dodgy shops in addition to Halfords.

 

[Keith Oates]

As this thread has shown it's not only Halfords that give incomplete service etc. but being a big and nationwide outlet the stories mount up quicker. I think there is a general lack of good well trained mechanics in the industry as a whole hence the well deserved complaints. However I hasten to add that there are also some very very good mechanics but of course they don't often get mentioned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SW19cam]

My Halfords story:

I bought a Carrera Kraken in Jan / Feb 08. I was given a time to collect the bike. I turned up. The bike was 'lost'. Finally it turned up several days later.

I returned to the store, and was given the bike. I went to cycle off home, only to find out that the handlebars were not tightened!

Damn dangerous.. I assumed I was just unlucky though.

 

[jimboalee]

Very good bike mechanics. Who would I trust?

Gascoignes, Coleshill High Street. - He trusts me to fix HIS bike.
Scotts Cycles, Hall Green, Birmingham. - 104 years in the business.
Mike Vaughan, High Street Kenilworth.
Fred Williams, Snow Hill, Wolverhampton.

That's it.

 

[User482]

I disagree with the Halfords employee. Regardless of the quality of the bike, a customer should have an expectation that the bike is safe to use. That includes working brakes and the handlebars done up. Evidence on these pages shows that this isn't the case! Let's just hope it doesn't take a horrific injury and subsequent litigation for them to change their ways...

 

[beancounter]

Very good bike mechanics. Who would I trust?

Gascoignes, Coleshill High Street. - He trusts me to fix HIS bike.
Scotts Cycles, Hall Green, Birmingham. - 104 years in the business.
Mike Vaughan, High Street Kenilworth.
Fred Williams, Snow Hill, Wolverhampton.

That's it.

I lived in Coleshill for 15 years and Gascoigne did all my bike stuff, even sold me a few, in particular an early bonded aluminium Trek I did LEJOG on in 1991 (and now sits permanently bolted to my turbo trainer).

Although for the life of me I can't now remember his first name...

bc

 

[goo_mason]

I took my bike to one of the major road bike shops in Edinburgh recently for some work. The shop called and claimed that the fork had welded itself into the frame and needed to be cut out. I was suspicious and decided to take it back to the shop who sold me the frame. The original shop, separated fork from frame with no effort at all in front of me. It needed a new headset. Needless to say, I will not use that Edinburgh dealer again. He also managed to lose a titanium skewer and has not replaced it.

There are dodgy shops in addition to Halfords.

Wish you'd say who it was so that your fellow Edinburgh riders know who to avoid....

 

[MrGrumpy]

well Halfords will be feeling my wrath very shortly if my rear wheel does not appear in the next week.

 

[goo_mason]

well Halfords will be feeling my wrath very shortly if my rear wheel does not appear in the next week.

They've probably lost it like they did with mine......

 

[yorkshiregoth]

Wish you'd say who it was so that your fellow Edinburgh riders know who to avoid....

how cooperative were they?

 

[gavintc]

All I will say - not the Coop, but you do not need to travel too far from the Coop.

 

[HLaB]

All I will say - not the Coop, but you do not need to travel too far from the Coop.

If its the one I'm thinking of, I enquired about one of their own make frames the other year, they weren't really interested and just wanted to sell me a giant so I walked down the road and got a carbon Bianchi instead, sounds like I might of had a lucky escape.

 

[goo_mason]

All I will say - not the Coop, but you do not need to travel too far from the Coop.

Yellow frontage, facing you as you walk down towards the main road from the Coop ?