Oh my god Halfords

[black'n'yellow]

Ironically, I think they're actually doing pretty well as a business. Don't forget that probably 90% of the general population couldn't give a sh1t what bike they buy and have no idea if it's been built correctly, or if they could get better service elsewhere - because Halfords is the default choice.

I remember once pointing out to one of the shop staff that the forks on the Carrera Subway display bike had been fitted backwards. The guy just looked at me and shrugged his shoulders...

 

[smokeysmoo]

That said, my Father has never cycled in his life, yet all the bikes of my youth came from an LBS with a high reputation, this in turn developed my bike buying thoughts, and not withstanding the explosion of online retailing in recent years, all my own bike purchases have been LBS sourced as well.

So I don't agree with the comment that Halfords are the default choice, but I understand why you might think that, and I have to admit that I know my share of people that have indeed just gone to them and come away with an ill fitting, badly suited BSO.

 

[screenman]

One of the things i find quite amazing is that people often think they are cheap, sure they offer price matching but try and get them to do it is a different matter.

 

[MarkF]

And, if you did that, they would have been perfectly entitled to throw you out. These things may be a bit frustrating at times but a bit of give and take usually works wonders.

There is no give and take here, the customer is giving but he isn't able to do any taking! If the manager would not come to me, then I'd go to to him. Let him explain to his area head honcho why he wouldn't see the customer and I rather think he'd soon be an ex-manager.

 

[400bhp]

There is no give and take here, the customer is giving but he isn't able to do any taking! If the manager would not come to me, then I'd go to to him. Let him explain to his area head honcho why he wouldn't see the customer and I rather think he'd soon be an ex-manager.

No he wouldn't. Employment law would stop that nonesense.

 

[ohnovino]

The few times I've been in the local store it always seems deserted.

I've found that too. They have bargain baskets that have some really good deals in from time to time so I pop in when passing, and I'm often the only customer in there. Some of their margins must be huge to keep those shops going.

 

[subaqua]

Then he is in the wrong job, he is a retail shop manager, that entails dealing with the customers, his wage payers. His lunch break is of little importance when a customer has been let down and is in need of assistance, there and then. He can have his lunch any time after.

I can't really see what the hapless mechanic did wrong as infuriating as the wait must have been, but the "manager"? If I had been told he was too busy to see me because he was having his lunch then I'd have been over the counter in a flash .

ah so in your little world then the law doesn't matter, and if you say jump then everybody should say how high. get real.

imagine a situation where several people all come in one after each other ould be 3 or 4 hours till the guy gets a break. most ( if not all) big chains don't give a stuff and if you have a break time and you don't take it tough. I have worked for employers that set down fixed break times and had to work them to be told i have now missed the chance to take it. I didn't stop with them long after that and found a sensible employer.

 

[Monsieur]

Picked up my son's new Carrera Crossfire from halfords today - only ordered it yesterday lunch but it was all ready for today with his mudguards as requested.
Staff were very good with him and made sure that the bike and him fitted together okay and helped take the bike to the car and into boot.
Couldn't fault the service.

Halfords are, in effect, my local bike shop!

Contrasts that with yesterday when we both went to an independent bike shop in Lincoln...''yeah mate, bikes upstairs''
Son went down stairs to ask for some advice ''be up in a second mate'' 10 minutes went by.
Finally showed us a ''great little bike this matey'' - turned out to be a Landrover female cycle!!!

Hasty retreat to the safe sanctuary of Halfords!!

 

[festival]

The system dose not count the first item in stock in case its nicked, damaged etcso 2 were missing. The tale about not delivered is bollocks because they only have 1 or 2 deliveries of cycle stock per week and if it said it was in stock on friday then it should have been sitting on a shelf waiting to be picked for you.
Like any system its only as good as the people who operate it, there are a few good un's, I was one, but they are very few and far between. They are a shambles but somehow keep their share holders happy

 

[MarkF]

No he wouldn't. Employment law would stop that nonesense.

Again, he is in the wrong job then, it's either wrong for him or he is wrong for a retail environment, either way he is definitely bad for the OP, the customer.

ah so in your little world then the law doesn't matter, and if you say jump then everybody should say how high. get real.

imagine a situation where several people all come in one after each other ould be 3 or 4 hours till the guy gets a break. most ( if not all) big chains don't give a stuff and if you have a break time and you don't take it tough. I have worked for employers that set down fixed break times and had to work them to be told i have now missed the chance to take it. I didn't stop with them long after that and found a sensible employer.

You need to get real, his raison d'être relies on customers, buying, there is a customer on the counter, he's been let down, badly, it's cost him time/money and the person who can make a difference wants to finish his lunch before attending to him?

 

[400bhp]

Again, he is in the wrong job then, it's either wrong for him or he is wrong for a retail environment, either way he is definitely bad for the OP, the customer.

No he isn't. Are you more important than him then as that's how you are coming across?

 

[subaqua]

Again, he is in the wrong job then, it's either wrong for him or he is wrong for a retail environment, either way he is definitely bad for the OP, the customer.



You need to get real, his raison d'être relies on customers, buying, there is a customer on the counter, he's been let down, badly, it's cost him time/money and the person who can make a difference wants to finish his lunch before attending to him?

wrtong his reason fro being there is like all of us - to earn a wage and to manage a store . taking shoot from arrogant customers is not what he is paid for despite what you may think. I love seeing stroppy customers demanding to see the manager whenever i am in a shop. always go up the chain slowly and you get far better results.

maybe the manager is a diabetic and needs to eat regularly to stop him crashing. thats going to be a good thing to do on a customer isn't it.

but I forgot , you have stamped your feet like a petulant child and started the " I want, I want, I want " because the world revolves around the you and you alone. Maybe the term Lunch break was used as a euphemism.
Plenty of times I have waited for a manager to finish something as i have been told he is busy and will be free in about 30 minutes, and then when he has come to me I have got what I asked for and some extra , maybe because I had the decency to wait rather than stamping feet like Violet Bott and demanding.

so it isn't me that needs to get real

 

[MarkF]

wrong his reason fro being there is like all of us - to earn a wage and to manage a store . taking shoot from arrogant customers is not what he is paid for despite what you may think.

But he is not managing the store, he's ignoring a customer, there in person, who has a legitimate complaint. He is also shifting his responsibility onto his (powerless) co-worker, leaving him to face the music. He's a bad and useless manager.

 

[subaqua]

But he is not managing the store, he's ignoring a customer, there in person, who has a legitimate complaint. He is also shifting his responsibility onto his (powerless) co-worker, leaving him to face the music. He's a bad and useless manager.

Not denying that . but he is still entitled to his legal breaks though.

 

[Dags11]

Jesus wept - have you heard of punctuation and grammar. Stopped reading after row 2.

Double space after a full stop.