Halfords, Your Opinion

ashleymp777

I disagree STXSAS -No matter what Halfords do, they'll never take a huge chunk out of the mid to high spec markey! Not in a million years!

For one, they're trying to stick their fingers into too many pies! Chav bass stereo's, alloy wheels, spoilers, remote control cars, sat nav, car parts, camping equipment! It's never gonna happen!

And any person worth their weight in gold as far as working for a 'proper' bike shop won't go to Halfords. It's a start, granted! But it won't be a goal!

Stxsas

I believe it is possible but very much not probable, as you did highlight they are in too many pies and very much lack the real specialised knowledge of a independent "proper" bike shop, even lacking basic knowledge like myself. As far as i am aware the Cris Boardman range at Halfords has not done too bad, so it does show that some Halfords customers are interested in paying a bit out of pocket.
Being a large chain store with many stores nationwide and this is something that can be used to gain more market if they would spend the money on alot of improvements.
I cannot see Halfords spending the required money to improve itself though, but i would like to see it become more than it is, which lets face it, is a laughing stock on these forums and more.
I am not here to change anyone's mind about Halfords because even though i work there i am agreeing with the majority of the posts here. Its just a sad to see it fall by the wayside of industry standards.

Clem

I was in a Halfords once - big one in Bristol - and a guy came in asking about getting a puncture fixed... they told him not for a week as they were so busy. He was almost speechless. I'd have done it in the car park for him if I'd had my stuff on me.

Mind you I nipped into a garage next to my home when I had a flat battery once and they were like, we'll look at it tomorrow. Yes. Like I need to get to work immediately. A neighbour cracked that one so I owe someone an inner tube change.

Come to think of it I was in Spain on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela and stopped to help someone - even give him one of my many spare tubes - but he'd already phoned for someone to drive out and pick him up!

MentalRaver

Stxsas wrote:

I just started working there but only doing part time hours as a sales staff member.

In my own opinion training is non existent and only because i have worked in other retail industries before i have some knowledge of customer service.

I know jack shoot about biking.

I can officially make up a bike from a box after having watched a 30 min video and following the PDI check list.

Well doesn't that say it all.......... :?

Chucker_Dude

I got the part time job i applied for there. So now I have a induction there on Friday. 3 hours for them to show me how things are run at the store. I am really looking forward to learning about bike maintenance/repair

-SeWeRsIDe

Haa Haa Haa, halfords staff don't know anything about bikes.. Its here you go kid have a go at building this bike. But I don't know what im doing... Thats ok just make it look good... The people that know we are sh*t will stay away.. Oh.. Yer the others have less a clue than what you do kid....

Stxsas

yeah MentalRaver it unfortunately does give a picture of the store i work in. I have learned far more from reading these forums and such, than that of the Halfords staff training.

Chucker_Dude unfortunately the induction is basically watch some out dated videos and be shown around the store, i would be very surprised if they train you properly and even give you a training "buddy". Good luck though.

I think that for most smaller independant bike shops it would be very good if they also have their own online shop too. So with this in mind has anyone got any good links to and good online bike shops?
Thanks!

ashleymp777

Just a suggestion, but there seems to be a few people on the forum who work for Halfords. Now if I was in that position and was reading articles on the web about my place of work and all the negativities I'd probably escalate it with the store mamager or someone in the head office. You never know, they might just take it seriously and improve the training and take more care of their staff.

Yes / No!!?!?!

jjojjas

had some shocking service from them, I even walked out once & bought a bike elsewhere as they were so bloody clueless (gateshead). Then to prove it all wrong, I called into a different branch one day in an emergency and the guy who ran the bike bit was spot on and very knowledgable (South Shields).
So, I guess its like most things and it depend who serves you.

DLT

I have recently picked up one of the new Team Boardman MTB's from my local Halfords in Bristol. The guy in there (forget his name now) was obviously very knowledgeable about bikes and kit... He even even said its a pleasure for guys like him to put together and sell decent gear for once... He spent time telling me about local trails i didn't know about.. Really made an effort to make sure i was happy.... I know Halfords are a big chain but there are decent guys out there

The new bike rocks and is excellent value for money.. Happy customer here 8)

Chucker_Dude

To other forum members who work in halfords:-

do you get a staff discount? 8)

peter-ov-blyth

my experience with halfords you take your bike in to get fixed and they dont fix it for about a mont

ktmsx 125

hi i went to halfords last night to buy a gt chucker had excellent service and very friendly i cant see what you comlain about really p.s dont go sick at me its just my opinion!, fantastic range and all types from dirt jump to road race v good

Big n Daft

Its very simple.

As with every large chain store, some will offer fantastic service some will be indifferent and others will be absolute twunts.

The only way is to try, if it doesn't meet what you want go elsewhere.

To be honest i have had far worse service in a LBS that i have ever had in my local Halfords.

Walk in with £500 in my pocket to buy a new bike, what do i get in the LBS (who incidentally have a large stock of +£1500 Marins, Giants and Spesh's?_ Total and utter lack of interest, to the point of standing there waiting for a member of staff to come back to me (he already knowing what i wanted and that i had the cash) while they fawned over some all the gear, no idea person who had bought his rather shiny bike back due to a puncture.

Halfords, i went in, paid, they sent a man to another store 30 odd miles away because they didn't have it in stock, 4 hours later i went back and picked up a fully built bike.

That's what i call service.

Atz

My local Halfords has an ad in the window looking for trained bike people so I think SOME places are taking it seriously. Given it looks like it was knocked up by the manager at home on his printer I assume this is one store deciding to do something better.

Chucker_Dude

I had my induction at Halfords today. The message that was put forward to me most often was "If someone wants to buy a bike, get them to take the bike in the box or if they dont want that, get the bike built as soon as possibe." nothing wrong with that IMO, standard retail pratice.

They also said that the Shockwave line they sell are completly cack, and that they hate putting them together.

They guys i work with in the BikeHut are decent as i got a brand new left crank, for free

-SeWeRsIDe

But the thing is that if you build a bike from a BOX or even adjust parts you vailidate your warranty

chalky14

i think that halfords are good at some places and others are really bad.
My local halfords was bad for buying bikes but resently they have got better and bought a bike from them. I have watched them do a service and it looked like they knew what they were doiing to be fair.

-SeWeRsIDe

But the thing is that they will never be a great shop, they will never compete with say Evans. Halfords are doing ok so why should they change? Good or bad either way the money is flowing in. Plus if they did change for the so called better. what will happen to the already suffering flamily shops, or inderpendant ones. Now that will be bad for us all, and you know it......

Chucker_Dude

I love working there!

If anything on my bike goes wrong i get free parts!

For example, warped crank arm on my bike, so one of the guys in there gave me a new crank arm straight out the box, for free!

And i have a bottom bracket problem so the guys are gonna get me one off another bike and stick it on my bike!

-SeWeRsIDe wrote:

But the thing is that they will never be a great shop, they will never compete with say Evans. Halfords are doing ok so why should they change? Good or bad either way the money is flowing in. Plus if they did change for the so called better. what will happen to the already suffering flamily shops, or inderpendant ones. Now that will be bad for us all, and you know it......

Suprisingly no. Halfords i my best LBS. The other two in my area are either unhelpful, rude, uniterested or just cack at bike matinence and repair.

TomR

I'd say halfords suck as a chain, but the service you get is down to the staff you deal with. I guess its up to the local manager/HR person to recruit people suitable for the job though.

NickATRvtec

Just bought a Boardman Team from Brislington Bristol Halfords and am very pleased with the service and the guy that got my bike ready seemed to know his stuff 8)

Atz

Chucker_Dude wrote:

I love working there!

If anything on my bike goes wrong i get free parts!

For example, warped crank arm on my bike, so one of the guys in there gave me a new crank arm straight out the box, for free!

And i have a bottom bracket problem so the guys are gonna get me one off another bike and stick it on my bike!

No offense but I'd rather they put the effort into helping out paying customers whose bikes are broken or badly assembled.

MentalRaver

Atz wrote:

Chucker_Dude wrote:

I love working there!

If anything on my bike goes wrong i get free parts!

For example, warped crank arm on my bike, so one of the guys in there gave me a new crank arm straight out the box, for free!

And i have a bottom bracket problem so the guys are gonna get me one off another bike and stick it on my bike!

No offense but I'd rather they put the effort into helping out paying customers whose bikes are broken or badly assembled.

exactly right........

clarkson

my experiencex have been pretty much bad. their advice is usually rubbish adn not true as i find out later, although thet do hqve some pretty nice bikes there. i saw one the other day, was a diamondback and not that well specced, think alivio and suntour forks, but he brakes were formula b4 pros!! was quite confused!! i do buy some kit from there though; muc off, gloves and some kona shorts but thats about all. having said that though, my lbs i go to isnt that great, their service is ok, but they dont seem to ever want to honour the warrenties.
i aplplied to work at halfords; im soooo glad they ignored me!

Chucker_Dude

Atz wrote:

Chucker_Dude wrote:

I love working there!

If anything on my bike goes wrong i get free parts!

For example, warped crank arm on my bike, so one of the guys in there gave me a new crank arm straight out the box, for free!

And i have a bottom bracket problem so the guys are gonna get me one off another bike and stick it on my bike!

No offense but I'd rather they put the effort into helping out paying customers whose bikes are broken or badly assembled.

I see your point, but thats not down to me. I only build bikes, help customers and run errands around the store. If they offer me parts etc, im going to take them. I'm sure most people would.

passout

Halfords sells bikes for 'non-cyclists'. Why buy from a place where the staff aren't specialist and the bikes are average at best?

Maybe it's OK for basic accessories....water bottles and the like.

Stxsas

passout wrote:

Halfords sells bikes for 'non-cyclists'.

Confused i am :?

jump_a_canadian

I was just gona read and giggle bout this but i draw the line at being called a monkey lol

I work as a bike specialist for halfords in their cumbernauld store and i just want to point out that some of us actually know what were talking about, im not gona try and say every employee of halfords is an expert, but im defending the bikehut of cumbernauld, we all know which end of a spanner to hold and how to tighten a quick release as well as happily refacing bb shells and chasing bb shell threads cutting & fitting forks and seat tubes, were happy to buil a bike to your exact spec and we'll spend as long as it takes making sure your suspension is working the way you need it to. Basically we do every repair under the sun just as well and some times better than any bike shop.

As for the comments regarding the lack of parts, we stock parts to meet customer demand. Unfortunately the main customers of the bikehut are the apollo young team and the diamondback assault squad but we can get pretty much any bike part you want, just because we don't have the foes frames on display doesnt mean you cant have one and as for bikehut branded products 60 sheets for a hydro disc that actually works well? bargain tbh

so basically come to cumbernauld and speak to real cyclists.

Big n Daft

passout wrote:

Halfords sells bikes for 'non-cyclists'. Why buy from a place where the staff aren't specialist and the bikes are average at best?

Maybe it's OK for basic accessories....water bottles and the like.

Utter rubbish.

Those 'non-cyclists' include a lot of young people, who will drive the hobby/sport of cycling on and on, these are tomorrows cycle designers, trail builders, competitive riders, and bike shop staff, using your logic should we not use on-line suppliers? After all i could go to Wiggle or Evans and pick out over 10 bikes i wouldn't buy with your money, not to mention the fact that you cannot try them before hand.

Anything that brings people into cycling is good surely? Not everyone can afford £500 + bikes, not everyone has a local bike shop, as i said earlier in the thread i have had far far worse service from a so called 'professional bike shop' than the wonderful service i received in my local Halfords. There not all that good, that much is obvious as its all down to the staff who work there, by the same token there are good, bad and terrible LBS's and on line vendors out there also, to think otherwise is ridiculous. Are you sure that the order processors and pickers at an online shop are specialists? The spotty youth you see in every LBS, is he an specialist? You can't possibly know....LBS's do not have a mandate on customer satisfaction, they want the same as every shop, as much profit as possible. Yes some of them take the time to forge a relationship with their customers, great, others want your cash, thats it. Pretty much the same as Halfords then.

The Apollo bikes may be 'average' although i'll put most of the Carrera and GT range against anything at the same price points, but they are apart from the very cheapest bikes, usable, affordable and competent at what they do, this will perk the interest of someone dipping their toes in the water, hopefully encouraging them to go further and spend more as they get better at it.

Imagine if you will, not being really sure if it's something you'll enjoy doing....why on earth would you go and lash out 500, 1000 or 1500 pounds on a bike you might use once or twice and then forget about?