Halfords, Your Opinion

nonnac85

i recently bought a cheapy apollo just for getting to work and taking kid cousin out in summer holidays. firstly back wheel not set up right so returned to shop to get fixed. was told nowt was wrong but when the back wheel is knocking on frame surely something is wrong (my knowledge of bike maintenance is pretty limited but even so i believe i am right in thinking that noise was bad!).

once fixed i got a puncture in back wheel. took it off to fix and all the ballbearings fell out. halfords told me i had not maintained them but this was not mentioned in the manual. anyway they told me i needed a new wheel and fitted a quick release. this was loose and started knocking in frame. i have since got it repaired by them with refund on the new wheel. (eventually i asked for a replacement bolt-thru not QR and it took them 3 weeks

would advise any new cyclist NOT to use halfords unless you want rubbish customer service and poor/dangerous repairs.

MentalRaver

hahahahhahahahah I love this thread.

Such truth and quantative replies.

Like their stores- mostly bad news but a few token "good" ones.

hednesfordxcer

its nice to know I'm not alone, unfortunately I've now had to take my battle to trading standards, and I am considering contacting BBC watchdog.

dcp1975

I work for TS what do you want to know??

MentalRaver

hednesfordxcer wrote:

its nice to know I'm not alone, unfortunately I've now had to take my battle to trading standards, and I am considering contacting BBC watchdog.

tell them about this tread! We could get a bikeradar.com moderator doing a quick bit on telly explaining what the forum users had written........hahahahahahahaha!

PERFECT!

P to the powerr, Power to the people, back once again for the renegade master!

supersonic

I still dont really know what this battle is, could you explain again the problems with the bike and what they have done?

ashleymp777

Jump-a-canadian,

Can you do me a favour then! I've been waiting for an XTR front mech since March from the Halfords store in Purley Way, Croydon which I bought as part of thr cycle to work scheme.

If you've got one in stock send it down to them and tell them it's for me

-SeWeRsIDe

Apollo really stands for apologise.....

hednesfordxcer

since had my bike, had following problems (bike is about 7 months old). Rode bike out shop, left crank arm fell off. 9 spokes replaced on back wheel, kept snapping at point where spoke meets hub, eventually got re-built, well sort of, thread showing on some of spokes, different size nipples used. Took bike back to get them to look at bottom bracket, told it was down to poor pedal maintenance :? , bottom bracket still got play in it, rang customer services, told I shouldn't have ridden it in competitions (never ridden in competition, wish i was that good), as it not designed to be be ridden off road. On one occasion where spoke was replaced, they forgot to put brake disc back on wheel, and so on. I have demanded refund or replacement bike, they are now just ignoring me.

supersonic

I have to agree, this store is incompetant, and they have made the problems for themsleves are at least contributed to them. Most of them wouldnt have happened if it was serviced properly which they should have done, and I think you are within your rights in this case to take matters further.

nonnac85

i was told not to ride my mtb off-road - i know its only a cheapy apollo but a few miles in woods with kid cousin should not be too harsh for my bike but thats what they6 tried to blame for the bikes problems.

i wonder if they actually know what mtb's are for?!

supersonic

Apollos should be banned from the general public, except the very top of the range ones. Most are unsuitable to be taken off road.

impished

Right peeps....
I bought a Carrera Fury last month. Taking it for it's 1st service on Tuesday!!!!! :roll:
I asked the, not very interested lad, to make a note that I want the front rim re-centered (wondered why I kept heading for bushes! ).

When, sorry, IF I get it back on Tuesday PM I'll update you on how it went. :?

What's the betting it just get a bit of oil chucked at it and the front wheel'll still be off center? :roll: :evil:

supersonic

off centre, thats odd! Could be the tyre not on 100% central, causes an illusion.

impished

That's what I expected first... but it's def. the rim itself... by approx. 5mm!!!!
I'll try to take a piccie to show what I mean.... :?

passout

Halfords are a bike shop for non-cylists. Why go there and not a specialist bike shop? It's like expecting fine dining at Mc Donalds. They do what they do....fair enough....but not for keen cyclists.

formerlyknownasbonj

passout wrote:

Halfords are a bike shop for non-cylists. Why go there and not a specialist bike shop? It's like expecting fine dining at Mc Donalds. They do what they do....fair enough....but not for keen cyclists.

that's a great summary.

impished

I thnk your wrong & right.

It's a shop where you need to know what you want before going there. If you ask them a question, you've had it
I know my bikes... been biking a while..... Wanted a new bike for cheap bucks.... Liked the look/spec of the Fury for the £.... NO way would I ask Halfords what they thought was best for me!!!! :?
If I was looking at £grand+ budget, yeah, I woulda gone to a LBS, if there was a decent one nearby... not so LBS :roll:

-SeWeRsIDe

passout wrote:

Halfords are a bike shop for non-cylists. Why go there and not a specialist bike shop? It's like expecting fine dining at Mc Donalds. They do what they do....fair enough....but not for keen cyclists.

Yer but at least Mc D's apologise and give you a new one..

Impished, are you sure its the rim and not the forks? Take it to a normal bike shop and get them to check this. A simple tool can tell you this, as if its not the rim and they dish the rim it will be not so great in strength..

formerlyknownasbonj

Another thing I can't stand about halfords is how their number one aim seems to making bikes look flash, rather than making them good quality. The commuting bikes for instance, which have disk brakes on radial wheels. they make me ANGRY :evil: :twisted: This is just a big no-no in my book, but they've decided that disk brakes look flashy, radial wheels look flashy - so let's just bang 'em both on, sod the fact they don't go together, anything for a fast buck from the magpie-like inept non-cyclist 'cyclists' who don't know any better.
Another example of this is that they've started putting double-crown forks on their cheapo sub-£100 'shockwave' and 'apollo' bikes. Must just make them even heavier, and you can bet your bottom dollar they're not even as strong as a quality bike with quality single-crown forks. yet you can already see them serving their intended purpose, that of the chavs posing round town - who have already snapped them up, and have probably never left tarmac. I wouldn't be surprised if the top crown's actually plastic

supersonic

Many budget bikes are the same though, form over function. I think Halfords should stop selling them though. Wasnt aware of the disc/wheel thing, which model?

formerlyknownasbonj

it's one of the chris boardman ones
http://www.boardmanbikes.com/
click on the 'performance hybrids' and the 'pro' model.
I was pretty sure they had more than one with said travesty on display the last time i went in the queens road branch.
they are actually 2-cross but it's still wrong.
I don't accept the argument that chris boardmand must know a thing or two about cycling because he doesn't ride bikes with disk brakes, he rides road bikes with caliper brakes or more probably fixies on a velodrome with no brakes at all - so you might well also ask what does he know about mountain bikes aswell come to that.
the bikes have been designed FOR halfords, so halfords will have had an input into the spec of it.

I wouldn't mind cheap bikes if they were cheap and cheerful, rather than cheap but flashy and trying to pretend they're something they're not - like WHY the hell can you even get full-sussers for one or two hundred quid? I must admit i never have really put one of these cheapo full-sussers through its paces on rough terrain (much as I would like to), but it seems anybody who knows anything about MTBing says they're an absolute work of crapola. What would be wrong with making them just hardtails and just making them basic rather than flashy but crap...

supersonic

Boardman doesnt design them, just lends his name. The hybrids look ok to me - the lower ones look to be 3x, while the Xero set uses paired cross spokes that are fine as well.

formerlyknownasbonj

hmm... yes looking at it closely they are paired spokes aren't they... presumably they fuse into one before going into the nipple then?
hmmm.
still just looks wrong though.

supersonic

To be honest, I prefer the simplicity of a 3x too, and while this design does work, and may offer a slightly lighter weight, they are harder to true due to the spacing and I cant imagine being as strong.

neil_sheehan2000

Went to Halfords recently looking for a new chainring (it was an odd size too so I've no idea why I even bothered trying Halfords). Couldn't see any so I asked the guy sitting (in a sunlounger) behind the counter if they sold chainrings just by themselves. The guy pointed me in the direction of a shelf that was completely empty except for one box that contained a Truvativ crankset. I think that just about sums up Halfords. And don't even get me started on their whole 'Bikehu't malarky!

Thing is, we know that Halfords are crap and just exist to tempt people who know nothing about bikes to part with their cash. We should all really just stop going there...

Amos

Sometimes you will be lucky and get a guy who actually knows a bit about bikes working in the bike section, otherwise your get sold some crappy bike that isnt suitable for what you want to do.

impished

impished wrote:

Right peeps....
I bought a Carrera Fury last month. Taking it for it's 1st service on Tuesday!!!!!
I asked the, not very interested lad, to make a note that I want the front rim re-centered (wondered why I kept heading for bushes! ).

When, sorry, IF I get it back on Tuesday PM I'll update you on how it went.

What's the betting it just get a bit of oil chucked at it and the front wheel'll still be off center?

No "TOLD YOU SO"'s please
Yeah, you guessed it.... :roll: rim still not centered even though the boy in da'hut told me "he (the other boy) said he done it" :evil:
Yes, it is what I expected... I especially liked the little "advice sheet" :shock: they gave me telling me I should clean & lube after every ride.... :oops:
To be honest I only took it back to Halfords just so I could post the result here. :oops:

Oh well, better find myself a decent bike shop to sort the off-centre rim...
Would do it myself, but I'd probably fold it inside out!!! :oops: :shock:

All in all, I'm still happy to buy from Halfords, but I think you have to be 100% sure of what you want 1st and NEVER, EVER ask for their advice or opinion!!!! :shock:

BTW, anyone know any good bike shops in east kent?

formerlyknownasbonj

neil_sheehan2000 wrote:

Went to Halfords recently looking for a new chainring (it was an odd size too so I've no idea why I even bothered trying Halfords). Couldn't see any so I asked the guy sitting (in a sunlounger) behind the counter if they sold chainrings just by themselves. The guy pointed me in the direction of a shelf that was completely empty except for one box that contained a Truvativ crankset. I think that just about sums up Halfords.

I had a similar experience with my parents on saturday... my mum's decided to get a new bike, so we went in halfords and said 'can we possibly have a test ride on the 18" version of this one, or at least a look at it?"
the response: <shrug/> - "well, all the bikes are packed up in boxes in the back." - <shrug/>
What was really infuriating was how he then looked at us as if to say 'well, the ball's in your court now, it's your decision' (whether you want to buy blind or not)
Could probably have offered to get one out and assemble it, but didn't really want to admit that he couldn't be bothered.

it's as if they're taught to recognise whether a customer is going to have demanding requirements or is simply willing to be talked into buying a product. If the former, they know not to bother helping them at all because it'll be too much effort to satisfy them, if the latter, then they just spew whatever bullshit necessary to get them to buy it no matter whether it's true or not.

supersonic

Is the rim off centre with the tyre removed? Have you measured it?