Halfords - What a shower of ******(insert appropriately)

foregoneconclusion

I knew from my own experience (and other horror stories) that Halfords would be useless to deal with.........but those boys are working hard to raise the bar ever higher!

Did one of those reserve and collect jobs on a bike for my wife. Arrived and waited half an hour to be served, then they couldn't find the reservation on the computer........then they couldn't find the bike.......then their computer froze up!! When it was back and running, the guy was trying to charge me the shop price, despite me telling him about the 10% online discount! And I couldn't just buy the bike with 10% off, because it had to go through the pi$$ing 'reserve and collect' screen!!

I'm trying to give you good money for a bike FFS!!!

I ran out of time and patience after another 30 minutes and left them to it! I'm sure there have been plenty of other threads with mentions of Halfords, but I spent so long in there I haven't got time to search through them!!

supersonic

Which branch?! Name and shame!

foregoneconclusion

Am I allowed to do that here Supersonic? And anyway, there's lots of branches just off the M32 J2......

Don't get me wrong, I expect the service to be sub-standard which is why I reserved online to avoid any issues, or having to converse with some spotty teenager with his trousers revealing bum cleavage picking his nose with one hand and scratching the aforementioned rectum with the other! If I hadn't been pressed for time I might have hung around just to see how comical it would get! It just defies all logic that the customer comes second to their tills/accounts balancing!

Now I don't know whether to shoot myself in the foot now and refuse to buy period, or order one to be delivered to the house (can't really find anything that offers such value for money). Had to reveal the 'surprise' to the other half, so no problems there.

Any other suggestions for bikes.......max. £250?

theo19062004

I have had same experiance with Halfords, gave up after 20 mins trying to buy a stereo, they seem to be run by kids these days.

supersonic

Its just that while I know many Halfords are flawed, and the sytem as a whole is, equally many stores do have good hardworking staff which is why I feel the branch, rather than Halfords as a whole should be shamed.

For 250, I'd be looking at the Mongoose Tyax and GT Avalanche 3.0

foregoneconclusion

Thanks supersonic. Is there much of a difference between the two bikes you've mentioned?

supersonic

There are 3 models of the Tyax, all good value: if you can stretch to the second one, the Tyax Elite, you wont be disappointed! Gets an adjustable damped fork, really sets the standard. As always, do go and try it out/sit on it for size.

giant_man

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Halfords or Bikehut (same thing) or whatever you want to call them, are not a bike shop. They're a motor accessory chain who happen to sell bicycles!!

foregoneconclusion

Thanks for your help ss. I have the Tyax Elite, but wondered whether it may be a bit heavy for my missus, which is why I swayed towards the Vulcan (with yours and others help!)

Getting back on topic a little, I can appreciate that there are branches that do a good job.....I've just never been in them and can only comment from a personal perspective.

supersonic

But branches ARE run well! Some. maybe ;-)

I used to work for them for two years, and am fully aware of the set up, and they can be good.

supersonic

The Tyax is a little heavier, but the Vulcan at 32lbs is only a bit less. Decathlon do some good models too.

markbsac

my halfords store could not be better...there not all the same....what ever little niggle i have with setting up of gears ect..they do free of charge and i never even bought the bike from them.....my store is the loughborough store..and i give them a round of applause............so name those bad stores and e-mail halfords HQ and tell them your displeasure....

i have the tyax elite...nice bike go for it.......wiggle,evans,and sunset mtb where i got mine from stock them

muz250

I am going to order a Carrera vulcan online and go and collect it from the store we will see what happens with me !. It don't sound promising but am looking for a cheap entry level bike and for £202 when buying online seems a bargin to me, as long as the bike lasts a year or two.

foregoneconclusion

Fingers crossed for you muz250. Just be wary at checkout though.......the kid in the store tried to tell me that the extra 10% doesn't apply to 'reserve and collect' bikes, hence.........

.......'That will be £224 please'........'my ar$e it will!'

canada16

NAMED AND SHAMED.

Halfords - Penarth Road Cardiff, stopped doing bike repairs as they were too busy thats what it said on door anyway, until after new year.

Halfords - Weston Avenue Cardiff No one is ever at the bike counter, asked someone if they could help and they said guys were in back and he just walked away. Not do you want me to get someone to help, nothing.

Sunset Bikes Cathays cardiff, They do not even approach you and guy at counter never got off his fat ass to help, just played with computer for over 20 min while i was just wondering around. (no one else was in shop) x 3 times I have been in there.

So to you bike people, get a new job or get a new attitude. I would love to work in a bike shop if they paid me enough.

foregoneconclusion

PREACH ON BROTHER CANADA16!!!!

supersonic

Nice one!

canada16

Considering these companys rely on our business over the net and also in person its all pretty poor.

Bikeradar has one of the most loyal, best, friendliest, honest info i have ever seen.

And all this is quite damaging for these company's, but they just dont realise.

1.thy will never buy anything from halfords
2. thy will avoid sunset.
3. thy will spend my hard earned money with company's that treat me and my money with respect, after all I do wake up at 07:00 and go to work, do you think i want to, NO.

Ride hard Live harder, damn the man...

foregoneconclusion

canada16 wrote:

Considering these companys rely on our business over the net and also in person its all pretty poor.

Bikeradar has one of the most loyal, best, friendliest, honest info i have ever seen.

And all this is quite damaging for these company's, but they just dont realise.

1.thy will never buy anything from halfords
2. thy will avoid sunset.
3. thy will spend my hard earned money with company's that treat me and my money with respect, after all I do wake up at 07:00 and go to work, do you think i want to, NO.

Ride hard Live harder, damn the man...

AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR AR$E HALFORDS!!!

muz250

foregoneconclusion wrote:

.......'That will be £224 please'........'my ar$e it will!'

That will be my attitude when I collect I assure you, and I will Have print outs at hand should there be any trouble.

I dont see why they dont charge you the bill online then you simply Go and collect, or would that be to easy......

muz250

Hmm... now that I have went through the paper work (online steps) the nearest store for reserve and collect is 84 miles away! how on earth can that be!. Its not like Dunfermline is a small town or Edinburgh, yet Berwick (Berwick!) gets reserve and collect status.

I know when your spending £200 on a bike an extra £20 is hardly breaking the bank but thats not the point, If there big enough to make these offers online then they should not be giving the online buyer rubbish 84 mile collection points, It would cost £40 in petrol to go and collect!, when there are at least 4 halfords stores within 20 miles of my house!.

mookboy

Christ.

I'm supposed to be collecting my Fury on Monday after doing the Reserve and Collect thing. I have to say the instore help has been totally rubbish. Went in and asked to buy the Fury, mentioned the 10% reduction online, dude went away and came back and said I would have to drive home and order it online to get it. Told him I could buy it there and then if they matched the price anyway, no, I had to go home and order it.

Mental.

I made the reservation, supposed to pick up on Thursday, got a call on Thursday to say that the bike wasn't in stock and it needed to be ordered in. So fingers crossed I don't get diddled on Monday - have a print out ready if needed.

foregoneconclusion

Little add on to the tale. I originally reserved the bike at a different store as we had some Xmas shopping to do nearby, so thought we could pick it up on the way. Had a call from the store about 10 minutes after the reservation to say that the bike is in stock but is at their external warehouse and would arrive Monday........No good to me so I reserved again at the above mentioned store (M32 jct2), the guy eventually got the box out and on it was written,

'RESERVED CRIBBS (CAUSEWAY) STORE, COLLECT MONDAY.....'

The sneaky buggers didn't have it, so they pilfered stock from the neighbouring store......external warehouse my ar$e!

dsmiff

I use the store in Wrexham and over time have got to know 2 of the Guy's that work there, I have bumped into one of them at Llandegla a couple of times and had a good chat in the cafe.

When I got the i-drive last year, I asked about setting up the rear shock, the young lad did not have a clue what I was talking about, however, that was about 1 year ago and the last time I went in he now seems really clued up.

I think the problem they have in the shop is people buying a £100 MTB and then expecting it to be repaired after their little angel has wrecked it, most of us know that even after spending a few hundred pounds on an MTB things will break / wear out even with moderate abuse – however these are the type of people they deal with all the time.

Like anywhere else if you get to know the staff, they are willing to help. I will be spending my cycle to work voucher at Halfords and have no worries about the service I receive.


Sounds like some are great and others atrocious

muz250

This problem seems is more to do with organistion than the staffs know how on the bikes Them selfs.

You can understand It would take time train a member of staff on the ins and out of bike set up and equipment. (I hear from these forums there are alot of courses on bike maintanince now, so you would think they could get them clued up on the basics pritty quickly though.), but the fact they have a web site ordering system in place that quotes you a price then the staff don't seem to have a clue about discounts, or where your bike is when you go to collect, is very poor customer service.

e.g

mookboy wrote:

Christ.

I'm supposed to be collecting my Fury on Monday after doing the Reserve and Collect thing. I have to say the instore help has been totally rubbish. Went in and asked to buy the Fury, mentioned the 10% reduction online, dude went away and came back and said I would have to drive home and order it online to get it. Told him I could buy it there and then if they matched the price anyway, no, I had to go home and order it.

Mental.

I made the reservation, supposed to pick up on Thursday, got a call on Thursday to say that the bike wasn't in stock and it needed to be ordered in. So fingers crossed I don't get diddled on Monday - have a print out ready if needed.

Surly its not rocket sience for a staff member to think in this situation that mayby I should just sell him the bike with the discount and keep the customer happy.

Iv not orderd mine yet, am thinking ill just go in and buy it, I can still save money If I order online and get it deliverd, means I have to set up and build the bike myself but, like has been said before you can,t garente a quility Pdi with some of the storys I have read about halfords in the past. Its easy enough to adjust brake pads and cables , handle bars and seats. make sure the wheels are secure and correct tyre pressures. Its only If the wheels are out of true and the gears arn,t working correctly that would be my limits, but you sould expect these to be ok on delivery.

Fuzzyboy

I too have a 'name and shame' comment to add about my local Halfords, but I am going to hang on until they have resolved the issue, so I can decide how badly I rate them.

They are pretty terrible, but I would still buy another Carrera.. I'm currently looking for a new bike for the girlfriend and I can't help but come back to the Fury because it's around £200 less than anything that compares. Just be sure you check the build quality very very well, and if you get any issues, do a bit of Googling on consumer law before you go back to them.

canada16

Would it not be helpfull if bike radar set-up a section to give feedback on stores we have bought bikes from and let the people know what we actually felt about service ect..

This would be really good for newbies and people new to the country who just dont know who is good and who is not.

This could include wicked customer service to really poor service.

What do you think?

foregoneconclusion

muz250 wrote:

Iv not orderd mine yet, am thinking ill just go in and buy it, I can still save money If I order online and get it deliverd, means I have to set up and build the bike myself

I haven't checked to confirm, but I'm pretty sure that you can opt to have the bike assembled on the home delivery service. Like you say though, it will still need the once over.

foregoneconclusion

canada16 wrote:

This would be really good for newbies and people new to the country who just dont know who is good and who is not.

Not so sure.......I think these immigrants get enough help from the government as it is!!

Fecker

Going by the post quality in here id say the members of this forum and the halfords guys are actually the same people :P

stubs

My local halfords (southport) is rubbish for buying a bike but is useful for buying lube and those little yellow packets of bike bolts and bits and pieces are very useful However my local bike shop (formby cycles) makes halfords look like paragons of efficency I have tried to order parts 3 times from them and they have never come up with the goods so now its chain reaction for me they are the the fastest to deliver and if you make a mistake its dead easy to send stuff back