CBoardman bikes DONT BOTHER !!!

letsride

I am looking for a new bike and have £500 to spend, Should i get a hybrid or road bike? Can anybody recommend a good one?

2fast748

Was in Halfords ages buying something for my car. Stood at the car parts counter when the 2 staff had a customer on hold. One answered and said "I'll just put you through to that dept.", placed the call on hold for a few seconds and said to the other: "You're the cycle dept!" and put the call through with the other staff person answering by saying "Bike Hut"

Farce!

babyshambles

I have ordered a Bianchi through halfords as tied to the cycle to work scheme and my partner is getting a trek.

There are quite a few halfords near me in essex and having been in one already, and reading this thread i am dreading the state it will be in now.

Would I be better off telling them not to touch it and taking it to a LBS - would a LBS be prepared to do this in your experiences?? What sort of cost would that involve as a rough guide

babyshambles

I have ordered a Bianchi through halfords as tied to the cycle to work scheme and my partner is getting a trek.

There are quite a few halfords near me in essex and having been in one already, and reading this thread i am dreading the state it will be in now.

Would I be better off telling them not to touch it and taking it to a LBS - would a LBS be prepared to do this in your experiences?? What sort of cost would that involve as a rough guide

babyshambles

I have ordered a Bianchi through halfords as tied to the cycle to work scheme and my partner is getting a trek.

There are quite a few halfords near me in essex and having been in one already, and reading this thread i am dreading the state it will be in now.

Would I be better off telling them not to touch it and taking it to a LBS - would a LBS be prepared to do this in your experiences?? What sort of cost would that involve as a rough guide

jedster

My LBS seems quite relaxed about servicing bikes bought elsewhere. I have the impression that their margins are quite tight on new bikes (given limited purchasing power) and they really like the service work and accessory sales that tend to go with it.

That said, they have been so good that I would probably pay a premium to buy a bike there in future (BTW I've had bad experiences with other LBS's so don't assume they are all good).

J

babyshambles

I have just called my LBS who services my old hybrid and is the most fussy man so always does a great job and a bianchi specialist nearby and they are both about £40 to make from boxed and true the wheels which I think is great.

I have informed Halfords that they are NOT to touch the bike, so I am confident now. the last thig yoiu need is top be all excited and the twerp in halfords makes a hash of it. Plus i would never trust halfords setting up the speedometer correctly!!

Oh, BTW... should i get the ometer set up in KMH or MPH ??? What are organised rases measured in??

giant_man

good luck with that mate, but I am reasurringly confident they will do something to fook it up somehow.

gtvlusso

My cycle to work scheme is through Halfords - after they messed me about with my special order of a Focus Cayo (they even confirmed for me before I ordered my LOC that I could have one!), then messed me about when they asked me to change the order to a PX SL Carbon - I basically had no option but to get a Boardman.

They guys instore ordered me a Boardman Road Team + a few bits to make up the LOC (Pedals, some carbon bits and so on).

They offered me a Boardman Pro @ £1399 if I made up the difference from my LOC - against C2W rules!

Anyway, When I went to collect the bike I am pleased to say that it was still boxed and all my extra parts had arrived with it. I asked them not to build it (as I had seen one of them trying to remove a BB from another bike in-store - It looked violent!). However, they got everything together very quickly for me.

So, I built it myself in my garage and it is fine - lightweight and an easy bike to use. I don't mind too much if it gets nicked either - I use it to commute.

So, maybe it is not the quality of product - but the simple lack of training and understanding with Halfords employees....Dealing with Halfords C2W was awful, my company (10,000 + employees) are dropping them after so many complaints!.

Laters

G

redddraggon

babyshambles wrote:

Oh, BTW... should i get the ometer set up in KMH or MPH ??? What are organised rases measured in??

Why does it matter? It doesn't matter speed you go in a race as long as you don't get dropped surely?

babyshambles

GTVLUSSO... are you saying that you had to change your bike to a Boardman when you'd wanted something else?? They have confirmed that they can get the bikes we want, god, they make the process very unenjoyable!!

The reason I want to know KM or MPH, red Dragon is for training puposes, how are races normally measured.

Cheers

disco41

I bought a Cboardman road comp on c2w well happy with it light and fast BUT....
no way is halfords servicing it, my LBS will do that.
The problem is the staff have no experience because they are too young.
Last year went to halfords for a bike for my 5 year daughter asked the spotty guy
about them and that i wanted a free wheel not fixed he had no clue as to what i was on
about :roll:

jimmythecuckoo

Surely the message here is you get what you give.

Want personal service, pay more.

Could be construed as snobbery, but it is the same in the whole of life.

babyshambles

It is the fact that some firms are tying you to use C2W scheme to Halfords, that is the problem. If our work supported Evans or LBS, i would never set a foot in halfords !!

disco41

I agree i work for network rail and halfords are the only one we can use !

letsride

I,ve just ordered a gary fisher cronus from LBS, has any one got one and what do they think of it?

st68

i bought my mtb from halfords an within 5 minutes the headset came lose nice!!! cheap bikes but service them yourself :shock:

MrGrumpy

bought my bike through C2W from Halfords no probs whatsoever but then again i`m more than capable of doing my own servicing, nothing wrong with the service in my local stores either very knowledgeable guys and cyclists to boot, me thinks the moaners on here are being a bit harsh and tarring all with the same brush.

cyclinggirl

TheBoyBilly wrote:

So, getting away from this little bit of in-fighting, what's the answer? Do Halfords/BikeHut top brass ever get to know about this poor service. Do they care as long as they are shifting bikes? Obviously they should but I think a better way would be to get a campaign going to boycott the stores. Then Boardman/Dawes/Kona/Rocky Mountain etc will want to know why their bikes are not selling and get them into LBS's. And Halfords get hit where it hurts.........it's called competition I think.

I am with you on that one. After my recent Halfords issue, I will never walk into one of their stores again. The company is run by school kids who know nothing. Monkeys could do a better job, I hope Halfords goes down the pan one day.

redddraggon

cyclinggirl wrote:

I hope Halfords goes down the pan one day.

That's a bit selfish, they are currently funding a lot of Britain's elite cycling - we wouldn't want to see the funding disappear.

giant_man

redddraggon wrote:

cyclinggirl wrote:

I hope Halfords goes down the pan one day.

That's a bit selfish, they are currently funding a lot of Britain's elite cycling - we wouldn't want to see the funding disappear.

No it isn't selfish, just because they sponsor the British team so what? Perhaps they should toughen up on their customer service which is and always has been appaling.

I hope they go down the pan too. They don't deserve to be treated seriously as an LBS.

redddraggon

giant mancp wrote:

redddraggon wrote:

cyclinggirl wrote:

I hope Halfords goes down the pan one day.

That's a bit selfish, they are currently funding a lot of Britain's elite cycling - we wouldn't want to see the funding disappear.

No it isn't selfish, just because they sponsor the British team so what? Perhaps they should toughen up on their customer service which is and always has been appaling.

I hope they go down the pan too. They don't deserve to be treated seriously as an LBS.

Well don't shop there, I don't but I wouldn't want to see them go bankrupt. They aren't an LBS, so I don't know why anyone would consider them as one, they are just a national chain. Most national chains seem to have the same level of customer service/expertise, just like PC World (who in their right mind buys a PC from there anyway?)

TBH I've never found their Customer service that bad when I used to use them, I guess you win some and lose.

giant_man

Oh don't worry I wouldn't shop there for anything. The problem is they act like an LBS in that they delve into semi-serious machines such as the Boardman range, and for the prices they sell their bikes, they invite and 'serve' the general public, but don't have the expertise for professional service, hence the many complaints and greivances.

I agree about the PC World bit as well.

covesagey

Hi
just seen this topic when looking through google.
I work in halfords bikehut, i can say there are 'monkeys' in the buisness as its well known, but probably other Bikehut staf could agree that not all bikehuts are the same and the point of us not being expert enough is not a valid point as in the store i work in, me and other colleuge are booking our cytech training to get the qualification, although we are able to complete most tasks most bike stores require, as we are infusiast riders.

sorry to moan a bit but this is my view and people aim it at all bikehuts which include all staff,

MrGrumpy

don`t take it personal some on here just jump on the Halfords bashing bandwagon for the hell of it. I think they should make all their bikehut employees sit some sort of accreditation, shows some level proffesionalism. Can only be a good thing surely !

markos1963

I worked in retail management for over 20 years and feel qualified to comment on this. A retail operation will stand and fall on its offer, be it pricing(Primark) or service levels(John Lewis) its difficult to be able to offer both. The reason for this is fairly obvious in that the more profit margin you can make the more you have to spend on training, some companies spend the profits on the shareholders dividend, some spend it on fancy shop fits.

In defence to Halfords they started selling cheap bikes to the masses and thats to be applauded as the more people we get on 2 wheels the better. The problem now for them is that they have seen an opportunity to move into a more profit rich cycle market aimed at the sporting rider who spends a lot of money on their hobby. They have to realise that to succeed in this market investment in their people is more important than instore image and marketing campaigns. As we have seen on this forum serious cyclists can see through the gloss and if there is no substance to their offer the trade will soon go away.

I love to use my LBS as I get a level of service and advice that flatters my ego and helps me to enjoy the hobby to a greater level than I would at Halfords. The danger for the LBS's is that Halfords do realise this and put the investment into their staff then their buying power and coverage could put a big nail in the coffin for the LBS. Sadly for the staff at Halfords I doubt very much that their company will do this. I have been employed by several companies in the past with the promise that I could run the business as my own, only to find that it was all talk and any ideas that I had were shot down by 'company policy'

Juju_uk_68

Another c2w forced to use Halfords.

It seems on this beginners/road forum that £5-600 seems to be the typical sum considered - looking at the "what do I buy" threads.

So it amazes me that Halfords/Bikehut seem to have this as a glaring gap in their range. Below this are the carerras. But the bikehut stores are to my eyes some of the bizzarest bike stores I've ever seen. Especially the Brighton store, which is a pretty big square foot.

A Fondreist, or a Derosa, at 2.5k nestle next to a Carera Subway, but no serious cyclist is going to go to Bikehut for a 2.5k bike. Why? Well, they're not sufficinetly "committed" to stock say a range ot top end De Rosa's in various sizes - the odd one or two look like "orphans", destined to be marked down at sale time with the manager wondering why the dont sell. Theres no suggestion that anyone present is a committed "roadie" with an interest and depth of knowledge to sell the product.

but at the cheaper end, they have very little in the range at say the £5-600 price point. Almost inevitably anyone entering will exit with a Boardman bike. They dont have anything like the range of say Evans. That is, if you can get a Boardman.

My experience, bein interested in trying one, was that the Brighton store were not willing to let me test it outside of the store, so I'd be limited to a 30 foot runway on carpet/vinyl before spending my £600! In any event, they are clearly selling loads, as when I enquired, they said they had one in stock, in my size, but not built up, but they'd build it up and ring me when it was ready to see if it was Ok, (they knew I was committed to buying from themwith the c2w voucher).

Did I get a call? No! When I popped back a couple of weeks later, they'd clearly built it, sold it, and didn't even offer an apology,just a shrug of the shoulders and a "well they go fast" and "we're normally pretty good at ringing people" followed by "I don't know when we're likely to get one in.

Ok, so I'm spending £600. But when in a years time, when I might be spending £1k - frankly I'd rather lose the benefits of the C2w and frankly avoid a bikehut store with its limited off beat range. The Brighton store also seems set to sell to giants. Of the handful of road bikes in stock, all were shall we say "at the larger end of the ranges".

Compare and contrast with the bike shop over the road from where I work, Geoffrey Butlers, who I disclosed to was just browsing as I couln't even buy fromt hem, and still got a sales assistant who clearly had other things he could be doing, spending 20-20 mins with me telling me what to look for in a bike, in sizing, fittings, the shimano v Campag ect. No doubt where my moneys going next year.... not Bikehut....

Bikehut seems a good idea to offer quality products ot people who they miss at a Halfords store, but until they get managers with a grasp of whats needed, its doomed to fail.

Ste_S

giant mancp wrote:

Oh don't worry I wouldn't shop there for anything. The problem is they act like an LBS in that they delve into semi-serious machines such as the Boardman range, and for the prices they sell their bikes, they invite and 'serve' the general public, but don't have the expertise for professional service, hence the many complaints and greivances.

I agree about the PC World bit as well.

Just pointing out a bit of bike snobbery here - both Men and Women's National champs were won on Boardman Pro's.

I still wouldn't buy one mind, I'd rather support my (fantastic) lbs, Fred Williams

madturkey

This month's Cycling+ reviews a Boardman TT bike that costs approx £5k I think. Hardly semi-serious! ITV's TDF coverage also has a Carrera bike as a prize that is worth £1k according to the blurb.

A new LBS is opening across the road from my nearest Halfords in SW London so it will be interesting to see what happens there.

For those on C2W schemes, I did read somewhere that Halfords can order in anything you want, but don't necessarily advertise the fact.

babyshambles

My C2W scheme uses Halfords and they can order in "almost" anything. I collected my bike from a different shop entirely due to this.

I dont think it is well advertised so do ask !