Halfords a good story..

lm_trek

I know most give halfords a bad name, ok they give themselves a bad name but today i experienced something very different!

Popped into one while i was out and about, not one local to home as while i was out remembered i needed some outer cable for my gears, so popped to halfords spoke to the asst in there and he showed me some with cables and outers which i didn't need. So he went to there work station and cut me a length i needed from there work supply, when i asked how much, no charge. So great free cable outer, but the thing that amazed me was next guy in the queue had his kids bike with a puncture. The asst told him yep can sort for £5 or if you stop here and i supervise you, you can do it for free just the cost of the tube. So a teaching lesson for the customer but he won't have to go back to have a puncture repaired!

Thought would share as i expected neither while i was in there!

Broonster

Cool. If only they were ALL like that, I'm sure they'd have many, many more bike customers!

merlie

which branch ?

redvee

merlie wrote:

which branch ?

The one in Utopia

snig

ok but if you go to halfords to pay to get your flat repaired its cos you cant be ar*ed to do it yourself,as I would say most people know how to fix a flat,so getting told to do it yourself was not the answer,getting free suff is all good(not for halfords) but even better is having a bike shop with bike parts in stock,not just a handfull of pumps and helmets and assistants that know their stuff.

lm_trek

Stratford Upon Avon, on the newer retail park, big bike hut department upstairs

supersonic

snig wrote:

ok but if you go to halfords to pay to get your flat repaired its cos you cant be ar*ed to do it yourself,as I would say most people know how to fix a flat,so getting told to do it yourself was not the answer,getting free suff is all good(not for halfords) but even better is having a bike shop with bike parts in stock,not just a handfull of pumps and helmets and assistants that know their stuff.

Probably better than the customer having to book it in and wait 3 days.

Zeroman_IR

snig wrote:

ok but if you go to halfords to pay to get your flat repaired its cos you cant be ar*ed to do it yourself,as I would say most people know how to fix a flat,so getting told to do it yourself was not the answer,getting free suff is all good(not for halfords) but even better is having a bike shop with bike parts in stock,not just a handfull of pumps and helmets and assistants that know their stuff.

True, but he was given the option of getting it fixed for him for £5. Not everybody knows how to fix a flat, it's easy for us because we spend a lot of time on our bikes in terrain that loves causing flats :evil: Personally, I'd love if my LBS asked me to hang around and showed me how to true a wheel when I'm dropping one off

snig

maybe I'm seeing it wrong but ok if it was a hard job and he was offered to be shown how to do it say like change a BB or something but to me its ike going to your local car wash and being told heres a bucket of water get on with it! but the customer may have not know and was glad to be shown?

as for booking it in and waiting 3 days,me and a mate were in a halfords a while back and got talking to one of the guys that work there,we were talking for a good while,he told us it was a bad place to work ,pay, bosses,and he had been there 3 years with no training, as he told us that he pointed to a sign saying how all staff were fully trained,anyway a woman came up asking for a rack to be fitted he said it would need to be booked in for 2 - 3 days,she said dont bother,we asked him why as it was such an easy job,he said why should he work his ass off for halfords ,I do see his point cos with his self learnt skills being paid min wage is crap.

bails87

Halfords can't win can they!

snig

to be honest I think halfords are happy the way they do business and dont really want your hard core rider,but are happy with selling family bikes for mum and dad and the kids,I've been in halfords a few times this week(trying to get rid of a voucher) and each time it was busy with familes,I think chris braodman wants to re think selling his bikes there,they just looked out of place in there!

Raymondavalon

Yesterday whilst at Halfords buying spark plugs and other related items for my Land Rover I saw a hot brunette babe in shorts with legs to die for, boobs that defy gravity, a stomach so firm you could profile amluminium on it and the face of an angel looking at a hybrid bike. The three sales assistants were all over her like bees on a honeypot. They even let her take two of the bikes for a little test run in the car park, two of the assistants attentively altering the saddle height etc.
Seeing this was entertaining, anyway, I decided before heading for the till, I'll head over to the bike section and take a peek. Well I was all over the Boardman FS and Carrera Banshee like a truly prospective customer.

Did the remaining bike sales bod approach me to see if the could help? Nope.. gotta love Halfords..

Chaz.Harding

Just £5 for a puncture!!?? Cheap!

My LBS charge £10 LABOUR, plus £5 for tube!!*** :shock: :shock: :shock:

Well, my LBS in Leicester. They're shop is like a dark, dank cave. The prices are astronomical, they are rude and reply with sharp comments...

A truely crap bike shop, to be honest.

***I only know this, as a late teens / early 20's girl came in with a bike, asking for a puncture repair... Should have offered to do it for her! She was hot! But I digress...

supersonic

TBH many shops charge loads for puncture repairs as they clog the place up and don't earn them much money lol.

Chaz.Harding

Yeah, but these guys aren't doing themselves any favours....

£15 for a puncture!! You can get a whole wheel for that! Lol.

millermilla

I just bought my 08 Cinder Cone from Halfrauds. I didn't plan to buy it from them I was going to buy from Evans but my local store didn't have a 20" frame in stock. When I asked Evans if they could get a 20" frame for me they weren't really interested and just wanted to sell me a Pinnacle or any another bike they had in stock.

I thought I would just try my local Halfrauds as I know they stocked Kona's. Sure enough they had the exact bike I wanted so at least I got to give it a quick try but it was £90 more expensive.

I asked if they would price match Evans and they did. I also looked online for a lock and found a decent one for £5 reduced from £29.99. The only bad thing I experienced was picking up the bike, they just handed it over and didn't bother showing me how anything worked, adjusted the seat or anything like that.

Tank-slapper

I received something for free from Halfords on Saturday. Only a cable end, but it was free. Not sure why they don't sell them.

stunnertier1

I took my new Gt into the Solihull store on saturday because the gears were slipping, the guy in there (craig i think) did it straight away & showed me how to adjust the gears ! buzzing !

geordiefreerider

I got given a 10mm allen key off the lad who works in my local one - which was nice !

Northwind

When they were having trouble getting a replacement freewheel for my old Kraken, they asked "When do you need the bike again" "Well, saturday really" "Oh, OK, here's one off the demo bike" Considering I didn't actually have a warranty, that's as good as it gets!

Stuey01

Raymondavalon wrote:

Yesterday whilst at Halfords buying spark plugs and other related items for my Land Rover I saw a hot brunette babe in shorts with legs to die for, boobs that defy gravity, a stomach so firm you could profile amluminium on it and the face of an angel looking at a hybrid bike. The three sales assistants were all over her like bees on a honeypot. They even let her take two of the bikes for a little test run in the car park, two of the assistants attentively altering the saddle height etc.
Seeing this was entertaining, anyway, I decided before heading for the till, I'll head over to the bike section and take a peek. Well I was all over the Boardman FS and Carrera Banshee like a truly prospective customer.

Did the remaining bike sales bod approach me to see if the could help? Nope.. gotta love Halfords..

yeah, because you only get young randy staff in halfords... :roll:
blokes are exactly the same in any shop, bar, bank, restaurant, gym... anywhere.