FAO Halfords

supersonic

I think it gives you a much better feel than just sat on it n the shops.

Northwind

It does. But it's still rubbish.

supersonic

Better than a kick up the aris hehe.

I think being able to pedal the bloody thing, use the gears and brakes and do at least a bit of riding is far better than just sat on it. Far better than that of course is a full test. If the big H really want to be at the forefront of biking customer service then it needs to change.

Bar Shaker

It's just not practical to have demo bikes in such a small market. 3 or 4 sizes x 3 specs x 4 bikes would mean at least over £18k of demo bikes per store.

I was happy that my FS Pro would ride well and 5 minutes around a car park would have no bearing on the riding I would do with it. I could tell the size was right by sitting on it in the shop.

What would you hope to get from a demo?

Would Evans let you demo a Stumpy Expert?

RealMan

ExeterSimon wrote:

Would you buy an Apollo or a Shockwave if you'd ridden it first?

RC76 wrote:

They would have to put the bikes together safely to allow that.

lol and lol. +1.


I think the majority of people who buy from halfords wouldn't know any better whether the bike felt right after a test ride, so there's no profit to be made from letting people test ride.

Northwind

Bar Shaker wrote:

Would Evans let you demo a Stumpy Expert?

Specialized have a demo fleet and do proper demo events.

spidan

I had cause to visit Halfords recently for some tools to change out a bottom bracket. The only guy to offer any assistance was a spotty faced 16 year kid. Props to him he knew what he was talking about.
In previous attempts to look at buying stuff no help whatsoever. No demo offered when i was considering buying a Krakken.
To me it seems if you can find an enthusiastic Saturday kid is far better than talking to the regular staff that are only their because its the only job they can find. Get your training sorted Halfords and employ enthusiastic kids that really want to do the job.

schmako

At my local halfords they let someone test ride a kona stinky (the most expensive bike they had built) in the car park and they done a runner with it! Maybe this is why they don't..

bails87

abductee wrote:

What did you buy and did you get to ride your bike before you bought it?

A Boardman Pro

For the bargain price of £730

I had a sit on it in the shop, and a little pootle in the aisles. That was it. But other than a day long ride at a trail centre, a quick demo wouldn't have shown me much else. It fitted me, I like the gears and brakes. That's pretty much all you can tell from a quick test.

My local store normally have 5 out of the 6 Boardman MTBs on display in various sizes, as well as a couple of hybrids and a couple of road bikes.

They've also got a few Furys, Krakens, Aggressors and iDrives built up and on display.

I'm well aware there are awful Halfords, just as there are awful LBSs, but I don't like the "Halfords=Bad, LBS=God like brilliance" attitude that some people have. Halfords and LBS are equally as varied, unfortunately, the bad halfords are subsidised by the car parts side of the business, whereas a bad LBS would go bust.

Stevo_666

Schmako wrote:

At my local halfords they let someone test ride a kona stinky (the most expensive bike they had built) in the car park and they done a runner with it! Maybe this is why they don't..

Easily solved - just get the customer to pay the full price on their card if they want a test ride. Credit it back if they bring it back and don't buy. Damn annoying policy as I had to take a bit of a punt on the fit & feel of my commuter, luckily I am standard-ish size and shape so it was OK.

Sort it Halfords...

hyperman

Some of you guys need to give the staff at halfords a break, they are usually young minimum wage lads that are just trying to earn a living, not experienced lbs owners that have been in the trade for years..personally I visited around eight different bike shops when made my purchase and not one member of staff in any of the shops was helpful, and I was never offered a test ride. Surely a quick spin around a shop/carpark is enough...And no matter how you look at it, the staff are there for one reason only, to sell bikes..regardless of how they do it!! I'm sure they are under pressure from management so will say anything to get a sale.

snowden_88

At least you guys got to sit on your bikes at Halfords before you brought them.

I went in wanting to buy a Voodoo Bantu, sat on an 18" which was clearly to big and strangling the jewels. The Halfords guy still told me it was the correct fit though.

I told him I wanted to try a 16", he said they dont have them in store. So I thought OK I will go home and go online and search for a store that stocked the 16".

Not a single store in the whole of the UK stocks a 16 inch frame! Iv had to click buy and PAY for it, select a store to pick it up from, and then hope it fits.

They make you pay for it before they even order it in. Why wouldn't they stock 16" frames in any store?

Not happy, and the guys at Dereham Halfords really didn't seem to have a clue

schmako

I was reading this and seen I posted, I didn't remember posting that. Then I looked at the date of the thread!

Nice thread resurrection!

blablablacksheep

supersonic wrote:

I know you check the forums as I have seen you post

Why do some of your stores not even allow a simple test ride around the carpark to get a feel for the size and fit of the bike? I have not come across ANY other shop who have this terrible policy. And many allow a full test ride.

Surely all it takes is some ID, a credit card etc.

My local store i remember let me test ride a bike.......


A apollo bike that is :roll:

But honestly though i think it probably down to some legal issue of elf and safety as if you injure yourself you could claim it was a faulty bike and might try sue them.

Other than that i cannot see halfords doing a credit card system like Evan cycles uses as it just too much time to do and many people would not give credit card details over just to ride/test a bike.

that what i think

tiredout

Dont get me wrong, I'm not standing up for all halfords, but I think some of you are missing the point about how they work. Halfords is a national store, just like B&Q, asda, argos etc, that sells car stuff, camping gear and bikes with stores all over the country. In reality they dont sell to bike fans, they sell to people who want " a bike ", who have no idea of what is good or bad, nor do they care. :shock:
At the bottom of the pile are places like argos, catalogs, toys r us etc who sell very basic and not always cheap bikes to people who cant be bothered to go anywhere else.
Halfords are more middle of the road with cheap crap trax bikes up to boardman, kona and some carrera, with hit and miss service. At the top of the pile are LBS usually with bikers selling bikes to bikers.
In reality Halfords is a convenient place to by cheapish bikes easily, I have bought from them, and from several LBS and online stores, all with mixed service. I remember somone telling me halfords is one of the biggest bike retailers in the country or even europe, even with poor service and no test rides, and rightly or wrongly I think all they will worry about is how much money they make, not what they sell

kinmofo

this is sad, but true. halfords is NOT a bike shop, its merely a retailer of bicycle's and acociated atire etc. not only do they not let you test ride, but many times its been the closest place to go when riding, or pushing as the case has been, ANY lbs will usually let you use the thier tools once you've purchased the parts you need to get you on your way.

my lbs will let you take the bike you like on a 7-day test ride, obviously there is ID and credit stuff to go through first, also if i take my bike in when its broke, even if im just buying a spoke or brake cable, they let me use the work shop and tools. let me wash my hands or use loo etc and will always offer advice, and you KNOW they know what they're talking about!

if halfords acctually opened a proper standalone LBS as such, with the same friendly attitude towards customers as other lbs's they could make it work, but as they stand right now the only thing they got goin for them is u can park your car right outside and thats about it tbh!

supersonic

Halfords IS a bike shop. They heavily push their 'professionalism', trained mechanics, expert advice and range of bikes from the budget to the very high end.

I have worked for them, albeit a few years ago and know how they work. But I feel that if they do want to be taken more seriously then they should really stick to what they are pushing and offer test rides. Even if this pushes the prices up slightly: they still offer the best value by a long way in the UK.

Some shops are better than others when it comes to service and employees, but that can be said about some LBSs: some I have been in are dire, staffed by arrogant idiots who know nothing.

blablablacksheep

supersonic wrote:

Halfords IS a bike shop. They heavily push their 'professionalism', trained mechanics, expert advice and range of bikes from the budget to the very high end.

I have worked for them, albeit a few years ago and know how they work. But I feel that if they do want to be taken more seriously then they should really stick to what they are pushing and offer test rides. Even if this pushes the prices up slightly: they still offer the best value by a long way in the UK.

Some shops are better than others when it comes to service and employees, but that can be said about some LBSs: some I have been in are dire, staffed by arrogant idiots who know nothing.

Firstly before we go further which Halford stores will not let you test ride the bikes??

Second, are you just asking to test ride the bikes without any indication you might buy the bikes, as this can be a major issue for shops in all types of retail, the time waster , no offence now :P

So first we must get the above points sorted out, then from this we can move on to why they wont let you test if thats the case and if so what could be done.

verloren

blablablacksheep wrote:

Firstly before we go further which Halford stores will not let you test ride the bikes??

Well the ones at Hedge End and Titchfield in Fareham won't.

blablablacksheep wrote:

Second, are you just asking to test ride the bikes without any indication you might buy the bikes, as this can be a major issue for shops in all types of retail, the time waster , no offence now :P

There was a lot of indication that I'd buy, given that I actually bought right then in both cases, despite the lack of test ride.

thesim1990

I applied for a Saturday job being a Cyclehut mechanic but never heard anything back, strange considering I'm 21, know what I'm talking about and have ridden and fixed my own bikes since the age of 12... :?

specializedsteve

yes their a shop that sells allsorts and most bikes are bought by people that ust want A bike.

BUT, they have the "bikehut" tagline and have banners at events FOR HAlfords Bikehut.

Yet the bikehut stores ive been to i know more than the staff and yet im no pro!! If their gonna advertise at major events at least they could put more effort into their bikehut stores.

I know a person with learning difficulties who took his bike to a bikhut, it was a halfords trax bike, for a service. it came back with a rear wheel misaligned and the front brake put on at a funny angle and was getting rubbed by the brake disc. granted the chap may have done some work himself but im shocked the staff didnt notice and attempt to correct it.

im not impressed with halfords. im going to get a boardman team fs because it just had a good review from them onthe cycle2work scheme or whatever it is they do but do all the serviceing myself.

supersonic

blablablacksheep wrote:

supersonic wrote:

Halfords IS a bike shop. They heavily push their 'professionalism', trained mechanics, expert advice and range of bikes from the budget to the very high end.

I have worked for them, albeit a few years ago and know how they work. But I feel that if they do want to be taken more seriously then they should really stick to what they are pushing and offer test rides. Even if this pushes the prices up slightly: they still offer the best value by a long way in the UK.

Some shops are better than others when it comes to service and employees, but that can be said about some LBSs: some I have been in are dire, staffed by arrogant idiots who know nothing.

Firstly before we go further which Halford stores will not let you test ride the bikes??

Second, are you just asking to test ride the bikes without any indication you might buy the bikes, as this can be a major issue for shops in all types of retail, the time waster , no offence now :P

So first we must get the above points sorted out, then from this we can move on to why they wont let you test if thats the case and if so what could be done.

All of them, it is their policy.

As for the second point, this surely applies to all bike shops? Yet some seem to manage.

Something as simple as test bikes they can order in, or even just a ride around outside to get a feel, but the stores have stopped this too.

blablablacksheep

All of them, it is their policy.

As for the second point, this surely applies to all bike shops? Yet some seem to manage.

Something as simple as test bikes they can order in, or even just a ride around outside to get a feel, but the stores have stopped this too.

I not sure about it being policy given that i know somone who works in halfords and last time i checked, a few months ago you can test ride all their bikes given you show enough interest.

For the second point though, time wasters a big problem, mainly from the shops view .

Somone has to watch them thoughout the test ride.
The bikes have to be taken out of the back of shop,(cant use display bikes), which if you testing more than 1 bike can be quite disruptive.

Then if more than 1 person wants to test ride it can be x10 worse.

I dont stick up for them but you can clearly see it can be very disruptive if you wanting to test ride different bikes and sizes, and given Halfords Bike section only ever has about 2 people working within i dout they going to jump at the chance.

supersonic

I've worked at enough bike shops to know it can be made to work ;-)

It is not a case of a customer walking in and expecting a 50 mile test ride on the spot, but provisions in place to be able to do so.

At the very least ALL customers should be allowed to ride one outside the shop for a basic feel. If they are busy, then maybe book a ride later.

There are ways around it. Or maybe they just need more staff ;-)

specializedsteve

the shop i bought my hardrock from had a cycle trainer i could try the bike on.
perhaps halfords could do something similar too? that way you can try the bike without the risk of someone running of with an apollo bike just for it to break down a mile down the road lol!

Luke-Dob

Halfords... Bah

Thank god I'm leaving them and moving to a PROPER bike shop in 1 weeks time... Part time of cause.

As loads have mentioned, your quality of service varies from store to store. Shame my one went from the best in Kent, to being run by muppets (hence why I quit).

heez29

Luke-Dob wrote:

Halfords... Bah

Thank god I'm leaving them and moving to a PROPER bike shop in 1 weeks time... Part time of cause.

As loads have mentioned, your quality of service varies from store to store. Shame my one went from the best in Kent, to being run by muppets (hence why I quit).

Sounds like my store at the moment. Let me guess every one of the 'specialists' have left? We had nine in our area, around 4 shops and now there is one.

blablablacksheep

Went into a Halfords store to buy some non related bike stuff and i must say they have very few staff in the bike sections, only saw 2 of them both sitting behind the till .

So with this in mind i cannot see how Halfords can support test rides with their current level of staff i keep seeing in their bike areas, again most i ever seen has been 3 including the mech fixing bikes.

But given this i still havnt ever been told you cannot test ride bikes so i guess it just a shop policy not a general one.

diy

The solution seems simple - modify the returns policy to offer a 24-48hr money back promise. Argos do a 14 day money back deal.

I know two people who bought bikes from evans and then swapped them for different frames a week later, due to buying the wrong size.

Northwind

Few of my local shops have any sort of demo fleet. Sometimes they can order in a demo bike from the manufacturer but as soon as you ride one of their bikes, it becomes a used bike so unless you take it away, they lose out big style.

I think Halfords miss a trick here, they could work like the other big brands and run demo days or a small demo fleet that can be dispatched out to the stores on request. They've already got the pick-up and dispatch infrastructure and it would put minimal demand on the shops. Demo days especially would get them noticed I reckon.