H'fords Customer service

yanktanks

My Partner recently had her bike given a free service at our local H'fords we collected the bike in the car and later the day decided to go for a ride, when she started to ride the bike ( about 4 yards ) the bak wheel moved against the frame and threw her off when I inspected the bike the back and front wheel nuts were only hand tight

I e-mailed Halfords customer services on the 21st Aug and have not had a reply yet,
I decided to phone there customer services and was told " We legally have 28 days to reply and will get back to you by then"

I am an ex manager of a large motorcycle dealers, and I phoned back customers the same day and always got issues dealt with within a day or two maximum.

has anyone else suffered from this poor customer service and any advise where i should go next as i find this totally unexeptable

chedabob

I found the opposite: Everything was overtightened. I didn't bother to take mine back for the 6 week check because I had an inkling they'd mess with it after I'd corrected their mistakes.

wordnumb

Email? Telephone? Go back to the store, talk to the manager face to face.

Although I'm sure there must be some competent mechanics working for Halfords, I wouldn't ride a bike put together by their staff. But then I'd always give the bike a bounce and a once over before riding if it had been serviced by anyone without my being present, just to check if anything is loose.

Bar Shaker

The stores are Marmite. Good ones are excellent, bad ones are shocking.

Much like local bike shops.

Bignige

I'd rather beat my testicles with a steak mallet than let Halfords anywhere near my bike..... :shock:

yanktanks

well suprised £40 worth of vouchers turned up in the post, the wife can treat her self and we have been recommended a local bike shop that is good and does not cost a fortune. so we will be going there in future

specialized989

Bar Shaker wrote:

The stores are Marmite. Good ones are excellent, bad ones are shocking.

Much like local bike shops.

hear hear

specialized989

Bignige wrote:

I'd rather beat my testicles with a steak mallet than let Halfords anywhere near my bike..... :shock:

bit harsh...

Catfish

After seeing the spanner monkey at my local halfords bouncing on a stem bolt (max 5Nm)with a long handled allen key i declined the free six week service,Fortunatly this was not on my bike, to back this up i asked if they could recomend a good torque wrench, "don't know i don't use one" was the reply, nuff said.

Stevo_666

Some stores I've heard can be good, some can be appalling. If in any doubt, just buy the piece of kit and get it fettled elsewhere as I did when I bought my Boardman (which is fine). Plenty threads on Halfords in here if you search...

ride_whenever

yanktanks wrote:

well suprised £40 worth of vouchers turned up in the post, the wife can treat her self and we have been recommended a local bike shop that is good and does not cost a fortune. so we will be going there in future

That's a good outcome? I wouldn't have accepted their first offer given that they've failed in servicing a bike and made it unsafe to ride. You had them over a barrel somewhat, not to mention that vouchers result in a trip there.

wordnumb

ride_whenever wrote:

yanktanks wrote:

well suprised £40 worth of vouchers turned up in the post, the wife can treat her self and we have been recommended a local bike shop that is good and does not cost a fortune. so we will be going there in future

That's a good outcome? I wouldn't have accepted their first offer given that they've failed in servicing a bike and made it unsafe to ride. You had them over a barrel somewhat, not to mention that vouchers result in a trip there.

It's interesting this. While I sort of agree with R_W, I don't understand anybody riding a bike without checking the basics - that nothing rattles and the brakes stop the wheels turning. Should we promote awareness, or litigious sniping?

IDave

I know it's not fair to tar all Halfords branches with the same brush, however I took my bike for it's free 6 week service and they actuallly made it worse!

My rear brake is a litttle spongy, but when I got it back it flat out didn't work and made a horrible screeching noise.

Luckily I tested it in the car park after I got it back. I went straight back in and asked them if they had been using a spray on lube on the rear mech, they said they hadn't and suggested that it was because of the 'brake cleaner' they had used and said my pads had to bed in again.

Eventually they admitted they had got lube on the rear disc and agreed to replace the brake pads.

You may get a good deal on a Carrera/Boardman at Halfords, but don't don't trust them to set it up or service it properly. Find a decent LBS and take it there instead!

MountainMonster

How many times is this exact thread going to pop up?

shm_uk

MountainMonster wrote:

How many times is this exact thread going to pop up?

Oh, only for ever and ever and ever until people learn, or can be bothered to use, the SEARCH function...

But that'll never happen - as history has shown, people are in general stupid, lazy or both.

I'm a bit of each, leaning more to 'lazy'

shm_uk

MountainMonster wrote:

How many times is this exact thread going to pop up?

Oh, only for ever and ever and ever until people learn, or can be bothered to use, the SEARCH function...

But that'll never happen - as history has shown, people are in general stupid, lazy or both.

I'm a bit of each, leaning more to 'lazy'