Shoddy Car Repairs by.....Halfords!

IronHorse100

I hate to jump on the anti Halfords bandwagon but I'm fuming. I took my car there (Halfords Autocentre) for a major service, clutch, discs and cam belt repair - £1193 - ouch.

Had it back a week now, driving down to the coast today - pop - and smoke coming out the back with a loss of power. Instantly I feared turbo had gone.

AA man came out - opened bonnet and found....Halfords had dropped the clip for the turbo hose into the engine (and left it there). Obviously lost without this, they used a ramshackle affair of cable ties interlinked to hold the pipe in place, oh and they didn't bother clipping it on the other end either so it was always gonna blow off. To add insult to injury, they dropped a few random cable ties around the engine. AA man was staggered. Good job it didn't happen in the fast lane of the M5.

So...I now have no faith in the other (more serious) repairs they've done. I want an independent inspection of the repairs before taking it further.

Any advice on who to use, what action I can take (Goods and Services Act? Trading Standards?) - obv.my response will be partially dependent on any other probs found.

Cheers

IronHorse100

Sorry, I realise that this thread, while really important to me, is actually painfully dull, so here's a bird with big knockers to keep you going:-

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The Ors

IronHorse100 wrote:

Sorry, I realise that this thread, while really important to me, is actually painfully dull, so here's a bird with big knockers to keep you going:-

Nice one! Don't know the answer to your questions unfortunately but at least this is a 'bump'.

Aggieboy

You're obviously in the AA, won't they do it for you? Or at least a report from the AA man that assisted you, it will also go to prove at a later date that the faults were found early/soon after being at Halfords.

I saw an AA man in a lay-by crying his eyes out when I was out cycling today, as it happens. I thought to myself, "That blokes heading for a break down!"

cornerblock

IronHorse100 wrote:

Sorry, I realise that this thread, while really important to me, is actually painfully dull, so here's a bird with big knockers to keep you going:-

[/img]

Lovely RAC.

unixnerd

Get a written report from the AA about what their mechanic found. Go into Halfords and show it to the service manager. You may get a good response, if not ask for the branch manager. Worth a try before getting heavy. If they don't play ball mention your next stop is the local newspaper.

Aggieboy

unixnerd wrote:

Get a written report from the AA about what their mechanic found. Go into Halfords and show it to the service manager. You may get a good response, if not ask for the branch manager. Worth a try before getting heavy. If they don't play ball mention your next stop is the local newspaper.

His car won't make it that far.

Yossie

Aggieboy wrote:

unixnerd wrote:

Get a written report from the AA about what their mechanic found. Go into Halfords and show it to the service manager. You may get a good response, if not ask for the branch manager. Worth a try before getting heavy. If they don't play ball mention your next stop is the local newspaper.

His car won't make it that far.

I think he means to sell it.

I'd just torch it personally. Boooooooom went the knackered motor. Remind me to tell you the story of the car and the bunker one day.

I wouldn't just blame Halfords per se though - its all down to the "mechanic" (note inverted commas) doing the work. Rally Art, who are pretty good to say the least, once forgot to do up the sump bolt on a friend's 450 odd brake Evo one day - that fell out while going errrr, quite fast down the motorway. Now that was brown trouser time.

A quick call to them and they came a picked up the car, fitted a new gearbox and profuse apologies all round, so really I'd have a word with Halfords first before going off on a bicycle forum about it - you never know, they might actually help you out.

rake

which part of the engine did the clip fall into?

cornerblock

rake wrote:

which part of the engine did the clip fall into?

The Halfords mechanic says it fell into the spinny spinny bit that goes brrrrmmm brrrrmmm.

rake

the spinney bits are enclosed. Im wondering how the they managed it. i wonder if they removed the cylinder head whilst replacing the clutch.

Mr_Cellophane

Yossie wrote:

its all down to the "mechanic" (note inverted commas) doing the work.

Like Kwik-Fit, I doubt Halfords employ mechanics, only fitters. And fitters only fit stuff they don't Jack Shit about mechanical things.

Yossie

Mr_Cellophane wrote:

Yossie wrote:

its all down to the "mechanic" (note inverted commas) doing the work.

Like Kwik-Fit, I doubt Halfords employ mechanics, only fitters. And fitters only fit stuff they don't Jack shoot about mechanical things.

Therefore judicious use of inverted commas.

Anyway, they will employ "technicians" like everyone else. No one employs mechanics or fitters anymore. That's so 1995. :?

Tonymufc

At least it proves that Halfords are consistently sh1t on all levels.

brianonyx

I wouldn't let them near one of my cars, particularly for something complex.

Use a good quality independent or specialist with a good local reputation. Or do it yourself. Or if neither option works then use a dealer.

pauldavid

From the amount of complaint posts on here about Halfords I would suggest that there are some people in life who search out a good reason to moan, and with the OP having chosen Halfords would appear to be one of those. :roll:

Incidentally I know someone who works in a Halfords local to me servicing cars, he took the job at Halfords when made redundant from his last job as a carpet fitter having been a binman originally. :shock:

I think there was a mechanic on his mothers side of the family though at some point.

carrock

I paid local Halfords service centre £35 to inspect a car I was thinking of buying- they inspected it and gave it a clean bill of health

After buying I discovered the driveshafts were worn and packed in grease to stop them knocking, both front discs were cracked, and a host of other problems

After writing a letter to their Head Office, they authorised the faults to be fixed FOC

I'd write to their head office asap.

The people at the top care about their reputation and are frightened of bad publicity (ie watchdog)

If not, sue them- can do it online for £100

Diogenes

Many moons ago I came back from Germany as a serviceman and brought my German bought car with me. After two years of excellent service in Germany I took it to a British Franchise garage (Vauxhall) for service. Two weeks after the service the car was not performing properly and kept missing. I called the RAC and the guy said there the points were worn and the car just needed a good service! When I told the guy he said nothing had been opened because those clever Germans put little dated stickers on the bits they open and they were all intact.

He advised that I pay for the RAC to provide a report and then tackle the garage. I did so and the garage refunded my money (I would not trust them again). I then told everyone I knew to avoid said garage like the plague.

Halfords are ideal if you want a Boardman or want to pay over the odds for parts. My experience of the staff is varied, I met one young guy who really knew his stuff but in the main they have little idea. My last visit I wanted some chamois cream, the old guy behind the counter suggested I look in the car department where the chamois cloths were. When I pointed out that I wanted to put the stuff in my shorts he looked rather shocked, enough said really.

D

IronHorse100

pauldavid wrote:

From the amount of complaint posts on here about Halfords I would suggest that there are some people in life who search out a good reason to moan, and with the OP having chosen Halfords would appear to be one of those. :roll:

that's right mate, I often shell out £1200 for the sake of a good moan <rolly eyes>

Thanks for the replies. The saga continues. More problems found.....

oscar-j

I had a similar problem with a motorbike a few years ago.After getting nowhere with the garage in question i got in touch with the Deapartment of Transport.Within a couple of hours the garage where on the phone,offering me all and sundry if i would be kind enough to let them have their bike back before it could be inspected!

pauldavid

IronHorse100 wrote:

pauldavid wrote:

From the amount of complaint posts on here about Halfords I would suggest that there are some people in life who search out a good reason to moan, and with the OP having chosen Halfords would appear to be one of those. :roll:

that's right mate, I often shell out £1200 for the sake of a good moan <rolly eyes>

Thanks for the replies. The saga continues. More problems found.....

To be fair, you were looking to have fairly major work carried out on your car for a value you already knew to be quite high and instead of picking a reputable specialist in the make of car(not necessarily a main dealer but there are numerous specialists around) you own you instead chose a jack of all trades garage with a staff of predominently spotty oiks. Also being a member of this forum you cannot have failed to notice the numerous posts about shoddy work carried out on bikes, so what made you think they would be any better at working on your car??

Deegs

Not a totally unreasonable assumption given their advertising. If they oofer and charge for the service then they ought to do it at least reasonably well. And they've been doing cars far longer than they've been selling Boardmans.

I'm not impressed with the idea that the OP is at fault.

15peter20

pauldavid wrote:

IronHorse100 wrote:

pauldavid wrote:

From the amount of complaint posts on here about Halfords I would suggest that there are some people in life who search out a good reason to moan, and with the OP having chosen Halfords would appear to be one of those. :roll:

that's right mate, I often shell out £1200 for the sake of a good moan <rolly eyes>

Thanks for the replies. The saga continues. More problems found.....

To be fair, you were looking to have fairly major work carried out on your car for a value you already knew to be quite high and instead of picking a reputable specialist in the make of car(not necessarily a main dealer but there are numerous specialists around) you own you instead chose a jack of all trades garage with a staff of predominently spotty oiks. Also being a member of this forum you cannot have failed to notice the numerous posts about shoddy work carried out on bikes, so what made you think they would be any better at working on your car??

.

MattC59

I don't understand all the comments suggesting that the OP is at fault and that he should have expected it from Halfords.

The bottom line is that Halfords advertise a service and charge for it. If they haven't done it, or haven't done it properly, then they are at fault.

Get a report from the AA and talk to Halfords head office. They should be liable for the cost of the initial work and and costs incurred due to the faulty work.