Halfords

Kamzter

Yes I know I swore, but just thought to share this with you, I was offered a free service for buying my daughter a bike there and asked if I could have it instead on my own bike. The manager decided that it would be ok as I spend quite a lot of money on the car section there.

I took my bike down on a Friday and went down on the Sunday to collect it.
When the bike was returned to me the young lad decided to try and sell me their cycle care scheme of which I declined as always use my LBS.
I had noticed that my rear light bracket was in a clear bag cellotaped to my handlebars, the white handlebars and saddle were black with oil prints, the frame had greasy hand prints all over it.
I complained about the state and was given a free can of lube.
As I do not do much night riding I did not bother putting my bracket back on until yesterday, well tried to. The b******s some how had snapped it off and neither told me nor offered any apology or replacement at the time and obviously whisked me away before I noticed it.
If it had not of been the fact that the bracket belongs to me nice Moon rear light I would not of minded so much.
I have now put in a formal complaint to their head office and wont even buy anything from Bike hut let alone receive anything from them now.
I normally buy through Wiggle and use my discount that I have built up and will carry on as I have never had any problems from them/
Halfords moan that they have a bad reputation but I also blame the staff, as if I was working there (being a cyclist myself) I would make sure that I made the customers go away pleased and eager to come back.

Sorry had to get that rant out even though its probably been brought up numpteen times !!

bompington

Kamzter wrote:

I normally buy through Wiggle

Well you should know who to blame then ;-)

Kamzter

only went for a FREE service lol and landed up receiving their excellant customer service.

spen666

Not sure this is really a CAMPAIGN issue.

you'd get more response in Cake Stop or commuting Chat

Kamzter

Well it's my campaign to rid Halfords from their bike huts lol, here's their reply (just)

Thank you for your email. I am very sorry to note your comments regarding the problems you have experienced with your cycle after it was taken to our Taunton Store for a service. All concerns relating to our stores are logged onto a central database and the information regarding your experience is made available for the Area Managers to read. As our Store Managers are 100% responsible for the service in their stores, we also make the information available for them to view on our stores intranet system. This method is proven to be very successful in highlighting any shortfalls to the line managers responsible. They are then able to take any action they feel necessary with the individuals concerned.  The Store Manager has asked me to pass on his apologies for any inconvenience caused.  He has advised me that after the Mechanic broke the bracket he was told to replace the whole unit and provide you with the broken bracket and an explanation of what had occurred.  The Store Manager has asked me to apologies for the oversight which meant the new unit was not fitted to your cycle. If you would like to return to the Store and choose a set of lights up to the value of £50 the Store will fit them, clean the cycle and also provide a Years Bike Care Plan as a gesture of goodwill.  If you wish to speak to the Store Manager beforehand the telephone number for the Store is 01823  443415 . I appreciate you taking the time to highlight this problem and I hope it hasn't deterred you from shopping with us again. It is only through feedback from our customers that we are able to identify areas where we are falling short of our customers’ expectations and can redress them.  Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused.

giant_man

I'm not sure why anyone would take their bike to Halfords for anything quite honestly, I don't know perhaps you're a glutton for punishment.

Kamzter

If there's a FREE service then why not, like I have said I use Wiggle for my gear and my LBS for servicing etc normally, atleast I can get a FREE set of £50 lights and flog em !
On the other hand, buying a bike for a 3yr old from Halfords not like buying yourself a bike from them.
Atleast their customer service has come back a tad but still wont even go as far as buying a windscreen wiper from them which a lot of roadies etc would.

Believe me, I have a lot to lose with 3 cycle challenges this year, Lands End to John O Groats next year and London to Paris the year after, I need reliability.

siamon

I think Halfords response is good. Fair play to you for posting it, but I fail to understand why you are still mad at them? They apologised, and made you a generous offer to make up for their error. I can't see what more they could have done. The only problem I have with them is that you can't test ride their bikes, but if that is their attitude to customers I might go back and check out the Boardman Ar.

If you think that is bad then I hope you never have a problem with Wiggle.

b16 b3n

Christ you've done alright out of that one.
My friends carbon steerer snapped on his Boardman due to a star nut being fitted rather than a carbon expanding bung, and after 2 years he eventually got a settlement THROUGH THE COURT.He lost two teeth because of it.
Halfords tried saying he removed this and fit a star nut? he only won in court due to another bike going to the same store with the same fault. Halfords said that this was done at the factory and not at Halfords.
Halfords offer a safety check. They have to assemble the stem on to the steerer so the numb nut who assembled my firends bike didnt see the faults occuring. They came across the assmebly procedure in court as a head technitian had demonstrate this. They then realised what had gone wrong.
They are dangerous as I have heard of similar things happening at various stores.
Halfords staff now are more bothered about sales rather care.
Avoid at all cost

giant_man

Kamzter wrote:

If there's a FREE service then why not, like I have said I use Wiggle for my gear and my LBS for servicing etc normally, atleast I can get a FREE set of £50 lights and flog em !
On the other hand, buying a bike for a 3yr old from Halfords not like buying yourself a bike from them.
Atleast their customer service has come back a tad but still wont even go as far as buying a windscreen wiper from them which a lot of roadies etc would.

Believe me, I have a lot to lose with 3 cycle challenges this year, Lands End to John O Groats next year and London to Paris the year after, I need reliability.

Erm .. cos it's Halfords? lol