In praise of Halfords (Team Valley)

Initialised

As I set off on my ten mile lunchtime ride all of a sudden my handle bars went loose. I saw a bolt ping off my tyres or spokes and fall to the ground but by the time I'd come to a stop and went back to find it it had gone, probably down a drain. Turns out I sheared the pinch bolt, there was a chunk left inside. So I went to the local Halfords as I was literally just around the corner, to see what they could do. They asked if if was gradual, how come you didn't notice it working loose, then called for Wayne once they realised there was some bolt left in.

He was great, looked over the bike and the changes I'd made, seemed to approve of the XTR brakes and generall commuterisation. After a while he managed to get the rest of the bolt out and replaced the rest in the mean time I chatted to him and the other staff. Was altogether more of an LBS feel than I'd expect. No charge but a vague, non committal attempt to sell a £20 maintenance plan. I guess I am a fairly regular customer there for bits and bobs so maybe that helped. Any way, I couldn't leave without buying anything so I picked up some GT85 (3 for £5).

I'd now feel a lot less skeptical n+1 ing from there now. Kind of fancy the VooDoo HooDoo for messing about on the trails...

walkingbootweather

Good to hear a positive story about Halfords. I believe that many of their branches have a 'Wayne'. Strangely, in many cases his surname appears to be 'Kerr'. To be sure of good service I'd advise asking for his attention.

bails87

From the MTB side yesterday: viewtopic.php?f=40028&t=12727322&p=17950739&hilit=halfords+boardman+frame#p17950739

Called Halfords yesterday explained everything, and then visited Brixton branch (London) on suggestion from the helpdesk. Spoke there with the manager and man....... what a great guy! Just looked at the frame (I didn't even finish talking explaining what'd happened) and he just started ordering brand new frame for me!!! Can you imagine? 2.5 years after my warranty expired

They're really not all bad!

Headhuunter

I don't think you can ever say these chain places like Halfords, Evans etc are "all bad", they certainly have some monkeys working there but they also have some very good people, trouble is it's a bit pot luck whereas as an LBS is likely to be consistently good as it'll be a single shop run by a couple of people who select their staff carefully and specialise...