13 Bikes new at Halfords.

cougie

Nice looking bikes.

Thank god no LBS has ever made mistakes eh ? Oh apart from that time they fitted my mates brake blocks (ffs - who gets a shop to fit brake blocks ??) back to front - and he couldnt stop on a hill - flew across a road and ditched it head first in a hedge. Hilarious -but it could have killed him.

I'd have no problems buying from Halfords - I can look after bikes myself - so how hard would they have to work to mess a bike up instore ? Presumably its built up at the same factory that makes umpteen other brands ?

Giraffoto

sarm34 wrote:

poacher13 wrote:

Not even car polish? FFS some people have such issues with Halfords based upon other peoples opinions, so whats your issue with them Sarm34?

I made the mistake of buying a jet blaster thing from them a good one , used it twice in 3 months and it packed up, took it back to the shop and they were having none of it , so after an argument with the manager I walked away and left it in the shop, after refusing to take it back home with me the manager came out to me in the carpark and dumped the jet blaster infront of my car, henceforth I picked up said blaster and threw it across the shop floor, they must have spent ages picking the bits up

You think that's bad, I bought a sponge from them once and it was full of holes!

ilovegrace

Bought this http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/product ... tAodVw8Ayw from Halfords for £4 , you will not find me knocking Halfords .
regards
ILG

apreading

stuyd wrote:

Worked at halfords while at university, would never buy any thing more than a kids bike from there. Absolute jokers, it's not snobbery it's common sense. They don't love bikes, the fact I wanted to take pride in my work upset the manager, he was happy for repairs or builds to be rushed and bodged.

One store, one manager...

That is the sum total of your knowledge by which you damn a whole chain with thousands of stores?

My LBS has screwed up several times, so maybe all LBS are shoot and we would be better off buying from Tesco?

All chain shops have idiot managers in some of them, nature of the game. Granted, I think the ratios in Halfords are worse than they should be and in the past the company didnt do as much as it should have to foster the right attitudes and since then are probably stuck with some of the relics that should be fired. But I think many genuinely try to do a good job, you just need to find one with the right attitude - same as finding a good LBS.

My top tip is to be careful when you go in - many seem to have one or two knowledgeable staff but if they are on lunch or off for the day then anybody else in the shop can fill in - this is the most scary part!

on-yer-bike

"Wind slippery shapes that drop your mates" Corrrrr

on-yer-bike

apreading wrote:

stuyd wrote:

Worked at halfords while at university, would never buy any thing more than a kids bike from there. Absolute jokers, it's not snobbery it's common sense. They don't love bikes, the fact I wanted to take pride in my work upset the manager, he was happy for repairs or builds to be rushed and bodged.

so maybe all LBS are shoot?

Pretty much in my experience

Moonbiker

Never had a good experience of a LBS but local halfords had some guy working there who told me he handbuilt built wheels for pro teams. :?: :shock:


Chatting with him he did seem to really know his stuff & gave me free spokes to mend my wheels.

sarm34

lawrences wrote:

sarm34 wrote:

poacher13 wrote:

Not even car polish? FFS some people have such issues with Halfords based upon other peoples opinions, so whats your issue with them Sarm34?

I made the mistake of buying a jet blaster thing from them a good one , used it twice in 3 months and it packed up, took it back to the shop and they were having none of it , so after an argument with the manager I walked away and left it in the shop, after refusing to take it back home with me the manager came out to me in the carpark and dumped the jet blaster infront of my car, henceforth I picked up said blaster and threw it across the shop floor, they must have spent ages picking the bits up

You sound like a right tw@t.

If you bought something that cost over a hundred quid and it packed up after 2 uses, took it back to the shop and they didn't want to know, what would you have done?
lets get this straight, I own my own business , if I treated customers like they did me then id be out of a job , if someone has a problem with one of my carpets , either fitting fault or otherwise then I get it sorted because I want them to come back to me and spend again, it aint rocket science, but because halfords are one of the "big guys" it mainly means that customers like me/us get fobbed of with excuses, now you can call me all you want, but I know im not going to win an argument with companies like that, so I let them know how I feel in other ways I don't see a problem with that , they don't get a penny more of my money

apreading

I win arguments with companies like that all the time, by approaching them in the right manner and with the right tactics to achieve the result I want.

Based on your latter behaviour, I suspect your initial approach may have been all wrong and may have got their backs up quickly, at which point they are less inclined to be helpful then you flipped and damaged both the goods and any possibility of goodwill from them. Even if you did everything right to start with and they were being unhelpful, if you had handled it calmly and cleverly you probably would have got a result.

I just hope I never buy a carpet from you and we dont see eye to eye about something - if I knew who you were I would make a point already not to do business with you, just in case.

poacher13

So, Sarm34, are you sure you wont be interested in buying one of the 13 bikes then?

sarm34

poacher13 wrote:

So you wont be interested in buying one of the 13 bikes then?

er.... no

sarm34

apreading wrote:

I win arguments with companies like that all the time, by approaching them in the right manner and with the right tactics to achieve the result I want.

Based on your latter behaviour, I suspect your initial approach may have been all wrong and may have got their backs up quickly, at which point they are less inclined to be helpful then you flipped and damaged both the goods and any possibility of goodwill from them. Even if you did everything right to start with and they were being unhelpful, if you had handled it calmly and cleverly you probably would have got a result.

I just hope I never buy a carpet from you and we dont see eye to eye about something - if I knew who you were I would make a point already not to do business with you, just in case.

that's fine and I understand why you would do that all I can say is that I very rarely get a complain from a customer and ive been trading for 25 years now I can honestly say that ive had 7-8 complaints about fitting in that time , carpet faults are a different matter though, but I always replace them then take the matter up with the manufacturer, as my customers come first, the reason I hardly get fitting complains is that I fit them myself , rather than using "subbies".
im telling you this as im trying to get you to understand that to me the customer comes first..... end of

on-yer-bike

I dont blame anyone for losing it with Halfords. What I dont understand is that they are apparently doing very well and their shares are supposed to be a worthwhile investment.

Anonymous

Halfords is not a really even a bike shop. If dedicated bike shops struggle to give good service (which they usually do) then what chance does a car accessory/bike shop have?

Calling the bikes 13 (or should that be 'EI'? You cannot even type the name correctly) is beyond me. The mind boggles at what must have gone on in the Halfords 'what shall we call our new bikes' meeting.

It gets worse, the tag line is 'Follow Your Instincts' :shock:

apreading

This also seems an odd move given the timing. They have just bought Boardman, why do they need another brand - it will just dilute sales of the brand they spend alot of money on and take shop space from it. If they were bringing in another branded name, I could understand but why create a new one (with questionable identity) from scratch?

bigmat

Don't they have an agreement with Boardman that they only stock the lower end models, with the top end stuff being sold in independent bike shops (a bit odd given they own the brand). In which case I can see why they might want their own brand top end stuff, and as they are launching a brand they might as well do some entry level stuff too (which will likely sell in far greater numbers).

FWIW I'm still riding my Halfords bought Viner after 6 years, its been a cracking buy. I would probably trust Halfords' servicing skills as much as the majority of LBS' (i.e. not at all!)