Halfords Bike Hell - Advice Please

-000LM000-

I know that I should have avoided Halfords after reading previous posts, I fully regret thinking "that won't happen to me".

I'm looking for some advice from those unfortunate enough to have been through this or similar themselves...

Bought a £1000 Boardman Team Carbon road bike through my employers Bike For Work scheme. Took the bike boxed, put it together myself (handlebars, wheel & seat), fully inspected the rest including bolts, screws etc. I also extensively tested the gears (derailieurs, alignment, chain, cables, etc) and brakes before even riding it. It was perfect, and perfect on my first 26 mile ride on the open road - I was very happy.

Then it all went wrong, 13 miles in to my second ride, travelling downhill at around 20mph when the rear wheel locked. I fell but on a quiet Sunday morning there were no cars and nothing more than cuts and bruises. The bike however was destroyed, the rear derailleur had detached and passed between the rear wheel and the frame. Frame cracked plus extensive damage to derailleur, cable, spokes and chain.

Bike returned, next 1.5 weeks not having my phone calls returned and finally I emailed the CEO and Chief Exec - now I think I'll get some where. No, Halfords are claiming it my fault:

"Inspection of your bike has not revealed any manufacturing defects to be present. We do however understand that on delivery of your new bike to our store, you advised our store team that they were not to carry out your bike build as you wanted to do this yourself and based on comments you have since made to our store team regarding this build and its set up, we do not believe the build was conducted correctly by you and this has subsequently caused the failure you have described. We therefore concur that our stores gesture of goodwill to reduce the cost of your repair from £745 to £430 is more than fair for damage that has been sustained to your bike which is not covered as a warranty issue and this offer will remain available to you."

And what is more, I can't take them to small claims court as they helpfully point out (or as it feels to me - hide behind):

"We advise this because a cycle to work scheme operates as a loan: the Employer is technically loaning the equipment to the Employee for a fixed-period of time and as such, you would not be able to issue any legal proceedings against Halfords as legislation that governs a cycle to work scheme states that your Employer must own the equipment."

I'm just amazed by the behaviour of this national retailer, taking full advantage of this situation to avoid an expensive repair on their substandard products.

I'm in the process of establishing contact with my employers Bike For Work team and I have asked Halfords what comments I made which led their shop staff to believe I didn't set up the bike correctly.

So, I'm looking for some help and advice from those who have suffered similar...

Origami02

Was the rear derailleur hanger broken or did the mech simply come loose detach from the thread ?

-000LM000-

Sheared off but Halfords insist that this was not a manufacturing fault.

I wasn't in top/bottom gear and I wasn't changing gear when it occurred either.

nicklouse

Sorry but it sounds fair to me.

Nothing to do with Halfords as they say. They did not assemble it. They did not check it. You did. And you do not own it.

Not much you can do. Get it fixed and keep making the payments or not get it fixed and kerp making the payments.

bendertherobot

Mechs don't normally detach. The last time mine ended up in the spokes was because the chain jumped off, seized the mech and pulled the whole shebang into the wheel. Fortunately the wheel survived (low speed), the mech was far less lucky. It's unusual for it to sheer of its own accord rather than be sheered off because it did its job properly. Do you have any pictures?

Rigga

Are you sure it wasn't the chain that broke that caused a knock on effect? And as above, the offer is pretty reasonable considering they didn't build the bike.

Grill

You put it together and it broke. If it was a manufacturers defect then you should have spotted it whilst building it. You can blame Halfords all you want but the facts are this:
1. You bought a Boardman, not a Halfords.
2. By denying Halfords the opportunity to build the bike and do the PDI you absolved them of responsibility of shoddy workmanship during the build.
3. You built it. You say you did a good job, but no one is able to corroborate this.
4. Mechs don't just fall off.

Time for you to put on your big boy pants and be an adult about this. Accept responsibility and move on.

Origami02

Sounds to me as though either some foreign body such as road debris or an errant arm warmer has jammed the chain in the derailleur cage so that the pull on the chain from above the jam simply ripped the derailleur off and carried it over the top into the wheel, or the hanger has simply snapped.
The second scenario is only really very likely if the hanger had been cracked or weakened by previous attempts to align the rear derailleur.
The first scenario is really no one's fault and the second very hard to prove after the event. Either way, not letting Halfords build it has absolved them of responsibility. I have the very same bike from Halfords, built by them, and it's always been fine.

Monty Dog

Why is this Halford's fault?
The OP assembles the bike and expects Halfords to pick up the bill when they c*ck-up?
9/10 it's due to badly adjusted mech, overshifting into lowest gear drives the whole lot into the spokes and ends up wrapped around the cassette - if the bike is moving it stops very suddenly.
Known as "just riding along" or JRA's in the trade - bike components that inexplicably and spontaneously destroy themselves of their own volition under no influence from the rider.

-000LM000-

No, i don't know, it happened instantly.

When you say built the bike, it was built except the handle bars, seat and front wheel.

I did a complete inspection, no adjustments required and then completed 38 trouble free miles. no grinding gears, missed changes, rattles, ticking etc

i'll find some pictures.

If only I'd known about the fall out from not having them get it out of the box. There was certainly nothing about that on the paper i signed or explained to me that they had no further responsibility. Presumably had Halfords built it then the next thing would be that I had crashed it and misaligned the hanger.

And I think that is the problem, i'm genuinely not trying to shift the blame, but it did just fail. They say not faulty hanger I don't know how to go about proving otherwise.

PS Boardman is owned by Halfords.

Grill

If the hanger wasn't straight you'd have found out when indexing.

Origami02

-000LM000- wrote:

I know that I should have avoided Halfords after reading previous posts, I fully regret thinking "that won't happen to me".

...

I'm surmising here, and I really don't want to sound mean, but if you made the decision not to let Halfords build it based on previous posts you'd read about their mechanics' competence then the real lesson is don't believe everything you read on the internet.
Also, a factory boxed bike has not had final adjustment and safety checking. There's more work to be done than simply attaching saddle, bars and wheels. This is probably what Halfords mean by the comments they say you made that lead them to think you didn't set it up properly.

desweller

Grill wrote:

If the hanger wasn't straight you'd have found out when indexing.

Not necessarily. I've had a bike from Halfords with loose screws in derailleur hanger and cranks. Gear shifting was dob on! And one of my work colleagues started getting ropey gear shifting after a few weeks of riding his new bike-to-work bike 30 miles each day; loose screws on the mech hanger again.

penguin_of_death

-000LM000- wrote:

I did a complete inspection, no adjustments required and then completed 38 trouble free miles. no grinding gears, missed changes, rattles, ticking etc

If only I'd known about the fall out from not having them get it out of the box. There was certainly nothing about that on the paper i signed or explained to me that they had no further responsibility.

Cables stretch or need prestretching, I have never seen a boxed bike that needed no adjustments. The form you signed would have said exactly that

Ber Nard

DesWeller wrote:

Grill wrote:

If the hanger wasn't straight you'd have found out when indexing.

Not necessarily. I've had a bike from Halfords with loose screws in derailleur hanger and cranks. Gear shifting was dob on! And one of my work colleagues started getting ropey gear shifting after a few weeks of riding his new bike-to-work bike 30 miles each day; loose screws on the mech hanger again.

But the OP's checked all that and declared it "perfect", surely a testament to what a good job Halfords/Boardman did of putting the bike together. It sounds like something has flicked up off the road and put the mech through the spokes. An unfortunate accident and even more unfortunate that the crash has done such damage.

Personally, I think it's gracious of Halfords to subsidise the cost of repair when they could wash their hands of it

ck101

Bad luck. Thats all.
If you had of let them build it would be easier to make a case.
Boardman make good bikes. I have found Halfords to be mostly ok especially my local mechanic who is an ex pro Polish cyclist.
Over the years I've had some major losses on property, stock markets, health etc, stuff like this happens.
Don't let it ruin your day, a good ride, whatever, you got off lightly.

CYCLESPORT1

A costly mistake, not the fault of Halfords.

HertsG

There'll be a flounce. In and out in a day, I'll wager.

napoleond

I'd sent an angry email of complaint to Wiggle.

jordan_217

NapoleonD wrote:

I'd sent an angry email of complaint to Wiggle.

Jumping the gun there Nap, nobody's actually blamed them…yet

noodleman

Take Halfords up on their offer. Seems very decent of them in the circumstances. Whichever way you look at this it's not really their fault in any way. You set the bike up and if that wasn't the problem then it looks like something else happened, ie some road debris getting caught up into the mech and causing it to move into your spokes (unlikely)

kajjal

noodleman wrote:

Take Halfords up on their offer. Seems very decent of them in the circumstances. Whichever way you look at this it's not really their fault in any way. You set the bike up and if that wasn't the problem then it looks like something else happened, ie some road debris getting caught up into the mech and causing it to move into your spokes (unlikely)

I agree the main problem here is you setup the bike. If halfords had then it would be very different. They have offered you a good deal in the circumstances.

Monty Dog

The OP underestimates what is needed to make sure a bike is road-worthy before use:
Did they check that the gear hanger was secure?
Did they check that the rear mech was fitted securely?
Did they check the rear mech stop screws to ensure it didn't over-shift?
Did they check the adjustment of the gears in all ring / cassette combos?

It appears not - the consequences are now apparent. Take up Halford's generous offer and put it down to experience - other retailers might not have been so obliging and would have every right to refuse any support.

nferrar

As others have said it doesn't look like Halfords are to blame on this. I also think it should be obvious if you take the bike without letting them build it up and inspect it (regardless of what skill they have in that area) then you take on responsibility for the build and unless a failure is without doubt a manufacturing issue then you have no comeback.
As for what happened, likely some debris as has also been suggest. A couple of years ago I spent £5k on a bike, built up by Epic Cycles (who are a great shop and I have nothing but praise for them). Second or third ride out on a gravelly stretch of road my rear mech locked and sheared off to, locking the rear wheel in the process. Fortunately the mech bounced off the rear spokes rather than go into the the wheel and cause no end of damage so my repair bill was £15 for a mech hangar (and £25 for a replacement chain just in case). I'm still not 100% sure what caused it but I suspect a bit of gravel flicked up and got caught momentarily in the chain or something (couldn't see any obvious chain damage though or stiff links). What I didn't do is blame it on Epic or a manufacturing defect, sometimes sh*t does just happen.

drlodge

I concur with the others who say its not Halfords fault. It might only be the saddle bars and front wheel that "needed" putting together, but part of the process Halfords take on when "building a bike" is giving it a check to make sure its road worthy. You absolved them of that responsibility so I think, sadly, their offer it reasonable.

macleod113

I echo the above comments. It seems Halfords have made a good offer to you and its a chance to get back on your bike sooner rather than later. Chalk it up to experience and try and move on.

andyoh

OP, as many others have said, take up Halfords generous offer and let them build the bike and then give it to you, as if anything happens again the responsibility may well lie with them i.e. you have had no part in building the new bike. It's harsh but the responsibility passed to you when you refused to let Halfords finish the assembly of the Boardman and perform a PDI on the bike before handing it over to you.

My son used to work for a major London based Cycle Store and although he and I can build bikes very easily and have all the necessary tools to bulid a bike, he still let the shop mechanic (a trained bicycle mechanic) finish off and check everything he had put on his S-Works Tarmac and his Genesis Volare Team when he bought them.

HertsG

HertsG wrote:

There'll be a flounce. In and out in a day, I'll wager.

Less than 3 hours on the forum and the OP has gone.

You lot were a fine help!

navrig2

Clearly the advice here is as good as the OP's view of Halfords:

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/halfor ... se.177775/

BLW

Although I admit Halfords are a bit of a nightmare at times....85% of the time! (I won't even get started on the experiances we've had with them) but if your road bike came boxed up and you put it together, how can you expect them to take any blame, repair or replace the bike, for all they know a complete numpty could have put the bike together (not suggesting you are)but surely you can see things from there side.

I bought my Boardman Sport FI RB from Halfords (it was actually a display model) but my husband checked it all over when we got it home before I took it out on the roads (good job as well as there was various parts loose but you expect that) and to be fair to the bike/Boardman it's never missed a beat, during summer (once we have the light nights) I average 90-100 miles a week (which I've done for a year and half) and it still runs sweet as a nut....and it's never even been serviced! yes I look after it and keep the chain well lubricated and keep things clean and dry, I've even crashed it good few times and nothing has broken, apart from the bar ends falling off, bent my bars but they bent back, even the paint work is hard to chip!

Boardman bikes do get some stick, I think half of the time is because Halfords sell them, but for a low budget price, there a bloody good bike.

Sorry but it sounds like you are the only person that is responsible what unforunately happend, live and learn, put it down to experience.

top_bhoy

-000LM000- wrote:

Bought a £1000 Boardman Team Carbon road bike through my employers Bike For Work scheme. Took the bike boxed, put it together myself (handlebars, wheel & seat), fully inspected the rest including bolts, screws etc. I also extensively tested the gears (derailieurs, alignment, chain, cables, etc) and brakes before even riding it. It was perfect, and perfect on my first 26 mile ride on the open road - I was very happy.

Wherever the fault lies (and it really is too late now to apportion fault either way), I find it difficult to understand why anyone would go to a shop, buy a bike and then take it home in a box to assemble themselves. This doesn't make much sense to me. Where a bike is bought online and requires assembling, the compensation is that is often at a lower cost to allow a professional assembly to be done (if required by the inexperienced) without adding a significant cost when compared to the bike bought directly from the shop. Either way, there is some degree of accountability where events take a turn for the worst (as in this case).