False advertising to con the customer

Paid a deposit of £50 for a new Carrera TDF road bike instore at Slough for it to be delivered on 24/7/12 so thought it was a good deal RRP £499 down to £299 saving of £200. Was horrified to see on the website RRP £349 down to £299 saving of £50. Queried this with Halfords who really couldn't be bothered. Promise of a phone call back from the store manager who blatantly ignored the request so it goes to show that whatever you see in store is all a clever marketing ploy to show the customer a great saving and to get them to part with their cash. Unfortunately for Halfords I'll be keep my money in my pocket and will only be using Stows for all my bikes and equipment. Can't wait to go back to the store tonight to get my deposit back

Mark Holmes found this review useful

deceitful or what did I expect ?

Odd how when I review a CD to Cassette adaptor from Halfords which not only does not work but wrecks my car stereo into the bargain - the one star review is not published. Did I expect ethical behaviour ? - strangely yes.

Staff don't care and lack respect.

Too frequently staff are too busy to deal with customers. Can be rude and ignorant. Complaints to head office are acknowledged but situation remains the same. Last time I asked if there was someone who could talk to me I was told " Lots of staff haven't turned in today so there isn't anyone available!". Previous occassion I complained about waiting and suggested I could go elsewhere I was told, "yeah, whatever!" Should be a good shop but staff deparately need customer relation courses!

Great place for car and bike parts.

On-line as well a at their shop they have all you need and more for cars, bikes and camping stuff. What is even more pleasant is that when you wish to replace you car windshield wiper blades for instance they can check which part number is appropriate for your car by feeding in your car registration number into their computer.

where do we start with this lot?

oooh boy, if there ever was a supremely inefficient box shifting company, this lot are it! First of all, Halfords are huge, which means they have lots of animals in the zoo, thats a lot of wages to pay and they get paid a pittance which feeds what's-the-point-shoulder-shrugging approach to sales. But thats a digression. I just wanted to buy a bike, one of the Boardmans....turned out to be the biggest waste of time ever, you reserve, it tells you its in stock, you get there, oh-no-it's-not! over and over.....I actually started to get paranoid thinking a higher power was working against me. No, just Halfords breathtakingly low rent web based ordering/reserve system. Anyway, I think Mr Boardman was definately given a good deal having to sell his bikes through Halfords, keeps the price down sure but then you have to go through this maddening stress to get one...forcing you give up and go elsewhere, nice bikes..shame about the dealer.Maybe one day these companies will listen to the plebs who put the money in the till eh? no? of course not.

Great staff

The wheel on my childs buggy keeps getting a puncture. Luckily we got insurance through Halfords, and even though we are back there every 2 months or so they are great. They fix it super quick and never give us the 3rd degree our frequency should demand.

Great, friend staff and I'd recommend them to anyone.

Awful

I can not believe in this day and age that a company can be so unprofessional and unhelpful.I bought my husband a stereo and paid for it to be fitted.We dropped it off to be fitted and on our return were told there was a problem,it did not fit properly and they had broken the dash board(they had tried to stick it back together with super glue!).Halfords told us to take it to a garage for a quote and they would pay.We took it to a garage and the repairs would be over £200,because it was is over £200 the quote has to go to head office.The van will need to go into the garage to be repaired meaning another day off the road.Halfords offer no compensation for their mistake although they do offer maximum of £40 car hire but anyone who uses a van for their living have everything on board they need to work with.I phoned Halfords customer services who told me what they could do and when i said to them i did not think this was ok i asked to speak to a manager he refused to put me through.So at the end of the day a birthday gift has resulted in a damaged van with,the original radio in the van not working,van off the road for 2 days and lots of phone calls.I can not believe i am having to sort out this mess caused by Halfords.I am always a very patient person but the rudeness of Halfords has really made me furious.My advice is DO NOT use Halfords,they have NO customer care,they have no remorse for damaging your vehicle.

Run by kids

Reasonable prices but run by kids. I needed a spanner for my bike so went and found what I was looking for, went to the cycle counter in bike section only to be told by a young person to go downstairs and pay as he was fixing a bike. Went downstairs to cashier and had to interrupt the colleagues from talking to pay for my item.
Not the best experience.

?SPECIAL OFFERS?

I'd been asked to valet a car for a friend of the wife, a little favour I sometimes do for folk that ask.
Having run out of several products to do this, and because my local Motor Factor no longer supplies the brand I prefer, I resorted to "Halfrauds",* only because the car needed to be spruced up quickly for a special occasion.
*This was, of course, my fault for not "re-stocking" stuff before I needed it!.
...........be a little careful if you have to use them.
Their pricing is, ridiculously exensive from every item from a screw to a battery.
Their "special offer" or "promotional" prices on many products are no such thing.
The particular items I bought (containing 325ml) were actually dearer than the larger 500ml that I usually use, even taking into account the supposed "discount". In fact I could have bought a litre for a couple of pounds more elsewhere had I had the time to order and wait, which in future I certainly will, even if it delays the job getting done!!.
Please be really sure you must use them before being robbed to pay for huge stores with brightly lit displays of overpriced goods.

They offer good products

Good products. A bit pricey and the fitting services need work.

Very Disapointed

I purchased a ladies bike from halfords in chiswick, ordered online reserve and collect, which your goods are supposed to be ready to collect in an hour, this was monday morning and wanted to pick the bike up Tuesday evening after work, went in Monday lunch time and paid for the bike in full to pick up Tuesday evening, to get a phone call not even an hour before pick up time on Tuesday to say they only had one in stock but the wheel was buckled, I was told to pick the bike up thursday which was two days after my wifes birthday, If they can't provide the service online then get rid.

Unreliable

I purchased a girls bike online to be picked up from the 'local' store at midday the next day. The fact that it could be picked up the next day from the store was clearly stated at every stage of the purchase. I had 2 emails and a text to say that the bike was indeed available to be picked up. However, when I arrived at the store it was not available. I also found that the "track my order" link on the email did not work. It took the assistant in the store over half an hour to get through to "customer services" - customer services could add no new information.

When will the bike that I have already paid for be delivered? Am I supposed to keep driving to the 'local' store to see whether the bike is available?

Halfords is a good example of a poorly managed company. Can they not see that they will not get return customers with their current lack of performance? They have many decent competitors who can deliver in time and who have functional customer service departments.

OMG WHAT A SERVICE

LOVE THE RANGE OF PRODUCTS AND HOW EASY IT IS TO FIND INFO ON CAR PRODUCTS

Helpful staff

The prices are not cheap but the staff (except at the checkout) will bend over backwards to help and they all seem to know their stuff.If I need something unusual or a specialist part or just to ask some questions Halfords is first on the list.If I want say engine oil most other places are much cheaper.
Used Halfords loads of times and all branches are reliably good.

Very helpful

The video my sis uses in the car when travelling with her kids stopped working when I was looking after them.

I thought I'd trapped the cable in the door and broke it because it stopped working so I went to Halfords to try to get a new one. They didn't have one, but the guy there suggested he double check the fuse, which he did.

Hey-Presto it was fixed! Pretty Happy now as I thought I was going to have to buy new ones at £150 - £2.00 very well spent ;-)

good

anytime i want to get things for my car, this is the place.

Never ever go to halfords !

Despite having explicitly asked for our details not to be given to others we now get endless nuisance phone calls by people who got our number from Halfords. We will make sure this gets spread all over the internet and all our friends will spread the word ,too.
None of us will ever want to have anything to do with Halfords again .

Will NEVER use Stratford-upon-Avon Halfords again. Beware!

The scene: our daughter bought us an inexpensive SatNav system for use on holidays abroad. Both of our cars in the UK have in-car, manufacturer-fitted SatNav systems already, but we needed one for use in hire cars when on holiday. We had previously used our daughter's (the exact same model) for just such a purpose and had found it very useful and simple to use, so were delighted when she bought us one as a gift.

The start: on our way to Heathrow we switched on the unit for the first time to refamiliarise ourselves with how to use it whilst still on home territory, rather than trying it for the first time in Rome! Unfortunately, the message came up that it could not connect to satellites and we could not get any further than a blank screen. When we reached our airport hotel we tried to contact Garmin, but it was understandably too late at night by then for customer services to be operating. In the morning, we hit the airport extremely early to try and find an "expert" in one of the terminal retail shops. This we did, only to be told, as expected, that this was a faulty unit. We had no choice but to buy a new unit (which worked perfectly) as we only had about an hour left before departure, and we resolved to return the faulty unit to Halfords for a refund upon our return from holiday.

The Beginning: when we returned from holiday, we took the faulty unit to Halfords, where the assistant spent some time (including 15 minutes in our car) trying to make the unit work, before agreeing it was faulty. He contacted Garmin who gave him a returns code, and asked us to return to the store with the card used for purchase (our daughter's) so that a refund could be processed.

The Middle: we returned to the store, only to find that the assistant we had been dealing with was not on shift. We were then met with an entirely different, rude and aggressive attitude. Bearing in mind that they had sold a faulty product, attacking the customer seemed an unusual stance. He kept disappearing into a back room to 'speak to the manager', so we asked to see the manager as we were not prepared to deal with this assistant further. We were then told that the manager 'wasn't there' (?) so we arranged to come in the following morning to see him.

Upon our return, we expected to be met with an apology and an instant refund. We asked for the manager, expecting a man with a pleasant, appeasing smile to come out and greet us. Instead, we were met with dumb insolence. I have never met a manager with such a sarcastic, rude and unpleasant attitude in my life. He (wrongly) asserted that Halfords were under no obligation at any time after purchase to offer a refund, and they only ever did it as a goodwill gesture. He should have some basic training on the Sale of Goods legislation! Despite the fact that we have two cars with full SatNav equipment built in and showed him the newly purchased unit we had bought at the airport, he was not prepared to offer anything except a completely pointless replacement unit. He seemed to take pleasure in being as awkward as possible, telling us it was "that or nothing". We asked for the name of the head of Customer Services to write to and he told us to look it up on the 'net. Unbelievable! He also told us that the original assistant would have been sacked if he had given us a refund.

Next steps: we sent letters under guaranteed next day delivery (signed for) to the Chief Executive (David Wild) and Commercial Director of Halfords (costing us some £12 incidentally, but it's the principle). The response was good: - take the unit back to the store, ask for the manager and he will issue a full refund.

The Result: we returned to the store and asked to see the manager. "Of course", said the assistant. "Who's calling?", before disappearing to fetch him. He declined to come out from his hiding place. We were issued (finally) with our refund by a nameless assistant. Despite presumably getting a bollocking from head office, the manager failed to redeem himself in any way. He is, in our eyes, beneath contempt.

The End: Will NEVER use Stratford-upon-Avon Halfords again. Beware!

Arrrggghhhh

Prices are obscene, staff are untrained and surly. Went in recently to grab a car part that I needed urgently - price online £4(free delivery) - price in Halfords £17.99.

I ordered online and walked for the day.

A good site for car maintenance and basic parts.

A great site for finding basic items such as engine oil, wiper blades or car bulbs. Lets you input your registration number so that you know the item is 100% correct for your particular car. A really good service and reasonably priced products.

Great Service

Bought a Raleigh Swift Folding Bike, Halfords have the best bargains for bikes and if there are any problems you can always take it to the shop for service. They have several delivery options including Saturdays. The bike folds up so that I can carry it up to my flat on the third floor without any difficulty. I'm pleased with the price and benefits of having the bike.

Absolutely Dire

As the ****Hell-Freuds**** ad goes, you walk in, get a snog, your problem is instantly solved and the assistant waves goodbye.

In reality, you walk in, wait for ages, shout for assistance, go to the front desk, ask, shout, yell...

Eventually give up and decide "I'm an expert, I'll have a go at this myself"...

Of course upon deciding this you're instantly interrupted and delayed by a thick ASSistant who knows NOTHING about EVERYTHING and is irritated by your rude insistence to be tended to like they do on telly when you walked in.

You'll check through their parts book, finding they're 5 years out of date.. ASSistant will tell you in about 5 different ways why they are completely incompetent and know nothing, cant help but wish they could and would you mind hanging around talking about how little they know about everything and how that's a real bummer.

Tools are over priced, low quality on the whole. (the lifetime gurantee jobbies, ok theyre ok, but WAY over-priced)

Cycle center is useless, I took a cycle in with a puncture, needing a repair - 2 lads sat doing nothing,

ME - "Can you fix this puncture"

THEM - "NO SORRY YOU'LL HAVE TO BOOK IT IN"...

ME - "Its a puncture, I need it now, you're doing nothing, whats the crack?"

THEM - "Our supervisor has gone away"

ME - "Can I use the tyre pump?"

THEM - "No we're not insured"

ME - "FvCK OFF, FvCK YOU, WHATS THE FvCKING POINT? FvCKS SAKE,! BIKE SHOP CANT FIX A PUNCTURE WITHOUT SUPERVISION? CANT LEND A PUMP WITHOUT INSURANCE? WHAT THE FvCK IS GOING ON??, BIKE CENTER??? BY CYCLISTS FOR CYCLISTS? FvCK YOU! FvUCKIN PRICKS!"


Asking for STP OIL ADDITIVE...

ASSistant "you want stop-smoke"

ME "no, I want STP oil additive"

ASSistant "Yeah, Stop-Smoke, for piston slap"

ME "No, my engine hasnt got piston slap"

ASSistant "You want wynns engine flush"

ME "Yes, maybe, but to drink, to help me deal with you, not for the car, you got STP or what?

ASSistant "no"


---

AVOID

Yes / No

Yes for bicycles, camping equipment etc. Not great for car spares for specialist vehicles. If its a Ford, your made.

Quality cycles

As I was looking around for a new bike in penrith recently, I tried various other retailors before coming to you, I didn't come to you at first because I was told that the quality of your cycles was terrible, after doing some online window shopping, I managed to save over £200 on a cycle that suits me perfectly. The only downside about coming into the store though, is that I am constantly being watched or followed as if I am stealing! I don't mind this though as I am not stealing but looking for parts to build a bike of my own,
thank you for reading,
yours sincerely,
Alexander Balcombe

Poor service

Reserved an item online and then waited half an hour in the shop for an 'assistant' to figure out that the item was not in stock

Really amazing service....for free

I took my mountain bike into Halfords as the chain had somehow got itself well and truly mangled after a nasty tumble. I asked if they could help, I'm sure that they must have wondered why I couldn't do it myself, but once they saw the extent of the mangling he said 'how on Earth did this get like this'. With all of their tools and with 2 people working on it for 20 minutes under my watchful eye (I really wanted to work out how to fix it if it happenned again), they got the thing back on and working properly. No moaning, just hard graft, determination, and on top of that they wouldn't take any payment for their trouble. I was really impressed for all the right reasons.

Great tools, shame about everything else...

The website sucks, it's slow and clunky and could be so much better. And by that I don't mean change it, just make it work properly and in a timely fashion.

The stores suck, and in a big way! I went to my local store recently to look at bikes for my companies cycle to work scheme, I was in the store for 20 mins looking before I had to ask somone if they sold bicycles anymore; "They are upstairs mate..." was the reply I recieved. I looked up to see a mezzanine floor full of bikes, but no signs or displays on the ground floor. I did however find a mobility scooter, a 2 foot long shoe horn for my disabled grandmother and 5 aisles of camping equipment. How times have changed...

But, and this may be their (Halfords) only saving grace, they have the best range of mechanics tools available to the general public. Nearly all of my tools are now from the Halfords Professional range as they come with a lifetime guarantee. The specialist tools they carry are well thought out and considered, are well priced (bearing in mind that Saturday/Sunday factor in being the only choice when the car is in bits on the driveway for the sake of a sprocket puller or star bit) and are a big part of what Halfords is about for me.

To sum up, like the title says "Great tools, shame about everything else..."

Excellent!

Very reliable for whatever you need for your car :) x

Rip off

Halfords are a rip off to be honest, most items available here are over priced and you can get them from any good local retailer or ask your local mechanic

Peter Marsh found this review useful

top for motoring

good deals on bikes ,motoring ,tools and satnav.their reserve and collect service handy too

Does what it says on the label.

Over the years, I have used Halfords many times. If you need an inexpensive item to do a job, they have it. If you need a quality automotive tool, they have that, too. You pay for what you get, and, at Halfords, I know and can predict what I am going to get. They perform a useful service, and do it very well with no frills. I have always felt that the prices were reasonable for a chain store such as Halfords.

Truly awful, bike staff are useless.

I visited the Swindon store today and was simply ignored. I had cash waiting to buy a nearly £700 bike and when I asked for some info about the bike the member of staff seemed totally out of his depth.
Pointless company who seem more interested in employing youths based on the number of tattoos they have and their ability to sport dreadful facial piercings.

Avoid at all costs, go to a proper bike shop where the staff treat you like a person.

avoid at all costs

prices are a joke, what is your massive markup?
why do you have loads of uninformed 'assistants' hanging around your shops, all they do is make the place look untidy

Bike shop a Joke

Went to my local Bolton Halfords as it is the only place my company uses for the cycle to work scheme. I, could not decide between two different Boardman road bikes I had looked up on the website.

Waited around for what seemed an age to speak with a member of staff. The staff member was very polite, but looked at me as if I had two heads when I asked if I could take a bike for a test ride. I offered to leave my passport, car keys, even the wife and two kids to prevent me from "doing a runner". After speaking to the Store Manager I was told I could ride around the inside of the store! How on earth am I supposed to test a bike in that way? I left the store with my money still in my pocket!

I bought a cheap bikea couple of years ago at the edinburgh cycle store, who bent over backwards to make sure the bike suited me. I think I will after to forgo the savings with the cycle to work scheme and return there.

great company

im a college student doing mechanics and i resently got a discount card which i would of never exspected as im only a student, they have a great variety of items and at good prices even without the discount.

Happy day

I visited the Ealing store during the week.

And was assisted by Josie who greeted with a warm smile.
Having never brought a kids bike before she really did make what was a hassle to me she turned it into pleasure.

Full Service, hahaha

How can you call it a full service when you don't even change filters and the basics such as spark plugs. It's an absolute disgrace.
I paid £160, and when i got my car back I had problems with acceleration and it turned out that my fuel filter was filthy and needed replacing and this should have been included in a full service.
I would never recommend Halfords ever again.

On the fence.

On the one hand, they have all the bike parts I'll ever need and the staff are always helpful and willing to part with a little advice on bike maintenance.

On the other, trying to get them to do work on the bike themselves is an absolute chore. Long waiting times despite nearly empty schedules and the work is too often of questionable quality. One particular example is when I took my bike in for a yearly once-over (I do regular maintenance myself) and they replaced my chain. That night, cycling home from work, the chain snapped in the middle of a busy junction.

Appalling Autocentres - avoid at all cost

Their service centres are crap. Paid full whack for a full service and full oil change on my Mercedes 4x4 at the end of December 2011 (not cheap). Car did not even feel as it had been serviced - has been driving horribly for last 2 months and have now been told by independent garage that my car is in dire need of a "FULL" service - only 2 months after Halfords Colindale "supposedly" serviced it. They are more interested in selling you the expensive "extras" when servicing than dealing with the main job at hand. DO NOT part with your money - I recommend using anyone else but. Complained to the Manager after Christmas re service and was told that a service had been done and that was the end of matter and they couldnt help further. Stick to installing car seats and radios Halfords.

Check your invoice before paying

I had an MOT on my wifes car, booked the appointment online and paid at the same time.
The car failed on uneven braking,£30 to apply a little grease to the brake sliders,fair enough for a ten minute job.
I was phoned to tell me the car was ready went to collect and paid the extra on my debit card.
On checking the invoice in the car I found they had charged me twice for the MOT so went back in to have the card refunded,sorry we cant do that you will have to get a refund online, what a load of tosh and inconvenience.
I did get the money refunded eventually but what is wrong with a quick swipe of the card like every other business uses.