Halfords

[Bren]

I needed 4l of oil my for GSXR 750. Checking online at halfords the cheapest was around £29.00. This was their own brand.

 

Suffice to say I bought 4L of putoline from a bike shop for £25. The proprietor of the shop said things were slow, a combination of utterly shit weather and people not wanting to spend.

 

I cannot for the life of me work out how halfords manage to survive in the current climate when supermarkets knock oil and cleaning products out so much cheaper - even small motor factors seem to be cheaper.

[Lacquer Peel]

I think it exists for people like my sister's boyfriend, who paid actual money to have wiper blades and a battery fitted there.

[trigger]

Plus they sell bicycles which is probably their biggest trade these days.

[Albert Ross]

It's a Government subsidised money laundering operation. People come in, buy the wrong parts with cash, and then return them the next day for different money.

[pandamonium]

Halfords is for people like me who work every hour under the sun and can only do 'car stuff' when the motor factors are closed.

[Rusty_Rocket]

I agree the retail prices are pretty abysmal. But I have a trade card, which makes things like filters, pads, wiper blades, bulbs etc very cheap- their own wiper blades come down to around £1.50 each for the more common sizes.

As above, it's the Sunday afternoon panic when you're desperate for a bit of fuel hose that makes them moderately convenient. Just remember to never let one of their 'experts' anywhere near your car

[fordperv]

Halfords is for people like me who work every hour under the sun and can only do 'car stuff' when the motor factors are closed.

 

a small old school factors I use local to me closes at 8pm weekdays 6pm Saturday and 4pm sunday needless to say these guys know me by name

I would rather have rabid ferrets munch on my testicles than give Halfords my hard earned

[wackywacerwill]

Open early till late, weekends too with decent (seemingly random) discounts once you have the card and often at least one pretty young thing working in my local branches. What's not to like?

I like to spend at the independents and have a few good ones locally which I use when I can though convenience often leads to Halfords as it's open when I leave work and I pass it on the way home.

 

Mainly it comes down to which one's closest to where I've broken down

[Negative Creep]

Massive markups on things like bulbs and blades, although cycles and sat navs are the two big sellers. I used to work for them - minimum wage all the way, virtually no staff training so the advice customer's are given is pretty much dependant on what they already know.

[vulgalour]

Amazingly, I saw someone at Halfords purchase a set of appalling wheel trims and then PAY to get them fitted onto their vehicle. They weren't too pleased about my brother and I pointing and laughing.

[wackywacerwill]

 

I worked cycles for a bit years ago. My main jobs were fixing in built design faults on customers newly purchased returns whilst giving largely unheeded advise that potential customers should buy secondhand when wanting to spend less than 150 on a bicycle. I was quickly moved to repairs at back of house which suited me just fine.

[Richard]

You can get a perfectly adequate new bike for £150, just not from Halfords. Even the worst suspension and disc brakes cost money and that has to be found by cheapening the rest of the bike.

 

What kind of design faults did you see and how did you deal with them?

[Cavcraft]

I'd sooner use a local factors (luckily there are loads round here) but I'm not going to bash Halford's for the sake of it. They've saved my bacon loads of times by being open when others weren't, and as said the Trade Card is fabulous.

Yeah, they're expensive for some things, but you don't always have to shop there and the staff are generally very friendly and helpful.

[catsinthewelder]

I stopped using them when possible once I realised how clueless most of the staff are, (I'm sure you two were great and I did meet the odd exception)

 

There are loads of petrolheads out there who know about cars. Why can't the company make some effort to recruit them instead of hairgelled idiots who know less than the customers but still try to tell us what we need

[Micrashed]

I had to laugh* when I wanted some LHM for the BX once and the generic shop assistant tried to sell me DOT 4 after I explained that LHM was the fluid the BX used for its brakes (and other bits)

[wackywacerwill]

You can get a perfectly adequate new bike for £150, just not from Halfords. Even the worst suspension and disc brakes cost money and that has to be found by cheapening the rest of the bike.

 

What kind of design faults did you see and how did you deal with them?

 

It's true, a decent new cycle can be found for that money and many want a new cycle. However, a outstanding secondhand cycle can be had for 150 which will be oh so much better than anything that can be had new. I've always believed it's worth spending the extra with bikes as the difference in quality is instantly noticeable.

 

Just to contradict my own words we've recently bought 6 bikes at work for the kids to ride, after getting no joy with all the local independent shops halfords offered a decent discount for the bikes, lids and all the cycle specific tooling we need. Our 150 clunkers are heavy and built very much to the price though perfectly serviceable for our needs being non suspended jump bikes with 14 mm axles and heavy weight parts.

 

During my time there fixing faults on new bikes I can remember brakes that didn't (sometimes due to anodized rims and sometimes due to soapy brake blocks), tyres that popped of the rim when inflated beyond 25 psi and rear shock collapse on the cheap full sus rigs to name but a few.

 

Some off the catalog specials that we got in for repair were of far worse quality though!

 

I still have my Halfords fleece some 10 years after leaving there and it's a very nice quality item too.

[FredTransit]

my local factors closes at 10 and still take business cheques. Halfords did suprise me at how well they match old car paint but have no idea about commercial shades. Cant help thinking they are there solely for the civilians who think fitting wipers is technical.

[Vanny]

If you have a trade card, they practically hand out excellent quality tools.

 

These days they also stock SOME decent brand stuff, at an incredible mark up, but if its not your cash and you need it smartish, then it can be very very useful.

 

My local motor factor actually know what a BX is, and often know the difference between a petrol and a diesel BX so i do try to use them as often as possible. Interestingly though, my local Indi garage doesn't use them.

[blackburied]

According to Halfords website, all you require to get a trade card is "A business card" stating that you are a mobile mechanic..

 

Might print "a business card" out tomorrow and try acquire one.

[Pillock]

According to Halfords website, all you require to get a trade card is "A business card" stating that you are a mobile mechanic..

 

Might print "a business card" out tomorrow and try acquire one.

 

Let me know how you get on, I've got a printer and some oily jeans which should recreate the correct look.....

[Shep Shepherd]

^

Might try that myself, as I'll have no problem knocking up a sample business card for my mythical peripatetic Volvo repair service using Microsoft Paint

[dollywobbler]

They know they can over-charge for convenience. They must be turning a profit on trade-card prices, so they're laughing all the way to the bank when people buy stuff at full whack. Sadly I have very little choice when it comes to parts, so it's Halfords when I need something urgently and t'interweb when I can wait a bit or have found Halfords prices too laughable (ie battery prices).

[Cavcraft]

Talking of batteries you get shit loads off 'em with a trade card.

 

they won't let you have tools on them (trade cards) now by the way, I tried a few times recently and was knobbed off.

[Mike D]

I bought some screwdrivers and a jack for my mate on my trade card last week and it still knocks the price down nicely Billy... Are yours just being dicks?!

[Guest]

Depends what way the winds blowing, discounts on trade go up as well as down, serious if oils on offer to all then you present your trade card and get charged full whack.

As for generally, depends on nationally set discounts, I'd be very suprised if tools aren't discounted.

[stuboy]

i love my 170 piece tool kit... only go with my mates trade card otherwise they can jog on

[ruffgeezer]

Talking of batteries you get shit loads off 'em with a trade card.

 

they won't let you have tools on them (trade cards) now by the way, I tried a few times recently and was knobbed off.

 

If they are already on offer, then they won't discount on the trade card, at full retail they will.

[garbaldy]

After trying our local Unipart motor factors and another motor factors who where not very helpful, ( apparently the old colt did not show up on there computer ) I popped into Halfords, the young lad couldn't have been more helpful he noted all part numbers and prices and told me he could order the parts and they would be in the next day,

I called in at another motor factors on the way home who came up with all service parts required but the prices where a bit higher, the air filter itself was over twice the price Halfords quoted,

This time Halfords came through so I may start using them again in future

[Lankytim]

I've broken all 3 ratchets in my 200pc Halfords professional tool kit, Fucking thing, mind you I was using scaffold tubes on them.

[Shep Shepherd]

I've broken all 3 ratchets in my 200pc Halfords professional tool kit, Fucking thing, mind you I was using scaffold tubes on them.

 

The ratchet in my set of Halfords 1/2" drive boltfuckers is still intact and fully operational after ten years of heavy use