# Halfords Cycle 2 Work - any recent experience?



## HelenD123 (2 Nov 2009)

My work runs the Cycle 2 Work scheme through Halfords and opens up the scheme twice a year for a month. I was hoping to take advantage this time and get a folder, something like an Airnimal or Birdy that will ride well for longer distances. I thought Halfords committed to ordering in anything you wanted but it seems not! They've sent me a list of suppliers they deal with and it's not exactly impressive. Has anyone had any recent experience with Halfords C2W? They ordered a colleague a Dutch bike a couple of years ago (definitely a special order) and didn't balk at the idea of getting me a Bianchi last year when I enquired so have they changed their rules? I'm gutted.


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## HelenD123 (2 Nov 2009)

Update - apparently they have recently cut back on the number of third party suppliers they deal with so won't get me an Airnimal. Trouble is I've been bitten by the N+1 bug. I'll have to see how many pennies I have in the bank...


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## Grendel (2 Nov 2009)

Network Rail?

I've done the cycle to work deal for the past few years, and as I'm with Network Rail they only deal with Halfords. This year has been the worst, two months to get a folding bike delivered, and a catalogue of disaster from start to finish.

One point to note is that some retailers (Alpine Bikes for example), accept Halfords vouchers, so it's worth asking around.


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## Grendel (2 Nov 2009)

Incidentally Halfords couldn't source me a Dahon Jack. I ended up with a Land Rover City Elite, which is a Dahon with Land Rover badges on it.


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## HelenD123 (2 Nov 2009)

No not Network Rail. But I'm stuck with Halfords. I asked whether we'd considered changing to CycleScheme but apparently they haven't had anyone complain about Halfords so are happy to stay with them.

TBH I'd much rather give my trade to an LBS but the tax saving makes C2W so attractive.


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## Dilbert (2 Nov 2009)

Don't know if any of these are any good, apparently they take Halfords Vouchers;

http://www.leisurelakesbikes.com/catalog/foldingbikes.aspx?&cid=3096&m=0&ps0&pe=0


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## andyfromotley (2 Nov 2009)

Hi helen,

i had a halfords voucher and they couldnt supply me a team carbon. They told me that they used lesuire lake cycles for thier outsourced bikes. They said i would have to order what i wanted through halfords and pay full list price! Anyway i took a ride over to thier showroom in Bury and they were very helpful, they said ignore halfords, they would treat my voucher as cash and i could have any discount that was on offer. (i bought a canondale caad 9 from them which had £200 off). It couldnt have been simpler but halfords themselves were an absolute nightmare to deal with!! If theyre on the list give em a try they might order in what you want. 

BTW this was only in july. I too have suggested to work that they may want to try cyclescheme.

good luck andy


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## HelenD123 (2 Nov 2009)

Thanks for the suggestion both. I'll have a look.


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## The Jogger (2 Nov 2009)

last year I got a sirrus through halfords , it was too small and they refused to change it, as they ordered it in special . this year I got a trek fx7.3 from pearsons with halfords c2w vouchers. Lesson learnt.


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## womblechops (3 Nov 2009)

I got my Pearson Touche through Halfords and was generally happy - although with no gears my daughter could have built it and she's only 1. It also came through their (now only) Bikehut branch in St Pauls.

The only downside I found was that they gave me a voucher to have free fitting of parts and servicing for a year - but they are the most expensive place to buy parts in the first place so this is of little value.


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## davidg (3 Nov 2009)

I am so lucky with our scheme...I just go out and buy what I want and then do it through expenses!

I am looking to put a turbo down as as work stand/tool!!


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## Norm (3 Nov 2009)

davidg said:


> I am so lucky with our scheme...I just go out and buy what I want and then do it through expenses!


That's how I set our scheme up too. 

I looked at the offerings of Halfords (their claim of "We're the biggest, we can source anything" had me reaching for my anti-cynical tablets long before I saw this thread) and cyclescheme.co.uk but they both seemed to actually make the admin harder for both the employees and the employers, and you may lose out on potential discounts if you use Cyclescheme.

Our deal is that someone comes in with a quote, we give them a cheque, they buy the bike and bring us the invoice. Simples.


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## davidg (4 Nov 2009)

nice one, Norm


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## Grendel (4 Nov 2009)

*My Halfords saga...*

*Here's my complaint to Halfords and their response: *

Dear Sir,
I am employed by Network Rail, and recently arranged to buy a bike through the Cycle to Work scheme, which Network Rail operate in co-operation with your company. Throughout this process I have been given the impression that some of your staff are completely incompetent, and are responsible for some appalling customer service.

The Cycle to Work scheme section of the company website says that if you do not stock a particular brand of bike you may be able to source it. I was looking for a folding bike, as I travel by train a lot, and I found that
the Dahon Jack bike would be ideal for my needs. I contacted my local
Halfords to see if they could get it, and was told no, they could not, and
that I had to phone the Cycle to Work scheme helpline, and that they would order it. I called the helpline, and was told that they did not order it, and that the local store must do this. They did give me a price of £440,
and confirmed that, yes, Halfords could supply this bike. I was told to
order sufficient vouchers, and take them to the store and place my order.

I then ordered Cycle to Work vouchers to the value of £450. On 8th August 2009 I took these to my local store and I was told again that I must order through the helpline. I insisted otherwise, and after checking, the staff found that they were wrong, and I was correct. I then placed the order and was told that the bike would be delivered in seven to ten days. In the above, and most of the following I dealt with a chap called EMPLOYEE X, who I found to be utterly incompetent and unreliable.

About a week later I dropped in to the shop to see how the order was
progressing. I was told by EMPLOYEE X that there was nothing showing as arrived in the system, and that he would call Dahon and confirm a delivery date, and call me later that day to keep me informed. At the same time I ordered a new rear mech for my sons bike, and he took the order for this as well.

Over the course of the next few weeks the following pattern was repeated. I would call the shop, and would be given various stories about the delay, initially that he had been unable to contact the supplier, this then changed to a story that the bike was being shipped from the far east and may take up to six weeks. Of my spare part there was no sign, and EMPLOYEE X failed to return any calls.
Eventually after five weeks I had had enough and spoke to EMPLOYEE Y, the assistant manager in the store, who has been very helpful. After apparently himself being given the runaround by EMPLOYEE X, he looked in to the situation and found that my order had never been placed with the supplier. He contacted Fisher, the importer, who said that they were no longer importing that model of bike and that they could no longer supply the bike. They had one in stock, a small frame, which was unsuitable. As I was using the cycle to work scheme I could not top up the vouchers with cash, and was therefore limited to a budget of £450. EMPLOYEE Y found a replacement bike, which is currently on order. I have taken it only because I am stuck with £450 which I cannot return, nor take to another retailer.

EMPLOYEE X never returned any calls about my replacement part, and eventually I went to a local sports shop who had the right part on the shelf and purchased it from them. I was unable to fit the part, due to a damaged thread on the frame, and took it to Bikehut where I was told it would be seen to next day. On phoning back a few days later it was my misfortune to again have to deal with EMPLOYEE X, who again regaled me with a story of why a repair hadn't been carried out, which bore no relation to why I had put the bike in in the first place. He told me that the disc brakes on the bike were defective, and would need replaced (as they were beyond repair), at a total cost of £70. As this was a boys bike I decided against ordering these parts, as I could buy a new bike for a little more. On collecting the bike I had a look at the brakes, and repaired them myself in around twenty minutes.
I am absolutely furious that I was told that these parts were defective, when they were clearly not, and I could have wasted £70, or more on a new bike, for no reason other than your staff being unable to do what appears to be a basic job.

Similarly, a damaged wheel which I took in for repair on Friday 11th
September and was promised would be repaired that night, or at the latest Monday, was still unrepaired on Wednesday of the following week. I was given a free replacement wheel, although your staff were unable to manage to fit a quick release mechanism to it, which the original one had.

On 25th September I called Fisher, the Dahon importer, and asked if it was
correct that they were no longer importing Dahon bikes. I was told that
this is the case, and that their last Dahon Jack in a medium frame was sold ten days previously. He confirmed to me that had my order been placed on 8th August that they DID have stock of the bike I ordered and it would have been dispatched with 24 HOURS, not SIX WEEKS! As you can now guess, I am bloody angry about this whole farce. I have been mucked about from day one as far as I can see. I have now had to accept a lower specification bike to what I ordered, I was left with a pile of gift vouchers I did not need as balance, and I am supposed to just accept this! It was two months to the day (8th October) that I took delivery of my bike, which is simply unnaceptable.

I am alerting you to the above, and await your response with great
anticipation.

Yours Sincerely,

Mr Grendel 

*Halfords reply:*

Dear Mr Grendel,

Thank you for your email.

Please accept my apologies for the delay in our response.

I am sorry to read of the poor service you received from our XXXXXX store.
It is always disheartening to hear of situations where our customers
experience additional inconvenience and feel let down. I wish to assure you that Halfords endeavours to maintain a good relationship and will always seek to use customer responses as a way of improving our customer service.

All concerns relating to our stores are logged onto a central database and
the information regarding your experience is made available for the Area
Managers to read. As our Store Managers are 100% responsible for the
service in their stores, we also make the information available for them to
view on our stores intranet system. This method is proven to be very
successful in highlighting any shortfalls to the line managers responsible.
They are then able to take any action they feel necessary with the
individuals concerned.

I would like to assure you that it is never our intention to cause distress
or inconvenience to any of our customers and although mistakes do happen, we recognise that it is how they are dealt with which is important. Your complaint has been logged against the store concerned and I am confident that your local Store Manager can resolve any outstanding issues.

We do ask that if you wish to discuss your concern or specific requirements in detail that you contact your local store manager directly in the first instance. Unfortunately our stores do not have e-mail facility but can be contacted on xxxx xxxxxx.

I appreciate you taking the time to highlight this problem and I hope it
hasn't deterred you from shopping with us again. It is only through
feedback from our customers that we are able to identify areas where we are falling short of our customers’ expectations and can redress them.

Please accept my sincere apologies once again.

Kind Regards,

XXXXX XXXXXXXXX

Customer Service Advisor

13/10/2009 09:13 <customer.services@halfords.co.uk> 
cc 

Subject 
Complaint- Bikehut-


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## ed! (19 Nov 2009)

Some of you may find this useful. I contacted the Cycle 2 Work team to ask about London-Based bike shops that will accept the Halfords voucher.

Other than Condor, "Our Letters of Collection will be accepted in 'On Your Bike', 'Action Bikes' and 'Pearsons'."

Note that any bikes that are "ordered in" by Halfords or through their special orderline must be a current model and will be sold at RRP, irrespective if you can find it cheaper elsewhere.


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## Marin Maniac (28 Nov 2009)

ed! said:


> Some of you may find this useful. I contacted the Cycle 2 Work team to ask about London-Based bike shops that will accept the Halfords voucher.
> 
> Other than Condor, "Our Letters of Collection will be accepted in 'On Your Bike', 'Action Bikes' and 'Pearsons'."
> 
> Note that any bikes that are "ordered in" by Halfords or through their special orderline must be a current model and will be sold at RRP, irrespective if you can find it cheaper elsewhere.



You wouldn't happen to want to share cycle2work's contact details with us would you?

I would like to contact them to see what retailers in my area accept the Halfords voucher


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## jig-sore (28 Nov 2009)

my boss is setting up a halfords scheme for me and as the company only has six employers we have been past around to a smaller company who want to see last years accounts before they will give us finance. the trouble is my company is only just over a year old so they are still waiting for the first years accounts 

I'm hoping that once it's all sorted i won't have any problems getting what i want. I'm after a boardman team and a quick Internet search tells me that there are four in-stock within driving distance from me. I'm hopping i can just go and collect one once my voucher arrives.

does anyone know if halfords will supply the bike "in the box" and if so will it effect the warranty etc ????

i really don't want to have to wait for them to put it together when I'm going to take it home, strip and rebuild it anyway


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## HelenD123 (28 Nov 2009)

the anorak said:


> does anyone know if halfords will supply the bike "in the box" and if so will it effect the warranty etc ????



I enquired about getting a bike "in the box" last year as I wasn't confident about Halfords staff putting it together but I was told it wasn't possible. It wasn't a Halfords brand though but would have been ordered in. Maybe that made a difference.


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## Bandini (28 Nov 2009)

Sounds like it depends on the branch. I could only use Halfords, and was prepared for poor service. I was told that they don't deal with three manufacturers because of previous problems - I can't remember all of them, but one was Trek. 

I ordered a Dawes Karakum on Thursday, and it was ready to ride away the following Thursday. The lads in the shop were all really helpful, and the lad that built my bike was talking to me for a while about various specs and aspects of the bike, and said that I should bring it in anytime if I had any teething problems, or wanted anything adjusting, and they would sort it. I was going to take it to a LBS for a once over, (and I will go there in future, cos I would rather support a LBS) but I really think it is fine. I felt quite happy that they had built it carefully.


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## HelenD123 (28 Nov 2009)

Grendel - I missed your post originally. I've abandoned the idea of using the cycle to work scheme due to being forced to go through Halfords and them not dealing with the companies I'm interested in. Also, I need to be able to try the bike and don't feel comfortable using one of the LBSs for a test ride and advice and then not ordering from them. Fortunately I'm able to afford to forgo the tax break. For me, I think it will save a lot of headaches further down the line. Looks like you've proved me right! It does seem it was one particular individual that caused you the problems though. I had very prompt responses from Halfords cycle2work team.


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## Norm (28 Nov 2009)

the anorak said:


> my boss is setting up a halfords scheme for me and as the company only has six employers we have been past around to a smaller company who want to see last years accounts before they will give us finance. the trouble is my company is only just over a year old so they are still waiting for the first years accounts


Anorak

I set one up about 6 weeks ago (no vested interest there, oh, no.  ).

I steered well clear of the pre-packaged schemes and I would recommend your boss do the same. There is no need to use them, the administration of an in-house scheme is a piece of cake and the company-schemes take their profits, so it costs you extra.

The government's rules are very relaxed, there's more admin in setting up with a company like cyclescheme than setting it up for yourself and you get the freedom to buy the bike you want from the supplier you choose.


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## jig-sore (28 Nov 2009)

Norm said:


> Anorak
> 
> I set one up about 6 weeks ago (no vested interest there, oh, no.  ).
> 
> ...




thanks for the advice but there's no way my boss is gonna pay for it in cash so we need to go with finance. it's not that they can't afford to, it's just that he has just taken over the business after it had gone into receivership in 2008. as a result he's real careful with the cash flow side of things. he said he's happy to do it for me as long as there is no cost involved to the company. his partner said "just buy it cash" to help speed things up, but he's not going for it.

to be honest I'm just happy he's agreed to do it, and I'm willing to wait as the weather is naff anyway and I'm not likely to ride the new bike just yet 

plus i really do want the boardman team, kinda like the looks and spec of it now  so much better than the all black boardmans. I'm not really a fan of these white and red/blue/green bikes and the other bike i had my eye on has gone bright red this season 

my main concern is letting halfords get their hands on it, yeah i know they are not all bad but it's gonna be just my luck that i get a Friday afternoon Jobie


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## Norm (28 Nov 2009)

I "loaned" mine over 3 months, so the cash flow was pretty much neutral in month one and the company benefited after that. The company also profits, as they save the e'ers tax and NI as well as reclaiming the VAT, so a £1k bike will cost you £600 and your company will get around £350 profit.


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## Willo (28 Nov 2009)

My company use Halfords, which ruled out the Bianchi I really wanted. However, they did source me an Specialized Allez delivered built direct to my home address. I had to have a sneaky test ride in another store to get the right size, but eased my guilt by spending some cash on some bits at a later date. In fairness, the folk on Halfords C2W helpline were very helpful. The downside was that a few models I enquired about couldn't be sourced until the spring when another shop down the road had plenty of stock. 

Once I got the bike, I've had mixed experiences in dealing with my local Halfords. When I went to spend the balance of my voucher on some lights it took me almost 30 mins to get served on a Monday morning when there were only about 5 customers in the store! No sense of customer service when I asked whether there was any chance of just handing over my voucher and a bit of cash. When I went back to get the free service, I was sceptical but got a really helpful guy who took time to explain a few things and done a good job of checking everything and making a few adjustments. Suppose it all depends on the individuals serving. 

Overall, the limitations of the Halfords scheme are frustrating but still delighted to get my bike so cheap


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## Harbornite (29 Nov 2009)

I had shockingly bad service from both the C2W scheme & my local Halfords - simply appalling. No apologies & six months into the repayments I have _just _started to pay the correct amount.

Of my eight colleagues who have used the C2W scheme this year only one has something positive to say about the way Halfords dealt with his purchase.

I think Willo sums it up really - there are limitations with the C2W & Halfords but the discount is too good to ignore.

I'm looking at the possibility of a Dolan Mythos on the C2W early next year, can't wait to see how Halfords mess that up


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## Norm (29 Nov 2009)

Harbornite said:


> I had shockingly bad service from both the C2W scheme


What do you mean by the above? The Cycle to Work scheme is nothing more than a government tax break, it cannot give good or bad service.

Are you thinking of something like Cycle Scheme or do you mean your employers' implementation of the scheme?


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## Harbornite (29 Nov 2009)

Norm said:


> What do you mean by the above? The Cycle to Work scheme is nothing more than a government tax break, it cannot give good or bad service.
> 
> Are you thinking of something like Cycle Scheme or do you mean your employers' implementation of the scheme?



My employers use 'Cycle2Work' (hence C2W) - they are the administrators of the cycle to work scheme.


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## Norm (29 Nov 2009)

Harbornite said:


> My employers use 'Cycle2Work' (hence C2W) - they are the administrators of the cycle to work scheme.


Ah, didn't realise that Halfrauds would be disingenuous enough to try and take over the name which the government used. Thanks for the clarification, it makes me despise them even more.


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## Bandini (29 Nov 2009)

Norm said:


> Ah, didn't realise that Halfrauds would be disingenuous enough to try and take over the name which the government used. Thanks for the clarification, it makes me despise them even more.



I don't think they have taken over the name. I think many shops that run it use that name.


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## Norm (29 Nov 2009)

Bandini said:


> I don't think they have taken over the name. I think many shops that run it use that name.


Which other shops operate their own scheme?


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## Bandini (29 Nov 2009)

I don't know - I just know that before I knew I had to go to Halfords I was on line and this came up during a search:

http://www.cycletoworknow.com


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## lady_rider (30 Nov 2009)

Aparently, if Halfords buy a bike off a third party and then sell it to you, it's then considered second-hand so the warranty becomes invalid. So I've heard through the bike grape-vine...


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## ed! (5 Dec 2009)

Marin Maniac said:


> You wouldn't happen to want to share cycle2work's contact details with us would you?
> 
> I would like to contact them to see what retailers in my area accept the Halfords voucher


Sorry for the slow reply, I'm still relatively new so don't come on here often:

Email: cycle2.work@halfords.co.uk


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## Bandini (13 Dec 2009)

lady_rider said:


> Aparently, if Halfords buy a bike off a third party and then sell it to you, it's then considered second-hand so the warranty becomes invalid. So I've heard through the bike grape-vine...



Not true.


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## Slim (14 Dec 2009)

I was going to use them in the new year but they've just changed the T's and C's of the agreement with my company so I can now only choose bikes they sell through their stores. Unfortunately Bromptons aren't included.

Their bike-to-work office have basically said they will not accept vouchers from third parties i.e. Pearsons, Condor, etc. If anyone's thinking of using them via an external supplier I'd double check this isn't going to affect you.


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