Never again from halfords

[Harbornite]

Yup

 

[Error]

Im hearing sooo much negativeness about Halfords but its clearly not all the shops. Lets not forget the crowd that go there to get bikes because they save a bunch of bucks and then goto their LBS for a correct setup.....its still cheaper.

I bought my Boardman Hybrid from Halfords in Putney and they guy done a great job setting it up. The problem came with my total lack of gear knowledge and not knowing about the selection of "useable" gears. of course the first thing I done was blame halfords, got on youtube to find some gear setup videos and started to play.

This wasnt overly successful but i did manage to get hem back to a decent place where they were working fine. To double check i took the bike to my LBS for a gear check, the guy heard the wheel turn and told me the brakes needed setting up as well......£40 later after a service the bike is in much worse shape than it came from halfords.....to summarise ....not all LBS's know what they are doing either.....now i have to waste more time getting this thing done properly.

Cheers

Craig

 

[Harbornite]

Oh, ok. Last time I saw a newbie from Brum on here it turned out I knew him.

Do I know you? You're not Glade, the dog from the Cycle Surgery are you?

I'm not, but I need to book my MB in there shortly.

 

[BilboSmeggins]

Well, it wasn't a total surprise.....

Picked up my Vanquish from Halford's, that they made me wait 4 days for, so that they could "set it up". Got it home and gave the wheels a bit of a turn and the gears sounded a little noisy. Tried to change gears and it wouldn't even look at the big rear cog. And this was supposedly road ready. Rang them up (Malvern branch), and they couldn't have cared less.

So I then had to take it to another Halford's (Kidderminster), where the chap was able to sort the gears out. He then commented that he spent a lot of time sorting out problems with bikes from the Malvern branch.

Bike frame was very greasy too, not to mention small chip marks on the carbon forks. I shall be very reluctant to use Halfords for any major purchase in the future. Top guy at Kidderminster though..............

 

[Error]

so it could be said that like pretty much any odds that it was the staff at that particular branch.

this thread is kind of annoying now, if you look at averages, the amount of branches halfords has and the service received from a percentage as crap is pretty (im guessing) average to the amount of crap LBS's.

halfords must be doing something right to get as big as it has, and if that means selling cheaper bikes than other stores dues to buying power then so be it, guys/girls can buy cheaper there then pay for a service at a so-called better place and get the bike set just fine.

in my experience, I bought a boardman from halfords that was setup fine and due to lack of knowledge and halfords fear i paid £40 for a service at a LBS that totally screwed my bike up.

I think its easy for everyone to criticise a chain in favour for local these days ( it happens with supermarkets all the time) but seriously its about cash ash correct setup/service I dont care how polite the guy is, im paying him to do a job only and my money expects him to know what he is doing, im not paying him to give me small talk about the "tour de wherever" because thats not my interest.

ewww today its wet outside lol

Craig

 

[Ivan Ardon]

not to mention small chip marks on the carbon forks.

I'd reject the bike immediately unless they change the fork at their expense. A chipped carbon fork isn't acceptable in a new bike.

Your face and teeth could be at risk if it fractures at one of the damage sites.

 

[garrilla]

My son went to collect his Vanquish today. He was just on the way out when I got in so I didn't get the chance to give it the once over but I did notice it had no dust caps. Surely that is on the list of things that takes 4 days ?

 

[The Jogger]

Where's Crankie, he's normally shouting the defence for halfords?