Halofords.. Are they having a larf or what !

[Jaws]

I was in Halfords trying to get a little elbow widget for the boost gauge line this morning when I decided to see what they offered in the bike dept.

Two things stood out like sore thumbs..

1) Most of what they had on offer seems to be from 2004 Oxford catalogue

2) Almost every single thing they had for sale to do with bikes was so over priced as to make it a bloody joke. Some of it as much as 70% dearer that elsewhere.... ( sorry,,, can't remember details of whats what .. just took a view at the time and did not make notes ! )

Yes, they do run a price matching scheme, but the 'other' price must be within the town.. We have one bike shop that does not carry the same stuff..

I do carry some of the gear but in the eyes of Halfords I am not a bonafida dealer ( the fact Jaws Motorcycles has been trading LONGER than Halfords have been selling bike parts seems to be a minor detail )

I have a sneaky feeling Halfords may well do the same as Woolworths.
Everyone thinks that if something is ?X at one woolworths it will be the same in every Woolworths.. Not true.. Seems the managers are given discretion with a lot of stuff and are quite likely to hike the price up of something if it is not available elsewhere in a small town..

Well maybe Halfords is playing the same game...

 

[Pugwash]

Luckily I have a few shops I can try in Peterborough. Webbs, Hein Gericke and Whatever-that-other-one-is-called-at-the-moment. Funny thing is they don't like you referring to the others when you're questioning prices.

 

[BlackBirdBaz]

Seems like an obvious candiate for www.antibiker.co.uk :tosser:

 

[Shalershasker]

Our halfords has only recently started doing bike gear but it's seriously limited i.e Bar ends, heated grips, few nuts and bolts (anodised) and a bike cover, that fairly covers the bulke of it i think and as said before they are quite expensive, needless to say i don't bother with them.man8um

 

[Steamy]

Like Pugwash I too have a choice in Peterborough

but, Hein Gericke are always expensive and I'm glad I work at TAZ to get a staff discount. (I don't actually work in the shop but work part-time as an Instructor at CSM, who are based there) Still, a discount's a discount in my book!! I also do the race paintwork for the clothing manager at Webb's - also handy for discounts/freebies. It's definately not what you know but who you know these days.

Pugwash, if you ever need any bits then give me a shout and I'll see if I can help - no promises but it's always worth asking eh?

 

[chuffmeister]

Halfords are shite full stop

Bought her indoors a gps over chrimbo ( tom tom 300)

they was 2 others buying other tom tom systems in the store at the same time .

Halfords Online they were ?50 cheaper than in-store so the " do us a deal" request went i but he told us we were paying for there " expert knowledge" :tosser:

They he gave us the " PRICE MATCH" offer but told us that they were in limited stock , then after 20 minutes on the phone told us that pc world had so many, currys, and comet also has stock. So much for limited stock But still no movement on the price:bang:

Then one of the others interested in buying had a phone call from his wife said that curry s were selling there Tom Toms for there " ONLINE" price instore.



Would halfords budge on there price, would they fcuk cos he said " its there online price "

so we all went 100 yards down the road to currys and they got over ?1000s worth of hard cash

Halfords, Bunch of Robbing Cnuts IMHO

 

[Pugwash]

Pugwash, if you ever need any bits then give me a shout and I'll see if I can help - no promises but it's always worth asking eh?

Cheers I'd forgotten TAZ. I got pissed off with their dodgy service attempt on my girlfriend's bike so haven't been there since.

 

[mikew]

Cheers I'd forgotten TAZ. I got pissed off with their dodgy service attempt on my girlfriend's bike so haven't been there since.

Seems I wasn't the only one caught by the TAZtickles then, cos that's where I bought my bent 'Bird from, and fought tooth and nail to get a refund .... which duly came after 8 months, but only after the Spalding Police and the Trading Standards Officer got involved.

If it hadn't been for many of the good folks on here, I'd probably still have the damned thing.

Oh, the shop next to HG is called Infinity.

Well, this week anyway.

 

[ianrobbo1]

nowt wrong with Halfords!! one of my best machines in Halfords!! :bow: busy and expensive!! :}

 

[Steamy]

Seems I wasn't the only one caught by the TAZtickles then, cos that's where I bought my bent 'Bird from, and fought tooth and nail to get a refund .... which duly came after 8 months, but only after the Spalding Police and the Trading Standards Officer got involved.

If it hadn't been for many of the good folks on here, I'd probably still have the damned thing.

Oh, the shop next to HG is called Infinity.

Well, this week anyway.

I've heard all sorts of tales abotu their previous "dodgy" customer care. But, the company has recently been taken over by the guys from Riders at Whittlesey. Whether it'll be any better, only time will tell. But, they're spending a few quid doing the place up and trying to turn it around, so I guess there's hope! BTW Bernards Honda have moved to Fengate and are now Marshall Honda, still run by Mr Rudd though, which is a good thing.

 

[mikew]

I've heard all sorts of tales abotu their previous "dodgy" customer care. But, the company has recently been taken over by the guys from Riders at Whittlesey.

I have heard in the past, and I stress I only heard, that Riders were, shall we say, not fussy about where there "bought for cash bikes" originally came from, but most people I know would have never bought a bike from them if they were the last dealer on this planet.
The fact they have now managed to buy out TAZ is not a neccessarily a good thing, and certainley the last time I was in TAZ, the showroom was over half full of machines that could only be described as "tat".
Many of the previous sales staff have decided not to remain there.

 

[Pugwash]

Well here's my tale - They had my girlfriend's Sukuki 125 in for a service and MOT. They told us there was a spring missing from the rear brake mechanism and it wasn't releasing properly. They had it in the shop for a week whilst they tried to track down this spring that wasn't mentioned in the service manuals.

In the end I told them to forget it and took to Bernards. A very good mechanic there said the brake pads had worn down so much the brake was over-engaging, and so sticking. No spring was ever required, just new pads. They fixed it.

Needless to say I go to Bernards every time now, even if they don't answer the phone very often.

 

[Steamy]

Both these stories don't surprise me, in all honesty. I actually bought my 'Bird from Taz - under the new "Riders" ownership. I agreed the price and I was told it would be serviced (checked over) and given 12 months MOT. Okay, I thought and asked when it would be ready. I was told iot would be ready the following day. So, I got SWMBO to drop me into Taz (from Spalding) and duly did a day's DAS training. At the end of the day I asked for my bike only to be told it was still in Whittlesey being MOT'd! I had to get a lift to go and pick the bike up and then had to wait another week for the V5 as they had sent it off which has added another owner to the sheet (now 3 including Taz). Naturally, I was unhappy and said to the sales manager (Vinny) that I felt that I had been messed about. The owner (Neil) then has a go at me for upsetting Vinny. I told him to go f**k himself and said I'd drop his scrawny arse if he ever spoke to me again. I didn't ask for special treatment and would have happily waited for a few days for my bike. But, I went on their information and you expect people to do what they say they're going to do.

Incidentally, I would NEVER take my bike there for a service as there grease monkey's just thrash the life out of everything, even letting the bike be ridden by peole without full licence's.

So, yes, I agree that the best option is to leave them well alone. Always good for clothing and stuff, and a good summer weekend meet up for a tea and a burger, but that's it!!

 

[skiers]

Oh dear!!! And there was me thinking that an old buddy of mine just had a bad one off experience. That said, it was enough to make me ALWAYS skip over their adverts in MCN Bikemart.