Praise for Halfords

liam8282

gordikin, 4743hudsonj has said he works in a motor factors and would change a bulb for a customer, for free, if he could do it.

It is not his job to do it, he would just do it out of common courtesy.

Your praise for Halfords is worrying. You are paying them to do a job, and they have done it, big deal.

I agree with 4743hudsonj there will be other places in your area that would change your bulb for you, and probably for a lot less than Halfords, if you only you bothered to shop around. & as this site is all about money saving, that is a fair bit of advice.

Also, your particular Halfords may be an exception, because I really do not believe that all staff, in all Halfords are trained to such a high level that they can change every bulb in every car, interior and exterior. If they were, there would not be disclaimers all over their fitting service.

I wonder if they would offer the same service for someone pulling up in a Buggati Veyron?

I think in most cases, the rule is "if it is a simple job, we will do it and charge you for it".

Lirin

Actually, from my website, I have a list of 200-300 garages around the UK that have given us prices on various things.... I have one dealer who ships to me from England at minimal cost, and has hand-delivered a bonnet to me at no cost when he was over for a rally. We have plenty of mechanics on our site, and I know plenty of them have helped out people who've posted onsite at no cost, even when the job has run into hours....

Rule of thumb is to find a small and friendly garage, there's plenty of them, and you can do no harm by asking!
Halfords is just a clever marketing ploy- they know there's plenty out there who know nothing about cars, and they saw an oppurtunity and took it. Can't really blame them for that- but I think mostly it's the price which is OTT.

Mark_Hewitt

wallbash wrote: »

There service of replacing headlight bulbs for £5.99, they do it in mins, takes me ages and I mess up my knuckles . Money well spent.

No excuse to be driving around with a bulb gone.

Echo that!
Tried taking it to my local Kwik Fit who had changed the bulbs before - Too busy, bring it back in 3 hours, but no guarantee we'll do it then!
Kwik Fit in York - Point blank refused to do it!
National Auto Centre - Far too busy to be bothered with that.
Halfords - No problem, came straight outside and fitted it straight away!

£5.99 well spent IMO. Sure some other garages may well fit it for free, but most of them won't give you the time of day, so why bother?

liam8282

^ The point is though, Halfords will only change the bulbs (or any other item) they want to change.

It even says on their website that fitting will only be carried out after inspection. If it is a car they don't like the look of, they could simply refuse to do it.

So if it is something easy that they can do, they will do it and charge you. Where as other places may have just done it for free if you asked them.

mcjordi

my local factor has stopped replacing parts for customers now due to a few people claiming they scratched/dented there cars and there shop insurance will not allow it now..
honestly some people

gordikin

liam8282 wrote: »

^ The point is though, Halfords will only change the bulbs (or any other item) they want to change.

It even says on their website that fitting will only be carried out after inspection. If it is a car they don't like the look of, they could simply refuse to do it.

So if it is something easy that they can do, they will do it and charge you. Where as other places may have just done it for free if you asked them.

Nobody will change a dashboard bulb for free. None of my local motor factors had the bulb in stock neither did they offer to source it for me.

liam8282

gordikin wrote: »

Nobody will change a dashboard bulb for free. None of my local motor factors had the bulb in stock neither did they offer to source it for me.

There is nothing forcing Halfords to change the bulbs either, they can pick and choose the ones they want to do.

It says so in their t&c's.

Like I said if it is easy enough, they will do it, and charge you. If it is too difficult or they don't want to do it they will simply direct you onto a garage or the main dealer.

liam8282

As this is the praise board, personally I would only choose to praise a company if they did something over and above what was actually offered, or what you had actually paid for.

Or if the level of service was so brilliant it warranted some praise.

pete71

let me explain about Halfords fitting service as i used to work there(unfortunately) . They have a difficult fit list of cars that they just won't touch which is actually quite large so its easy jobs only . it's no coincidence that the staff are earning £5.80 an hour and a fit costs oh £5.99 which means a 2 minute fit has paid for that person for the other 58 minutes so free staff for Halfords ! hooray ! . the stores are also targeted to fit (last i heard) 25% of all bulbs batteries and wipers sold (no pressure then) . staff training is patchy at best . All of this is imho , would i use Halfords ..... not a chance , another example of a corporate monster churning out massive profits .