Halfords & Shine! Scratches & Dent Repairs

BedfordKev

benham3160 wrote: »

Made phenominal profits in the last year (one of few retailers making profit, let alone massive profit,) then slashed all the staffing budgets and laid off 2/3 sales assistants per store.

The irony of all this is that I am a shareholder (that will be, was a shareholder!). Their interim results published a few weeks ago were poor. Sales are now falling in real terms & I have no doubt that will continue given unless they re-think their policies. Compromising customer service in the pursuit of cost cutting will only ever work in the short term. Also if they think the likes of Shine!, as amatuerish, arrogant & deeply unimpressive operation as you will find, is their idea of a suitable business partner then quite honestly they have no hope!

Lirin

It's a pity for Halfords- I do know a few ex staff, and would be friendly with some of the staff in my nearest branches.
The ones who do know their stuff and have a good knowledge base are usually propping up the staff who don't. One complained to me when I was getting paint made up that although he knows what he's doing, he's cntinually having to overorder on some of the materials, as newer staff can't make the paint and it often has to be redone.
I would buy very little from Halfords now, and with the exception of one guy, won't get paint made up there at all. Was in when he was off for retouch paint- thankfully wasn't a big job- and despite giving him the code, we still had to point out halfway through he'd loaded the wrong code into his pc. Had to laugh when he asked us would it not do anyway- as green is green.
It is a pity they're going this way, but every branch seems to have less and less staff, more targets, and morale seems generally low.

pete71

I used to work for Halfords , absolutely dreadfull company that treats its staff very poorly imo , they make huge mark ups and I remember a senior manager laughing at how there new ultra bright car bulbs costs the customer twice as much and lasted half as long meaning profits were up ! again imo avoid at all costs !

BLT_2

Life is too short to spend it wandering around Halfords looking for an assistant In my local branch there are normally 2 on view, one being the checkout girl who knows nothing about vehicles, and the other being the guy on the parts counter who is continually on the phone explaining why he doesn't have the part but is expecting a delivery in 2 weeks.

Personally I just go straight to Ebay, most of the companies with good feedback will confirm the correct part if you give them the registration number

ktuludays

i agree with the comments above. they can never get the parts you need

case in point was recently i tried 4 halfords locally and not one could get front brake discs for a 54 plate.................ford fiesta!

not exactly a rare car.

i only use them now and again because i have a trade card otherwise i would not bother. absolutely useless.

mikey72

Always have staff at out local Halfords, and can get the parts in next day normally, sometimes the day after. Even sourced me a radiator no one else could. If there's a choice of parts they'll get them in and I'll take the right one, or I'll take the assortment and drop the wrong ones back for a refund. Good prices with a trade card normally. Don't like ebay as it's far too much hassle if there is a problem, and waiting for delivery is a pain.

Lirin

Last time I was up, I needed bits for my car- it's never listed in a shop, which I'm well used to. Halfords told me they didn't have the Mitsi equivalent on their books, which is a very popular model- Evo3. Assistant told me they struggled to receive data/info from their head office.
The few up near me couldn't be more helpful, and do know their stuff (mainly, there's a few students that are clueless now.) There's a few ex-mechanics and bodyworkers in the local staff.
I would use them for the discount on the trade card, but more and more, I'm finding my local branch struggling to get stock to put on the shelves.

BedfordKev

mikey72 wrote: »

Always have staff at out local Halfords, and can get the parts in next day normally, sometimes the day after. Even sourced me a radiator no one else could. If there's a choice of parts they'll get them in and I'll take the right one, or I'll take the assortment and drop the wrong ones back for a refund. Good prices with a trade card normally. Don't like ebay as it's far too much hassle if there is a problem, and waiting for delivery is a pain.

Their order service is one I used in the past but that seems to have gone down the pan as well!

Last time I used it I waited for 3 weeks & 3 failed deliveries before I ended up having to pick up the goods from another store. Even then I was asked to go back to the original store to refund the original purchase before then having to drive to the new store to pick up the goods!

What customer focus remains in the business is in the hands of a few experienced & put upon members of staff who cover over the cracks created by the crap processes, non-existent training & cheap, unskilled labour that pollutes the business!

atrixblue.-MFR-.

i went into halford looking for miguires carneuba wax asked the male staff and they had no idea what it was and kept giving me the clay bars! waited a while and then asked the lady stacking the shelf she took me right to it hidden behind the autoglym stand doh!

MSchippie

benham3160 wrote: »

Not always true, my local branch has a guy with a degree in engineering, specialising in chassis design (also builds competition engines at the weekends)

.....and he works on the parts desk at Halfrauds!!!! :rotfl: