HALFORDS "fitting" charges

sunflower_2

a friend told my my 2 bottom brake lights were out so i went straight to halfords

found the right bulbs for my car @ £1.97 for the 2

guy at the counter asks if i am sure i have the right ones, (very nice of him)

i said that i knew nothing about them but had checked the book etc etc

he then offered to fit them for me which i thought was really nice...
until he said "that will be £7.95 please"

he had omitted to tell me that for fitting the bulbs he would charge £5.98 !!

i said no way and that i didnt want the bulbs either
and left the shop feeling had cut my nose off to spite face as didnt know what to do and couldnt drive around with no brake lights...

anyway i noted a little auto shop on the corner and went in - got the bulbs for £90p

got outside the shop, opened the boot to see how to put the bulbs in

anyway - it took me about a minute to fit both of the new bulbs !
and i know absolutely nothing about car maintenance

and halfords were going to charge £5.98

gggrrrr

SnowyOwl_2

That is daylight robbery, glad you stood up to them and said no!

However, a while ago, probably around 2-3 years ago I needed some new wiper blades, and duly went to Halfords (Sth Ruislip). They offered to fit them for £1.00, so said yes please! Only said yes please cos it was pouring down, real cats and dogs and wanted the wiper blades on. It took two of them to work out how to do it (Fiestas are so complicated!). The two of them got soaked even though I said they could wait til the rain eased off. Neither had a coat on but insisted on finishing the job anyway - and when I said thanks to them they both replied it wasn't a bother. I was impressed!

Altarf

Some cars it is very easy to put the bulbs in, some it is very very hard. Halfords charge a price that covers both situations, rather than tell the customer it will be £x per hour labour, or have to have a huge long list of times and prices for each sort of car.

On my car I would pay triple what Halfords are asking if they offered to put a headlight bulb in.

humph_2

Altarf wrote:

On my car I would pay triple what Halfords are asking if they offered to put a headlight bulb in.

Couldn't agree more with this comment. On my car you need hands the size of a new born baby coupled with the strength of a power lifter to change headlight bulbs. Even then you will rip the skin from your hands.

Altarf

humph wrote:

On my car you need hands the size of a new born baby coupled with the strength of a power lifter to change headlight bulbs. Even then you will rip the skin from your hands.

You obviously have the same sort of car as me.

sunflower_2

i will do them for £2.99

Pink.

Halfords charged us £12ish (I think), to put the roof-box on our car.

To me, it was worth it for peace of mind, because (just for a change) we'd left it until the day before we went on holiday. It was good to know it was installed properly and they gave me tips and hints on how to take it off when we got to our destination and how to do it next time.

Pink

sunflower_2

obviously some of the charges are worth it then

but £5.98 to do something that took me all of a minute (and i had no idea what i was doing) was just a bit much in my opinion

the charge isnt really the annoying bit - cos we all have a choice of whether we want to pay for the service or not
i myself would prob pay for wiper blades/roof box to be fitted e.g.

however, what annoyed me is that he offered to fit them but didnt tell me it was gong to cost me !!!
then just expected me to hand over the money like some dumb blonde !

i know i am a dumb blonde but thats not the point

Pink.

You don't sound like a dumb blonde to me, sunflower.

Pink

sunflower_2

ok ok am not a natural

no offence to natural blondes of course - "its just a bit of fun, just a bit of fun"

Malky

I got Halfords to fit the headlight bulbs on my car. As mentioned above, you need kiddie hands to get in about. It was easier paying £5 for each bulb than taking all the skin off my hands.

BTW. I have a Ford Focus and I'm not the only one who has had this problem with headlight bulb replacement.