Halfords We Fit - Vent.

lulu_92

This is a vent. I don't need any advice as the situation has been resolved, although opinions are welcome

Some of you may have read from my other posts that I passed my test about 6 months ago. Been driving pretty much every day since and last Wednesday I got home from work and found that one of my headlights had gone. I was a bit annoyed because I needed to get it sorted as soon as possible because I commute to and from work in the dark at the moment.

I realised that my local Halfords is open late so went down there to buy a bulb, knowing they would fit it for me too (it was dark and raining so I didn't want to mess this up myself as I needed it done promptly), so I went in and asked for the bulb and if they would fit it for me. The guy in the shop was very helpful, but didn't break down the price for me so charged me £16.99.

It wasn't until I got my receipt and the guy was getting to my car that I saw that the fitting charge was £6.99 and the bulb was £10. Am I the only one who thinks that is excessive?

Apparently so. I emailed them and got a phone call yesterday from the branch manager. He told me that £6.99 is the flat rate for changing headlights and he thought it was a bargain and I couldn't get that elsewhere. I asked him if he thought it was fair to charge 70% of the price of the bulb to fit it, and he said it was fair in his eyes.

The resolution is that if I go to Halfords soon he will pay me the difference between a headlight fitting and an exterior light fitting, which is £3.99.

davetrousers

I bought a load (6 I think) of standard H1 bulbs from ebay. It worked out about £1.87 per bulb. These fit my car and one of my motorbikes, so it's good to have spares.

They are dead easy to change (on my car and bike) so I wouldn't pay anyone anything to fit them. That said I think £7 is a lot, but so is £10 for the bulb.

PS consider looking elsewhere in the future, e.g. motor factors, ebay, etc in the future.

lulu_92

I watched him change the bulb and I know I can do it next time as it's fairly simple on my car.

I didn't want to change it for the first time and get it wrong. It was about 7:30pm, I needed it for the next day's commute, and the other car parts shop was closed.

I'm not complaining about Halfords charging for a fitting at all. I'm complaining about how the bulb cost £10 and the fitting was 70% of the price on top. I have no problem with paying people for their time, however when a job costs me £7 and takes all of 5 minutes it seems a bit wrong.

davetrousers

lulu_92 wrote: »

. I'm complaining about how the bulb cost £10 and the fitting was 70% of the price on top.

I wouldn't be happy paying £10 for a bulb to start with. What type was it?

lulu_92

davetrousers wrote: »

I wouldn't be happy paying £10 for a bulb to start with. What type was it?

This is the part where I sound stupid because I just went in and said "what bulb do I need for the headlight of a Citroen C1?" :rotfl:

Forgive me, cars are new to me

lulu_92

bsod wrote: »

ok the bulb is £15, the fitting is 1.99, does that make it better?

You should have asked if it was a concern

Well it wasn't, as shown on my receipt so it's not like that is making me feel better.

Takeaway_Addict

lulu_92 wrote: »

I watched him change the bulb and I know I can do it next time as it's fairly simple on my car.

I didn't want to change it for the first time and get it wrong. It was about 7:30pm, I needed it for the next day's commute, and the other car parts shop was closed.

I'm not complaining about Halfords charging for a fitting at all. I'm complaining about how the bulb cost £10 and the fitting was 70% of the price on top. I have no problem with paying people for their time, however when a job costs me £7 and takes all of 5 minutes it seems a bit wrong.

So they offered a service and you accepted it and you knew the total price up front.

Nothing wrong here IMO, they are there to make money.

SeduLOUs

Well you seemed like you were happy to pay £16.99 for job done to save yourself the worry of attempting it yourself when it needed sorting fairly immediately, and really that's the end of it.

It wouldn't matter if the bulb was 99p and the labour was £16 or vice versa - the total price was agreed before any work was started, and you have not been presented with an unexpected bill.

You've paid over the odds for the convenience, and have learned that like a lot of things in life, it is much cheaper and not much more difficult to do it yourself.

JimmyTheWig

I find when I take the car to a garage for work to be done that the final bill is generally around a 50:50 split between labour and materials.

So if £10 was a fair price for the bulb (I have no idea) then £7 to fit it sounds reasonable to me.
I agree with the guy from Halfords who says you'd have a job to get it fitted elsewhere (especially out of hours) for £7.
But equally I agree with you that it's a waste of £7 if it is a job that you could have done yourself.

I think the answer in general is to learn as you go along. There will be some things you will be able to fix and some that you won't.
If you've spent £7 to find out how to fit a headlamp bulb, and that knowledge will now see you through doing the next 9 headlamp bulb changes yourself, that's only 70p fitting per bulb that you'll be paying.

browneyedbazzi

I've used Halfords we fit a number of times for bulbs and wipers - I never thought that the fitting cost was particularly excessive since it is so convenient and they do a good job (both things you pay for).

If I was struggling for money I might save the cost and do it myself but (a) I'm a bit rubbish at that sort of thing and as likely as not to cause damage and (b) I hate getting my hands dirty.

dodger1

I have to say that if it was something I didn't have a clue how to do then a £6.99 standard fitting charge seems reasonable to me. No doubt some will be easy and some will be much harder to fit, so a standard charge is fine.