New wheel bearing fitted by Halfords failed 100 miles from home a week later

nick2491

Long sordid tale, but in short ... took car to Halfords for a lot of noise while driving, a new wheel bearing was part of the work, picked the car up Tuesday last week (1st July).

Wednesday this week, while driving 100 miles from home, the new wheel bearing fell apart and the RAC came out, diagnosed that and also the fact when it failed, it destroyed the brake drum too. One swift call to Halfords later, for them to make arrangements to sort it out, their response was 'Find a Halfords near where you are, and we'll get them to fix it.' Not the 'WE'LL find the nearest Halfords for you etc.' I was hoping for...

Thankfully this was near my parents, who picked us up and housed us. It now won't be fixed until Saturday. So far, it's cost me about £100 on clothes (I refuse to walk around in the same clothes for 4 days in this weather due to their ineptitude), but were it not for my folks living nearby and not being away, we'd have been booking into a hotel at £100 + per night plus food, or blowing a fortune on trains to go back home and then up again for the car when fixed.

There's also the issue that I'm now missing out on overtime on Saturday that I can't get to without spending more on trains than I'd otherwise miss out on.

I'll never use Halfords again until the day I die, that's already a given, but given that whatever way I could have dealt with the aftermath, it's cost things I wouldn't otherwise have been spending, I'd be interested in thoughts on what I could realistically expect a decent firm to do about it, before I go totally ballistic at Halfords head office.

pramsay13

Your first mistake was using Halfords for anything but furry dice but you've acknowledged that now.
It sounds as though they will be fixing the wheel bearing (and the brake drum?) but you'll be hard pushed to get anything else out of them. 
Very rarely is consequential loss covered on any insurance policy, it was your choice to drive 100 miles away rather than stay close to home and a breakdown could have happened with any part at any time. 
In a way you are lucky it was Halfords as they will have a garage nearby, versus your local garage which would have meant the car needed recovered 100 miles back to them. 
Might be worth looking into roadside assistance that includes home recovery given the age of the car.

Grey_Critic

Not the fault of Halfords, these things do happen. Assuming they accept responsibility then they should replace the bearing and repair the consequential damage which from what you say is happening. 

nick2491

Thank you both, and yes, furry dice only from now on! Roadside assistance we do have, but at the time on a very hot day and a wife with several medical issues, the nearest address was the best choice. They're getting the problem fixed locally, albeit it's taking a few days I accept they can't wave a magic wand and make it happen instantly. I suspected what you've said would be the position, but it never hurts to seek others opinions. I've probably got about 30 years more driving before I have to hang up my keys for good, that's 30 years of servicing and MOT's etc which will be going somewhere else from now on.

Grey_Critic

ONce collected a brand new car from Edgbaston Cricket Groiund with 6 miles on the clock - Got on the motorway and within a few miles did a spectacular journey across the motorway when N/side Hub Baearing decided to sieze taking me across all lane to hard shoulder and missed everything. When the Police arrived they could not understand why it did not roll.

ontheroad1970

A suggestion for when you put in your complaint.  Don't tell them that you will never darken their doors again.  It leaves them with no incentive to do beyond the very minimum.  It's a case of act it (not going there again) versus saying it.

daveyjp

Someone not realising wheel bearings need to be packed with grease when fitting if you want them to last?  

Baldytyke88

daveyjp said:

Someone not realising wheel bearings need to be packed with grease when fitting if you want them to last?  

Or, more likely a faulty wheel bearing?

UnsureAboutthis

I've used Halfords many times all good. You can get faulty parts and it's not just Halfords that can at times suffer from faulty parts

You should have asked to speak with the manager and tell them where you were and to get a priority fix

Important the not the essence of a 'onwards travel etc' with your breakdown cover. That way, you could have had car taken back to your local place.

cymruchris

Parts go wrong no matter where you buy them from. Halfords use reputable suppliers in the motor trade and use known brand parts. A few backstreet garages use imported never heard of parts. Dealers use their own marque of parts. All of them have the potential to die within a few miles of fitment. 

You have the advantage that there are 700 odd sites around the country that you can get the warranty work completed at, so whether you were near home, near your parents, in Inverness or Penzance - there'd likely be a centre near you - you wouldn't get that with a local garage. 

They've agreed to get it fixed by the sounds of it, and of course they'll need to source the replacement parts, which depending on location might not be same day depending on stock availability.

Lots of people blame 'ineptitude' when it's very likely the part at fault. It's easy to say 'ah well you fitted a new part and now look what's happened - must be your dodgy fitters'. 

Yes you're feeling agrieved as you've paid out some money, and things have gone wrong, and although it could be a technician fault - it could be a part fault. It's likely we'll never know.

Any additional expenses you'd want covered for this kind of situation would come from an appropriate breakdown policy with insurance backing.

Going ballistic probably won't get you anywhere, and probably won't make you feel any better. You've definitely been unlucky - but to say you'll never use someone ever again because of a faulty part might be a bit extreme. 

The important thing is to get yourself back on the road. 

chrisw

You have a duty to mitigate your losses. Why didn't you get the RAC to take you home or to the original local garage? Why did you have to spend £100 on new clothes - don't your parents have a washing machine? Or one of you pop out to the launderette?