Soldato
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 3,303
- Location
- Sheffield
I'll echo what Eidolon and Simon have said; also I'm not that clued up on places to get bits for my car, and Halfords is usually easy to find 
Your opinions on Halfords...
- Thread starter jonnyg
- Start date
Tools are decent, the rest seems well overpriced. I work in a small motorfactors and we sell the same cleaning/engine products, yet halfords generally charge a couple of quid more for them. Ive seen some items more than £5 more expensive.
As far car parts ive never bought anything from them, but ive heard they are fairly expensive too.
As far car parts ive never bought anything from them, but ive heard they are fairly expensive too.
iv worked there a little over a year now, i started as a bike mechanic but quickly learnt about parts. if we havnt anything in stock we have a local motor factor that offers delivery (to the store) within one hour so we can pretty much get anything part wise. almost while you wait!
the thing that annoys me most is when its a stock item and a customer wants it but we have run out. we have no idea when we will be gettin any more, all i can say to them is deliverys on wed, call back wed evening to see.
i also think we are very over priced on certain things. most parts have at least 50% on top of trade value. most brake pads have 100%.
as far as audio goes, it mite be £30 cheeper on line but we fit it for you, replace it if it breaks in a month and if it breaks after we sort out getting it repaired.
i think our store is pretty lucky as far as staff go, we have one person whos very good at audio sat nav and car modifiing, one person who knows everything to do with old engines and parts, one person who knows a modern car inside out, several very good bike mechanics and one very entusiastic manager. its just a shame we have such ancient systems to use.
the thing that annoys me most is when its a stock item and a customer wants it but we have run out. we have no idea when we will be gettin any more, all i can say to them is deliverys on wed, call back wed evening to see.
i also think we are very over priced on certain things. most parts have at least 50% on top of trade value. most brake pads have 100%.
as far as audio goes, it mite be £30 cheeper on line but we fit it for you, replace it if it breaks in a month and if it breaks after we sort out getting it repaired.
i think our store is pretty lucky as far as staff go, we have one person whos very good at audio sat nav and car modifiing, one person who knows everything to do with old engines and parts, one person who knows a modern car inside out, several very good bike mechanics and one very entusiastic manager. its just a shame we have such ancient systems to use.
Handy for De-Icer and car cleaning stuff. Useless for anything else. Can I find oil for a VAG PD engine? - No. And the staff look permanently unhappy. I usually go to the car care place in the local high street in preference - the guy knows his stuff and is dead friendly.
Interesting comparison to the computer store mentioned above - you may well have a point. I worked for them for a couple of years back when I was a student. They were very much a sales led organisation. The Tech dept however were a separate entity with good product knowledge. Most punters only got to deal with Tech after the sales guys had already given them a bad first impression.
Interesting comparison to the computer store mentioned above - you may well have a point. I worked for them for a couple of years back when I was a student. They were very much a sales led organisation. The Tech dept however were a separate entity with good product knowledge. Most punters only got to deal with Tech after the sales guys had already given them a bad first impression.
Crap shop, I've only ever been in for the following things and these were their responses:
Plain wheel bolts - "We have locking nuts if that would help sir" - Yeah like I'm going to buy 4 locking wheel nut sets at £32.99 to hold my wheels on!
Copper grease - "We don't sell that but you don't need it mate, urban myth" - WTF.
19mm allen key - "Got a 20mm mate, might fit" - Yes of course I'm going to wreck my caliper mounting bolts!
15" Superleggeras with 195/45 tyres - "We only sell them with 205 wide tyres and they wont fit mate, you need 16 or 17" ones cos they have 195 tyres and your car will look crap with 15"s on" - I could see the correct tyre size on the screen *Speechless*
Glad I didn't blow £500 on a set of Leggeras anyway
Plain wheel bolts - "We have locking nuts if that would help sir" - Yeah like I'm going to buy 4 locking wheel nut sets at £32.99 to hold my wheels on!
Copper grease - "We don't sell that but you don't need it mate, urban myth" - WTF.
19mm allen key - "Got a 20mm mate, might fit" - Yes of course I'm going to wreck my caliper mounting bolts!
15" Superleggeras with 195/45 tyres - "We only sell them with 205 wide tyres and they wont fit mate, you need 16 or 17" ones cos they have 195 tyres and your car will look crap with 15"s on" - I could see the correct tyre size on the screen *Speechless*
Glad I didn't blow £500 on a set of Leggeras anyway
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Hideously overpriced (£6 for a £1.50 bulb???), and as Jonneh says, the chance of something out of stock being replaced is a total lottery.
The tools are pretty good though, except the torque wrenches.
Serves the occasional use on a Sunday, but generally a lot cheaper to go elsewhere.
The tools are pretty good though, except the torque wrenches.
Serves the occasional use on a Sunday, but generally a lot cheaper to go elsewhere.
Soldato
- Joined
- 17 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 10,317
- Location
- Stoke
Get a load of Meguiars Fox 
Halfords aren't too bad but as said they are generally overpriced. You can get Castrol Oil from an Audi Main Dealer cheaper than Halfrauds. Only bonus is that you can get things on Sundays whereas 95% of main dealers don't have a parts desk open on that day.
Halfords aren't too bad but as said they are generally overpriced. You can get Castrol Oil from an Audi Main Dealer cheaper than Halfrauds. Only bonus is that you can get things on Sundays whereas 95% of main dealers don't have a parts desk open on that day.
When i think of Halfords i think of Chav style boy racer add ons and nothing worthy of being added to my motor.
Sorry mate your an Overclocker so your fine by me but the one word that springs to mind is Tacky.
As far as the local staff go in my Hinckley branch the few times i have been there they have been very helpful tbh. All very young and unexperienced but cheerful polite and helpful so no probs there.
I like the lay out of the stores as there is plenty of room and its pleasing on the eye.
Reality.
I get my parts through Car User ( we call car abuser
) have done for donkeys years and i get very good discount. The parts are delivered to my drive/door and i kick the bits out of there prices through friendly intimidation and repeat business. 
Sorry mate your an Overclocker so your fine by me but the one word that springs to mind is Tacky.
As far as the local staff go in my Hinckley branch the few times i have been there they have been very helpful tbh. All very young and unexperienced but cheerful polite and helpful so no probs there.
I like the lay out of the stores as there is plenty of room and its pleasing on the eye.
Reality.
I get my parts through Car User ( we call car abuser
) have done for donkeys years and i get very good discount. The parts are delivered to my drive/door and i kick the bits out of there prices through friendly intimidation and repeat business. 
GT3 said:
I got some copper grease from my halfords metro at home.
Got brake pads from bennetts, much better for cars bits, they seem to stock everything!
was surprised at the time to find out my clio has all round disk brakes!
malc30 said:
Its ok mate, its just a job. At the end of the day, i hope that i have done my best to help people, and like jonneh said, we have to make do with what we have (in terms of having to tell people to wait until our next delivery.)
Management doesnt help either. I distinctly get the impression that its profit before service. If i try to sell a cheaper (but sometimes better) product, and my manager intervenes, he will almost always refer the customer to a more expensive product.
Judging from what i have gathered, people are sometimes put off by the staff. Remember that half of us are just like you, and wouldnt like to pay that price... Nevermind, ill hopfully be leaving soon, and moving on to better things! Then i can complain about how **** Halfords is!
- and sorry about mentioning the competitor, it slipped my mind.
A relation's boyf did some work on my Golf when it broke down 200 miles away from me and forgot to put the themostat back in (professional mechanic 
) but I can get one from Halfords at 5pm on a Sunday, and for that it is very good.
) but I can get one from Halfords at 5pm on a Sunday, and for that it is very good.Dont really use Halfords TBH, the nearest one is quite a distance and we have a local motor factors round the corner who stocks everything and has very helpful staff who really know their stuff.
Last visit to Halfords was before Xmas as theres one round the corner from work and I needed a set of bulbs as mine had gone...was surprised to find they didnt actually sell HB4 bulbs. There wasnt a space for them on the hangers and the guy behind the counter couldnt understand why I wanted them
I feel for you mate I really do, people treat staff in certain retail jobs (particularly - Mc Donalds, any Petrol station, Halfords) with such contempt and rudeness its beyond belief.
Last visit to Halfords was before Xmas as theres one round the corner from work and I needed a set of bulbs as mine had gone...was surprised to find they didnt actually sell HB4 bulbs. There wasnt a space for them on the hangers and the guy behind the counter couldnt understand why I wanted them
I feel for you mate I really do, people treat staff in certain retail jobs (particularly - Mc Donalds, any Petrol station, Halfords) with such contempt and rudeness its beyond belief.