Halfords, I knew there'd be trouble!

ha,
tosser

hmmmmmmmeeeeeee

Still no idea.

Not wanting to butt in to your great argument, but the Halfords near me is pretty good – they don’t stock super duper bikes and they don’t know much about bikes, but they don’t claim to be a class bike shop, do they? Now, Evans, don’t get me started – effing useless – recent encounters include claiming not to sell the Diablo brand(?!) of lights and refusing to let me borrow a chain tool – to fit the new chain I had just bought from them. Nice touch. Halfords ain’t so bad.

I guess, its not so much the fact they aren’t top notch.

Its more the issue that i get a text saying its reserved and turn up to find they dont have a clue.

And then i spend ages ringing about but just cant get my hands onn it.

Likewise MerlinCycles, still a good price, ordered on the friday morning, here this afternoon.

Fab Company!

refusing to let me borrow a chain tool – to fit the new chain I had just bought from them

Does seem a bit harsh, but there may be some insurance/liability reason if it snapped after 100 yards and you mashed yourself up. I believe this is why bike shops won’t let you take a new bike away boxed up for you to assemble yourself also.

Actually, I did complain to Evans and someone from their customer service team did call me back; which I was surprised about. Not lending tools was just to do with people nicking stuff in the past. As I was intending to fit the chain in the shop, and the tool was about £4.99, I thought they were just being arsey really. My major gripe with Evans is that they want to be a proper bike shop, but the guys on the tills don’t know a nipple from a flange, so to speak. Best comments so far have been “Avid? Never heard of them”, and “Suspension Fork? Is that for the front or back”. I mean, come on.

To be fair Halfords are a hit & miss shop. 😐

Sometimes excellent and at others pretty dire. I would buy a Boardman if they let me build it etc. Really depends who you have spoken to: hobby cyclist or spotty school drop out who doesn’t give a $hite.

I would have rang way ahead and reserved any item if I was driving that far for any shop tbh. Then you can shout at them if they screw up! 😆

The light itself is terrible and thank your lucky stars it wasn’t in stock as it’s a waste of cash, terrible lighting -to be seen by others only-still have mine sitting in box after it’s first use as it was terrible to light my way home. 👿

Save your cash and invest in a quality light for similar cash (Hope Vision 1 if you can stretch twice more). 😀

“…hit & miss..”
Is violence the answer…?

“Halfords only seem to employ morons these days.”

Not something that they mention on the Halfords web site:
http://www.halfordscareers.com/index.php?area=index
for example:
“Can do
Another thing you’ll notice is a tremendous ‘can-do’ attitude which i (sic) still find refreshing and which will always be encouraged in the business.”

Or look at
http://www.jobsite.co.uk/job/halfords-graduate-development-scheme-940383301?src=search
“…..we’re experts at helping our customers find just what they’re looking for….”

Working at Halfords does appear to have some un-savory moments though:
http://www.cambridgeonline.co.uk/reviews/17876/

I found it!

I believe this is why bike shops won’t let you take a new bike away boxed up for you to assemble yourself also.

With reference to Evans….. I bought a £350 Trek runabout for my stepdad there and was told I’d have to wait for the workshop to give it the once over before I could take it away. I’d noticed that the brakes needed looking at and told them I could do this myself, but no dice.

Waited forty minutes wandering around the industrial estate, went back and was told (with a withering look) that there was a queue and could I come back in an hour – this was Tuesday morning and there were two other people in the shop….

Eventually they handed it over – brakes exactly the same (not working at all). I honestly don’t think they even looked at it in the two hours I waited 👿 The whole experience left a pretty foul taste in my mouth, especially the condescending attitude of the staff.