Hello hope someone can offer some advice. I brought a bike using a e voucher with halfords. I brought it for my son, but he doesn't like the one I have brought, It is brand new and boxed, as I thought he would enjoy putting together himself too. I took it back to halfords and asked for a credit note/voucher so he can come in when he was ready to choose for himself, I should just add he is autistic and does not like to be rushed and likes to take he's own time on things. But It is under a week old too. They said I couldn't, as there is nothing wrong with it, I understand, but it is still in the box unbuilt and it was a surprise gift. Any help.

H My car is not very well, struggling at low speed but if you can get it up to 40 and it goes well enough, anyway took it into Halfords to put the diagnostic machine on it and they said it was plugs and somthing to do with co2. they quoted 274 pounds for the repair. Had a phone call saying that when they were taking one of the plugs out and it shatterd all over the engine and to strip it down further it would cost another 500 pounds on top of this making it around 800 pounds. So told them the car is to old to spend all that money on it and they say that they want 279 pounds to release the car back to us Can they do this ? Is it legal. Many Thanks CG

Hi, Everyone, first off, apologies if this is in the 'wrong' place, but was really unsure where to post this. step son purchased a bike from Halford back in Feb this year (2017) for £750, not a small sum, he has experienced a few issues, but more recently, he has been having issues with 'loose' pedal arm/spindle, I am not sure what the technical term is, the bits that go through the frame and the pedals are attached to! Well this part has become loose, he has been in a couple of times to have it tightened up, again today he had to take it in, the guy that spoke to him has said that as far as they are concerned, it is classed as general wear and tear he has to pay for the parts as the warranty does not cover such things. This is nonsense, first off, he only used it 2-3 of times a week to get to and from work, which was the reason he bought it in the first place, on the bike to work scheme (I think that's what its called) after around 4 months he suffered quite a bad a leg injury, which meant he could not walk properly and could not ride at all, the treatment and healing has so far lasted for about 14 weeks and he has only recently, in the last 2 weeks, started to use the bike again, 1-2 times a week as the doc said it would be ok as long as he did not overdo it. I wholly believe, this is absolute nonsense, and that Halfords are shirking their responsibility to repair this bike under the warranty. What I would like to know from anyone who has more knowledge in this area than myself, is what we should be doing (in the right way) to convince and persuade Halfords that they had better step up and sort this out, and if they won't, what do we do about it. I have done some reading but as often is the case, some of it confused me more than helped, so am asking for some guidance and direction on where to start looking and pointing and what actions to take and follow up with. I thank everyone in advance for their time and very much look forwards to some input and am happy to answer any questions anyone may have. Mr Brooks

I’m looking for some advice on a recent issue I have had with Halfords with regards to a road bike. This had started with a dispute over the quality of work done as part of a service plan, eventually resolved by taking to an independent bike repair shop. Ultimately, I accepted a refund of the cost of the additional work required, but informed them that I was still unhappy with various other issues they were unwilling to resolve. I was informed that a manager would call 4 times, which never transpired, though I believe the whole issue would have been resolved if they had taken the time to talk. The advice I’m now after is with regards to the service plan as some of the documented responses from Halfords have quoted that certain work is not covered by the Service Plan – none of the exclusions were ever outlined to me as the plan was provided as an apology for the pedal falling off when first purchased in 2014 and was renewed as a “3 year service plan” in 2015. Checking in-store, there is no clear advertising of inclusions by means of leaflets or boards. my first query is was the plan I was given ever fit for purpose for my bike and as such has it been mis-sold? Secondly, as part of the independent service I required the headset to be replaced. Checking the service document for my 2016 check, the headset was included. On the latest 2017 outline (eventually located online) the headset is only covered on a Gold Service. the second query is should I have been informed by Halfords of what seems like a change in terms and conditions of what is covered under the service plan? All advice greatly appreciated

I don't want to go into a 1000 word essay so I've tried to summarise this down into valid points and be as brief but detailed as possible. On 24th December 2014, I visited Halfords and purchased engine oil 5L bottle and engine oil top up service. When the gentlemen from the 'we fit' team came to my car he just had a orange pouring beaker and nothing else. On pouring the engine oil into the vehicle and inspecting the dipstick I was slightly alarmed that the staff member wasn't using any measuring device and was seeming freely pouring at his hearts content, I decided to take a photograph of the top op occurring. My partner and her son where in the car whilst this was all on going. I assumed being a Halfords 'we fit' member it was probably just my own paranoia that he wasn't using a measuring device or jug. On completing the top up the staff member told me I was ready to go and it was complete and was about to shut the bonnet when I quickly noticed and informed him that the engine oil cap had not been reapplied and closed to the engine oil unit. The staff member apologised saying he had been at work since 6am and was very tired. So I left the store. On driving approximately 1-2 miles from the store smoke started coming out of the exhaust of the vehicle which i noticed from my rear view mirror and wing mirror. I immediately stopped the vehicle and as smoke was starting to appear from the exhaust and engine decided to check the engine oil top up. I at this time read the engine oil dipstick and saw that it was 3 times past the maximum mark. I took a photograph with it getting into the evening and at this point it became dark quite early and also for proof of the dipstick. I then returned to the store. On this point on returning to the store a 'engine malfunction' light appeared on my vehicle. I informed them of what had occurred and 2 members of staff inspected the engine oil. The supervisor told me she'd get equipment to drain the engine oil with the staff member. When they got this equipment because of the size of my vehicle it would not fit. Therefore the supervisor said she would ring halfords autocentre and see if an 'engine oil overfill' would cause any danger to drive. After ringing them she came back and told me that a mechanic at Halfords autocentre said the vehicle would be safe to drive with engine oil overfilled. I asked why the engine malfunction light was occurring and was told it was probably a false sensor alarm on the trip computer because the car was just 'slightly' over on engine oil. I asked what would happen if my vehicle was damaged or stopped working because of this and was told by the supervisor that I would have to seek reimbursement after purchasing the repair from Halfords Autocentre by bringing the receipt in store. To me this did not make logical sense and after googling the dangers of 'engine oil overfills' on my phone I decided to go into the store and speak to the staff to get some form of written liability and promise in writing. On speaking to the original staff member in store and his colleague they would not provide me anything in writing. I therefore decided to covertly record the conversation so I had some form of proof of the incident occurring and evidence. On speaking to the staff instore the store manager was at a till behind them. The staff told me to not worry and if anything did occur that 'Halfords would pay for it' as they had 'insurance in place for these kind of things'. I was told that mistakes did happen and before staff had fitted batteries in wrong and Halfords had paid the repair. The store manager then said that he drives his car which has 150k mileage on it with overfilled engine oil all the time and it does no damage. With this recorded I left and drove my vehicle home. I decided that something still did not seem right as I had been told 2-3 different things about reimbursement (insurance being involved...paying it myself and being reimbursed..halfords paying the repair costs..). These were three different things and to me it was not logical to drive a vehicle with a engine malfunction light. I kept the vehicle parked up and switched off and did no further driving. I rang my breakdown cover and asked them to send a mechanic out for an opinion. When the mechanic arrived he told me the car was unsafe to drive and the advice Halfords gave me was wrong. It was not safe to drive a car with overfilled engine oil as it was as bad as driving the vehicle with underfilled engine oil. He put this into a report of the breakdown he emailed to customer services, which I later requested. I therefore waited until Boxing Day and in the meanwhile i was left without a car because Halfords was not open during this period. When I rang the customer services on 26/12/14 at 2pm I spoke to someone there and they promised me that my car would be repaired until I was 'happy'. I asked them provide this in writing in which they did in the form of 'case notes' that were forwarded to me. I was told this would be done ASAP and the store would be instructed on how to do this. On being taken home by my mother at approximately 5pm I got a phonecall from someone claiming to work for Halfords claim team. I therefore spoke to them and they told me that they would require proof of the breakdown report and that the car was unsafe to drive as a result of the store's misadvice and negligence. I therefore asked them to put in writing this. Which they did in a email to me on 26/12/14 at 5.23pm I sent them the breakdown report, dipstick reading and audio recording on 26/12/14 at 9.58pm On the 29/12/14 I was contacted by the claims team via telephone on Monday throughout the day who said they would get the car towed to an autocentre to be flushed. This was done and I then awaited the car to be repaired. I asked about what would happen to any charges such as taxi for transport because of Halford's error and as since Xmas eve I had been without a car. I was told to email any costs in form of receipts and they would be reimbursed. On the 30/12/14 I was told the car would be repaired at 5pm. I decided to ring the autocentre repairing the car and ask them to specifically look at the catalytic converter and gasket and do a emissions test and thorough check of all components of the car as I was worried that from seeking advice these could be damaged. I was told this would be done. I picked the car up at 5pm and was given no receipt or invoice and was told that the car was done. Neither did I sign anything. On picking the vehicle up I noticed that before the car had been towed it had 3/4 full of petrol. It now only had below half so i took a photograph of this and asked for 25% of the petrol to be reimbursed to me, as I would not have lost this petrol if the matter had not happened and I sent Halfords the original receipt. The following day I noticed that the A/C was no longer working and neither was the audio system/CD player and these components of the vehicle had been before. I therefore tried to call Halfords but was told by the customer services team that the claims handler was busy and so they would get him to ring me back. I tried to call Halfords two more times within that week with the same response. On the 6th January (6 days) later I sent Halfords a email to the email address they had been corresponding to me at informing them of the problems with the vehicle and my concerns. I received no response and when I called on the 7th January was told that the claims handler who was dealing with my case did not work weekends and had been off so to allow a few days for a call back. On driving to Nottingham on the 9/1/15 M1 the same engine malfunction light that appeared on the engine oil overfill re-appeared on my car's trip computer and dashboard with a weird smell. I decided to pull in and call Halfords customer service and demand to speak to a manager. On calling them they put me through to the claims handler who told me to take the car to my nearest autocentre. I did this and on the 10/1/15 the autocentre confirmed that the diagnosis was that the car had a 'emissions fault' and the 'catalytic converter' needed replacing. Halfords claim team called me on the 10/1/15 and told me that the repair would be started on Monday. On Monday 12/1/15 I was called by the claims handler and told the repair would take upto 1 working day but as this autocentre was under staffed that they would require further time, so a courtesy car in the form of car hire had been sorted for me with Enterprise locally to me. I was told I had to pay the deposit amount on the vehicle but the rental fees would be covered by Halfords. Therefore with no other choice I accepted the rental vehicle. I did this and got the courtesy car. On Wednesday 14/1/15 I was called by the claims handler to say that 'due to the cost of the catalytic converter' an 'investigation' was going to take place to see how the catalytic converter had been damaged and not spotted before. I accepted Halfords to do this as I knew nothing had been done. On 23/1/15 I received an email from the claims handler saying that Halfords staff had given 3 witness statements stating that only 1 litre of engine oil was entered to the vehicle which all staff witnessed and the engine oil dipstick was seen by 3 members of staff who all said it was at minimum, thus the autocentre found the engine oil amounts to be between 1.5-2 litres over therefore this did not match amounts. The autocentre had raised no concerns at the time but the investigation concluded the engine oil amounts did not match and thus Halfords stated that after Halfords topped up the oil i must have added more oil to the vehicle and damaged the vehicle myself, therefore Halfords were no longer liable for the damage/s and expense/s and the car hire would be ended on 29/1/15. On the 30/1/15 I rang the customer services and informed them I would like to speak to someone above the claims handler as at the time of the incident occurring and the engine oil top up happening my partner who was a witness to it all was there and could testify that 3 people did not check/supervise the top up. I also informed Halfords that i had a photograph of the engine oil top up occurring which had a time/date linked to it which was further evidence. I was promised that I would get a phonecall from a higher up member of the team on the Monday 26/1/15 as the claims team did not work on a Saturday. I received no call on the 26/1/15 from anyone higher up and instead was greeted by this email from the claims handler: Dear XXXXX, I understand that you have contacted us over the weekend in regards our response dated the 23rd. I can confirm that I have already discussed this case in detail with Halfords' High Level Complaints Manager, XXXXXXXX, prior to sending the email on the 23rd and that she has confirmed our stance. As previously advised if you do wish to take this further then I can only advise that you seek independent legal advice and address any correspondence to Halfords Legal, as we will not be giving this further consideration at Customer Services. Kind regards XXXXX Claims Consultant I then decided to reply with a letter before action (LBA) and sent one via post to the address I was told to send further consideration to only (the legal team at halfords) via recorded delivery and one via email to the address for Halfords I had. I yesterday received the below response to my LBA. Dear Mr XXXXXX, I confirm receipt of your email. Taking into account our prior correspondence, we are comfortable that this is our final position on this matter, and we do not propose to respond to you further in this circumstance. We refute your assertion that liability has been accepted at any point and recommend that you do seek legal advice should you wish to take this further. We await service of your claims paperwork from your legal representative and would ask that your case number of XXXXXXX is on all paperwork submitted. Yours Sincerely XXXXXX Claims Consultant I am now fed up over the matter. I am going to commence a MCOL. But need help in writing the particulars section. I have looked on the internet but found no examples of applicable use and don't know if what I have done is good enough. Can anyone help? Oh and I forgot to mention have still not had my vehicle back..and car hire was cancelled 24 hours earlier than what I was told!

I have everything with the aa, roadside relay onward travel and breakdown. Car is serviced regularly too. The car is adapted to carry a ventilated child, thus the reason for the over the top cover. We had to call them on Saturday as we traveled to pick our son up from the hospital, we also had another disabled child in the car. Response time 24 minutes. - Bike AA rider. Nice guy took 3 trips to the shop for parts to fix, Sadly not resolved. 1.5 hours now sat on main dual carriageway with no pavement. Relay arranged and AA gave choice, pay up front with a VAT registered garage or use there repairer they would pay upto £500 per claim and i have to pay £35 excess. There repairer was Halfords Auto Centre. Sorted car for 3 days and they took my car without me to garage. Call back later from garage stating the car may have a blown number one cylinder after thaey ran diagnostics Asked to repair with AA Cover. Intially AA forgot who i was and could not find my car....... mmmmmmmm They they did, car repaired 6 days later. Collected car and was given a bill to pay of 495.00. This was in addition to the payment they claimed from AA. Looked at invoice from Halfords and found the following: Credit AA £465 (£500 - Excess £35.00) The charge from Halfords Insurance Excess £35.00 + VAT (£42.00) charged twice then as AA had also take the £35 excess from there payment........ I then look a little closer at the charges. Diagnostic Charge £49.99 + VAT Online you can submit a quote request giving your registration and garage you want to go too. I did my car that was repaired and named the garage conducting the repair The cost would have been £39.99 Incl. so that's another (VAT and Extra Charge) Fluid top up - Antifreeze £35 - They would charge me £20 if i book it in (Dont forget the VAT) In total I feel they have increased the charges between 15 - 30 % Knowing the car is needed to carry the disabled child, i feel they have done me over knowing i need the car urgently as it is adapted to carry my son ventilator. Complaint with AA - Nothing to do with them, Can i speak to a manager - No was first answer, then i insist, but sadly they not answering there telephone. Halfords had shut ............ Grrrrrrrrrr. Is this a contract breach. HELP

I have a 2012 Chrysler 300C which developed a rumbling in the front brakes in September last year. I took it into Halfords Auto Centre Nottingham whom diagnosed warped rotors. The car at this time had done 25K miles. They changed the rotors and pads, my warranty covered the cost bar the first £100. My outlay was circa £100. Roll forward to last week, the issue raised its head again. I took it back to Halfords asserting that although the replacement was 1 month outside their warranty, the car had only done 9K miles since the new rotors were fitted and asked that they replace them FOC. The manager refused and pointed me to their guarantee where it states that all parts and labour are covered for 12 months or 12K miles. I did try to get him to understand that although they have their guarantee it does not supersede my statuary rights, and as per the Sale and Supply of Goods and Services Regs 2002 the rotors should have been of merchantable quality and lasted for a reasonable time, and 9K miles is not a reasonable time. It all fell on deaf ears, so I contacted customer support who came back with the same reply. I did escalate it to a more senior team member but I am afraid that they are digging their heels in. My question is really where do I go from here?

Hi, I bought a 4 year old Citroen C4 Grand Picasso mid June 2014 with 19k on the clock from a reputable dealer with an up to date MOT certificate (June 2014). Mid July 2014 a small Halfords near where I work fitted a Sony stereo that they sold me, and on the way home I noticed some of my peripheral electrics (air con, fans) were not working. I rang the store and they gave me the run around, so I rang another local store (nearer home) that is bigger (with more helpful staff), and they agreed to repair it for me, using the Autocentre attached. I had the car back, with the factory issue original stereo reinstalled and the faults rectified. I wasn't given any paperwork at the time, and although I asked and rang a couple of times, none was sent out to me. Life as a busy full time working single mum continued, and I forgot about it - my husband left me that same May and life was quite chaotic for a while. I did get some odd number readings when the display came on, but I assumed they were not my mileage as I hadn't taken the time to read the manual and the display was complicated with lots of toggling between menus, and I am always in a rush. I took my car for a new MOT and service this week, to be told my car in just over 11 months (May 2015) now reads 137k on the clock. This is clearly logged on the new MOT certificate. I have been in touch with Halfords, and the Autocentre found the original paperwork which said that at the end of July 2014 when they completed the repair my mileage was 133k - so that is a jump in 5 weeks from 19k to 133k. Halfords seem to have washed their hands of it, even though it was their fitting service that created the problem, as they are blaming the repair by the Autocentre. The Autocentre customer services has just rung me and asked me to take the car to an 'independent audio technician' for a 'report'. I acted dumb and said I didn't know any and wouldn't know what to say, so they are ringing the autocentre in the morning to recommend a local audio technician, and to get the Autocentre to prep the audio technician with exactly what they want to find out. This sounds fishy to me - like the two companies (both subsidiaries of Halfords) are trying to pass the buck, plus expecting me to pay for this report. At the end of the day, I bought a stereo from Halfords and had it fitted by Halfords, not the Autocentre, therefore any problem that I have should be rectified by Halfords. I don't know where to go from here. Help thanks for listening, Edna

Hi Caggers Heres my problem, I got a bike last weekend from Halfords on the cycle to work scheme, I got my bike and it seemed fine, but when i rode it only down my road, i niticed the suspension seemed to be alot softer than it was (should). So my question is, am I entitled to an exchange for another bike? I have searched forums and I cant seem to find a answer. Please Help

hi folks, purchased a battery from halfords about 2.5 yrs ago, a maintenance free starter power with 3 yr warranty on it, for my van which i have owned less than 3 yrs, the battery it replaced was the original battery from when the van was registered on the road, however it's not holding a charge and customer services said it's not a problem i dont have receipt, just bring it along to my nearest store, on getting there i was informed that it was not covered by the warranty as the machine said that it was either undercharged or overcharged, which i can figure out what this means as they wont explain it, the van has being checked and it's putting out the correct voltage, they then realised it was not a car battery and done a further test where it said they had to recharge it and then retest it, the battery itself does charge but does go flat overnight so when they test it it is going to prob say its fine, having read some forums on halfords battery warranty its seems i am not alone with the same fault and problem with halfords, she then went on to say that the battery was manufacture in March 09 which means despite it saying it has a 3 yr warranty it only had 2 years warranty as i dont have my receipt and now not covered by the warranty, anyone any advice what i can do thank you :-x

I am so disappointed with the service I had from your Auto Centre in Leckwith, Cardiff and the management team at Halfords head office. I was advised that to take action against your Company would be a waste of time as it would cost me a fair bit of money in the end. Halfords Auto Centre has it customer over a barrel. So in the interest of the general public, I intend to communicate my situation to as many people as possible, along with the service you Company give me and the lack of customer care you provided. To this end I do intend to be fair, giving all the information and Halfords response to my complaint. I expect the public will come to they own conclusions on the quality of service and customer support you provided. I intend to publish this on as many social media sites, forums and web pages as I possibly can, to warn the public about the service they can expect from Halfords Auto Centres. See attached Photo's taken on the same day as the oil change was done, all photo's has a date time stamped on the RAW file automatically by Canon 550D cameras, notice how black the oil is. This is because they did not drain the oil out correctly leaving most of the old oil in there and just topping up with alittle new oil. When I get this oil change done correctly, I will know if they changed the oil filter or not and will update the public. Also see Halfords response expecting me to pay more money to have the oil flushed, which do not need to be done, just the oil drained correctly. Any person who change they own oil will know that draining the oil from the sump and changing the oil filter, (this is not a flush), will produce clean oil on the dip stick and will take some time to turn black in colour. E-mail sent toHalfords Friday 3rd May 2013. Dear Sir, I just had an oil change in your Halfords Auto centre in Leckworth Cardiff at a cost of £52.99. I am sorry to say I am not happy with the service this garage provided to me for a prestige name like Halfords. On collecting the car from the garage, I checked the oil in the car and found it was still black in colour. I asked the two mechanics which was there why this was, I was told it was the type of oil, Castrol. I have change the oil in cars many times in my life time and never had black oil when you filled the car with clean oil after correctly draining the sump. The oil was also over filled above the top level of the dip stick and the mechanic remove some of the oil with a hand pump which he put down the dip stick holder, but he still had to put the car on the ramp and remove the drain plug to get the oil to the correct level, over filling a car with oil can cause damage. I asked the mechanic which oil they used and I put my finger in the oil to see if it was clear and it was. I said to the mechanic that this was clean oil not black, he answered yes and the oil in my car is black, he said yes, turned his back on me and walked away. At this point I said I be e-mailing the CEO of Halfords which he ignored and continued to walked away. I would be very grateful if you would refund me in full the cost for this service which has not been done correctly, as I will need to get the job redone. I enclose a photo’s of you to see the car and black oil on the dip stick. I look forward to a quick reply and resolution to this issue. Yours Faithfully R. Hopkins HalfordsResponse, see attached file sent by e-mail to me from the head office. :sad:

Hi, I have a Halfords battery that I bought brand new in late 2009. I remember I paid cash for it and put the receipt aside in what I thought was a safe place. I now can't seem to find the receipt as I need it to return the battery as it is completely DEAD. It came with a 5 year warrenty as it says so on the side of the battery. I have two cars, one a Golf TDI which I use for daily commute and the other a Volvo for which this battery was in. I would only use the Volvo a few times a month but I wouldn't have expected the battery to die after a year or so of using it on and off. I've tried everything to get it going. I even put it into my Golf and kick started it down a hill then did a 40 mile motorway commute but when I tried to start the car, nothing. A little bit a crank which was all it gained in a 40 mile journey, so the battery in my book is toast. The battery died around 6 months ago and it has been a doorstomp ever since as I can't find the receipt and figured they won't accept it back as I paid cash which means no proof like a bank statement etc. Any advice? Can I still bring it back under the SOGA even though I don't have a receipt? Thanks!

We took Halfords to SCC regarding a faulty sat nav purchased 18months ago which they refuse to budge on offering repair/replacement. Halfords PLC issued an acknowledgment of service on 13/12/2011. They still haven't responded as of today which is over the 28days stipulated. I was just wondering, is it OK to request judgement or do I have to wait 28 working days? This has been really dragging on & just want to get it sorted - hence the question. Any advice appreciated. M

Hello, my son bought a bike from halfords, he reserved it online and asked them to assemble it in store. After he had paid for it and he had begun riding home the handle bars came loose and he lost control of the bike, he was close to the road and crashed then a car nearly hit him. The bike now has several scratches and my son has a scraped knee which could have been alot worse. The person who assembled the bike obviously did a poor job of it and i want to know what i can do about this.