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forum
Deliberate Obstruction by Halfords!
Why do these companies alienate customers by deliberately obstructing complaints? On the Halfords Intercity Folder topic you can see that I was very complimentary about the bike. However, there is a fault on the rear tyre of a bike I collected only 5 days ago (photo to follow)- the sidewall had detached from the wire bead. I assume this would be a simple problem to solve as I have the photos. I then discovered that Halfords doesn't publish an email address for Customer Services- they require you to use 'Live Chat' in which you contact people who don't know anything about cycling and are probably in another country. The simple question I asked was 'Please give me the email address of Customer Services'. 10 minutes followed with no reply, followed by this, from 'Mehnaz':
As we do not have any updated email id right now so what best I can do for you, I will marked an email on your register email address and you can revert back on that email and I will forward it to the team.
You will all appreciate that this is a brush-off designed to achieve nothing. Halfords Customer Services Live Chat is unable to provide an email address for Halfords Customer Services, but Mehnaz is apparently able to forward an email to them from me- except I have no address to send that email to!
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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67 comments
'Kafka-esque' is an overused term, because I think it should imply some sinister peril to the victim, which I do not allege. However, it does convey some of the surprising aspects of the case
Eventually, the day before I was due to enter the no-turning-back stage of the Small Claims Court where I would have pursued it the bitter 'return bike and money back' end, Halfords finally wrote and offered me a new bike. I was somewhat mollified by this offer, as it showed that they were taking the complaint seriously at last. The replacement proposal appears to be madness, all over a faulty tyre, but it transpired that 'we do not have a tyre of that type in stock at the Blackpool branch'. What this really means, since I was asking for it to be sent to me by post , as opposed to their original idea that I had to spend 3-4 hours taking the bike to Blackpool and leaving it for 2 weeks and collecting it again, is that they don't have any 20 x 1 3/8 tyres across Halfords UK at all. I then looked on the website to find that they don't supply any tyres for this bike that they sell- there's a 20 x 1.35, but no means of finding out whether it would fit (no quoted bead seat diameter etc), as 1 3/8 would be 1.375. They don't sell mudguards for it either.
I didn't want a new bike as I was very happy with the one I have apart from this 'trivial' rear tyre, and a new one was an unknown quantity. Neither did I wish to cause excessive trouble over what is only a minor setback. I proposed 2 days ago that, although it was surprising and annoying that they couldn't provide a tyre, it wasn't a disaster and that I would wait until they could find one. They haven't replied yet, but the heat is off now and I have other bikes to ride!
My personal opinion, which would never happen, is that if any store sells something which has consumables associated with it (eg. bike tyres, as in your case) MUST sell said consumables.
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Good point. Bought a strimmer from B&Q. Later on, went to get replacement strimmer line - they don't stock it! = strimmer now beyond my capability to sort out. Bulls hit.
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Reminds me of going to a certain Shop that only sells Futons and associated accessories to get a new cover for the futon mattress I'd bought there four or five years previously ... and they'd changed the mattress size, so no longer had a cover that would fit it. Grrr.
youd think so, but try finding any spare replacement parts for a Boardman bike in Halfords, or anywhere for that matter. They seem to sell you the bike on the basis youll replace worn out bits with another manufacturer, or just buy another bike.
I made the mistake of returning a Boardman HYB 8.9E to my local Halfords for repairs to the Fazua system (broken controller and connectors). They had no clue, zero, but that didn't stop them gamely "having a go". It was like seeing a watch repaired by a blacksmith. Never again. (Props to Fazua who sorted me out and put all costs to warranty).
And so it was back in the '80s when I worked there. Eg A Raleigh Burner BMX would come with red, yellow or blue tyres, but we had no stock of these. There were sets of rad pads, but they weren't Raleigh. I still can hear Nigel the cycle floor manager saying "take one off another one, mate" - we often cannibalised.
That seems extreme.
Oh, you meant the bikes
Isn't Preston closer to Garstang than Blackpool? Surprised you didn't go there.
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Plus, you'd probs. have got more sense out of the Preston lads.
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YW.
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PS - PNE have just equalised against Tangerines.
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There's plenty of other width Schwalbes on eBay, so it looks to be a less common width, though I did find this new pair of 1 3/8" for £25: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255768282556?amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoJjBp8yHn%2BXlTj49XEfNZMCKTxUCFGEUtKYY%2B%2FQxQQoxghK9voMv%2FvEdZaAqvYi0l%2F%2BMZTzSnI9yqfY%2BW8grdz0GjPCvN3MWXDPagPuh3nmhtjxsenu3jWuiikRVWSb8%2Bv5vArgihS841aKiAdMd1P5iB2PNWCvuZYRjMVcyrsDN0Uqg%2FBr85rx22%2FCORqTb1YE6nzEKVf2kn0SxEVAS%2BQY%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5jmq8GAYQ
Maybe Halfords would go for giving you a £25 voucher (presumably just for Halfords stuff) and then you could just go buy a pair of replacement tyres? (Alternatively, buy the replacements and then shoplift £25 worth of stuff from them).
Curiouser and curiouser!
I've had no actual reply to the fully illustrated (more tyre pictures than here) letters to 'ResolutionExpert.... What has appeared is a couple of emails falsely claiming that I have agreed to waste several hours taking the bike back to Blackpool, leaving it there for 2 weeks and collecting it again on the 30th October- presumably while the Halfords 'technicians' work out how to take a tyre off and put a replacement back on- 5 minutes maximum for me.
I'm not standing for that so I have replied, with a copy to the CEO email address generously provided by David9694 below, saying that if Halfords chooses to punish me like this then I have lost confidence in the company and they can have the entire bike back as 'unfit for purpose'. After all, I still have the Birdy! I have given them the opportunity to come to me and I will take the old tyre off and present them with the duff one- or I have offered to send more photos of the inside and outside of the tyre. If they refuse all that, they can get stuffed!
Direct messaging on Twitter can be remarkably effective IME, even though it's no more public than an email. I don't know why the difference - but I've used it to my advantage many times.
Obvious fault, especially as no sign of any impact damage. If you collected it, I would have thought the appropriate solution was to plonk yourself back in the shop, preferably on a Saturday morning when busy, and politely request a replacement tyre. If none is forthcoming, then you get louder and more demanding muttering about poor Halfords quality. Usually works.
I tried that once with a car battery I had brought that wouldn't charge.
Took it back to the shop, and they refused to take it as *it wouldn't hold charge* ...
Discussions about selling goods not fit for purpose, Sales of Goods Act etc got nowhere and louder ... and they called the Police, claiming I was making a nuisance and refusing to leave.
A nice helpful officer turned up and told me that I either had to leave or be arrested.
I explained the problem - faulty goods, being ripped off, not giving a refund etc - and the helpful officer advised that it was a civil matter, he couldn't do anything about it, and if I didn't leave I'd be arrested.
Contacted the local Trading Standards Office, explained the issue and was put in their investigative queue.
Never heard a thing from then... phone calls went unreturned, emails unanswered... and me left £180 lighter (£90 for the original and £90 inc fitting from somewhere else)
Well, that's clearly a manufacturing fault, so Halfords shouldn't be trying to avoid dealing with you.
One possible tactic is to insist on returning the entire bike as it's not fit for purpose/faulty and see if that prompts them to be reasonable.
It's an excellent bike! None of it appears to be made of pasta glued together with spit. I have now, he says smugly, solved the 'creaking' noise, which proved to be the massive main frame hinge, and have established that this cheap bike rides as well and is as fast as my much more expensive Birdy! I just want a new tyre and I'll keep going until I get it.
I have now found resolutionexpert [at] halfords.co.uk which appears to be a way of nipping in the bud time consuming complaints from bolshie old knackers who are in the right and have an impregnable case. I hope it works.
Let us know how you get on with that.
Let us know how you get on with that
Sadly, there has been no response from resolutionexpert [at] halfords.co.uk- looks like they're going to try the 'ignore it and he'll give up' technique. Disappointing that they resort to this over a trivial claim of faulty goods, after I was initially so positive about Halfords. I have re-sent the same email and will give them another couple of days before I go into full 'consumer rights' mode
Over-inflated?
No, it's just the way I'm sitting.
Seems unlikely that wtjs would over-inflate a tyre enough to cause that damage and I would expect over-inflation to cause a more dramatic failure with a noticeable hole in the outer. Even if the tyre was over-inflated, it still looks to be a manufacturing defect to me.
Over-inflated?
Do you work for Halfords Black Ops? The tyre actually states '110 PSI' and is at about 50. It was 5 days out of the shop, and you can see the picture. Of course it's a manufacturing defect!!
Let us know how you get on with that
No response from resolutionexpert [at] halfords.co.uk so far. I have a bad feeling about this, so I am readying myself for a struggle
I didn't say who - but I guess the chances of Halfords checking the pressure/ knowing how to use a pump are remote. But if they repair cars there's always the chance some klutz put the air line on it.
I know it's a PITA, but do you not need to pay them a visit?
I saw the other day they actually offer a tyre fit service for £10, if you buy the tyres from them, it would be almost worth paying to see how quickly they can fit a Schwalbe Marathon plus
it would be almost worth paying to see how quickly they can fit a Schwalbe Marathon plus
I use Marathon Plus on the Vitus gravel everyday bike, and they've never been any trouble to fit- but I haven't had to remove them since fitting except for the Hewitt replacement wheel after the collapsed rim
Keep the tyres and rebuild the bike around them.
I similarly had no trouble fitting them onto Mrs HawkinsPeter's MTB when she was using it for commuting - even swapped them with off-road tyres on occasion.
You forgot to post the image of weightlifter squirrel with its little dumb bell set?
A repurposed home made headset press!
That's inhuman...
Having said that it varies - my worst nightmare was with a 20 inch Schwalbe G-One (with tube) of all things. Think I'll just cut that tyre off when it needs replaced...
Or find some hideous tubeless / wheel mismatch to see if they can inflate it !
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