Halfords website is utter rubbish

[mgbglasgow]

Hi all,

sorry to post my first post on such a neg topic, but my wife citreon picasso needs new disk and pads this morrning, and checked it my friendly, neighbourhood halfords via theyre website,, and cant even get it to list brake pads for cars, sure i can get 4 pages of brake pads for mountain bikes (why would you?)

It is a waste of time, now i will have to go and jump in car and ask, defeating the very point of the benefits that the internet bring to consumers, Come on halfords, get with the program, or you will just be selling tents n bikes.

Any one had any joy with theyre site, If you go to GSF car parts, or many others, inc ebay, they work. I suppose halfords have cornered the market on a Sunday, that just leaves them the rest of the week to die a slow and painful death.

Steve in glasgow

[TWOTENS]

I agree, very slow and a rubbish search engine. I'm not sure, however, that Halfords are after our sort of business these days. The section on car spares in my local, is becoming dwarfed by the sections on bikes, camping, satnav and bling bits for the customisers.

[Luxobarge]

[ If you go to GSF car parts, or many others,

Just use those then. GSF, Euro Car Parts and Camberley Auto Factors are my favourites. The trade goes to these places, not Halfords - for a very good reason.

[TriumphDriver]

Halfords are really really terrible these days.
The shelves are half empty, but what they do have is pretty steering wheel covers and air fresheners for the ladies and shiny alloy wheels for the boy racers - nothing for the dedicated enthusiast any more. I went to my local store last week for brake pads - none - discs - none - and a piston caliper spreader tool - none.
Where there used to be shelves full of parts, there are four or five worn looking boxes.
Their on-line ordering is a joke - I checked availability for a set of Imperial spanners just before Christmas, and they were in stock in my local store 9 miles away, so I reserved them. On arrival staff couldn't locate them, so I went home - only to receive a phone call that they were now in stock. I drove back - and same scenario, they couldn't find them.
My next store was 14 miles away, I reserved them there, drove there and on the way received a phone call to say that they didn't have any. It was a 'computer error'.
I drove home, and reserved another set at the original store, only to once again receive a phone call to say that no matter what the website showed, they had none.
Eventually a mate got me a set in a store 40 miles away.
My brother almost bought a 3 ton trolley jack last Sunday, but it was wrongly priced, and the 'proper' one wasn't in stock.

[BXBXBXBX]

Hi, I think it is quite possible to say that Halfrauds are rubbish with almost anything to do with cars. Went to the new big all shiny store for an aerosol of paint and thought I would save them the trouble of looking up the number, looked up the number on the chart and noted that they do several thousand colours and the ones they haven't got they will mix. Having approached 2 members of staff who were engaged in telling the latest news on boy friends/shopping etc. I had to almost prise them apart and say rather firmly that I required some paint, it was obviously a mistake to disturb them. This is what I want please, was met with a stare and having looked at the number was told ' That is not a Halfrauds number, we dont do that.'
Eventually managing to get one of them to look at the chart and persuade them that I was not some old duffer who had got it wrong was told that 'We dont do it' whereby they lost interest and walked off, and I walked out never to return.
What a bloody farce.
Cheers.
Geoff.

[M Paul Lloyd]

Sadly I have to agree, our local Halfords store has gone downhill really badly over the last five years or so.
Staff lack even the most basic knowledge about what they are supposed to be selling and seem utterly indifferent to the concept of actually serving customers, preffering to natter about almost anything with anyone so long as they are not involved with a cutomer.

A good friend of mine spent 20 minutes waiting to be served (he has serious money to spend too) but was completley ignored, so he left vowing never to return, more fool Halfords.

Personally I find that stock seems geared towards caravan owners, bling/duff-duff fanatics and the accursed cyclists rather than anyone with a practical approach to vehicle maintenace.
So if you don't know what you are looking for I really wouldn't bother.
Trouble is the competition has all but vanished, up here in Tyneside we used to have at least a dozen good alternative outlets but all seem to have gone to the wall.

[tractorman]

I haven't been to Carlisle branch for about six months, it was in the middle of a change around which looked as if the car mechanic stuff was going to be hidden in a back corner and the bikes etc would be moved from there to a more prominent area.

However, is it Halfords' fault or is it the market that has changed? I rarely by parts for the Golf (GSF or eBay if I need them) as the car is much more reliable and needs less maintenance than, say, the Montego I had 20 years ago. So all I tend to buy from Halfords is polish and antifreeze (the latter for the tractors - because it was convenient for me). As I have loads of polish, screen wash etc, I doubt I will be there again for another six months!

So, do Halfords move to an area where they can make money (bikes, caravans etc) or do they hold vast stocks of parts for cars that don't need them - on which they can't make a profit because they haven't the turnover - so that someone with "an old banger" can get a unique part after 6:00 pm? I doubt their shareholders would like that!

I well remember Halfords in the 60's - I bought all sorts for my bike (and my first car) - including a bike tyre so old it had dust on it! You could hardly move in the very dark shop and had to ask at the counter - no self service!

Oh dear, I feel an attack of nostalgia coming on.

[SirTainleyBarking]

This would be the same Halfords that is offering half price MOT's in this months issue then?

I left them behind for that sort of work over 10 years ago when they ripped me off something chronic, made up work and fitted replacement parts that fell off (Back box on a mk 1 Polo) I'd certainly not trust them with older vehicles

Only use them in dire emergencies for consumables on a weekend.

I'm lucky in that I have a Landrover specialist / Breakers close by. When I was driving Dubs and Audi's in Wiltshire GSF was my lifeline (Along with the specialist VAG breakers in Trowbridge)

[TriumphDriver]

The funniest ever - or saddest - was watching staff trying to mix me a litre of Triumph White paint, code 19 - an absolute disaster. They used so many paper cups and left half of the mix behind in them, then presented me with a small bottle - about 100 ml - with a lot of apologies. I still have it somewhere in the garage...

[spiderbloke]

At one time Halfords had a policy of trying to hire as many time served motor trade staff as they could recruit. As their marketing team identified that the majority of their customers were now coming from a non-trade, non-enthusiast background their policy radically changed as it was far cheaper to employ literate "casual" staff who could at least look things up rather than rely on knowledge gained on the job.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then resulting in the chances of encountering someone in a Halfords branch that knows what they're talking about has dropped from slim to nigh on impossible. In a lot of ways this erroded their business as it forces a lot of customers to seek out motor factors where they stood a chance of getting served by someone who hassome knowledge, particularly if they weren't 100% sure of what they needed.
As a direct effect of this shift in customer base, Halfords, who's interest was always more in what passed through their tills than whether or not they were offering good customer service, filled their shelves with items that more readilly sold themselves to a certain degree. Hence the increase in leasure and cosmetic items.
Big business in action.... Simples