[wtjs]

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!

Topic

[Sriracha]

Awavey wrote:

Awavey wrote:

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).

[hawkinspeter]

wtjs wrote:

Now that Halfords has conceded the point by offering a complete replacement bike, I can’t see them publically refusing to provide a tyre. The main fault lies in importing a lot of bikes without a single replacement tyre. I don’t need a new tyre for now- my repair using x-ray film and Gorilla tape is working well and is undetectable while riding

Whilst I don’t doubt the quality of your repair, I’d be cautious about the rest of that tyre not being faulty – keep an eye on it.

[wtjs]

Now that Halfords has

Now that Halfords has conceded the point by offering a complete replacement bike, I can’t see them publically refusing to provide a tyre. The main fault lies in importing a lot of bikes without a single replacement tyre. I don’t need a new tyre for now- my repair using x-ray film and Gorilla tape is working well and is undetectable while riding

[Awavey]

youd think so, but try

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.

[hawkinspeter]

There’s plenty of other width

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).

[Sriracha]

It’s not just Halfords. Most
It’s not just Halfords. Most companies that deal with the public seem to operate like this now. I guess it’s their way of managing their in-tray, by ensuring no asynchronous communication. Basically, there is no in-tray, you can’t join a “queue” only to wait weeks for a reply, which would be an observable metric indicative of poor service. No in-tray, no queue, no negative metrics – customer satisfaction sorted? Also known as the “la la la I can’t hear you” school of customer satisfaction management.

[Flintshire Boy]

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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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[Flintshire Boy]

 

 

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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[brooksby]

My personal opinion, which

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.

[wtjs]

‘Kafka-esque’ is an overused

‘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!

[wtjs]

it would be almost worth
it would be almost worth paying to see how quickly they can fit a Schwalbe Marathon plus
We now know the answer to this: for ANY bike tyre, it takes 2 weeks!

[KDee]

Good grief! That’s awful! 

Good grief! That’s awful! 
Good luck getting that replaced…sounds like it’s already becoming a drama. 

[wtjs]

Curiouser and curiouser!

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!

[Oldfatgit]

I tried that once with a car
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)

[wtjs]

customer.services [at]

customer.services@halfords.co.uk

Thanks for the effort, and I guessed myself that’s what it would be, but an email address that they refuse to give out is the same as no email address at all- all they will then say is ‘this mailbox is not monitored’. They haven’t replied to the email I sent to the address that is stated on the complaints section of the website

[Author]

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