Halfords atrocious service warning

I would like to inform people of how bad my experience was with Halfords instore, online and customer service has been on a recent attempted purchase so as to warn other potential customers as to the incredibly poor service that may be expected when purchasing from Halfords.

To summarise I bought items through Halfords Ebay a couple weeks ago. I was informed via the Ebay App that my items were ready for collection. I travelled to the store expecting my items to be ready for collection but ended up waiting for 30 minutes which meant I missed my dental appointment. I was told that ebay were at fault at first and that they would get the items re-ordered and they would let me know when they had arrived. I was called 4 days later and told that my items were ready for collection again. Again I travelled to the store and once more was left waiting 20 minutes for items that they searched for and could not find. I was told that it wasn’t their fault again and that Halfords ebay is not the same as Halfords (they use the same name and logo and have the same customer service though). I then waited a further 10minutes to receive a refund on my items and left the store to call the customer service people to explain the situation. They did attempt to call back and left a message. When I got home I checked the total I spent on ebay and found they had short changed me when refunding the amount instore. I spoke to the customer service line again on Monday and have been told after suggesting they make a donation to charity to make up for the inconvenience caused that they would compensate me with 10 pounds plus a 40p per mile refund. When I asked about the 2 and a half hours of my time wasted, they said they couldn’t do anything and this is how they resolve all customer complaints.

“Dear Mr McKenna

Thank you for your call today regarding the refund you received in store.

I am very sorry to hear that you only received a partial refund. This is something I can discuss with the store to ensure that they are checking this carefully.

I am also very sorry to hear of the poor customer service that was received at the store and the amount of times you had to return to the store for this issue with your order. We do appreciate your frustration and was never our intention.

As discussed we are unable to compensate for loss of time as there is no way of us being able to calculate this. We would like to offer you the following

Your refund that you are still due of £6.07 sent via cheque to yourself, if you could please provide the address of where to send this.
Your mileage of 12 miles as you had 2 trips there and back to the store of 40 pence per mile £4.80 and also a gesture of goodwill of £10 for the inconvenience you have had. This can be raised and sent to the charity of your choice.

We feel that this is a satisfactory resolution with the information you have provide and I can ensure you we will endeavor to improve on the service you received.

Please accept my apologies once again for any inconvenience caused.

Kind regards

Kirsty Harrison
Customer Service Advisor

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I am riding a 210 mile charity cycle with 11 of my colleagues to raise money for a national centre for the development and testing new chemotherapy treatments that one of the guys has been attending for the past 3 years on June 26th and was going to suggest they make a donation to this charity. We are setting off at 1am and will be doing a 21mile loop 10 times.

This request of a charity donation is the only solution as far as compensation I have ever asked of a company. They have clearly gone wrong with how they have dealt with a loyal customer in my opinion, as I value my time, and I value charity work. I am afraid Halfords don’t seem to value either in the same way.

I really feel as if Halfords haven’t taken the issue of wasting peoples time as if you look at the feedback on their ebay account it seems it is an ongoing issue of people being told their items are ready for collection but aren’t there. Other people have complained on the other negative feedback comments of struggling to get a refund on their mistakes in the past also. I used to think Halfords actually cared about their reputation, but I have been left absolutely infuriated by their apparent lack of valuing a regular customer. I have already found other outlets for all the items I needed and the other regular items I would buy from them.

Kind Regards
Peter McKenna
Keen cyclist/ newbie triathlete for life enjoyment. I am an Engineer to pay the bills.