Halfords = Cowboys

jojo

jojo

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Here's a reason why you never pay anyone at Halfords to fit parts for you!

The car belongs to my father inlaw, but he's in his 60s, so he has an excuse! Power leads not pushed right down before being tightened up!
dcc45837.jpg
 
I wouldn't trust them to fit anything, even for free. Not having the leads pushed down isn't life threatening, is it...
 
I thought it was going to be something really bad and awful.
Thats just a little annoying.

Side note, Is that the correct battery for that car?
My battery has the terminals near the windscreen and its a right pain in the *** to fit the cables.
I got a feeling they are meant to be closer to the engine.
 
Axios said:
Side note, Is that the correct battery for that car?
My battery has the terminals near the windscreen and its a right pain in the *** to fit the cables.
I got a feeling they are meant to be closer to the engine.
Click to expand...

Correct battery Axios, it's only a 20v Auto, and it bolted down in the correct position, the terminals are on the screen side yes. My B5 Passat TDI has a much larger battery in the same position with the terminals the same.
 
usuallythe terminals can only be tightened properly if the connector is fully on due to the taper .Its just as easy to do the job right and shows how sloppy Halfords standards can be .Someone needs retraining
 
Mike B said:
usually the terminals can only be tightened properly if the connector is fully on due to the taper .Its just as easy to do the job right and shows how sloppy Halfords standards can be .Someone needs retraining
Click to expand...
Thats spot on,the connectors will come off eventually
 
i was gunna say the same the terminals are indeed tapered
this is how most people tend to over tighten them n munch the hell outa the nut/bolt resulting in the connector coming off as said above and maybe a new terminal if the nut/bolt has been too over tightened
 
They swapped the terminals round at some point during the A4 production. That is the incorrect battery, the terminals should be at the front. If you fit the early battery to late car or vice versa you need to fit the battery backwards to get the terminals to line up, which results in the terminals being wedged against the bulkhead as in the photo.
 
Halfords.. enough said. Lost count of the times I've picked them up for chatting ****. Doubt half of their staff are capable of fitting a set of dustcaps.
 
aragorn said:
They swapped the terminals round at some point during the A4 production. That is the incorrect battery, the terminals should be at the front. If you fit the early battery to late car or vice versa you need to fit the battery backwards to get the terminals to line up, which results in the terminals being wedged against the bulkhead as in the photo.
Click to expand...

WooHoo, I was right. I thought it did not look right.
:)

To be fair to halford staff, most of them are student or people thats just after job with no real interest in cars or customer service. You might get the odd one or two in a store that is a bit more of a enthusiast but I bet they more of the bolt it on and make it loud sort.
I would also not put massive amount of trust in to their training either.

They have bought out National Autocentres garages )or what ever they was before) if you did not know. :)
Halfords Autocentre
 
aragorn said:
They swapped the terminals round at some point during the A4 production. That is the incorrect battery, the terminals should be at the front. If you fit the early battery to late car or vice versa you need to fit the battery backwards to get the terminals to line up, which results in the terminals being wedged against the bulkhead as in the photo.
Click to expand...

Ah well, who knows on this Passat? The battery fits and bolted down, the terminals are not exactly wedged in against the bulkhead, I removed them easily and the car starts, and it's not possible for me to rotate the batt 180degrees, as the terminals would be the wrong way round!
 
Halfords took over Nationwide autos recently and they changed arear bulb on our Avant this month and managed to fit the cluster seal wrongly.When I pointed this out I was told that the apprentice had done itbut if he was clever enough to Know how to remove the cluster why didnt he know that the seal goes outside .On the other hand they didnt charge and it was on a half price MOT
 
Halfords battery - quality!
Halfords is only for the stupid and the desperate, a bit like kwikfit but they stock more overpriced parts
 
AndyMac said:
Halfords battery - quality!
Halfords is only for the stupid and the desperate, a bit like kwikfit but they stock more overpriced parts
Click to expand...

I know where you are coming from Andy, but the father inlaw is 20 miles away, and he's in his 60's, so it's a matter of convenience for him at the time when his battery was flat. AA man fired him up and told him he needed a new battery, and Halfords is the nearest place to get one.
 
Halfords is meant for people who know nothing about cars & who will happily throw money at over priced parts because someone has told them they need to. Small example, I lost a 7mm socket the other week & needed to replace it, Halfords - £4, Amazon £0.73 delivered. Halfords is good for Megs Tyre Dressing only.
 
Jesus,
Talk about negative views...
IF and WHEN you need a service part/tool/cleaning product...
Where is open at 7pm?
Where is open on a sunday when your working on the car and something you didnt plan on falls off?
Their tools are second only to the big guns of snap on and the like,
As said... the people who work there are just like people who work at asda or tesco... the sell meat but would you be sure they could cook it?
So non of us have ever fitted something less than 100% spot on?
But i bet if somebody asked how to fit said item you would say you had done your own and it was easy?
For the wages they get i bet a true mechanic or "trained " person wouldnt even put the kettle on.
 
Actually, Halfords are pretty good for tool sets. I have my 80 piece pro tool set with lifetime warranty from them for under 100 notes, bargain in my opinion!
 
I really like like halford tools.
I'm still using my very first Halford pro tool set from 1998.
Might get another set for my birthday and bin some of my old draper crap.

I heard that halford pro tool sets are made by Snap on, Not sure how true that is though.
 
The tool sets are good quality & priced well if bought, just don't lose any bits or you'll pay a premium. I have a 'value' set which I bought when I was 17, it still exists today.
 
Your bad luck of loosing a tool isnt a reflection on halfords.
The sets are discounted in a big way at a number of times in the year... so one off not sale items will seem expensive ?
I was tolf the rachets and spanners are made by one of the big guns too.
Signet
Facom are a few of the name i heard banded about. Either way i trust every halfords tool ive bought.
 
:) This isn't based on one tool, it's based on their range in general vs. the prices found in local motor factors (which are often over looked and with shorter opening hours) & the internet (if you know what you need). All I was saying is that Halfords have found a niche in an already established market, which is to appeal to those who are generally clueless about the function of their car or maintaining it. Their aim is to make the customer feel looked after, at ease and inject the attitude of "why pay dealer prices when I can have it done here". Obviously to people like us/me who strip down their car on a regular basis, we'd not trust a school leaver to fit a complicated light bulb (MR2 MK2 is a tricky example) but to someone else who just drives the car & nothing else it's very attractive to have the service. Halfords operates no different to motorway fuel stations where the prices are pushed up because they know you have nowhere else to go, if you can exploit it & there is a strong interest in your service then why not, it's good business practice but for anyone who knows whay they're doing you'd look elsewhere.

I know all of this as I used to work for Halfords, I've been on the training program.
 
My posts maybe look like they are aimed at you.
They are not , to be fair you just raised the points that annoy me ,
If we are honest... we have all used them,
Same as alot of people have used quick fit.
I for one use one branch of quick fit as i know one of the lads there used to work for a big VAG tuner , I would trust him to take my car into many many parts and put it back together alot better than i ever could. I do work on cars and have built my own projects before so am not clueless.
If you give quickfit a price to match on anything they sell... ( to be honest same deal with halfords ) they will do their best to match it.
 
Axios said:
I heard that halford pro tool sets are made by Snap on, Not sure how true that is though.
Click to expand...

Snap On are living on their past reputation aswell these days, their tools break also, and you can get a straight swop from any SnapOn tool supplier. All made in china these days, the replacements are definitely not as strong as the SnapOn tools you could buy 10 years ago.
 
I wouldn't worry about it, I haven't taken offense. I normally use Halfords in the "sh*t, I haven't got the right grease/spanner/oil/bulb" moments despite the pricing of some of it where as someone like my Mum would go in there and think £25 for a bulb is reasonable without thinking about alternative outlets. Based on that I now do all of her servicing so she saves a fe £ here and there :).
 
Just used the localHalfords EX Nationwide Autocentre again to check the tracking on my 2.5 Tdi Quattro which was odd after I changed from 16s to 18s recently.Lots of adjustment needed and a new track rod end £80 incl vat and happy with that and drives Ok now.They also do half price MOTs so I am still a regular
 
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