"Halfords bicycle sales offset fuel concerns"
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6094937a-b371-11e0-b56c-00144feabdc0.html
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Cycling News
"Halfords Declines as Customers Cut Spending on Car Maintenance"
(11 posts)-
Posted 13 years ago #
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perhaps they will focus a little more on the quality of cre for their bike customers now
I say this after having bought a 2nd bike from Halfords recently(cycle to work)
1st purchase(Carrera AM fury) was okay it just wasnt set up well
no offer to adjust the bike up for me etc
the purchase of the Boardman was very poor
mis communication
waits for stock
no phonecall to say the bike was in
arrived and got handed a bike still covered in packaging
wheel at 90 degrees to the bars because "most people collect them by car"
well how about checking 1st?
no offer again to adjust for my fit
seat post set very low,so a chance of scratching it on adjustment. better to set it high and lower it
loose bolts
gears were well set up
brakes less so,also the brake levers were at different angles(both weird at that!)
tyre pressures low
lost a bar end plug on the cycle home
wheel skewers weren't as tight as i would like/expect them
I bought a new helmet at the same time(Boardman)
there were no bags bike enough to put the box/case intoI like the bike but ifit wasnt for cycle2work,Halfords simply wouldnt get my business
Posted 13 years ago # -
It's not really maintenance which has dropped it's teenagers buying pointless shiny things for their shopping trolleys.
"Car enhancement revenue for the 13 weeks ended July 1 dropped 10 percent, with auto maintenance sales down 2.2 percent"
Us old farty blokes getting a bottle of oil, fan belt and Swarfega are much the same as before. I'm not sure who else changes their own oil, I don't have many friends or relatives who do it, but they still sell oil so there are some of us left.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Is it still called Castrol GTX? I loved that advert.
Posted 13 years ago # -
It's not oil, it's liquid engineering, but I tend to get Halfraud's fully synthetic.
Posted 13 years ago # -
I try always to buy oil from a motor factors rather than paying the extra to halfrauds, but their opening hours are convenient!
Posted 13 years ago # -
have to agree, I dont know anyone who buys car stuff from hafwits,always use motor factors, they can get almost anything, same or next day, even for non trade peeps.Freind of mine used to work there, halfwits that is, he left, wasnt much he didnt know about bikes or minis.Lets face it, its a retail outlet now, who happen to haver a bias towards bikes and cars.they dont care enough about bikes, actually thts not fair, a guy in falkirk was very knowledgable and enthusiastic, explained some stuff to me and my son, told us about his bikes and was very helpfull. But his manager was the complete oppositte ! Cost him in the long run cause he had to give me £160 worth of roof bars and clamps cause he said the budget carrier would fit my wifes car......and it didnt !
Posted 13 years ago # -
Halfords are okay for camping gear and the odd bit of bike stuff. Very good bungee cords in stock. I use them because they are fairly handy for me. Except that there is no bike parking outside! Some of the staff in the East Edinburgh branch are quite knowledgeable about bikes so I don't write them off. Good for super cheap folders... :)
Posted 13 years ago # -
Airdrie has bike parking. They are open late and good for big tubs of Swarfega, WD-40 and so on.
I don't trust their bulb charts, always take the old bulb with me, and when the memsahib broke a fan belt one evening last year Halfrauds tried to sell me a timing belt. Then they had the wrong size of fan belt so I came home early and went to a real car shop to get the right size. Of course buy then I'd already taken a nearly right one off the other Volvo in the driveway.
Posted 13 years ago # -
"when the memsahib broke a fan belt one evening"
That seems a bit harsh on the memsahib!
Posted 13 years ago # -
Got to admit, some of their "professional" tools are a bargain.
Parts prices are laughable though, even with a trade card they're steep!Posted 13 years ago #
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