Halfords do tend to get a bit of bad press on this forum so here’s a big thumbs up for them, specifically their Halfords Advanced range of tools.
i’ve had a Halfords Advanced pear shaped head 1/2" drive ratchet for a good 3 or 4 years which has been locking up during use, it could usually be freed off by putting the square drive in a vice and turning the ratchet in the opposite direction. This weekend though it became completely stuck. I removed the cover from the head of the ratchet to try and see what was causing the locking up. The cause wasn’t obvious and I didn’t try too hard to free it off as I had decided to test Halfords lifetime guarantee on their Advanced range of tools. I had no receipt for the ratchet, which Halfords state that you should have in order to get their tools exchanged. I took the ratchet into my local branch expecting them to not be interested in an exchange with no receipt but the member of staff took a cursory glance at the tool, confirmed that the ratchet was indeed stuck and exchanged it with a smile. You couldn’t have asked for better.
Halfords Advanced tools are in my opinion a good range of tools and with that level of guarantee are made even better. OK, it’s a shame that the ratchet started locking in the first place but I think that it may have perhaps been over stressed by me. To get a complete new tool was also a bonus. in comparison, Snap-On would have just changed the worn internal ratchet components.
I give them a try with my snapped advanced breaker bar. I keep it for the wheel nuts, better than the supplied wrench. Used it a good deal lately, but it gave way without any real pressure on it, it hasn’t really had any brute force on it since I bought it.
I have a socket set with a lifetime guarantee bought 15+ years ago from them, and they have recently replaced a few sockets but when I tried to replace the ratchet they told me that’s not covered and I had to buy a new mech for it !
I did notice when I was looking on their website that they do sell the ratchet innards, I was expecting them to just replace those parts if they were going to do anything.
You have to be careful with Halfords. The warranty on their tools does exclude ratchet mechanisms. It’s there in the small print. Luckily, most of them just replace the stuff and I’ve had to have stuff replaced in the past.
Last time I bought a set of ratchet spanners I asked about the warranty, and the part which excludes the ratchet mech. Afterall, a lifetime warranty on ratchet spanners which doesn’t cover the ratchets is pretty useless. The store manager finaly came out and scratched his head and said he hadn’t realised that, and agreed it made no sense. He also assured me he would replace anything if it went wrong.
I think the main complaint with Halfords is people want to be able to walk in a 6 in the evening and buy a bulb for the same price as Amazon will sell you from China.
I have never had a problem with them and if you have a Trade Card, their prices are not extreme either.
I have a socket set from them that must be 25 years old, and apart from replacing “borrowed” sockets and that I have broken the UJ attachment 3 times due to impact gun abuse, the ratchet keep soldiering on regardless to the point I would be conning Halfords were I to ask for a new one after the varied use it has had.
Re ratchets how many of you service you ratchets occassionaly ? ,as an ex Snap on dealer I can speak with a little back ground the main faults I got with them were rust, dirt etc mainly from non pro users ,awash out with solvent and adip in good engine oil can work wonders ,my ops only but I hope it helps