Thought I would pass this on to you, I wouldnt want anyone else to be taken in by this. I recently took my wifes car in to our local Halfords (Warrington), for an MOT, as we had a half price voucher from my wifes insurance. I am fairly car savvy and checked out the car before presenting it for the test, and found nothing amiss. However, upon collecting the car I was told it had failed on 2 points. The handbrake was not fully working on one side and the steering rack was allegedly leaking fluid. I chose to take the car elsewhere for the work to be done, a new set of rear pads and cable adjustment sorted out the brakes. However, the mechanic had some disturbing news about the rack. The clip from one of the gaiters on the rack was missing and there appeared to be wetness around the un protected area. Now comes the bad bit. The clip was definately on before the test. Next point, the mechanic told me to run my finger on the wetness and smell it. It was WD40 or a similer penetrating type fluid, not power steering fluid. It was his opinion that this had been sprayed so that if I chose to look myself it would indeed look like a fluid leak. I have never had to top up the power steering fluid and never had any related problems. The mechanic fully tested the rack, fitted a new clip and the car sailed through the MOT at another garage. I have contacted Halfords customer services on several occasions but no one has ever got back to me. Form your own opinions about this one, but Halfords were very quick to present me with an estimate of £300 for a new rack. If I had not been savvy, I would have probably said to carry out the work. £300 for something which did not need doing. This is questionable behaviour, and I would urge others to learn from this, as there are many other garages out there providing MOT tests.
The subject line said it all for me - an all too familiar statement - didn’t need to read any further really.
(but thanks for letting us know Gary - everyone ends up going to one of these places once - it’s usually enough) - Well done for not letting them rip you off.
Report this to VOSA, plus put something in writing to Halfords head office, addressed to the attention of:
David Wild
Halfords Ltd
Icknield St Drive
Redditch
Worcestershire
B98 0DE
Make sure you tell them the name of the duty manager on the day, plus that you’ve informed VOSA of your concerns. VOSA may not care, but at the very least, the CEO might get annoyed his morning coffee has been disrupted, and will arrange for the dismissal of the local manager. Nationwide Autocentres had a really bad reputation for shark behaviour like this; if I was being charitable, maybe some bad eggs remain after the transition to Halfords.
Kwik fit & other big garage chains have been up these tricks for decades! It’s just terrible!
The other mechanic you went to is a good guy! He could of gone along with it and had some more work off you!
Last year I purchased a ka off a woman that had her car looked after by a Kwik fit centre & they told her that her car was unsafe to drive & would cost about £600 to get it through a Mot & be safe to drive! So she sold it to me & I took it for a Mot & it only failed on one rear broken coil spring! What a con!
AT, thanks. I will call in at Halfords in the morning and try to find out who was on that day. They will probably not tell me but I will let them know I am contacting David Wild, maybe this will at least put the s**ts up them and start them worrying. I intend to do as you say because from the replies received it seems that this sort of behaviour is common amongst the large chains…targets to hit etc. It is not acceptable, it is despicable VOSA do not drop on them like a ton of the proverbial. Will try them anyway.
To be honest I’d never take any of my cars to a chain for any work to be done.
I have a local garage who I’ve been dealing with for years. (Stanground Auto Services in Yaxley if anyone is interested) I trust them to carry out work correctly and to charge me a fair price for it.
I also know that if they tell me that something needs to be done then it really does. On several occasions I’ve gone in and asked them to do a job only for them to inspect it and tell me that it’s not necessary. Show me a chain that’d do that.
I might pay a little more for the work than I would if I went to one of the larger businesses. I had two front tyres fitted last month. Their price fitted was about a fiver per wheel more than ordering the same tyre from Black Circles and having it fitted by the BC recommended garage.
I’m happy to pay that little bit extra for the peace of mind I get from knowing that it’s being worked on by people who I know and who care about doing a good job.
Strange this story should come up now. My mate had a car come in for a service, he did one on the car a couple of years ago, and MOT. The last MOT and service was done by Halfords. In the service record it should have been a full service yet both the ait filter and the oil filters had not been changed, my mate allways dates the ones he puts on, and they were his that he took off. The customer was charged for new pads on the rear for the MOT and the ones on the car were not year old pads more like three years old. The Car by the way passed its MOT with no probs, strange this.
I’m with you there - you need to build a relationship with a local garage to (hopefully) get good service.
Sometimes though, say you’ve just moved to a new area, when you have to use whoever you can find. I have to say that my experience with Nationwide Autocentres was second to none.
My car was stupidly low at the time and I’d forgotten to raise it - they saved me from an embarassing hour in the car park by finding a centre with a pit and getting me straight in there as a priority. When I got there they were in the midst of being thanked by an asian guy who insisted on giving them all a hug. He then told me how they had actually collected his car from a “dodgy MOT centre” (his words) free of charge and fixed his car for less than a third of his original quote.
When I went back to collect the car, they apologised as it would be delayed while someone went to get some petrol - the emissions test was really tight so they had spent 2 hours trying all the tricks they new to get it to pass and had used all the fuel (sorry, i’m a splash and dash type).
While I was waiting near reception I saw and heard just how far these guys would go to help the people who came in.
It was an hour past closing when they got my car to pass and that was with me revving the tits off it!
I’m a born skeptic but they aren’t all bad - I would recommend that place perhaps above any other service i’ve ever received - so, Autocentre on London Road, Manchester (especially Paul (guy from Oldham)) - if any of you are local , try them.
Having worked for nationwide Autocentres for 14 years brought out by halfords the guy in charge is Bill Duffy, David as now left the company type on google bitterwallet on search type halfords autocentres and have a read.Thank god I left the company a few years ago but still have good contact`s within.
Thanks for that, very interesting reading. It seems they have been at it for a while, luring you in with ‘half price offers’, and then shafting you with a big bill. An interesting comment on there was from a guy who complained and was contacted by a senior manager to try to sort the problem. His brake pipes were slightly corroded and just needed a clean and grease to prevent further corrosion. The manager expleaind that Halfords replace parts, they do not maintain or repair parts, therefore they are not mechanics in the true sense of the word. They suspect a fault, they just replace the part, quite often the wrong part according to several comments. I will never go near another Halfords again and have managed to prevent several workmates from taking their cars there. The best advice if people are not mechanically minded would be to talk with family/friends and try to find a smaller garage who they recommend and stick with them, they will be more inclined to look after you if they know you will use them next time you have a problem. Halfords bring shame to the motoring service industry and get all garages a bad name…
Well i am so shocked at halfords going for a rip off
Gary they are well known for it, if your stuck on the roadster side, come and pop up to Pie land and i’ll share some great stories about this great fix it Co, many a phone call from here for owners being ripped off to these super outlets, just glad that you seen through it so quick, far to many don’t
Your welcome and I cocked up david is still the C.E at halfords it was duncun wilkes that left over the the centres and bill duffy was appointed.
Day in the life of service manager.
Open branch 8:15 for 8:30 start, if your down on target phone call at 9:00am from above how many jobs are booked in ie mot`s service work brakes ends will ring you back later.
Phone call around 1:30 it`s half time results how much you done what will you end on [say your target is £1200.00 per day and you invoiced £200 at that point your asked how many jobs are booked in the afternoon say three then you need to turn these into around £333.00 hense the heavy quotes or you get performance managed.
I had a lot of age old customers who did around 3000 miles a year you get a audit brake pads 80% worn at the milage thay would last another 12 months [reason no good] told but this is why your behind target also you could have got a brake fluid change.
Its not the guys on the shop floor its the boys upstairs if you dont perform thay dont get there bonus also the share holders same time you do get some manager like sharks BONUS can be big money if your that way.
I had a similar experience years and years ago, at Halfords near me in Huddersfield. At the time, I had a superb Mazda 323F. I took into Halfords for the MOT, at the time, it was run by the AA. It failed the MOT on the rear drop links. I didnt know then what I know now about car, but at the time, £350 for the mot and drop link repair didnt seem right!! I took it elsewhere, and got it done for £180 (ok, STILL over the top but now i know) and a very stern letter to the AA resulted in apology, and £50 for my trouble. Not bad. I’m not sure who runs Halfords garages now, is it Halfords, or someone else like the AA?
Just got to be careful out there, and question everything unless you know and trust the mechanic working on your car. I have learned a heck of a lot about cars over the years, and I am quite capable of most repairs, but we still have to be on guard!
You a 4 wheel convert then…LOL.
