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[spacekid2009]

N/S f side light bulb gone on my 2001 facelift, i opened the bonnet and thought it looked a bit of a fiddly job to be doing on a Sunday, so i thought, i'll let halfords do it, it's only a fiver, so the spotty young chap comes out to the Miggy and was totally baffled, he didn't know where to start, quite funny really.
   Anyway, i went home, loosened the battery, moved it out of the way, fiddled about for 45 mins, got caked in crap and eventually done it, yurned lights on and. . . still didn't work, yep, you guessed it, it was the fuse all along, oh well, at least it passed the time.

 :-/

[tunnie]

does not suprise me on bit, i always found front lights on the Omega very straight forward for new bulbs

[Dodger]

According to Halfrauds, my Omega doesn't exist!
They have no such vehicle on their database.
'The 2.5TD? no such vehicle sir, are you sure it's a diesel?, there is a 2.0, 2.2, 2.5 3.0 & 3.2 petrol, but no diesels' was there reply....
So, if you own a 2.2DTI, or a tractor, DON'T go to Halfrauds...... even if you show them the car, they still don't believe they exist, & have no parts for them.

[Lizzie_Zoom]

According to Halfrauds, my Omega doesn't exist!
They have no such vehicle on their database.
'The 2.5TD? no such vehicle sir, are you sure it's a diesel?, there is a 2.0, 2.2, 2.5 3.0 & 3.2 petrol, but no diesels' was there reply....
So, if you own a 2.2DTI, or a tractor, DON'T go to Halfrauds...... even if you show them the car, they still don't believe they exist, & have no parts for them.

A case of the "computer says no" ah?

[TheBoy]

does not suprise me on bit, i always found front lights on the Omega very straight forward for new bulbs

Ones with larger batteries (ie, TD), sometimes you have to shove battery back a bit to get in there...

[unlucky mark mv6]

does not suprise me on bit, i always found front lights on the Omega very straight forward for new bulbs

Ones with larger batteries (ie, TD), sometimes you have to shove battery back a bit to get in there...

,i wouldent take a pram to those idiots,not one of them has a clue what they are doing or on about,last time i went there,missus ended up telling the kids behind the counter whats what,and thats no joke.

[Kevin Wood]

,i wouldent take a pram to those idiots,not one of them has a clue what they are doing or on about,last time i went there,missus ended up telling the kids behind the counter whats what,and thats no joke.

IME they are useful only to carry tools to your car and spectate while you fix it yourself.

Kevin

[feeutfo]

i've come on here to moan tonight!

Specificaly, Halfords bulbs, the quick referance catalogue is handy, they have a wide range it seems but...

is it me or are they very expensive? and given that expense, or even if they where free tbh, are they not rediculously unreliable?

my Mums Focus and my sisters punto (yes i know, i advised against but what can you do?) and my old omega all suffer(ed) with apparantly blown bulbs that on inspection are obviously not failed but too tight in the holder with a very soft pip(?) on the bulb end resulting in a poor connection... unfortunately i've gathered i wide variety of halfords bulbs mostly rear fog, double fillament brake and taillight with the odd reversing and indicater joby, almost all have been agro, but where else to source them from saturday lunchtime on a weekend?...what crap!

...to let a Halfords numpty near your car is asking for trouble imo, but i've noticed a growing number of "cocks"(the ones Clarckson refers too, you know the type, pink shirt, pin stripe suit, German saloon convertable or similar) using the service, sounds like they deserve each other to me....

[mudflap]

does not suprise me on bit, i always found front lights on the Omega very straight forward for new bulbs

Ones with larger batteries (ie, TD), sometimes you have to shove battery back a bit to get in there...

,i wouldent take a pram to those idiots,not one of them has a clue what they are doing or on about,last time i went there,missus ended up telling the kids behind the counter whats what,and thats no joke.

With the thousands of models on the road in this country you can hardly realistically expect the staff of an accessories chain to be experts, give them a break, they have to know about bicylces too -  i would never expect them to know every car - better off going to the main dealership if you can't fit a light bulb, but fair do's to Halfords they do a pretty good job stocking emergency parts such as bulbs, batteries, mirrors, cleaning materials and oil etc. and cans of spray paint - i have always had good results from good ol' Halfords, but not expected too much.   

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[Dave DND]

As an Ex-Halfords Technical Manager myself from many many years ago, I am far from being on the fence about this, and also have a few observations of how the company has gone downhill.

Back in the 80`s, there was quite a good training programme for the staff, and as we were all used to tinkering around with points and plugs on an hourly basis, we had a head start of knowing which end of a screwdriver did anything. With the lack of budget for training and cars so complex nowadays, the kids coming through simply do not have the skillset to tinker, or therefore advise, as they have never been faced with it. Ask a Halfords person now about seriously customising / modifying a car, and it wont be planting a Rover V8 or how to balance a twin carb setup that they reply with, but they may know about which LED bulb fits in place of the original, or how you could be really radical and change your wheels, for . . . erm . . . more round ones. The art of engineering and getting dirty has died - long live the laptop, and places like Halfords are really suffering for it.

But where I notice the biggest downturn is in the audio. Back before the internet and when there was money in car audio, you would find the big brands in Halfords - Pioneer, Sony, Blaupunkt etc etc, but to stop being beaten on price, most of this was given second fiiddle as they looked to asia to come up with some of there own branded stuff - and the Ripspeed head unit has got to be about the worst abomination I have ever seen inside, but it was so popular with the (deserving) chavs, that the powers that be decided to bring in other crap brands also, Tevion, Cheng Flung Dung, and stuff that we have never heard of before. And along with this cheap manufactured goods came other cheap and nasty products, bulbs etc.

But (nearing the end of my rant) this is what I don`t understand. Everybody is looking to buy the cheapest crappiest product of unknown or dubious manufacturer, instead of spending an extra 50p on an established branded name associated with the product in question, and then do nothing but bellyache to everybody when it goes faulty after a few days.

Are people really that naieve and gullable nowadays ?

[TheBoy]

Sadly, I'm having to use Halfords bulbs currently, as there are 2 shops convenienet to me - Halfords just almost opposite where I work, or the car accessory shop in Brackley, which I am currently on a one man protest against, and refusing to use it.

On the upside, those crap halfords bulbs are so damn cheap (on trade, around 20-30p each), I just buy double what I need, until I can get my arse to a dealer (22 mile round trip the wrong way - seeing as I refuse to use those retards at Evans Halshaw in Milton Keynes).

[Dave DND]

I refuse to use those retards at Evans Halshaw in Milton Keynes

 

Not just us that feels that way then

 

[Moos3h]

Interesting to have another ex Halfords face here!

A fair few years ago I worked in stores as a Car Audio Specialist, then Team Leader and then for Head Office as an Assistant Product Manager.

They were a different company, even then, and nowadays the focus is clear for everyone to see, low-rent and bargain basement are certainly the order of the day, especially when car audio comes into it.  The stock of parts etc has also been run down and as such it is of far less use to many amateur mechanics, as they just don't have the parts on the shelf they did, but why chase a declining market?

That said, I don't blame them, it's simply responding to market forces when so few people care about quality vs. the purchase price, and the car park is so diverse that it's impossible to cater for everyone.  Combine this with the declining markets in car maintenance, service, body repair and even modification (largely driven by the fact we are driving more complex, newer vehicles) and Halfords are doing well to keep going in my opinion.

The last part of the puzzle is the staff, and whilst I don't wish to tar everyone with one brush, there are a some staff who simply don't care enough to bother learning the products and the company doesn't pay enough to attract those with established experience.  It's often the case that you hear bad advice being given, but who is there from further up to catch this and educate the sales force?  Sad but true.

The 'We Fit It' service is very good for some people (i.e. elderly who don't want to pay dealer prices), but I've lost count of the time I've seen the staff scratching their heads in the carpark with the front end of a car off, trying to re-fit a headlight etc.  Jobs like this are where experience matters, and sadly this is part of the problem.

There's plenty of good staff out there in the stores, but like a lot of the retail sector it can attract the single-cell organisms that struggle to remember their own name.

Rant over.

Cheers,
James

[unlucky mark mv6]

,i wouldent take a pram to those idiots,not one of them has a clue what they are doing or on about,last time i went there,missus ended up telling the kids behind the counter whats what,and thats no joke.

IME they are useful only to carry tools to your car and spectate while you fix it yourself.

Kevin

,and most of em cant even do that right.

[TheBoy]

,i wouldent take a pram to those idiots,not one of them has a clue what they are doing or on about,last time i went there,missus ended up telling the kids behind the counter whats what,and thats no joke.

IME they are useful only to carry tools to your car and spectate while you fix it yourself.

Kevin

,and most of em cant even do that right.

As with all those types of places, you get some people better than others.  Bit like dealers really