Halfords Review

Overall Rating

Well I suppose I'll start with the good points about Halfords, as far as I can tell there wasn't actually anything wrong with the individual items that I bought, and they were all fairly well priced. The layout of my local store isn't anything spectacularly good or bad and I didn't notice any vermin etc.
Unfortunately that marks the end of the good points. I've been having bike problems for a while now and the "professionals" at halfords have been repeatedly taking it in to be fixed, serviced etc at great cost to me. I've had the rear cassette replaced, crankset replaced, chain replaced, gear shifters replaced and the brakes upgraded on my bike by them, only to run into problems with every single item that I just listed. After the first repair attempt on my bike absolutely nothing had been accomplished except a half-hearted readjustment of some cables, the staff had failed to notice that the teeth on the crankset and cassette had been worn down to the point where they no longer gripped the chain properly, causing the slipping problem that I had been encountering. Eventually they managed to sort this out (after a wait of about a month) and phoned me back after this time announcing that they had changed the crankset, and not the cassette which they had apparently forgotten about. Still, I eventually got the bike back and fairly functional for a few months.
The next part of my halfords saga begins with me almost being hit by a car and deciding that it would be a good idea to upgrade my brakes. I used the website to find their nearest store with the components in stock, went up there to buy the items and lo and behold, they didn't have the gear shifters in stock so I had to buy the more expensive alternative. The brakes were fitted (upgraded from v-brakes to disk brakes), but upon trying out the bike I found that the rotors of the brakes were rubbing every half rotation of the wheel. Deciding that I wouldn't bother with halfords I opted to try and find out the cause of the problem myself and discovered that the wheels were out of true and the spokes were incredibly loose. This diagnosis was the result of a short observation that apparently went beyond the capabilities of the staff at halfords.
After this chain of errors I opted to get the bike looked at by an actual professional, only to be informed that the new cassette and chain on the bike had been badly worn since the chain was too short for the system and was under incredibly high tension in the lower gears, and therefore needed replacing once again.
Speaking from my experience of the biking section of halfords I would definitely advise you to avoid them at all costs unless you are capable of fitting the components yourself. The staff have very little in the way of expertise and in my experience at least seem to be more concerned with getting their repairs done and getting home than helping customers who actually come into the store asking for help. I would recommend that if you have any bike problems you should pay a little bit extra and find someone who actually knows what they're doing, it could save you money in the long run.