Halfords Group review: Halfords professional/advanced 26 piece set

I should also note that prior to sending this complaint I attempted to contact Halfords via multiple published email addresses, however none of these appear to be functioning or accepting correspondence. This has added further frustration to what should have been a straightforward customer service matter and has left me with little confidence in Halfords’ accessibility when customers genuinely need support.

Let me confirm that following my visit to your Pontefract store on the afternoon of Thursday 14th May I deferred writing this email as I was so badly upset and genuinely shocked by the behaviors of your srtorwe colleagues.

As a car enthusiast, car restorer and general tinkerer I have built a well stocked garage of equipment, many of which is Halfords branded as I was reassured by your lifetime guarantee. Fortunately, until today’s sorry incident, I have never had cause to claim on this promise.

I purchased one of your Halfords Professional / Advanced 26 piece Ratchet Bit Set which has probably been my most used tool over many years. Sadly one of the torx bits recently snapped so I popped in to your Pontefract store expecting a resolution to be simple. Unfortunately I had the sad experience of meeting Ryan and Curtis which left me incredibly frustrated, annoyed but mostly disappointed.

I went to the till as the store was quiet and Ryan was trying to find some spreadsheet for my set. As a customer came along with a straight forward purchase I confirmed I was happy to step aside so the customer wasn’t kept waiting.

Ryan then shouted Curtis who took the broken bit to compare it with the current sets held in store. He then came back and confirmed that my set is obsolete so can’t provide a replacement. I therefore asked how you can offer a lifetime warranty and where that leaves me? I even suggested if they could provide a decent discount on your new set I’ll buy that. Curtis rudely confirmed no and initially didn’t offer anything until I mentioned Head Office when he suggested he could provide a standard bit. Curtis advised me that the warranty is until the set is obsolete and at this point I asked him to write this down so I can take this up with head office. He wasn’t prepared to write this down so I suggested I record it on my phone so he walked off.

I hadn’t asked for either staff’s name at this point but Ryan was just leaving the till to assist a customer outdoors so I took his name. I went into the store to find Curtis which I did and took his name. He said he would offer 10% off the new set and I said I’m a trade card member which is laughingly said would only provide 8%.

I have purposefully tried to keep this complaint as succinct as possible as I know we are all busy but based on today’s experience, I will NEVER buy anything from Halfords anymore. Your staff couldn’t care less about customers and clearly don’t appreciate that customers are essential for businesses and loyal ones are to be highly valued.

Awful experience that has seriously upset me and will change my buying choices going forward.