Halfords Autocentres Reviews 

9Absolutely disgusting !!!.we paid for tyres to be fitted and was told it would be done at 2 pm the following day .
At 2pm we were told the tyres hadn't arrived and was then told by 3 pm they should be there ...we had a appointment at the vets for 3.15 so I had to cancel that while we waited for the tyres .
The tyres did not turn up yet again so from 2 pm until 5 no service .I'm not blaming the men in the garage im blaming the whole of halfords system ....I rang customer services and explained everything to 3 different people and I was promised a call back yesterday after 6 pm nobody rang !!!!!. 2 customer services consultants promised to ring me back but didn't!!!!!.I was in tears that we missed the vets appointment we had paid 320 pounds for nothing !!!!.
I rang the garage this morning and explained everything and of course they said it wasn't there fault ...but every single person who works for halfords represents the company and should provide service when its been paid for ....our refund had not even been processed back to us .After some time of me getting frustrated and upset yet again a young man ordered the refund while I was on the phone because my trust had gone in the whole company I insisted on a e mail to confirm the refund had been done ...the young man did it for me thankgoodness ....then I had to ring my bank to explain everything because the money was still pending .
Does Halfords have no consideration for there customers ???? I would never recommend this company to anybody and I'm seeking compensation for the stress and time this company has caused us .we now have to wait which they said could be up to 7 days to get our money back ...why couldn't they process it for a quicker payment knowing we never had the service or tyres ???....why should we have to wait 7 days we need new tyres and don't have 310 pounds to keep dishing out to company's who don't provide the service they promised ......we are absolutely disgusted !
The update of this problem is even worse !!!!.we were sent an email to say the job was cancelled and a refund was submitted and today Halfords have taken the money again so another 310 pounds has left our account and after hours of speaking to different customer service people I was told after my husband giving me permission to sort this all out they need permission again before we get the refund .my husband csrnt use his phone at work do after all day Friday and this morning there is not one person at this disgusting company who can help us .we are now paying bank charges and its affected our lifes so much money has been lost through cancelled appointments and holding on the phone for hours trying to speak to somebody ...who tell lies !!!!...we have had no call backs like promised and been cheated out of money for absolutely nothing !!!....
I waited for my call back it never happened I had to ring again this time I spoke to rude customer services in South Africa who actually were laughing I was tried so many times to be fobbed off ...one of the excuses was the advisor had been taken by ambulance to hospital that's why she didn't ring me back ..I have never heard so much garbage I'm my life I was put on hold for 55 minutes for nothing!!!...they clearly thought I would get fed up but after 6 days of being treated disgustingly I was not going to give up ....I insisted on my problem being escalated eventually I spoke to a English person who sounded abrupt and said exactly the same as the South African advisor ...until I insisted in speaking to her manager .. ..then after 6 days speaking to 16 people and putting ourselves through this nightmare a level headed lady spoke to me . .she actually said that my husband should be proud of me insisting this problem was sorted because she herself knew what I must have been through to get to her position she as well as others are trying yo stop this long process of what customers are having to go through ....at last I managed to get compensation which we clearly deserved if not more ....but I settled for the amount as I was compl with out it had affected our whole family the tine I had spend on the phone the arguing the raising of voices the being past from pillar to post from being laughed at . .my time has come yo say goodbye to this disgraceful company if I hear the name of the place I feel nauseous .we have our refund and comensation ..

This company has gone downhill massively since the new Autocentre has opened in Bognor Regis.
I’ve used them for years and recently received such poor service, I was asked to come back as they didn’t have the brakes in stock. no problem, went back arrived at 08.20am as arranged I tried the door it was locked, no problem it opens at 08.30am the two guys were sitting at their desk, totally ignored me as I looked through the glass door, I tried again at 08.33am the my didn’t even look up, I knocked on the door, a guy got up from his desk, flipped the latch open and walked away, didn’t even pull the door open, just blanked me. When inside I was told the brakes hadn’t come in, I left went down to KwikFit and what a difference, polite, if you don’t mind waiting Sir we will try and get you away for 10.30am, the tyres were in stock and I was away for 10.20am.
Will I use Kwik fit again, most certainly I will.
As my vehicle is a corporate car we as a group spend many thousands of pounds each year with this company, I’ve lodged a complaint with my work hoping that they stop using Halfords again.
Absolutely shockingly bad customer service, these two guys should not be front of staff when dealing with the public!

Appointment made 9am but that appointment is not a time that is just a number because 6 other people were booked in at 9am. When I visited the branch and made my appointment I was given a time. I do not expect 6 people to be booked in at the same time as me just so you can get your £'s. In fact because you have done this I won't be back I leave a bad review and customers will read these reviews and likely go eslewhere

A very poor service.

Received numerous prompts to book my motorhome in for its MOT so I booked and paid up front for a Full Service & MOT at my local centre c2 weeks in advance.

On arrival they said they couldn’t do the MOT as the vehicle is too big for the ramp, so I left it with them for the service.

I then got a call to say they couldn’t do the service either as the vehicle is too big.

A refund takes 5-7 days, meaning I have to pay for the service elsewhere while they still have my money.

I tried to complain via their Customer Services contact centre, but they were not helpful. Computer says No.

Tried multiple times to escalate through their chat service, and email, but got stuck in a loop of not actually getting anywhere, and repeated emails telling me my complaint had been closed!

I have given up.

But this is easily fixed moving forward, as I will not use them any more, as it really isn’t worth it.

The people in their retail stores are great, but the auto centres are very poor.

As for their Customer Services…….I am near speechless!!

Such a shame, as my local Halfords AutoCentre used to be really good.

I have given 1 star, as there wasn’t an option to give any less.

Why is it i can goto grimsby to pick an item up when I live in louth but they can not have the item sent to ther louth store or deliver to my address don't they deliver to ther louth store !!!!!!!

Absolutely would not recommend using Halfords. They managed to damage two of my wheels, never told me about and only managed to fit 2 of the 4 tyres i paid for. A month down the line various emails with there so called customer services and i’m still left with damaged alloys and no refund for the tyres they never fitted. Absolutely terrible workmanship and customer services. Never seen nothing like this in my life

Booked a gearbox oil change at Elgin Autocentre. Phone in the morning to confirm time and it’s a automatic gearbox. Even got quotes for the automatic gear box. Arrived after a 49 minute drive. “Oh we don’t touch automatics” Absalute shambles!!!

Booked my car into Gateshead Team Valley for a service on Monday 6th July. It's a 1.2 Corsa GS less than 3 years old and under 11,000 miles. Noticed on my driveway oil leaking from the engine. Called them Thursday to ask them to sort it out. Booked me in for Monday. Noticed this evening the oil on my driveway is excessive to say the least. I am now so worried about starting the engine in case it seizes. Surely a straightforward service is bread and butter to these people. How can they get it so wrong? Ironically took my Sprinter van in there in May for a service. That developed an oil leak which it never had before. Neither of the job sheets mentioned oil leakes of the van or car. I wonder if it was the same technician that did both? I am incensed that my car has leaked so much oil over my driveway and I fear it's unsafe to drive.
I intend to speak with the manager in the morning and enquire how I can make an official complaint against the Gateshead autocentre to their head office.
To say I am upset about this is an understatement!

Dreadful experience at Shoreham-By-Sea, Halfords Autocentre. Just exhausting by the number of trips there due to mistakes and issues that occurred due to incompetence. Left driving without a valid mot for a couple of days due to new tyre being put on wrong wheel and mechanic that did it just went home at the end of the day instead of rectifying it (wow what incredible customer service!). This was after a whole other load of errors that occurred during my experience with them. When I finally took my car back to correct the mistake, they basically just took a short cut and kept the new tyre on the wrong wheel and put my old tyre, which shouldn’t have been removed, on the wheel that’s tyre needed replacing just so it would pass the mot but clearly not doing a proper job as paid for and expected. Given a discount of £20 for the privilege.., what a joke! I spent probably that much on petrol going there and back 4 times

Drove up from Belgium to the UK in my Volvo XC90, with my two kids in the backseat. Halfway into the journey the airconditioning stopped blowing cold air. Driving with the windows down lost its charm after a half hour, and looked up a Volvo garage en route to London. The one in Maidstone could book me in 10 days later. Not an option. Various local garages were near closing time so Halfords was the last resort. After a slightly convoluted front desk/garage liaison process, Tony offered to do a free check for the coolant. Took a solid 15 mins to get the right size tools to get access to do a pressure reading. Looked like I’d need a garage after all. Tony helped look for the most convenient one in London near to my home. This sadly looked like another several days wait. Tony didn’t want to give up. He decided to still have another look at the software. That seemed to be the problem, toggling between manual and automatic, eventually kicked the aircon back into life and ice cold air again blasted into the cabin. Journey saved. Happy days. Thanks again Tony for saving the day!

Booked for Air Con Diagnostic in Halfords Stockport, it took all day, they said the air conditioning is fine just needs regas which is £157, it's done and a few weeks later start blowing warm air call them and they said i have to pay for Diagnostic again and if needed a regas as welli have to pay £157 again, avoid Halfords for any type of diagnostic specially air co, not recommended.

It's a shame all the Autocentres are reviewed on a combined basis.

My experience with the Autocentre in Bletchley, Milton Keynes was a very good one. My car was booked in here by Cinch - don't ask!!

Emma at Halfords was friendly, professional and very helpful when Cinch weren't!

All in all, my experience of this Halfords Autocentre has been a positive one.

Visited Halfords Congleton on a Monday ,gave car registration in and was quoted to replace break pads front and rear.Booked the car in for Thursday that week and took the day off work.
As arranged dropped the car off at 10 am to be to.d they could fit the break pads but wouldn’t be able to replace the sensors …was very disappointing but as I had booked the day off agreed to continue.
2 hours later got a call to say they had quoted incorrectly and the pads fitted without the sensors was now twice the cost.
I collected the car and didn’t have any confidence in using Halfords Congleton …they seemed totally unorganised …book elsewhere !

Horrible customer service—do better, Halfords.

I have been a loyal customer who always takes my Mercedes to the Foss Islands (and nearby) Halfords Autocentres, but my latest experience was shocking. I needed my auxiliary battery replaced and was encouraged to buy it online, with the promise it would be swapped the same day. Instead, they admitted at the end of the day that they didn't even have the battery in stock, and they had mistakenly replaced a completely different battery that was perfectly fine.

Mistakes happen, and I was patient enough to deal with the hassle of returning the incorrect battery and sorting out the labor credits. However, the customer service follow-up was an absolute nightmare.

The agent I spoke with, who identified himself as "Alpha Victor, started shouting at me after asking a million questions without answering any of mine. When I asked for clarification, he doubled down on the yelling, telling me that I didn't understand. He then muted the call, only to come back and finally give me the answer he clearly had all along.

To be yelled at by staff after Halfords messed up my car from start to finish is unacceptable and I don't know how you expect customers to keep coming back. You lost at least one today

On visiting Halfords GU11EG as a service engineer recently, I would like to thank Matt the manager for opening up the centre early and his hard work to give me access to all the equipment I needed. Also thanks to his team. The workshop was clean and tidy
Mitch C

DO NOT BOOK ONLINE. As I've just done. I took the day off to get my brakes fixed and booked online, 1 week before the appointment. When I arrived at the garage I was told me that they couldn't do the job because they didn't have the parts. No apology, apparently my fault. I was informed that when you book online, stock is not checked and parts aren't ordered. There is no mention of this on the Halfords website. The garage couldn't even process a refund, I spent 30 minutes on the phone, with customer services, to get my money back. I will not use Halfords Autocentres again.

Got booked for changing one bulb, came to my appointment and was told that only trained person on EVs can do that so needed to be rebooked. After arriving for my appointment I was told my car was actually not booked in and I need to rebook again.

So been asked to come to times to the garage without any result sacrificing my working hours

The person on the reception explained thta I should have booked with him to avoid any problems

I rejected his kind offer to book again

I just had a quote for a clutch replacement on my tiny SuzukiAlto from Halfords it was £957 even Gemini my phone AI assistant called it "an absolute rip off" . I tried 3 other garages and their highest quote was £575.

Took my car in which had just passed its MOT for 4 new tyres. Was informed that the garage had sheared a wheel bolt trying to remove wheel but "they can't fix this" so I was sent away with a sheared nut to go find a garage myself! Seriously, they made no suggestion of keeping the car in their garage so they could fix it, instead I was sent away with a dangerous defect. What sort of garage specialises in wheels and tyres but won't sort out a broken nut which they broke in the first place? They were very keen for me to return to them to have the 4th tyre fitted. No wonder. The other three wheels had been overtorqued and the wheels way overinflated over safe pressure. I took the fourth tyre and the car to another local garage who did a great job for me.

And Halfords? If you open a complaint they just ignore you and close the complaint without telling you. Will NEVER, EVER set foot inside a Halfords auto centre again.

I feel for them from a Customer Services point of view.
I had some quite extensive front suspension & brake work done on my car using Halfords in Bell Green Retail Park. As always I was greated on arrival with a smile and a good morning from Ibrahim who manages the reception area and is 1st point of contact with the customer. Whilst I cannot fault the work done on my car the system itself is very much flawed when you try to make telephone contact to get updates on the work being carried out. I really do sympathise with Ibrahim and the team there as they are just firefighting the system that gives them little or no support and this no doubt has a negative reflection on customer feedback and/or any future returning business. In my opinion an organisation as big as Halfords should have a more streamline Customer Services contact system, perhaps it's something that should be centralised? But it certainly needs looking at because if it wasn't for guys like Ibrahim on the front line keeping a cool head and representing the company flawlessly then I'm sure that the customer perception would be a whole lot lower. If it wasn't for him and his friendly team I certainly wouldn't be using them again out of pure frustration. Come on Halfords look into this and show that your Customer Services is up there with your competitors and of course show a duty of care to your frontline staff who are doing a fantastic job under very tough situations!!
Looking at other reviews it appears that my observations are shared Nationwide so I won't be holding my breath for any significant changes anytime soon!!