You Gotta Love Halfrauds....

[MadDogMcQ]

I went into my local Halfords last night to pick up a relay and some other bits so that I could hard-wire my TomTom. After spending a few minutes scouring the electrical section for one, I had to admit defeat and seek assistance. I approached the first spotty young student I saw and asked him where the relays where. He looked a bit bemused and asked me which type of relay I'd like. I told him the 12v kind. Errrr...
 
Another spotty student (female this time) came over and asked what the problem was. When I explained that I just wanted a 12v relay, she told me that nobody uses them anymore and Halfords stopped selling them. Are you kidding, I asked. So what do people use when they buy those big air-horns that you sell? Errrr...
 
So I trundled off shaking my head and walked over to the lubricant section to pick up some oil. Over there in a "Bargain Bucket" was a load of 12v Relays!     On the relay there was a "Clearance Price" sticker and a hand-written "£7.99".  Hmmm, that doesn't sound like a clearance price. It has a price-code letter "T" on it so I walked over to the price board and saw that Price Code T was, in fact, £7.99
 
Just for the hell of it, I picked up the bargain relay and took it to the girl on the counter who'd told me they didn't sell relays and pointed it out to her. I asked her why it had a big red clearance price label on it when it was still full price? She had no answer so I asked her would she sell it to me at a reduced price and she said no.
 
I laid down about £60 worth of shopping that I'd gathered up and walked out. What a bunch of to$$ers 
 
Tom
 

[marksfazer]

The joy's of shopping at halfords!
I only ever go there if i'm really stuck and may as well ask my 8yo son for help rather then any staff!
 
Mark.

[Wilko]

A relay to wire up a tomtom???
Just connect it straight into the ignition wire and then protect it with a fuse.
Really cannot understand why people over complicate electrics.

[Lawrence]

Only go there if you're sure you can get what you want without needing the assistance of the monkeys that work there.
 
I go in there sometimes, but only because I have a trade card and get things cheap.  £7 worth of bulbs (only four side light bulbs    ) for 98p!

[bigralphie]

I was in once looking for a big socket for a rush job once , while they had big banner across the whole front of the store saying "we fit bulbs wiperblades yadda yadda"
A lady was having a right to do with the manager because he would not fit the wiper blades she had picked because he had no one in to do it that day.
In the store my brother rang me we had split up to find it, to say he had the socket from the local independant auto factors Wheels.
So I wandered over and said to the lady "follow me to wheels they will fit your wipers ,cheaper too I bet" managers face was a picture lol

[CRH]

what about this one then??.....the very first time i visited halfords,..(and last)....i went up to the counter and asked for a set of ngk spark plugs for my fjr?.......looking at me a little puzzeled?....said?..ile just check for you sir!!!!...and the answer i got??????...if you check in your handbook sir , you will see your bike doesnt have spark plugs!!..its........INJECTION

[MadDogMcQ]

  A cracker that one CRH
 
Wilko - I'm an advanced planner    I will be fitting heated grips and a MUCH louder horn that will both require the fitting of a relay. And let's face it, it's hardly complicated.

[tomjimtom]

I've got a friend who works for halfords and he's just as frustrated as you!

The manager that couldn't fit that ladies wipers - Health and Safety. They need the trained member of staff to do it or they're not insured against anything going wrong, if she (or bigralphie) had been a mystery shopper etc, he'd have been fired.

A lot of them don't know their crankshafts from their coils, but a fair few do   the system they use is awful.
eg. I bought a sidelight for my mums corsa (trade discount card) the little card said E34 or whatever, I bought it, took it outside and lo and behold, it didn't fit. Took it back in, assistant said 'yep, 05 corsa you'll need an E22.' Same happened with a wiper blade for an Accord.

I guess this defensive rant is just a point to say, yes they can be crap, but when they do know what's going on, they don't deserve all the hate.
The fact you've all got stories show you've all used them, and I'm sure most of you will use them again because it is pretty convenient (when it fits )

Except their bikes, they're shit

Tom

[MadDogMcQ]

I was mocking, not ranting 

[red98]

what about this one then??.....the very first time i visited halfords,..(and last)....i went up to the counter and asked for a set of ngk spark plugs for my fjr?.......looking at me a little puzzeled?....said?..ile just check for you sir!!!!...and the answer i got??????...if you check in your handbook sir , you will see your bike doesnt have spark plugs!!..its........INJECTION

 
bright spark that one.....

[red98]

a few years back i ran a morris minor as a cheap winter car...went to halfords for a new battery for the MORRIS MINOR and the spotty one replied "and who makes that then sir"......time to go.

[ade the blade]

a few years back i ran a morris minor as a cheap winter car...went to halfords for a new battery for the MORRIS MINOR and the spotty one replied "and who makes that then sir"......time to go.

[CRH]

a few years back i ran a morris minor as a cheap winter car...went to halfords for a new battery for the MORRIS MINOR and the spotty one replied "and who makes that then sir"......time to go.

......hey?....i know this one??????.....is it austin?...

[robby boy]

Except their bikes, they're shit

Tom

I have to agree there, not only their bikes thats crap, santa got my daughters bike there and when he collected it the handlebars were fitted the wrong way round, santa had to make the spotty kid go back to the workshop and turn them the right way round. Needless to say santa never bought another bike from them.

[CRH]

Except their bikes, they're shit

Tom............he would have had to have done that anyway robby???.....cus of the.....claus!..in his contract??

I have to agree there, not only their bikes thats crap, santa got my daughters bike there and when he collected it the handlebars were fitted the wrong way round, santa had to make the spotty kid go back to the workshop and turn them the right way round. Needless to say santa never bought another bike from them.

[ade the blade]

a few years back i ran a morris minor as a cheap winter car...went to halfords for a new battery for the MORRIS MINOR and the spotty one replied "and who makes that then sir"......time to go.

......hey?....i know this one??????.....is it austin?...

what steve austin? bet ya 6 million i`m right !

[CRH]

a few years back i ran a morris minor as a cheap winter car...went to halfords for a new battery for the MORRIS MINOR and the spotty one replied "and who makes that then sir"......time to go.

......hey?....i know this one??????.....is it austin?...

what steve austin? bet ya 6 million i`m right !   WRONG!!!!!!!...austin powers!...make chk payable to me and red?...

[Wilko]

A cracker that one CRH
 
Wilko - I'm an advanced planner    I will be fitting heated grips and a MUCH louder horn that will both require the fitting of a relay. And let's face it, it's hardly complicated.

Maybe complicated is the wrong word, but it's certainly over the top.
The horn, okay it's possible that you may exceed the load rating of the wiring and switch, so fair enough.
As for the heated grips, run it straight from the ignition cable and use the in-line fuse that is supplied (or at least should be). Do not understand the need for a relay.
 
Only reason I say this is that my recent horror when I lifted up the tank on my recently bought Fazer to find wires galore, and relays galore for things that really did not need a relay at all. All ccts now come straight from the ignition cable, through their own fuses and no over complicated wiring with relays etc. Pet hate of mine is having making more work and using things that are not really required.

However if you are happy to be doing it that way at the end of the days it's your bike .... CRACK ON!!!

[MadDogMcQ]

Well if I got a fresh bike and found a boat load of relays and wires under the tank, I'd be equally annoyed. People rarely solder their connections and often use those God-awful ScotchLoks.  Thing is, when I get a new bike, one of the first jobs I do is find a switched ignition source, fit a good quality relay and a small distribution fuse unit - job done.
 
Then whenever I decide to do a bit of farkling, I can tap into that one switched point with no fuss, no sloppy inline fuses here there and everywhere, no cutting into ignition cables every time and soldering again, and any future owner can see very clearly what the hells going on. And high-current horns will overload the standard switchgear.
 
As for heated grips, Oxford's latest digital units are designed to be connected directly to the battery with quite beefy cable, claiming that they will switch themselves off if you forget. But having had two pairs, I know for a fact that they let the battery get very low before switching off. Hmmm, not for me - I prefer to connect them to a relay to make sure that they go off with the ignition. And I certainly wouldn't want to cut them into a regular ignition-controlled cable.
 
And I guess I like doing this shit    Keeps me away from all that reality TV crap.
 
Tom
 
 

[CRH]

a few years back i ran a morris minor as a cheap winter car...went to halfords for a new battery for the MORRIS MINOR and the spotty one replied "and who makes that then sir"......time to go.

......hey?....i know this one??????.....is it austin?...

what steve austin? bet ya 6 million i`m right !   WRONG!!!!!!!...austin powers!...make chk payable to me and red?...

.............Well?....see halfords have a £15million bike sale on? ..ade owes me £6million!!..so red? hows you fixed for a loan?

[slappy]

last year i went to my local halfords for an air filter for my wifes 2008 ford fiesta.The guy said they did not keep one in stock as there was little call for them, when i told him they were one of the most common cars in the country he then actually said he had never seen one!!

[red98]

a few years back i ran a morris minor as a cheap winter car...went to halfords for a new battery for the MORRIS MINOR and the spotty one replied "and who makes that then sir"......time to go.

......hey?....i know this one??????.....is it austin?...

what steve austin? bet ya 6 million i`m right !   WRONG!!!!!!!...austin powers!...make chk payable to me and red?...

.............Well?....see halfords have a £15million bike sale on? ..ade owes me £6million!!..so red? hows you fixed for a loan?

 
£15m.....thats a lot for a push bike 

[paul1606]

My daughter went in for seat covers and came back out with a tent.......... AWSOME motor factors???