Yesterday I went to Halfords at Edge Lane in Liverpool as one of my lights was out. I asked for a brake light as when I put the brake pedal down one of the back lights did not come on. I asked what they would charge to fit it and he said £2.99. I was going to take him up on this as seemed easier but he told my boyfriend that it was pretty easy and all he had to do was pull the fitting out and out the bulb in. Said boyfriend used to have a motorbike so is inept with cars and asked more questions so nice man Neil ended up coming out to show him what to do and ended up fitting the bulb. Probably easier than trying to explain it! He said he didn't mind as he had nothing else to do and nobody would fit it for me at 4pm on a sunday anyway.
He also realised that it was not a brake light bulb I needed but a normal one so changed it for me too.
I was really pleased because he was v helpful and ended up providing a service I thought I might have to pay for.
I don't often come across good service so thought I would share. Plus it fills a few mins before I go to lunch!
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Nice to hear that, I've always found Halfords very helpful too - I recall
a particularly fiddly replacement wiper that a Halford's guy helped me with
- he didn't want payment either, but I always like to leave a tip for service over
& above etc.
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I think that the Halfords service is a good one - even when they do charge for it. As has been established on other threads, manufacturers don't always make it easy to get bulbs swapped over. Did you buy a Bulb kit while you were there so as not to be caught out if Halfords were closed? (see Esso run thread).
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I recommended my local Halfords in a recent good service thread on this forum for similar experiences SWMBO and I had when buying car seats and audio equipment. It's one of the few big chains that doesn't seem to employ bored, disinterested "yoof", but helpful, enthusiastic staff who really know their stuff.
Cheers
DP
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Looks like he'll be getting the sack then, nothing to do, and not charging the customers?
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Ashok - not feeling the love today eh?!
No I didn't get a bulb kit. I have a polo and all you need to do is open the boot, pull away the covering and pull the whole lamps section out at the back and stick the new one in. I was watching from the other end of the car and that's what it looked like they were doing!
Good service will be rewarded by my custom - I want to buy a cd player for my car and will prob get it from there. I just want something that will play cds, don't have an MP3 player so not too bothered about that at the mo.
just one query if someone can help...why is there such a difference in fitting charges - £20 - £40?
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I hope Neil was Polish, or similar. I really do. I have just bitten through my tongue about another thread on here that's degenerated into Middle England ranting about Johnny Foreigner.
I would post a reply but I can't be bothered.
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Silba, just worried that he has been identified and could get into trouble, that's what happens these days, there is no place in a modern shop for good service at the expense of profit. It just reminds me of something that happened to me 14 years ago, when I did a good turn and the man wrote to the MD who told me off for being so helpful and not even charging.
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Ahh.........erm..........hadn't thought about that. As a nice man though, am sure he has met all his targets etc and has excellent record, I hope.
He's not Polish either
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You can get lots of different kinds of Polish at Halfords. I am told that Auto Glym and Meguiars are among the best.
They also sell first aid kits - which might be useful if you've bitten through your tongue.
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Our local Lidl occasionally sells car products and I often check them out - several members of the staff are Polish. They are invariably polite, helpful and very efficient.
The same goes for the Polish and other nationalities' nurses at the main hospital - often a contrast to some of the British workers, who sometimes seem to resent being troubled.
My other half has to have dialysis three days a week at a clinic attached to a main Liverpool hospital. Again, the Asian and Phillipines nurses, who are doing work with a high level of responsibility, are always delightfully pleasant, nothing is too much trouble and put up with one or two somewhat awkward patients with a ready smile.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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: )
Thanks for that Alebear, made me chuckle!
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I noticed this weekend that Halfords quoted fixed prices for fitting automotive bulbs. Given how difficult it is to fit Audi A4 headlamp bulbs, £4.99 seemed like a reasonable deal to me compared to the price of getting Audi to do it !!
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There's probably some fine print that says "Conditions apply", which means that they won't do anything that takes more than 30 seconds. Especially not Audi A4s.
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I would like to see then try one of the modern Renaults as well. The problem is if you don't know what you're doing, the retaining clip can fall down - and you try finding the thing afterwards. As you can probably imagine, I've been there and got the T Shirt...
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I went to Halfords in the summer to buy a number plate in a hurry (!). Basically it was on a 125 I as selling, which had fallen off its stand and cracked the plate. I arrived late afternoon and before me in the queue were two Latvian guys (I got talking to them), they were after some obscure parts for an Audi, the guy who served us did so with immense patience, his Russian was non existent their English was limited, but they managed to find what they wanted (imagine one of us trying that in a Halfordski), he could have fobbed them off quite easily at many points in the conversation - but no he perceived and all was well.
He then served me, he had two attempts at the plate and gave up handing the misshapen fonted plate to me as a freebie. Cracking service, haven't been back though.........
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