It’s not often I write a complaint but today I was compelled to. Now I know why they are nicknamed “Halfrauds”

I recently visited Halfords in Cheadle (3 STANLEY GREEN RETAIL PARK, CHEADLE, CHESHIRE, SK8 6PT, 0161 4857213). I wanted to buy a license plate for my motorbike. My existing plate does not have the GB and Euro stars on it so I had seen that this was a service Halfords offered on a previous visit. 

I asked the guy behind the desk could I have one made up while I wait, which was advertised on the wall behind him in big bold letters. He said “Oh, you have a motorbike. No we don’t do them for motorbikes”. I pointed out to him that the information on the counter and on the wall said otherwise. He said I should go to the Altrincham store (MANCHESTER ROAD
BROADHEATH, ALTRINCHAM, WA14 5PZ). So with a resigned sigh I rode the 11 miles to the Altrincham store. 

When I got to that store I saw half of the young Halfords staff outside smoking with friends who were not in uniform or not connected with halfords. It didn’t make for a positive image. Once inside the store there was one girl on the till and nobody else to be seen. I walked to the counter where the number plate service was advertised at the back of the store. I waited there for 10 minutes and a girl arrives. The one that had been on the front till.

She asked me what I want and I said I required a licence plate for a motorbike. In quite an abrupt tone she asked if I had my vehicles documents almost expecting that I wouldn’t. When I said I had them and ID she looked worried because I suspect she was not qualified to make up a plate. I pointed out it needed the Euro badge as I was travelling abroad. Without looking she said I dont think we have those. 

I asked her to have a look and she came back and said no she didn’t have them but she could do me a white plate for the front. Confused I asked her what she meant. She said for the front. I said it is for a motorbike. Motorbikes do not have license plates on the front. She said well there was nothing she could do and that I could ride to White City. I said no thanks. I was not going to ride a further 6 miles on one of the busiest roads in Manchester at rush hour only to find the same service I’d had in the previous two stores.

I notice on your website that the stores are listed as “Halfords Super”. I can tell you there is nothing super about the stores, the customer service, the attitude of the staff and on many occasions the stock levels. Considering the monopoly you have on the market it is truly pathetic that you cannot even cover the basics. On many occasions I have asked staff for advice on a product and they read the description from the shelf or the box as if I was not capable of reading the information myself. 

Upper management know the state of the stores because you are the people paying the minimum wage to these work shy teenagers. As somebody in my mid thirties I would rather see people of retirement age in these stores who have knowledge and some interpersonal skills. 

It really is pathetic Halfords.

Yours disgusted