Halfords Autocentre - they hate me !!

**pompeydave** · 28th June 2011, 08:39

hi all,
Well rather than add a comment to unclemelon"s thread below i"ll give you my experience of halfords yesterday.
firstly car is a zafira 1.6 (my wifes car) and 1st MOT was due so looked around and at present halfords are doing a 1/2 price MOT at £27ish so booked online.took car there in morning , no problems with reception ,went to work and awaited a phone call.
Now the wifes car has 28k on clock,fully checked over by myself prior to MOT so wasnt surprised to hear car had passed.
BUT THE FOLLOWING WAS RECOMMENDED -

1.rear brake discs had rust marks on them so should be renewed ??? discs were fine but service guy thought rust marks were down to car being stationary for some time and should be renewed.(i drive 40 miles a day so not stationary)
2.fuel line cleaner was recommended at.......£20 ?????

3.cambelt recommended in near future as they thought car had been stationary for a long time so belt should be changed within a few months ???

4.anti freeze should be changed now ....£37

5.brake fluid should be changed now...£37

6.screen treatment recommended to protect screen etc ....£25

halfords didnt know or even ask about service history,they pushed and pushed for me to give go ahead on all of the above.the words "cant we even do the fuel cleaner for you" were said by some rude cocky nipper.at those prices i declined and picked up car.
Attitude of service guys changed totally from morning drop off when i picked car up,hardly a word spoken,little orange book with MOT was almost thrown at me and given a rude goodbye by the manager.
So for me i"m going somewhere else next time and have come to the conclusion that they love older cars to fail miserably and make out car is a death trap on road so work should be done then and there and the cars that do pass get bombarded with extra"s to hike price.i know theres probably bonus"s / targets to be met but a little more customer care wouldnt go amiss.

**marktaylor** · 28th June 2011, 08:41

now that sounds more like Halfords autocentres !!!!!!!!

**HITFACTORY1403** · 28th June 2011, 08:50

am i missing something ?

£ 27 is a half price M.O.T. ? ( £ 54 Full price )

Full price around my area is on average £ 35 .

i use a very friendly company who never push any work on you , they just give you the fail sheet and explain what needs doing .

Well done , Thompsons Renault of Holystone .

**UncleMelon** · 28th June 2011, 08:59

Wow sorry to hear that buddy, guys couldn't have been nicer to me, guess I caught them on a good day lol

**pompeydave** · 28th June 2011, 09:00

Originally Posted by HITFACTORY1403

am i missing something ?

£ 27 is a half price M.O.T. ? ( £ 54 Full price )

Full price around my area is on average £ 35 .

i use a very friendly company who never push any work on you , they just give you the fail sheet and explain what needs doing .

Well done , Thompsons Renault of Holystone .

Yeah i believe £54 is standard price now.

**John LE** · 28th June 2011, 09:02

Why were the even recommending service items to be done when the car was in for an MOT more to the point.

Also what the hell is screen treatment

When these guys offer things like half price MOTs, it's normally to attract you in and they hope the car will fail so they can fix it at their over inflated prices. As yours hasn't failed they have decided to go down a different route.

I'd also love to know more garages that do an MOT for 35 quid as the avg. Up here is 50 odd

**pompeydave** · 28th June 2011, 09:06

Originally Posted by john.robertson2

Why were the even recommending service items to be done when the car was in for an MOT more to the point.

Also what the hell is screen treatment

When these guys offer things like half price MOTs, it's normally to attract you in and they hope the car will fail so they can fix it at their over inflated prices. As yours hasn't failed they have decided to go down a different route.

I'd also love to know more garages that do an MOT for 35 quid as the avg. Up here is 50 odd

yeah i asked the same question about screen treatment - apparently its put on your screen and when it rains water droplets simply vanish ??? so you can still see out even when heavy downpour - hence i asked what were the wipers for !!!

**John LE** · 28th June 2011, 09:08

Originally Posted by pompeydave

yeah i asked the same question about screen treatment - apparently its put on your screen and when it rains water droplets simply vanish ??? so you can still see out even when heavy downpour - hence i asked what were the wipers for !!!

So a 10 quid bottle of rainx is applied

**chrisvectra** · 28th June 2011, 09:24

I'd report them to vosa

**neilrobinson1988** · 28th June 2011, 09:24

Was it recommended or advisory sheet? If advisory sheet issued u should look into it as some of them are not check able items on a mot. I never liked there garages but I do use there tools. Also parts are good price with trade card and fitting yourself.