Halfords, Liffey Valley, Dublin
God I get so pissed off at some shops when I feel like they are just trying to cheat me. Halfords in Liffey Valley Dublin are the one today - but this is not something that is just confined to them.
I go in and find what I want, wait in the queue to pay and then they ask me for €56 when it says on the rack that I just took the bike lights from that they are €40. Not too bad, €16 - but too much for me not to notice. I points out the mistake, I have to take the person to where the shelf is, they have to call the manager, he eventually says “we’ll honour the price on the shelf.” “No thanks,” says I, and I leave.
Meanwhile I asked the manager which is the right price - the price in the system. The bike lights were on the right shelf, so I also asked if this was legal. Yes it is he tells me, the law, he says in Ireland is different to the UK and it is fine for retailers to practice this type of deception here. Interesting.
Disappointingly they are not alone in this ubiquitous habit. Tesco in Maynooth, where I used to live, did it all the time. How do I know? Well I was a student and checked all the time. So much so that Tesco would even send me vouchers in apology.
There is a local bike shop around the corner I will buy my bike lights there and do my best to avoid buying anything from Halfords again.
Comments: 16
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Comments
Comment from Des
Time: January 12, 2008, 11:47 am
You are so right about Halfords. My local Carrockmines branch has such disinterested staff I dont understand how they survive.
I was checking out Sat Navs few months ago and when I asked the price the guy said “to be honest I would go to xxx’s they are much cheaper there”!!
At Christmas I tried twice to buy a drawer toolbox. The first time the guy said the price was inside the toolbox which was locked and he didnt have a key and couldnt sell (the only one he had) because it was locked anyway. I went back a few days later and a few of them were stacked in a promotional display…without a price of course! After much palaver, they quoted a price which seemed very expensive. When I questioned the discount, they admitted there was no reduction……grrrrrrrrr!
I dont think they are out to mislead the local paddies. I just think they are all complete incompetents.
Comment from Des
Time: January 12, 2008, 11:48 am
Carrockmines is a typo …not a southside accented version of Carrickmines !
Comment from Leslie
Time: January 12, 2008, 4:07 pm
Yes, I find it odd here - as I find the same problem in many UK retail giants that have opened here - as they are not this bad in the UK. In the UK they are quite good, strange.
Comment from Daz
Time: February 14, 2008, 1:18 pm
Saying that …
If you find an item cheaper than Halfords, they’ll match the price … Then use your 15% Axa Discount card and you save even more …
Comment from Leslie
Time: February 14, 2008, 1:29 pm
Yes they survive on price here - no bad thing - but it is just as easy to give good service as crap.
Comment from 02WW1
Time: April 3, 2008, 1:08 pm
I read the email this morning before purchasing a battery at Halfords in Tallaght.
1. Nobody on checkout (as usual)
2. Overcharged me for oil by €1.00 - all she could say was ‘well that’s what it is scanning at’.
3. Tried to reuse giving me a free screwdriver set allegedly €29.99 which was free with any 5 litres of synthetic oil. Even the manager backed up the idiot on check out until I made him read his own display sign. what a shower of morons.
Comment from alan flynn
Time: April 11, 2008, 7:41 pm
i went into the tallaght branch of halfords to buy a set of 14″alloys,i picked out a set and paid for them there and then(which is the norm apparently),that was my first mistake..the completely disinterested member of staff took half an hour to send the order through the system because he hadnt got a clue how to use it and then said it would be a week to ten days before the wheels came in.i told him i need them as soon as possible as i was driving round on my spare wheel..2 weeks later they still havent arrived and the guy in the shop now says they could be another week,in other words they havent got a clue when they will be in,he actually asked me if i wanted the money back “as it was not an awful lot of money” 500 euros they cost,,whats this guy earning i asked myself? what a bunch of incompetent children
Comment from Leslie
Time: April 12, 2008, 7:46 am
I grew up knowing Halfords in Glasgow. They were THE place to buy your bike from - and I still use them when I am back in Scotland - the service is different. For some reason here the service is crap - it is not like that in the UK - so what is the problem here?
Comment from Charlie
Time: May 26, 2008, 5:12 pm
It is the same problem all over. England, Scotland and Ireland. The problem is not with Halford and its staff, but with we customers. We are impatient, arrogant and too conscious of our rights as customers. This overzealousness blind us to every good thing sales people do to help us. Just about time we stop treating sales people as puppets. If you have any complaint direct it to the proper channel.
Comment from admin
Time: May 26, 2008, 7:56 pm
Ah, Charlie - how is your job at Halfords?
I think you are so wrong - but that’s what I love about the internet we call all have a say.
Comment from keith
Time: May 27, 2008, 6:27 pm
if you are overcharged at the till, you are entitled to the difference. the law in ireland states the correct price must be displayed.years back tesco were caught out which was why the law was brought in and tesco are obliged to offer the item free. if you constantly find a particular shop is flouting these rules then make a complaint to the consumer rights group and hopefully well all be gettin free goods for bad consumer practices
Comment from admin
Time: May 28, 2008, 9:43 am
I think the managers of Halfords need to know this - in the incident above that was my main problems - I stood while the manager lectured me on the law in Ireland and that it is not the same as the UK and they do not have to honor the price on the shelf - wanker.
Comment from trisha gilbert
Time: May 28, 2008, 10:10 am
I remember i got a sat nav av it wudnt start up when i brought it back they said i had broke it. after i got my replacement an hour later while he was setting it up in my car the manager fell getting back out an cracked me window on my 08 merc when i asked him to pay he said well if you hadnt of asked me to put it in this wud not of happened… imagin. when my husband went back up for me. . te manager start crying and ran out of the shop leaving a poor member of staff just standin there.this was the laffey valley branch
Comment from admin
Time: May 28, 2008, 10:16 am
I don’t go to the Liffey Valley one no more - Carrickmines is a bit better.
Comment from Michael Gorman
Time: May 30, 2008, 11:33 pm
My wife bought me a Tom Tom 520T for my birthday but when
I set it up i couldent get any local area on it so mutch for an
up to date map yes i tried there web site she had to bring it back so mutch for Tom Tom
Comment from jim
Time: July 9, 2008, 11:38 am
Right,first of all its not the staffs fault for the price being 16 quid too much because i work for halfords and i know that it is head ofices fault as they expect staff to know when price changes occur….but they do not tell you when these changes occur you have to find out for yourself….im workin there for a year and i think that is the best crack and fun i am having….fuckin brilliant company to work for! Bonuses galore!!
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