75ZT Community

My local Halfords in March Cambs. Usually there is a member of staff available to at least man one of the two tills, on this occasion, after waiting five minutes at the checkout for service I noticed two members of staff at the far end of the shop, I proceeded towards them with the intention of attracting attention. One of them saw me approaching and then both disappeared into the store room at the rear of the shop. I then walked outside where a young lad was helping a customer in the car park. I asked if there was perhaps a member of staff that would take my money. He advised I return to the shop and shout for assistance. Naturally I told him I would be spending my money elsewhere. As I returned to my car, having left the item I wished to purchase at the checkout, he and his customer went into the shop and he proceeded to the till.
Quite why his retort to me had not been, "I won't be a moment, sorry to keep you waiting" I fail to understand.
Needless to say Halfords have now lost yet another long standing customer. No point in making a complaint, from what I can gather on the web, their shops are manned by incompetent morons, I presume all of their staff, including customer services are of a similar type, any of a reasonable calibre will only stay a few days and then move on.
Rant over.

BTW, just bought the requisite item from Amazon. £3.00 cheaper than the 20% off price from Halfords and free delivery.

Yep! I know what you mean Mick, seems they are specially hand-picked. It may be worth the complaint so to get their area manager in on the case, then see them jump into action.....

What makes me laugh is!........
You can still walk into Currys and get pounced on within seconds...... I hate it and at the same time I luv it......

We do, do, customer service so well in the UK don't we?

When i used to work for Halfords it used to be all about the "Sale" ie who could achieve the best sale of the day/week/month etc and you used to get recognition (even congrats from Directors on occasion) when you exceeded.

And then Halfords were listed on the Stock Market.........

Now its all "Shareholders" , gone is the pride in getting that "sale" its just a get them in and get them out approach (nothing to do with the CEO being ex Tesco's) and its about volume.At times there were only three of us to cover two floors , answer the back door and bring in deliveries , oh and offer the Fitting service.

Its a shame as in the late 80's and 90's it was really good fun to work there and you did take pride in your work and the service you gave.

The last time I visited,I asked for some "Jenolite", (cleaning up some old steel wheels).....the reply:
"Would they be aftermarket or original fitment bulbs sir!"

And they've become bloomin' expensive too

podge wrote:The last time I visited,I asked for some "Jenolite", (cleaning up some old steel wheels).....the reply:
"Would they be aftermarket or original fitment bulbs sir!"

If you look at the job desriptions for staff it clearly states 'absolutely no knowledge essential'.

Went in to Waitrose yesterday and asked a young assistant where I could find tins of pilchards. 'What are those' he asked.

Next time you go in Paul,wander up and down the jam/Marmite/peanut butter shelves and when the asisstant asks if she/he can be of help,just ask for the "Middle Aged Spread".........works every time!!

podge wrote:Next time you go in Paul,wander up and down the jam/Marmite/peanut butter shelves and when the asisstant asks if she/he can be of help,just ask for the "Middle Aged Spread".........works every time!!

That would be no good - they would see I know where that is