I have had both my cars serviced and MOT's at Cheadle Halfords Autocentre for about the last 10 years and generally was satisfied. In July 2016 the exhaust on my Honda Civic fell apart. I didn't check exactly which part was broken but took it to them for repair. They told me the complete exhaust system was corroded and needed replacing. That, plus an MOT, cost a staggering £504. After such expense I sprayed the new exhaust with two coats of heat resistant paint in an effort to prolong its life. Two weeks ago the exhaust came apart again. (Relatively soon I thought, compared to an 'original' exhaust). I took it back to Halfords for a quote. They told me, again, that both rear and middle sections needed replacing, at a cost of £299. I queried why it was necessary to replace the middle section (not just the back box) and was told " yes, the springs (which hold the sections together) have 'gone'." The written report said 'bracket broken' Though my days of crawling under cars have long passed, I took it home, put it up on stands and took a look. It looked to me as if all that was wrong was that the weld fixing the back box to its connecting flange had failed allowing the pipe to slide out. There appeared nothing wrong with the connecting bolts, the springs, nor the middlle exhaust section, all of which showed very little sign of external corrosion. I just had the rear box replaced at a local independent garage for £99. There was nothing else wrong. I've personally exprienced the constant 'upselling' that goes on at Halfords. I've been told several times I need to buy their expensive fuel additive treatment because 'there's a lot of carbon around the injectors' (oh yea???!) due to my using 'supermarket' deisel. My Caravelle has run 120,000 miles problem-free on largely supermarket fuel. I've also been told my battery was showing very weak charge retention (and should be replaced) when this was a Halfords own 3 year guarantee battery installed new just a few months before. Having been a loyal customer of Halfords for many years I am saddened to find that they think it is ok to lie to customers in this way, and to cheat them into paying for work which is not necessary. I'll be using today's garage in future (at least if they 'rip me off' it's likely to be less than at Halfords!).