Before buying a bike for my daughter as a birthday gift back in the first week of June 2020, I spoke and chatted with 3 of their staff who all recommended that I get a 12inch bike. As the experts, I followed their recommendations and was all excited. Needless to say that the bike arrived damaged (definitely not by the courier) and it was very small even though I told them its for a 110cm kid. The exchange guy requested photos which I sent, they were collected and I happily kept the accessories as I knew I'd get another bike. I went on to order another and was met with system of which I was told its best I create another account since the previous returns was not finalised. I patiently waited and spent that time brushing on my bike knowledge. Customer care advised that it's best I go in store and purchase the bike which I can have straight away, which I clarified about stocks as they were widely publicised of low stocks but I was assured I'd get one. Took 2 buses of over an hour's journey in the rain with my 2 preschoolers and had to queue for about 4 hours because twice I lost my spot as my daughter needed to pee, then I also had to feed her and my baby. It was an extremely stressful day but persevered. Finally went in to the shop in Tottenham and staff were very unhelpful, avoiding me like a plague as I tried to get assistance and yes I did have full protective gear on. With no success on getting assistance, I thought I'd get my daughter to just try some of the bikes and that'll determine right size and we can buy. To my disappointment, there were only 2 kids bikes available and both were locked with no way to try them. As my daughter touched the pink one, a girl yelled "don't touch any bike". I kept my cool and explained my situation but she didn't seem to care much about why I was sent in store. She won't even entertain doing the height, so I did it and then she said "get her a 16inch bike". I pleaded with her to give me 2mins to explain my query and she said they were very busy but reluctantly listened. She insisted I go online and raise queries with online team. I was overwhelmed and got emotional with frustration, so left the shop. It took me a while to get things back on then I placed another online order, but this time I picked collection from Mile End as it was meant to be ready within 2days and other shops were showing about 5-7days. Long story short, the Manager from the Mile End shop rudely rang me and said the bike I ordered was out of stock and I need to pay extra £70 to get a different but same brand. I argued that the bike was in stock when I ordered it and as such it shouldn't be my fault. He argued that the bike should never have been on the website as its a discontinued product, so I told him I ordered what was on the site. When I asked which other branch might have it, he said somewhere up North and I told him surely they can arrange it. He rudely interrupted me and said if I'm not paying extra then there's nothing they can do and I told him I won't pay extra as its not my fault, I don't need a refund but I need the bike. He told me to deal with customer service and hung up. Explained what had happened to customer care and logged complaint all on August 6th. Communications never came through and nor did the return calls happen, so I was left chasing my query every week for several weeks. Not once did I get the promised call from the Mile End branch manager nor from the complaints team then suddenly on September 19th, I got a notification of my refund. I was furious that Halfords can treat its customers this way since June 4th and my child still don't have a bike. This left me so down as I was already feeling down and just felt drained as I've pursued this issue so much but Halfords never for once acknowledged their mistake and never apologised. As you can see, I've been put through hell and back and not once was I rude as I stayed calm all through to keep my sanity. Until this very moment, I still have my child asking me for her birthday bike and how can I explain to a 4year old that Halfords don't think she should own a bike?