Halfords Autocentres Reviews

Name: Halfords Autocentres
Rating: 1.86

1.9 Rating 828 Reviews

21 %

of reviewers recommend Halfords Autocentres

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

1.9

Based on 828 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Own Driver, Courier
Average Delivery Time	Next Day
On-time Delivery	Greater than 9%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 64%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	2.1 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult

Phone:

0800 037 0800

Location:

Halfords Autocentres Ltd. 7/9 Richmond Road, Olton Wharf Olton,
Solihull

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Halfords Autocentres 1 star review on 23rd April 2025

Ardrie Kleyn

Halfords Autocentres 1 star review on 26th July 2024

Andrew

Halfords Autocentres 1 star review on 29th June 2024

Mrs Helen Dehkordy

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 1 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Bad customer service”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Unhelpful, aloof, awkward and noncommittal are words I would use to sum up the customer care at this Halfords Auto Centre in Bury St Edmunds. I booked my car in as I had a fault with the ABS system – a light had come on the dash. On arrival, the lad behind the counter presented me with paperwork indicating a cost of £49.99. “Is that how much it will cost?” I queried. That was the price of the ‘diagnostics’, he explained. Had I not queried this cost, then at no point would the employee have explained that I would be committing to a cost of £49.99 for diagnostics (with no idea of how much the repair would cost). I asked the young man, in his professional opinion, what he thought might be wrong with the car. He was, however, unable to comment, incapable of giving a professional opinion – his stock reply was, “we won’t know until we’ve done the diagnostics”. There was another mechanic present who told me that it could be any of 10 possible problems. “Are you suggesting it could cost anything between £50.00 and £500.00 pounds?” I asked. “Yes!” he agreed. Neither mechanics were able to speculate any further. The boy behind the counter – the one who was possibly on a YTS scheme – did tell me that once the problem had been diagnosed, I was under no obligation to have the repair done with Halfords! How very magnanimous. Needless to say, I didn’t have my car repaired here – I had zero confidence in their abilities. Surely anyone who is skilled at their job would be able to hazard a guess – suggest that it could be this or that? If you want a mechanic’s opinion on a car problem – avoid this Auto Centre – the staff here are only able to offer a blank expression.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“MOT. Booked for 8am. Centre did not open until 8.15am when the manager finally turned up. Then told MOT double booked so unable to do it. Heading too Kwik fit, which is what I should have done in the first place :-)”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Jay from Aylesbury Autocentre has given us the very worse service experience ever and I would strongly advise to avoid this company. Blames lack of staff for the problems... My BMW 525 went in for a full service and came back with 2x stripped wheel hub threads, minus two wheel nuts, a unnecessary changed the staberliser bar, and worse if all, the extra mobile oil premium which I paid for was not used as no oil on the dip stick at all. Not sure until the morning if the engine is screwed. My advice to consumers, avoid, avoid, avoid. My advice to the employees of the centre, change your career, the errors are so basic that one would question long term suitability to the industry.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Anonymous. I took the bmw car for service following the light on the dash for service ,booked the car left the car with them for the whole day said the car was finished can be collected. On collection the light on the dash remains there together with misfire. and on enquiry , they said I only paid for the interim service & that there is a major fault which they can look into for another cost on another day and they have changed the oil & checked the brakes. I wonder if they did Anything at all, Now there a choice but Never again ever. One star.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“We take 3 cars to be serviced. NEVER AGAIN An advisory stated tell tale light re supplementary restraint wasn’t working. Queried this, said it was an airbag.....the car doesn’t have one Also quoted a major fault re fog light switch, this lights up when fog light switched on Joke”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“FITTED MY BATTERY INCORRECTLY WHICH LEAD TO ME NOT BEING ABLE TO START MY CAR AND COSTING ME FURTHER COSTS ELSEWHERE. DONT EVEN BOTHER WITH THE REFUND PROCESS... MORE EFFORT THEN ITS WORTH! I WILL NEVER GO TO THE STORE AGAIN”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“AVOID!!! First of all, don’t be fooled by the great reviews on Halfords trust pilot review site. It only shows you 5* reviews at the top. Take a look at the reviews on this site which give a more realistic view of this dodgy garage. Took my car in for an MOT and left it with them, only to be told when I got back to collect that the system was down so they could not complete the job. Asked me to come back in a few days - not what you want to hear when you’ve booked in advance and already paid the money. Due to a busy work schedule I needed it doing that day or the following day. Told me to go home and wait for a call giving details on what they’d do. No call. Had to call twice with them not having a clue what they were going to do. Called again before closing and they explained they wanted to take my car to Weybridge (30 min away) and do the MOT there! Asked them to call me in the morning with a definite plan. Obviously no phone call all day and still not heard back from them 2 days later! Couldn’t care less about their customers. This is a dodgy 1* garage with the Halfords sign stuck above it. I think they better take that sign down. Wish I had seen all the terrible reviews before booking. Totally unacceptable service. Luckily my local garage managed to fit me in after explaining my situation even though they were fully booked. Should have gone to them - 5* service. AVOID!!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Vehicle failed on MOT the other day on Smoke test excess visual smoke and four tyres with supposed cuts in them OK could happen but all in same place on 3 of the 4 tyres not likely. But booked and ordered 4 new tyres from ATS and went to have them fitted. Upon arriving the technician took the car into workshop and came back out 5 minutes later to ask why I was having all four changed as there was nothing wrong with 3 of the tyres and the 4th was close to legal limit on outer edge so I explained the failed MOT luckily there was an MOT tester there getting some tyres who over heard the conversation. He also looked at the tyres and said that they are not an MOT failure he also looked checked the excess smoke which is minimal and pointed that as the vehicle was pre DPF this also was not a fail. Took vehicle to another MOT centre for a re-test and vehicle Passed with 1 advisory on 1 tyre outer edge close to legal limit... Wont be using Halfords Feltham ever again due to MOT tester who has no clue.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Could even complete a service on a Dacia ....found fictional work in the former of oil leak around soiled clutch £730.00 to replace took car back and it was a coolent leak.. easy fix . Centres have to meet targets and your the target...staff put good comenmts on reviews.....you've been warned.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“WARNING DO NOT GO TO HALFORDS AUTOCENTRE IN STAINES!! BEWARE OF MR.M.A.ENVER!! A DISHONEST MOT TESTER! Came out and failed my car on a minor defect (a minor defect is not severe enough to fail) and when I confronted him about the matter and showed him clearly on the gov.uk Website it should not have failed he raised his voice at me and was aggressive towards me and shouted FINE I’ll make it a major then and stormed out just to fail my car. This was on the retest after I’d had work done myself and checked over by a experienced mechanic friend of mine as well as contacting three different garages about this matter and all of them said no it shouldn’t have failed on that and that I should report it to stop this happening to vulnerable people with little knowledge of cars. I Hope this helps you!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I’ve only given Halfords autocentre a 1 star because there’s no option of a 0. Took my car in for a disk and pad change on all 4 wheels, when I got the car back the brakes made a noise I’d not heard before, so I took the car back on 2 seperate occasions and was told all was sorted. Still the noise was happening, so I took it to a different Halfords autocentre 2 times in which the second time they told me I needed a new caliper... so I paid an extra £163 on top of the £547 I had already paid for the brakes only for the same noise to still be persisting! I then took the car back again and was assured it would be sorted this time, got a phone call explaining that everything was “sorted” and that the brakes were now “spot on” and had been “test driven” only to pick the car up from the same spot I had left it... same mileage on the car (I took a photo before hand) and absolutely nothing touched as far as I could see! I have since taken the car to a different garage and had the issue rectified swiftly. So all in all I had a dodgy brake job and instead of using the “brakes for life policy” to replace the bad job they had done they decided to charge me for a caliper that never needed changing, completely lied to me about doing any work at all on the car the last time I took it in and we’re just plain incompetent from start to finish. Overall I feel ripped off.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Booked my car into Inverness Autocentre with a noise from the front passenger side of the car. After looking at the car they said there were three things needing repaired including the rear part of the exhaust. I had the "repairs" done and after collecting the car and driving home the noise was still there and I also had a rattling exhaust. I phoned them straight away and was told they couldn't look at the car until Wednesday. After rechecking my car they said it was a suspension problem (which I initially told them) and the reason they hadn't noticed this to begin with is because they didn't check it. It took a couple of days for the part to come but I was told I cold drive the car in the meantime and it would be "perfectly fine". Three short journeys later, while my wife was driving the suspension collapsed leaving the car undriveable. The car was taken back to Halfords on the back of a tow truck and when I spoke to the staff they were at best uninterested. They eventually fixed the problem, but all in it cost just over £750 and I now feel totally conned by these cowboys. After I complained to Halfords I did get £240 back and a £100 gift card but I will never be using these cowboys again and I would advise anyone else to stay well clear.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“DO NOT GO TO HALFORD FOR ANY FREE CHECK UP'S ON YOUR CAR. They lie to get you to pay a large amount of MONEY when nothing is wrong with your car. On the 21st April 2017 Halford provided me with a report that stated : My Wishbone Arms where leaking Oil - But it cannot. My 3 month old battery was almost dead - They put in the wrong codes when they tested the battery. ( I had warranty on the battery and when I went to get it changes Euro parts tested the battery infront on me and there was nothing wrong with it. Total waste of my time . My car oil was low - Because they loosened my Oil Filter and forgot to tighten it back. A couple days after I had the test I saw oil under my car. My discs and Brake pads where low - But they wasn't. My wheel nuts needed changing as they were hard to take off - Ofcourse they were hard to take off because they tighten my wheel nuts with a air gun. Total SCAMMERS. I complained to Halfords and all they could say is that they are sorry. Sorry is not good enough when this is a Nationwide Company who is putting customers safety at risks by tampering with the cars and stating lies on the report. Luckily my Dad is a retired Mechanic and when he saw the Wishbone Oil Leakage claim on the report, he asked me which FOOL told you this? If it wasn't for my Dad I would have paid over £700 not including Labor for my car to be fixed. I have submitted another complaint however Halfords have not replied. It has been 3 weeks. I think they are not replying to me because I mentioned in my complaint that I have a Dash Cam that shows a video of the mechanic under the front of my car for sometime ( Probably loosening my oil filter) Sadly I dont have a Dash Cam under my car, maybe next time. I cannot trust any company anymore because of this. Personally I think that because I am a woman and they see this, people seem to take advantage of us because they think we now nothing. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE AND WE KNOW MORE THANK YOU THINK.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Booked my car in for service only for them to tell me that my cooling system was not working, fair enough. I paid £220 for them to fix it plus the cost of the service only to brake down a week later with my daughter on the m25 at midnight! phoned them in the morning, no apology they told me 'well something else must now with my car'. no compassion or responsibility for the damage done to my car.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Have a full service last sat. Didnt able to change my air filter saying they have no stock can bring it back wed onward.bring it today saturday still dont have it what awaste of time. Instead to apologise for the delay they are rude and blame my car because it is 66 plate and parts are hard to get. And even you booked your car you still need to leave your car not with other garage you can wait have a coffee and more professional than halfords staff.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I feel so stupid after reading these reviews! I had my front brake pads and discs replaced today at Halfords Sydenham. My car is now making a scraping noise and an embarrassing high pitched squeaking sound which seems to be getting worse! (wasn’t there before I changed my pads) There’s also a burning smell coming from my tyres ...to make it worse there’s nothing I can do until the store it reopens on Monday”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Broke my clutch, lied about it, and then refused to pay for the damage. Avoid at all costs!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Halfords Surbiton have gone down since the previous manager left. Booked car in for brake and safety check and to rotate the tyres that I had bought their. Was told that they were busy and would need to leave the car for the whole day! was then told they could do a quick check over but without rotating the wheels as they are too busy, waste of time will do it myself and go elsewhere for more serious work. Shame as the previous manager was good and valued customer service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Halfords Autocentres is rated 1.9 based on 828 reviews