Name: Halfords Autocentres
Rating: 1.86

“Avoid. Good things: The older gentlemen & the young girl at the front very friendly and very helpful. Bad things: Everything else. Took my car here and it failed it’s MOT that’s fine no issues with that asked them to price it up to get it through MOT just short of £400 decided to take it away and have a little think about it before getting work done. Thought why not try somewhere else worse it’s going to cost is another £40-£50 for another MOT so I did yet again it failed but after asking the other garage to price up the work they came back with a price a lot closer to £200. Didn’t need new tyre like they said. Nothing wrong with lights like they said indicator was correct colour which they said was wrong and the list continues. The reason the MOT is cheaper than most places is because they get it back by adding it on jobs on your car that are not needed. For someone who’s been driving close to 20 years this by far is the worse garage I’ve used such a shame as I’m a massive fan of Halfords.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Car required a new battery and alternator. Came here as I thought it was a name I could trust, clearly not. They sold me a faulty battery, I had numerous problems since with car 'not starting' & 'low battery symbol'. Had multiple AA & RAC patrols come out and each one diagnosed and gave me a report advising to replace the battery as its faulty. Each time I brought it back into the garage they ran their own tests basically called me and the breakdown company liars and blamed me for the low battery (although car is used daily and often goes on long journeys) Ian was extremely rude to my partner and I. Now the car is out of warranty...lord and behold THEY HAVE FOUND A FAULT WITH THE BATTERY! but its my job to buy a replacement due to warranty expiration. Formal complaint going through with Head Office, trading standards have been contacted and so have Watchdog. Avoid this place at ALL costs. Unless you have the time and money to waste (which I do not)”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Avoid. Good things: The older gentlemen & the young girl at the front very friendly and very helpful. Bad things: Everything else. Took my car here and it failed it’s MOT that’s fine no issues with that asked them to price it up to get it through MOT just short of £400 decided to take it away and have a little think about it before getting work done. Thought why not try somewhere else worse it’s going to cost is another £40-£50 for another MOT so I did yet again it failed but after asking the other garage to price up the work they came back with a price a lot closer to £200. Didn’t need new tyre like they said. Nothing wrong with lights like they said indicator was correct colour which they said was wrong and the list continues. The reason the MOT is cheaper than most places is because they get it back by adding it on jobs on your car that are not needed. For someone who’s been driving close to 20 years this by far is the worse garage I’ve used such a shame as I’m a massive fan of Halfords.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Halfords chingford aviod this at all cost my wife took the car for MOT and it failed on emission. My first thought was the guys tested it on cold engine which would give a bad reading. They asked my wife for a diagnostic which would cost £50. The next working day I ask for a retest and took it myself got the engine hot before I took It and passed straight away how funny. These guys are known for ripping people off DO Not have a MOT at halfords.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Took our mini for MOT. Cancelled once already by Hemel Halford. Having alead planned the Saturday around car drop off. Got told 1 hour before 3pm appointment. Very useful! Started MOT the next Saturday, after 30 minutes And entrusting our car to Halfords I went to the cafe next door. Then get a phone call to say the radiator was leaking and the test had to be cancelled. It certainly was not leaking before and this happened in the care of Halfords. Charged me 300 to fit a new one. They had obviously hit the rolling road way too hard. Denied any responsibility. Not even a discount. BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE do not let the car out of your sight”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Useless Tried in two stores to have a radio fitted. One said it was too windy. I booked a spot on line at 5pm to have the radio done in a different store. They called me and said it was too dark to do it. Then why are these time slots available. Many times I have been in to stores only to be told there are no fitters today. The problem is, they just cannot be bothered, lack of incentives or whatever. If they can dodge the work and stay inside they will, it’s simply a case of, they actually get nothing out if a £70 fitting charge. The store gains the profit not the workers. I can really see why they cannot be bothered. The issue here is, losing money through this side stepping, and then they let staff go. Wake up and smell the coffee.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Halfrauds would be a more fitting name for this company. Absolute scammers and crooks, they should not be allowed to trade. Took my car in for full service, as MOT was due next day. I always have MOT at separate garage to MOT. When I collected my car, I was advised my shocks needed replacing as one had a major leak. They guy also said that this would be an MOT fail if I did not get this done. Knowing now, he knew my MOT was due the next day, so fabricated this fault as to scare me and pay up for their massive overpriced quote/repair. Took car for MOT next day and passed with no advisories. They even said the shocks were in great condition. Halfrauds make this faults up to make money. It's questionable what they do with your car when it does go in for service, but I really dont trust them. My advice to anyone is to avoid this company.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“I was warned about booking my taxi with halfords as I was told Cheap MOTs here mean they look for faults..well mine has just failed ..but last week (8days ago) my taxi passed its strict taxi test and the day before the test it was inspected by a mechanic/mot inspector..nothing wrong with it whatsoever and 8 days later it fails here..I'm told my cv boot is totally split everywhere..this takes more than a week to get like this..I'm taking my car back to my local garage to see if it has been deliberately split..I'm never going to take my car here ever again”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Terrible! Avoid! Bunch of incompetent liars!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Hounslow Auto centre is terrible! Bunch of incompetent liars! Will take them to court for compensation”

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Posted 5 years ago

“My daughter took her car for an MOT and had it failed with over £1000.00 of repairs advised. I took the car to a private garage where the mechanic made a couple of small repairs and issued a new MOT certificate all for £100. Has Halfords got a policy of failing vehicles to gain extra work i wonder?”

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Posted 5 years ago

“THE WORST - PLEASE AVOID!! I took my car to Halfords in Ardwick Green, Manchester for a full service after an appointment had been booked one week in advance. Dropped off the car at 8:30 am in the morning and they promised that I would have the car for use for my afternoon work. I went back to check at 1 PM and the car was still parked in the the yard, untouched! I took my keys and drove off to another garage. Halfords is just a big name but the worst customer service - do not even consider it. Makes you wonder, what else do they do or not do to your vehicle while they collect money from you as a customers?”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Wow, just when I thought Halfords couldn’t be both any more useless and solely money orientated these guys excel one again and achieve new highs of inept capability! Two years ago Halfords Redditch undertook an MOT on my wife’s car, passed it, and then 2 weeks later for the free winter check stated it was dangerous and the suspension arms needed replacing. Funny how this wasn’t picked up at the MOT! So, I thought I would give Halfords Autocentre in Stratford-upon-Avon a chance with my 2015/16 plate BMW F31 Touring and booked my MOT as convenient as local to my work. It underwent a full major service by BMW in late November 2019 and passed with flying colours including the comprehensive vehicle inspection and test of all controls including exterior lighting. Note nothing had been altered since. I paid up front for the MOT and a lighting beam adjustment as felt they were perhaps a little too low, and an air-con. Dropped the car off before 11am and spoke to the Reception guy who was polite but hadn’t a clue about the process of air-con recharging and kept staying they only had the old gas and not the new one for my car, but could probably do it, yet he didn’t know - helpful. I asked for them to do what they could and to leave it if a problem as it was fine anyway. I then get a call from the same guy stating it’s failed on the low beam which I immediately think is total trash. Oh and they also gave an advisory on all 4 tyres which are 3.3mm-4.1mm all round and way above the minimum 1.6mm. He suggests fitting some H7 bulbs instead at £40 and I agreed given the expiry of MOT cert was the day previous and needed my car for work and children pickup. Two hours later I go in to check progress and to my sheer bemusement they can’t get the bulbs delivered !! This is Halfords for Christ sake you sell them in practically every store! He phoned their parts guys, moaned a lot and stressed his disappointment and then said it would probably be another 2 hours. I took this opportunity to get my vehicle out of there and took it to Birmingham City Centre which was closer to home anyway and managed to get a slot at another MOT station. Low and behold they put the vehicle through the beam test with me present and it was fine and height needed minor adjustment. All tyres checked on ramp and measurements as stated above taken so NO advisories needed. Avoid these guys like the plague, or a better analogy would be avoid like zombies with the plague, although that would be a discredit to the zombies who could actually demonstrate more competence in their roles at this woeful place.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Halfords Watford I have replaced break pads 2 years ago - manager said I have to replace breake discs as well as its dangerous to drive like that - I said definitely no for that as milage was very low - and now it will be my third mot check from that visit in Halfords and Audi serviceman said break discs are still fine. My advice - stay away from those dishonest people.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Booked a free Suspension check. They had the vehicle five hours and after that they phoned me and said the car was fine! I then questioned it and said are you sure. He assured me it had been checked and test driven. I questioned him again and he said that he will take it out immediately for another test. 15 minutes later he phoned me back and told me the front shocks absorbers were completely gone! If I had of taken his word for it the first time I could’ve sent my wife and kids off to London in this car I have just purchased and possibly send them all to their deaths Hence the reason for this review. If you fail to diagnose simple faults on cars, then what else do you fail to do. Do you fail to tighten the bolts up on the suspension struts as well or what other things are you forgetting or not doing properly? Adam was friendly. However £550 quoted was just too expensive for a pair of shocks, and I couldn’t except it anyway because somebody in that workshop in Torquay is not doing things properly and where suspension and brakes are concerned this could end up with you all in the Coroners Court one day”

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Posted 5 years ago

“I booked in for a free repair check. Informed them I knew I needed an engine mount but wanted a squeeling noise from my wheel sorted. Guys were friendly enough and dropped it off early. Got a call a few hours later saying that my drivers side wheel bearing was gone and they had spotted the engine mount as I expected. Popped to collect my vehicle and got a quote which said £295 for one wheel bearing, £357 For an engine mount as well. They also said there was only 2.1mm Of tread on three tyres and wanted another 364 quid to swap them. Safe to say I rang a local dealer 10 minutes away who quoted me £358 for both the bearing replacement and the engine mount inc VAT Which was a whopping saving of 300 quid and my normal tyre guy gives me decent budget tyres fully fitted for 50 quid a tyre which I’ve booked for three months time when they near the legal limit of 1.6mm as still 0.5mm to go yet. A further 200 quid saving! Safe to say I’m happy with my saving of 500 quid and I won’t be using their Autocentre again at them prices”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Needed to know whether my cambelt needed changing. Halfords website says book your car in for free cambelt check. Booked for a week later and drove vehicle to auto-centre. Walked in to drop keys off and person on the tills says they don't physically check anything, they just calculate mileage of vehicle! This can be done by anyone on a phone, so why book in and take vehicle into an auto-centre? BIG CON!!!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“I took my Van in just before Christmas to get New brake disks and pads long story short the hub that bolts onto the suspension arm (The thing that wheel sits on) Every single one of the five bolts That bolts the hub to the suspension arm was loose they had just been a finger tightened . one of them became so loose that it came out about half an inch and started scraping on the back of the break disk as it went round . Dave the excellent mechanic from H and A Truck assistance said the wheel could’ve fallen off at any time whilst turning. I am taking this as high up as I can and I hope to get the person who fit this the sack I even thought about calling the police. If you value your life stay well away from them I had even driven around 70 miles on the motorway the day I got it back With finger tightened bolts holding the full brake assembly and wheel. Unacceptable.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“An absolutely awful service. Booked online, no one turns up. When I call I was told they forgot to upload tyre on van. Waste of time. Won’t even book me into a Halfords shop as it’s a separate business. Go to a local shop, you will get better luck.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Very rogue company stay away they are like kwik fit no standarts no customer service appreciation. 3 times get re-tested for MOT every time new excuses been made. Can't really trust them on no work at all they are sabotaging your own property and laughter at your face.”

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Posted 5 years ago

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

Halfords Autocentres Reviews