“I am incredibly disappointed with the service my husband and I received at Newark Halfords Auto Centre today. Both of our cars were booked in for MOTs—my husband’s in the morning and mine in the afternoon—and the experience was frustrating and unacceptable on multiple levels.
Firstly, my husband’s car failed its MOT due to an engine light, but your team claimed they could not diagnose the issue and advised us to visit another garage for the diagnosis. This is shocking—we paid for an MOT service, yet your team lacks the capability to investigate the reasons for a failure, forcing us to pay another garage to do what should be part of your service.
Secondly, your team claimed his coolant tank was leaking and needed replacing. This is completely unacceptable as last week, my husband had brought his car to this very garage for the coolant issue, only to be told there were no staff available to fix it. He then took the car to another garage to resolve the problem. For your team to now claim there is still an issue feels like either incompetence or, worse, deliberate dishonesty.
My own MOT experience this afternoon was even more appalling. I arrived a few minutes late due to traffic (your staff claimed it was 9 minutes, but my phone said 6). I was greeted by Brandon, who was rude, unprofessional, and deceitful. He refused to carry out the MOT, claiming it "legally has to be done on time." He sat laid back in his chair, spinning on it with a smirk on his face. He later admitted that the MOT tester had already gone home, even though we had seen the tester just as we arrived. It became clear that the MOT tester wanted to leave early, and rather than being honest, Brandon made excuses to turn me away.
What makes this even worse is that earlier in the day, we received a call asking if we could bring the car in earlier. We explained this wasn’t possible because my husband was at work and couldn’t take me home afterwards. Had we known that the tester would leave early, we wouldn’t have booked in the first place.
This is a far cry from the excellent service we’ve received from Halfords in the past, where we were always greeted by polite and helpful staff. Today’s experience was the opposite—Brandon was scruffy, rude, and dishonest.
To top it off, my husband has since taken his car to a diagnostic garage, where the issue Halfords quoted at £300 is being resolved for just £60. The other garage cannot understand how Halfords came up with such an inflated price.
This experience has completely eroded my trust in Halfords. From poor service and misdiagnosed issues to rude and deceitful staff, I am extremely disappointed. We will not be returning, and I will be warning others to avoid this garage.”
“Online ordered an oil filter for 1 week without notification for collection, it is just like a scam without any staff would help
Halford simply cancel my order by itself without my confirmation. What a scam, dishonest company, daylight robbery”
“Pokesdown Bournemouth store. I booked in for 4 new tyres at 11am and arrived 10 minutes prior as requested. The fitting was not completed until 1.15pm. For 4 tyres. Before I drove the car away I was told the tyre pressures would be reset as I drove. However, the low pressure warning came on almost immediately so I drive to the nearest petrol station to find that the tyres had been inflated to 22psi. The correct pressures should be 38psi front and 32psi rear. Diabolical. I am now sceptical that the balancing which was included as standard has been done at all or that the wheel nuts have been tightened to the correct torque. I won’t be returning.”
“AVOID DARLINGTON STORE!!!!!
AVOID THIS STORE!!!!!
It is recommended to exercise caution when considering shopping at this particular store. The recent experience involving the purchase of an Apple car player as a Christmas gift for my daughter at the Darlington branch in March 2024 has been quite disappointing. The car player purchased was found to be incompatible with the vehicle, resulting in multiple instances of the car experiencing voltage faults. This issue has also caused the stop-start function to cease working, which is a requirement for passing the MOT test. Despite numerous attempts to resolve the matter with the branch manager, Andrew, there has been a lack of response.
During one of the visits to address the recurring issue, my daughter's car was issued a parking ticket for £60 while under repair by Mark at the Darlington branch. After reaching out to Gillian, who identified herself as the acting manager, she acknowledged that the parking fine was issued in error due to a mistake on the part of the fitter for not registering my daughters car. Gillian assured my daughter the parking ticket would be dealt with and not to worry. However, my daughter received a notice from the parking company today demanding payment of now £100 within 7 days to avoid potential legal action. I drove my daughter to the shop and was directed to the acting manager Michelle. She declined to address the issue, stating that her responsibilities primarily involved working with bikes and we would need to speak with Andrew the store manager. Michelle refused to look at the parking notices stating it was has nothing to do with her.
Upon contacting the head office and speaking with Themba from store support, he communicated that they he was unable to address the situation directly and would need to involve the store manager. It is concerning that Halfords has allowed such a lapse in customer service, which has not only caused financial distress, inconvenience but also puts my daughter's credit rating and future at risk.
How can a store manager and several acting managers demonstrate such disregard for a customer who has made a purchase and leave a young lady my daughter feeling concerned about potential legal action, her furture and enforcement measures that are not of her doing.
Halfords would you care to explain?”
“(BRAINTREE) DON'T be mistaken about free heath check or free break check, basically on arrival they will say they have include the £20 fuel flush and if you decide you don't want it they don't bother with your vehicle basically.. nothing is free, also under new management. won't be using them again. You have been Warned!!!”
“Halfords “fit at home” to replace a battery. I give then 1 star..
Booked and paid for a slot..8am to noon…received ‘order summary’ via email which then stated ‘all day’ fitting…not 10 till noon..!
Concerned that I may have to wait in all day, I emailed Halfords to query this timing but didn’t get a reply..phoned but could never get through to a customer service agent..VERY POOR.
Thankfully, the Halfords man did arrive during the booked slot.
However, before he would start work he insisted that he had to do a ‘survey’ before he could start the job.. i had to supply my cars mileage and he then began to take photos of my car, tyres etc…why is this necessary? The battery is guaranteeed for 5 years and not limited to mileage.
I can only assume that they are gathering information to sell on my info and to pester me with future emails in attempt to sell further Halfords products..ie servicing, tyres, mot.
This is an underhanded practice and an invasion of privacy. Needless to say that Halfords have now lost my trust and future business…and is not to be recommended.”
“Where’s my Mercedes badge oh yeah! It’s was stolen from one of your automotive shops! Called to ask where it had gone and got the response oh yeah we saw that!”
“I recently had a Major service in Southend Halfords Autocentre which is included replacing cabin filter and Brake fluid renewal.
Unfortunately I was extremely disappointed to discover that these essential task were not completed during my service appointment.
How I found out is when I bought my car to Mercedes dealer for brakes pads and brake Discs replace and they carried out a safety check and they discovered that the service has not been done and they asked me to book in for service. But I told them that I just had a service done by Halfords auto center in Southend.
So they carrying out a check and found out that cabin filter not charge and brake fluid has not been replaced.
The cabin filter and brake fluid still very black in colour. Despite clearly requesting a Major service and paying for a comprehensive maintenance package, the oversight by the car service center was unacceptable Not only did this inconvenience me, but this also raised concerns about the thoroughness of their work and level of attention to detail.
Moreover, the failure to charge the brakes fluid and cabin filter could potentially lead to performance issues and safety risk for my vehicle. I was disappointed by the lack of attention to such critical components of my car’s maintenance, while I appreciated the effort of the staff at Southend Halfords Auto Centre, I was Not Satisfied with how the issue was handled when I bought it to their attention. Their response lacked urgency and left much to be desired in terms of customer service.
I n the future, I hope that Southend Halfords Auto Center takes steps to improve their processes and ensure that all Major service are completed throughly and accurately.”
“They guy working there probably had his period he was swearing infront of me when a job came to him, stupid clown you been paid 9-5 if you don’t want to do get the hell out and go somewhere when there are people seeking for
This kind of job!”
“What can I say .. rip off merchants. My Mrs took her car for a mot as was pushed and pushed to join halfords club. As she didn't want to do this they had to find something to fail her 2016 29,000 mile ka well they said her headlamps were too high and wanted £15 per lamp to adjust them but they couldn't do it on the day so I told her to bring it home . When she got here I sat in the car and pressed the dip button on the dash and they dropped. Yep that's right they didn't even bother pressing a button. They just wanted to fail it . I took it to autocraft in larkfield and surprise Surprise it passed. I think it says it all. Halfords are a total rip off and I wouldn't recommend ANYONE ELSE TAKING THEIR CAR THERE FOR A MOT”
“Bad service! I got a flat tire in the shopping centre and walked all the way there for the man to laugh at me and say there’s nothing he can do. 0 Customer service. Westwood cross Thanet.”
“Halfords Allison Court Gateshead
Booked car in twice here and issue not found or resolved. Car grinds turning left, first time was told brake pad slipped and second visit was told a stone was behind the brake pad. Both times I left the garage the car was making the exact same noise as when I took it only now it’s worse and much louder.
Meant to be seen within the hour, had to call after 4 hours to be told my car was still too hot to be looked at by anyone from when I drove it to drop it off 4 hours prior. Not even possible, drove it for 5 mins to get to the garage from my home, definitely doesn’t take 4 hours to cool. Was also told they can’t hear anything so no point looking at the car.
Appeared the car was never even looked at the second time and I was just dismissed with the excuse of a stone. I still have the issue which is now much worse.
Don’t go here.”
“Had car serviced. Was told that the brake discs were excessively scored and that I had a tyre with a dangerous bulge ..... WRONG in both cases. I had 2 independent opinions. Halfords Mitcham Lied. BEWARE OF THEM.”
“Took my car for MOT they found a long list of faults that needed repairing a rough estimate came to about £750 but end cost would be more as hard to find where oil leak was coming from. I was in complete shock as car is a 2002 model. At that cost car would need to be scrapped and I'd be left without transport in a village with no bus service.
Took car to another garage who did a fresh MOT and said the car did not have all the faults Halfords had listed. They replaced CV joint boot and the drive belt which was a bit loose and worn. Charged £185. I'm in total shock as my car was nearly scrapped due to Hackers being so dishonest.”
“Went in for MOT, Fault with dust cover, Failed MOT and said couldn't get part until the following week, leaves me without car and retest costs. Beware, you may want to find another place to do the work.
Contacted another garage, they fixed it within 1 hour of leaving Halfords. The part was readily available.... Need I say more?”
“They printed 6 words to detail the work which was done for nearly £700.
This is sloppy and incomplete. They should have given me a detailed check-list of the work done and a written warranty. I phoned the branch and was told "they don't do detailed reports no more" - I phoned customer service who seemed understanding - but that was 10 days ago and still not heard back from them.”
“I booked my wife's car into Halfords at Byfleet for a service & MOT. When I arrived at 9.30am I was told the car was booked in for 8.30am and that our MOT slot had gone, I said we were given 9.30 to drop the car in but the guy insisted it wasn't correct. He made me feel like a liar and wasn't very courteous at all, he said they will do what the can. At 14.13 in the afternoon the same guy called me to say our car had passed the MOT but the front break pads were approximately 1 mm under the recommended limit and suggested to have new pa ds fitted. I said if we went ahead what time would our car be ready to collect? Between 4 &4.30 pm was his answer, at 4pm we drove to collect my wife's car and when we arrived the same guy told us they had a problem with a bolt where the thread had gone so they were unable to complete the works until a new bolt was found therefore we had to leave the car overnight. The following day we had not received any communication from Halfords regarding our car so at 12.48 I called Halfords for a progress report only to be told they haven't found the part but he would call back in 10 minutes to give us an update. Yet again no phone call so I called back at 2.39 pm to be told again the part has not come but was promised this afternoon. By now we were getting very frustrated with being fobbed off etc. Then this so called 'mechanic' said he could put on a new hub but it would cost another £170, so therefore a set of front brakes was now going to cost £400 for Peugeot 307!! Then came the old soldier the breaks couldn't have been fiited correctly previously, as this was the first set of front brakes to be renewed and the car had only done 32k miles they were looking for a scapegoat. That conversation finished at 2.50 pm after again saying he would call back in 10 minutes. It is No 335 pm and yet again no phone call. What a shambles for a supposed 5 star company, I wouldn't give the one!!”
“Don't even want to give A star poor work diagnosed Fault and damage my car don't go Plumsted Halfords auto centre very poor work and work done is not safe”
“A week before a camping trip to Dorset, the fuel filter warning light came on. As the car was due a service, I tried booking it into regular Hyundai dealer. They couldn't do the work before my camping trip so I booked it into Halfords Autocentre in Southfields. They charge £285 for a Major Service, which includes 71 checks items, one of which is replacing the Fuel Filter. When I collected the car the Fuel Filter warning light still came on. I lifted the bonnet where I could see that the Fuel Filter housing had not been touched (as there was a later of undisturbed dirt on it). I mentioned this at reception. The man in reception told me that some cars have lifetime fuel filters and the mechanic must have thought mine was one of them. I would not accept this feeble excuse (LIE). I insisted they did the work that I had paid for. He said he would call me first thing the next day to arrange something. After I left he called my mobile and told be it had definitely been changed, and he had the old one (LIE). I said I'd come back and show him that the housing had been undisturbed so it was impossible it could have been changed. Although he accepted that it looked undisturbed he insisted that it had been changed and they needed to reset the computer to turn off the warning light (LIE). I phoned Halfords Autocentres Customer Service who booked my into a different Halfords Autocentre in Mitcham. They took one look at the Fuel Filter housing and confirmed it had not been touched. They have agreed to replace the fuel filter and flush it through. Thank you Stefan in Customer Service for booking me into Mitcham and thanks Mitcham for being impartial and fair. Assuming I am happy with it on collection, I intend to leave you an excellent review.
Additionally, the oil in the engine looks completely black also. I am worried that they didn't change my oil or my oil filter but cannot prove anything without taking it to another garage to sort.”
