Halfords customers

"Peter B" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

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"martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

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excellent is a road only shop aimed at riders who have never heard of Halfords.

Would they be from China then?

Pete

I think everyone in China has heard of Halfords, as they make virtually everything in the shop
(mieoww!) The shop I am thinking of has a sign in it _If you need to know the price you can't afford
it_ so you can guess from that who it is aimed out. They did sell me a measly component for £8
though and the credit card machine did not blink (_sorry, below minimum transaction limit. please
select a more expensive item_) Joking apart I have seen quite a few LBS's with minimum card limits
due to excessive commission (even debit cards)

In "]news:[email hidden], martin
<[email hidden]> typed:

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"Peter B" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

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"martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

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excellent is a road only shop aimed at riders who have never heard of Halfords.

Would they be from China then?

Pete

I think everyone in China has heard of Halfords, as they make virtually everything in the shop
(mieoww!)

In case you hadn't noticed, people in China make virtually everything in virtually every shop*, so
I'm not sure why Halfords comes in for extra [censored]. Plenty of stuff in high end shops is made
there, too, even if they do have the odd bit of stuff that's been hand CNCed in Britain/Italy etc.

A

*because the companies can get away with incredibly low wages and poor conditions. There are also
plenty of other countries where this happens, of course, Indonesia being the next largest one in
terms of manufactured goods.

"Ambrose Nankivell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

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In "]news:[email hidden], martin
<[email hidden]> typed:

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"Peter B" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

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"martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
> excellent is a road only shop aimed at riders who have never heard of Halfords.

Would they be from China then?

Pete

I think everyone in China has heard of Halfords, as they make virtually everything in the shop
(mieoww!)

In case you hadn't noticed, people in China make virtually everything in virtually every shop*, so
I'm not sure why Halfords comes in for extra [censored]. Plenty of stuff in high end shops is made
there, too, even if they do have the odd bit of stuff that's been hand CNCed in Britain/Italy etc.

CNC? sorry being a bit thick to ng speak. Curiously a bike I bought in France, with a large 'made in
France' on the rear stay had China stamped on the steerer when I took it out. Does @made@ mean
assembled in UK as well? if so they could get away with anything, (_Yes we made it in England by
boltiing together two imported Chinese bits_)

In article <[email hidden]>, Ambrose Nankivell

Quoted message said:

There are also plenty of other countries where this happens, of course, Indonesia being the next
largest one in terms of manufactured goods.

The last batch of Freespirit bikes which I ordered were made in Vietnam.

--
A T (Sandy) Morton on the Bicycle Island In the Global Village sandymillport.fsnet.co.uksandymillport.fsnet.co.ukOpen ↗

In "]news:[email hidden], martin
<[email hidden]> typed:

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"Ambrose Nankivell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

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In "]news:[email hidden], martin
<[email hidden]> typed:

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"Peter B" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
> "martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
>> excellent is a road only shop aimed at riders who have never heard of Halfords.
>
> Would they be from China then?
>
> Pete
I think everyone in China has heard of Halfords, as they make virtually everything in the shop
(mieoww!)

In case you hadn't noticed, people in China make virtually everything in virtually every shop*,
so I'm not sure why Halfords comes in for extra [censored]. Plenty of stuff in high end shops is
made there, too, even if they do have the odd bit of stuff that's been hand CNCed in
Britain/Italy etc.

CNC? sorry being a bit thick to ng speak.

It stands for Computer Numerically Controlled [Lathe]. It's what people use to turn a big block of
aluminium into an expensive piece of bike kit, for example that pictured at
dalescycles.comcomersus viewitem.aspOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

Curiously a bike I bought in France, with a large 'made in France' on the rear stay had China
stamped on the steerer when I took it out. Does @made@ mean assembled in UK as well? if so they
could get away with anything, (_Yes we made it in England by boltiing together two imported
Chinese bits_)

I think so. Certainly (all of? a lot of?) Dawes's frames are made in Taiwan and then put together in
Birmingham, and I think that's generally true.

marc said:

panda said:

BERGEN OP ZOOM????!!!!!!! nnnoooooooo

(sorry bad ride one day)

Let's hear about it!

got off the ferry from hull, looking forward to 60mile ride, turned into 89 miles with 4hr
thunderstorm and 1.5hrs cycling round bergen op zoom looking for youth hostel. oh and dont by fizzy
water to fill up your water bottles.

panda

panda said:

Quoted message said:

Let's hear about it!

got off the ferry from hull, looking forward to 60mile ride, turned into 89 miles with 4hr
thunderstorm and 1.5hrs cycling round bergen op zoom looking for youth hostel. oh and dont by
fizzy water to fill up your water bottles.

The YH should be easy to find it's on the ring road.

--
Marc. Please note the above address is a spam trap, use marcc to reply Printing for clubs of all
types jaceeprint.demon.co.ukjaceeprint.demon.co.ukOpen ↗ Stickers, banners & clothing, for clubs,teams, magazines
and dealers.

marc said:

panda said:

Quoted message said:

Let's hear about it!

got off the ferry from hull, looking forward to 60mile ride, turned into 89 miles with 4hr
thunderstorm and 1.5hrs cycling round bergen op zoom looking for youth hostel. oh and dont by
fizzy water to fill up your water bottles.

The YH should be easy to find it's on the ring road.

well i know that now!! but i had no town map, and no-one i asked knew, including a taxi driver!!

panda

"panda" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

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Quoted message said:

The YH should be easy to find it's on the ring road.

well i know that now!! but i had no town map, and no-one i asked knew, including a taxi driver!!

Wise sayings of seasoned traveller -- 47

When travelling to new lands always have your sleeping arrangements for the first night of any trip
booked in advance and know exactly how to get to the place.

Wise sayings of seasoned traveller -- 67

Never expect a local taxi driver to know the town (except in London).

Wise sayings of seasoned traveller -- 196

Never drink fizzy water -- it gives you terrible wind.

Ok, as an ex-Halfords employee it really gets on my breasts to see such prejudiced [censored] written by
so many people on this NG.

Facts are that Halfords started off purely selling bikes well over 100 years ago. So how they cannot
be considered a proper bike shop is beyond me. What is a proper bike shop? Just because Halfords
sells things other than bikes does not change its status as a shop. Do people consider Marks and
Spencers a bad place to buy Bras from because they also sell chicken?

Prices?

Even the veritable old Raleigh cash in on their name and customer perceptions by overcharging on
most of their kit. They offer a price match policy FFS.

Stock?

All this 90% of their stock is cheap [censored] is such old news - 10 years ago when I first worked there
it was. Which of the following brands of tyres [1] that Halfords stock in all stores are [censored]?
Continental, Michelin, Panaracer, Ritchey? They have 24-48hr access on all the things a LBS has to
order in. Out of interest what percentage of LBS have a full XTR, Dura Ace or Campag Record Gruppo
in stock? Are people on this group so thick as to think that the supply trade mystically take longer
to deliver to Halfords stores than a smaller LBS?

[1] Chose tyres because they are a very small segment of the display space in an average store.

Check out their special order catalogue for the true range of spares and accessories. The situation
that Huw mentioned about the gear hanger is a fine example. Ask the staff to show you the
computerised ordering system they have in all stores.

Staff?

How many of us have been to a LBS where the staff are downright rude if they do not know you? The
problem Halfords have go is that the customer will approach any Tom [censored] or Harry to help them.
Would a lady approach someone filling up the poultry section to come on over and measure her breasts
at M&S. All Halfords stores now have a spine of staff on their cycle teams that are cyclists.

BTW

The lads in Bridgend are top notch better than any LBS I've worked in.

Hello to any guys from South Wales who remember Greg at 561.

"Al Ford" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

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Ok, as an ex-Halfords employee it really gets on my breasts to see such prejudiced [censored] written by
so many people on this NG.

snip

OK -- you are an ex-employee -- you can stop singing the company song.

However, I do not think you are too wrong. Halfords do a fair job. Neither of my 2 local branches
would be my LBS of choice -- but I've got stuff from them -- especially at those times when my LBS
guys are closed and at prayer (they are some form of religious nutters so close all w/e!!!).

T

(Al Ford) said:

How many of us have been to a LBS where the staff are downright rude if they do not know you?

For a number of years my favourite LBS - where I bought three bikes[1] and an amazing amount of
kit - was owned, and run largely single-handed, by a very shy man who also suffered quite badly
from depression. I won't name him - he's retired now, and I personally liked him very much and
liked his shop very much. He was both very knowledgable and very modest. But he was quite the
wrong person to be in a retail business and was often quite abrupt and difficult with people who
came into the shop..

All sorts of people work in all sorts of places. Bigger chains have the option either to train
customer facing staff in inter-personal skills or move people with poorer interpersonal skills into
non-customer-facing roles... or of course sack them.

[1] but then I've also bought two bikes from Halfords, and very good value they were too.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) jasmine.org.uk~simonOpen ↗ ;; gif ye hes forget our auld
plane Scottis quhilk your mother lerit you, ;; in tymes cuming I sall wryte to you my mind in Latin,
for I am nocht ;; acquyntit with your Southeron ;; Letter frae Ninian Winyet tae John Knox datit 27t
October 1563

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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[email hidden] (Al Ford) writes:

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liked him very much and liked his shop very much. He was both very knowledgable and very modest.
But he was quite the wrong person to be in a retail business and was often quite abrupt and
difficult with people who came into the shop..

and yet it appears from what you say he managed to make sufficient profit to keep his business
going for some years; and built up a good enough rapport with you to keep *your* custom - and no
doubt others.

IME a lot of owners of small specialist businesses "cherry-pick" their customers; and deal with the
ones *they* want to deal with. I've heard plenty of shop owners even [censored] off "difficult" customers
in front of the rest of the public.... This happens a lot in other places like specialist record
shops etc. Of course some staff [censored] too many potential customers and go out of business; but
others survive for a suprisingly long time.

You are right about big shops though having more "customer service ethos" drummed into their staff,
although this is IMO mostly corporate [censored] rather than a sincere attempt to help a customer. (I
am a very cynical person who can see straight through stuff like this..)

I've never had any problems with the staff at Halfords though, apart from a couple of lads (now
left) who thought I was an undercover policeman(!) and made snide comments behind my back. I found
this more laughable than annoying, especially given my mis-spent youth 🙂

Alex

"Mr R@t (2.3 zulu-alpha) [comms room 2]" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

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IME a lot of owners of small specialist businesses "cherry-pick" their customers; and deal with
the ones *they* want to deal with.

Never really thought about that before but I can see it's a life-style choice rather than a
get-rich-at-all-costs approach. If you can make a living sufficient for your demands by dealing with
people you like why put up with a load of ignorant morons? However some shop owners could be quite
rude, and not just speciality shops, whether this is off-putting or just colourful is up to oneself
but I think nowadays when we are going to shell out a large sum of hard earned we'd like a degree of
respect, assuming we are respectful.

Pete

Peter B said:

Never really thought about that before but I can see it's a life-style choice rather than a
get-rich-at-all-costs approach. If you can make a living sufficient for your demands by dealing
with people you like why put up with a load of ignorant morons? However some shop owners could be
quite rude, and not just speciality shops, whether this is off-putting or just colourful is up to
oneself but I think nowadays when we are going to shell out a large sum of hard earned we'd like a
degree of respect, assuming we are respectful.

Three or so years ago my old MTB was stolen. So, I did a hike around all of Worthing's cycle shops
(there are about 15), giving them my "Bike Nicked" leaflet. The members of staff I met in all of the
shops were polite. Perhaps they felt the sale of a bike coming on.

James

--
"Sorry mate, I didn't see you" is not a satisfactory excuse.