£90 for a replacement Bulb at Halfords!

[Gareth79]

ryanjohnstott said:

Indeed.

I expect Halfords pay more corporation tax than Amazon.......
.

A lot of the items are just listed by Amazon but sold by an independent trader who will have their own overheads to sort.

I do suspect that some of the sellers are perhaps shady in some ways (like a lot of eBay sellers), ie. shipping in from China (perhaps managing to evade import duties somehow), then using UK unpaid/cheap staff to distribute the products, and the money paid never going through any UK business.

That said, the majority of items I have received have come with full invoices from a proper trading business.

[oyster]

k-ink said:

I can't wait for Halfords to die. They have shocking service, staff and prices!

I beg your pardon?

You are willing for the livelihoods of several thousand people to be taken away from them.

What a weird and sad person you are.

[Ali Chappussy]

I have to agree, most of the staff I have encountered are shocking.

The young ones don't have a clue what they are talking about and I get the impression that the older ones are only there because it was the only job they could get. I'm sure they have must some decent workers somewhere, sadly, I have yet to meet any of them.

[confused_buyer]

As usual on PH no one is comparing like for like.

As others have said, the going rate from a motor factors for an off the shelf Osram or Philips original is about £50+VAT.

Assuming Halfords are fitting a genuine branded OEM original than I don't think £90 for the bulb, VAT and fitting is too bad at all.

The £15-£20 bulbs on ebay are perfectly OK but they are unbranded generic ones, you have to wait for delivery and you have to fit it yourself so are a totally different product and service.

[wildone63]

I would only use Halfords as a last resort,and as someone has already said, the majority of their staff are clueless who would otherwise be doing a burger flipping Mc Job

[MG CHRIS]

The local halfords to me which is a 5 minute walk is very handy to have when i need paint, filler, fiberglass etc went in there yesterday for a battery bracket kit which was 3 quid which was cheap. All the local (walking distance) motor factor shops have long since gone with only halfords left. I don't use it for parts get them at fast parts with trade discount a lot cheaper but for general things halfords is brilliant and i can walk there and back.

Why would anyone want to see a big chain go bust ive no idea very selfish people on here im alright attitdue i don't shop there then why should it exsist.

[gaz1234]

TroubledSoul said:

Nearly fell over when the guy told me! I was like £90?!?! For a Bulb?!

Jeez......

Looked on Amazon and you can get two D2S Xenon bulbs for £20!

make of car and type of bulb?

[nickfrog]

F355GTS said:

krunchkin said:

got a link?

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing-machines/das-6-dual-action-polisher/das-6-dual-action-polisher/prod_519.html

That's a Kestrel DAS-6, not a Megs. They're different products.

[Ki3r]

TroubledSoul said:

Nearly fell over when the guy told me! I was like £90?!?! For a Bulb?!

Jeez......

Looked on Amazon and you can get two D2S Xenon bulbs for £20!

I was at Halfords looking at bulbs when I saw someone ask if they had this one in stock 'Yes we do, its £85'. I almost died when I heard as I was not liking having to spend £10! Apparently they have to fit them by law too...another £20 I heard them say.

[rallyspit]

Ki3r said:

I was at Halfords looking at bulbs when I saw someone ask if they had this one in stock 'Yes we do, its £85'. I almost died when I heard as I was not liking having to spend £10! Apparently they have to fit them by law too...another £20 I heard them say.

WHAT!!! Some spotty yoof shop assistant has to fit parts to my car?

[P2BS]

Feirny said:

P2BS said:

That's what gets me about Halfords staff - they haven't got a technical clue.

That's a fairly brash generalisation there. I could say something equally as daft about your occupation, maybe?

It may be perceived as a 'daft' generalisation on my part, but it's my experience of them. Apart from the Till staff, they do that bit just fine.
I have yet to walk into a branch where I've met anyone who has any particular enthusiasm about what they sell. The bike department in my local one is run by 18 year olds with no particular training - I've watched them 'build' bikes and it convinced me to buy one flat packed & assemble it myself.
Similarly, I saw someone ask them to replace a halogen headlight bulb on their E60 last weekend, and the guy was still there struggling with it 90 mins later after I'd finished in Toys'r'us & Argos.
You could try to say something daft about my occupation - hell, you could even come & give it a go if you're not doing anything this coming Saturday night?

Back on topic - Xenon bulbs are £80+ if bought in Halfords & a lot of other places. Do people forget they have Xenon lights, and the bulbs aren't £4.99?

There is little to zero risk of Halfords folding, so irrespective how much people wish they'd disappear, they won't. I like the shop for what I know I can get there - cleaning products, spray paint and tools on a Sunday morning. No staff interaction required, job done.

Edited by P2BS on Tuesday 26th February 10:36

Edited by P2BS on Tuesday 26th February 10:39

[TroubledSoul]

gaz1234 said:

make of car and type of bulb?

05 E46 Coupe. I don't mind paying £50 for a bulb to be honest if that's what they cost, but paying almost twice that is a piss take. Plus, there was nothing mentioned about fitting for the price, just the bulb. I wouldn't let them touch my car I'm afraid. I'm so anal about it I will only go to a specialist for whichever marque I am driving at the time, if I am not doing the work myself!