Halfords gets fined £32k for missing 11/20 defects

[bob6600]

A trading standards sting saw a Vauxhall Astra deliberately fitted with problems booked in for a £235 service at Halford in Bristol

Halfords fined £32,000 after failing to spot 11 defects while servicing a rigged car - Mirror Online

 

[wemorgan]

what a joke:

"Halfords operates over 300 Autocentres throughout the UK, employing over 2,000 people and working on approximately 60,000 vehicles per month.

"We immediately launched an internal investigation and are confident that this is an isolated case."

They really think that only 1 vehicle out of 60,000 that month would have failed. That's a failure of only 0.0017%. NHS managers couldn't even invent that.

 

[whitenemesis]

Halfords doesn't say that only one in 60,000 fail. They stated they work on 60,000 vehicles a month and it's the fact they didn't spot the faults in that particular car, is an isolated case. Which almost certainly isn't true either! I'm certain many others slip through, just not submitted by Trading Standards .....

 

[wemorgan]

Either way, it shows their investigation was as ineffective as that particular service centre. It makes it sound as if quality control is a marketing process rather than a genuine business mind-set.

 

[Mike Walker]

IMHO ok for cheap MOT's but would not go near them for servicing of any kind.

 

[tanuie]

Who would take there car to Halfords for a service!!

 

[Meldrew2]

IMHO ok for cheap MOT's but would not go near them for servicing of any kind.

I wouldn't want to have an MOT done by a place that failed to spot defects - I want to be sure that my car has no safety-related defects; I'm trusting it with my life whenever I press the right hand pedal.

What I want is an MOT tester with OCD…

… on second thoughts, maybe I should have used them to MOT my ex's car

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Halfords doesn't say that only one in 60,000 fail. They stated they work on 60,000 vehicles a month and it's the fact they didn't spot the faults in that particular car, is an isolated case. Which almost certainly isn't true either! I'm certain many others slip through, just not submitted by Trading Standards .....

Maybe, but 11 faults...?

 

[whitenemesis]

Maybe, but 11 faults...?

I'm not defending them! 1 fault or twenty it's irrelevant. There will be many cars passing through every week that have faults that are not 'detected'. It's just that this one was planted by Trading Standards, so they knew it was missed.

I'd never take a car to Halfords for servicing or MoT....

 

[AMGeed]

I'd never take a car to Halfords for servicing or MoT....

Nor would I and probably almost all the forum members. But a huge majority (I would imagine) of the car buying public have no concept of the importance of getting a car serviced by a competent dealer/indy/mechanic.

They trust the biggest car chain in the UK to properly care for their car, and not surprisingly, Halfords have been found failing them. It does make you wonder how big a % of cars are on the road with defects missed by incompetent Halfords operators.

 

[gaz_l]

Nor would I and probably almost all the forum members. But a huge majority (I would imagine) of the car buying public have no concept of the importance of getting a car serviced by a competent dealer/indy/mechanic.

They trust the biggest car chain in the UK to properly care for their car, and not surprisingly, Halfords have been found failing them. It does make you wonder how big a % of cars are on the road with defects missed by incompetent Halfords operators.

There's a lot of people out there who view cars with the same interest/care I view white goods with. My wife for one! I dare say these are the type of people who will go to Halfords for servicing as they are a well-known brand, rather than deal with "those horrid grubby people down the road", who may actually know what they're doing. My friendly local garage certainly isn't shiny but the half a dozen guys working there have well over a hundred years' experience between them..

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[mct_cars]

I remember wanting to take a BMW 330d to them for an oil change. They had an offer on for IIRC £25 for Mobil oil and Filter - cheaper than I could buy the bits for! Problem is, their computer said the right oil was 0w-30. Mobil and BMW said the right oil was 15w-40 (or something like that). Anyway, I raised it with the branch AND head office which both basically said they had no intension or inclination to correct the problem or indeed put the right oil in.

Not surprisingly I told them to stick it and reported them to trading standards. Don't know how much damage they did to cars out there that weren't as vigilant, but basically their attitude was a one that couldn't give a stuff.

Wouldn't touch them for anything after that.

 

[tali]

Not surprising
Car repairers slammed in Which? survey

 

[t-dawg1]

I remember wanting to take a BMW 330d to them for an oil change. They had an offer on for IIRC £25 for Mobil oil and Filter - cheaper than I could buy the bits for! Problem is, their computer said the right oil was 0w-30. Mobil and BMW said the right oil was 15w-40 (or something like that). Anyway, I raised it with the branch AND head office which both basically said they had no intension or inclination to correct the problem or indeed put the right oil in. Not surprisingly I told them to stick it and reported them to trading standards. Don't know how much damage they did to cars out there that weren't as vigilant, but basically their attitude was a one that couldn't give a stuff. Wouldn't touch them for anything after that.

I think a BMW 330d takes 0W30 oil?

 

[Ted]

I would hazard a guess that it would depend on the ambient temperature.

 

[mct_cars]

I think a BMW 330d takes 0W30 oil?

Possibly, might have been the other way round. It was four years ago but was definitely way wrong (and well outside of spec).