Halfords are pants - they have didled me out of £75

[SantasFattymumma]

Ok i am skintety skint so christmas has been a case of scrimping and saving all year.

well i managed to get Ds a bike which cost me £148. it took me a good 6 months to save enough money for the bike and i was actually quite proud of myself for actually managing it (how sad am i?)

well i bought it online and had it delivered in a huge box. it remained in the box ready for Christmas day. DS is Autistic and his balance is very poor so although he is 6 he has to have stabilisers still so he cant have a bike with gears as the stabilisers wont fit.

well when i bought the bike online it said nothing about gears so figured it was a single speed.

Anyway, as it came all boxed up i had to take it into Halfords on wednesday to get it fixed up (i dont have any spanners or anythign to do it myself) they told me they would ring me before 4pm to say it was ready for collection.

Well i recieved no phone call so went and collected it late thursday afternoon. they kept all the box and the paperwork that was attached and just gave me the bike.

we went out friday to get his stabilisers but when we came home to fit them i discovered that the bike had 6 gears and the stabilisers wouldnt attach.
so off we trapse back to halfords to see fi they could fit them or adapt something or whatever.

The guy tells me there is nothing they can do and tells me im best off just exchnaging it for one that doesnt have gears. great that'll do i think..expcet they dont have any that dont have gears!

he then says well he can refund the money and i can try somewhere else. by this time DS is distarught at loseing his much loved christmas present.
anyway we go to the till to get the refund and he hands me over £75.
I say no i paid £148.

Do youhave the reciept? No i explain about it being attached to the box and the girl next to him says that yes she remembers me coming in to have it fixed up. (once you meet my son he is not soon forgotten)

he disappears for half an hour to speak with the manager and then comes back and says that because i havent got a receipt they can only giv me the current price....whicch is the half price sale price.

I must have explained 40 times about the fact that it was them that had thrown the reciept away, the girl next to him agreed she saw it and that i had paid the full amount but nope apparantly there was bnothing to be done.

I was fuming. i then had to trapse all around town to every single bike store i could find to try and find a 20" bike without gears....i may as well have been looking for fish in a dessert.

in the end i went to a fab independat store and explained ,my problem..the fact that i now had only £75 to spend on a bike that doesn't seemt to exist.

he was great and we ended up with a BMX that will last until he is 16 and will ahev all the local kids very jealous as it has somethign called MAG wheels (?!?!)

BUT it cos me £99 (it was £135 but he discounted it after my sob story)

i am so angry at Halfords though. so beware about getting anything fixed there.

Take that further. If you bought the bike online, you'll have credit/debit card reciepts etc. Thats awful.

Your credit/debit card statement plus your email confirmation of the order will be sufficient. W*nkers.

Don't let that go. Write a letter detailing every bit of it (including names of the people in the store you dealt with, if possible) and send it to head office - that is despicable customer service on their part. Really shocking

I agree would follow it up with written complaint and copy of email and/or records on cards to show how much you paid. Also if possible get the name of the girl who agreed the reciept was on the box.

If Halford's have a computer system for the tills that is reasonably up to date and you can remember the date and rough time that you bought the bike they may be able to find the transaction for you (you can do it on old systems but can take days and so many will refuse). If you can remember which till you bought it at even better (though many will refuse to do this until you kick up a fuss).

And as others said if you paid by card (debit or credit) you can use your statement as proof you spent that much in store (whether or not other items in the transaction).

this has the details of their customer services department

Yes many places will refund only the sale price if you have lost your receipt, but from what I gather they lost it and a member of staff remembered having it. These are the important points you need to make clear to them.

HTH sorry it happened to you.

i have printed off my email confirmation and wil wait for my statement to come through from my debit card ready to send them.

the thing is i am worried they will say that i accepted the £75 so tough....trouble was i had a distraught 6 year old wanting a bike so had no option.

Having accepted the money puts you in a worse position. However tell them that you not only had a distraught child with you, but also that you were told by the staff repeatedly that this was the only option (and not told about using bank statements etc as receipts or given any other options) and it was only later you found out this was the case and that you have been duped by their staff.

If you produce the receipt and explain the situation to HO, I am sure they will refund the difference.
Glad you were able to get a suitable bike without having to spend too much extra money.

you bought it online so halfords of course will have record of it. get on to them - the money is yours your entitled to it. good luck.

God almighty.... that makes me sooo angry... You definitely need to chase this up. Please do not let them get away with ripping you off. Am fuming on your behalf.

thats what i was worried about Armidillo but hopefully i can create enough of a fuss for them to give me the rest back.

I am pleased we finally found somewhere for him to geta bike, it was heartbreaking leaving halfords with no bike. he was really upset as he had been pushing it around for the past 3 days. i was almost tempted to just take it home and try and teahc him to ride cold turkey but he wouldn't even get on it without the stabilisers

we ended up walking all around town in the pouring rain trying to find one as i justc ouldnt take him home without. i really didnt have the extra £25 but it was worth it just to see his face light up when he was finally able to get on and ride it in the hsop.

they'll give it you back if you create a fuss. £75 is nothing to them. they would rather give you that than you tell every tom, dick and harry they are crap and to boycott them (they don't need to know you have already)

what a hellish thing. i had a somewhat similar situation in debenhams - paid cash, not given receipt but wanted to return, no proof of purchase whatsoever and it was fine in the end (took a bit of pursuing). halfords will have a record of your purchase, they have messed it all up and you are def entitled to a refund.

I had simialr thing in M&S.. I did have recipt too.... shoes. I took em back coz they were scuffed.. I noticed when i got em home. They wouldnt take em back coz they said it was obvious I had worn them. Well, yes, they looked like someone had worn them.. hence my bringing em back!

Local Trading standards Offices are often very helpful - try them if you get nowhere with Halfords. Do not let them get away with this!!

I would say don't bother going back to the shop to argue the toss with some jobsworth twat of a manager - email them. Forward the confirmation of the purchase, post what you're going to write on here first so we can all help you with the wording, make it a factual yet emotive email.

I wouldn't let this lie until the very minimum I got back was the full purchase price of the bike. I would actually expect extra on top for the distress they caused your son (but I drive a hard complaining bargain).

We'll help you, don't worry.

How nasty of them. They should have given you the full amount back. As for accepting the money they gave you they obviously knew it was you son's Xmas present and how upset he was. I really can't believe they did that to you and your son. Go above the shop manager and demand a refund. Tell them you'll start a petition if they don't refund - you'd have a lot of names - they have treated you shamefully.

Only read the OP, but, if you bought the bike online, how did you pay for it? If you paid by credit card, speak to your card supplier to see if they or their legal department could help.

There is no legal requirement for a receipt, but it does help evidence-wise. However, if you have proof of the price paid through your cc statement (or bank statement if you paid by switch), then that should suffice.

OK, now read some more of thread. If you have proof, through your statement, write a letter to head office (call in advance and ask for the Chief Executive's name - write the letter addressed to him and marked "Private and Confidential") stating the problem and confirming that you accepted £75 in part settlement of your claim as you needed to replace the bike as soon as possible. Request a refund of the difference and also some compensation for the hassle to which you have been put, not only in getting the refund, but the traipsing to and fro.

Good luck.

Credit card receipt should sort it. Keep asking to speak to "your supervisor" every time someone isn't helpful. If you get no joy from that, I would threaten to contact the "Help" pages in the newspapers (Guardian, Telegraph, local papers, they all have them). The pages where you write in with your money/consumer problems and the newspaper helps you out. THAT will get their attention.

Did you contact head office yet?