Halfords Autocentre Hertford

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Disgraceful place. They don't complete work correctly, fit different tyres on front wheels and they DEFINETLY DON'T CARRY OUT TRACKING. My partner took her car in and had to take her car elsewhere for an MOT after. They told her she was lucky to make it there without a tyre blowing out. The image below was how the tyre was fitted. The tracking was so out of alignment that the tyres would've been bald in 2months. Don't even bother contacting them, they talk to you as if they're doing you a favour.

I am extremely concerned coming from a motoring background and being in the motor vehicle industry as a fully skilled Mecahanicfor over 40 years that after Service of my work leased van It would appear that the Service manager from the Hertford depot of Halfords auto centre claims that they just change the oil and filter on this particular Service and only look at items that are reported to them . I had asked for a copy of the service report and he was reticent at first and then declined my request on the grounds that I'm not authorized to see it and that it would have been sent to the leasing company. As I was away on holiday in Spain the vehicle was booked in for its service as prompted on the Dash board notification system. The driver at the time advised them of a noise from the front suspension area. On my return from my holiday the van had been serviced and collected. On driving the van I found it to still be noisey and further more another noise had developed on braking. I checked this and to my surprise the pads were just touching metal to metal on the front Disc and discovered the n/s/f road spring broken also the front tyres were less than 1mm with bald patches. The service manager at Halfords was indeed very dismissive and behaved in a recalcitrant manner with no regard to the safety aspect of the situation and appeared to be mocking my experience as a Mechanic. He said how do I know the spring wasnt broken after the service ? ..I said that it was reported when dropped off and the noise was still present and surely they do some sort of industry standard check list procedure ? (On their website they claim a 50 point check) Further to this had they bothered to check the vehicle out (as I ended up doing) they clearly would have come across the offending items which required rectification or authorization for repair with almost imediate affect . Although vehicle had done several hundred miles since the service whilst I was on holiday all items would still have been at fail point . He said it doesn't matter and that I would just disagree with whatever he said. The fact is within the time frame 3 very important items of road safety had been missed . The road spring is no longer secure and at risk of moving into the tyre causing it to blow out . This could end up in catastrophic circumstances and even cause death to one or more people. The tyres being below safe levels and the brakes pads also not performing upto standard and /or loss of brake efficiency. I'm unable to get anywhere with Halford complaints procedure as I'm not the leasing company. I feel that im the one at risk with a company that plays Russian Roulette with my safety being the main driver . This pertains directly to our Van so are there other instances with other vehicles and should this be Taken up with a higher Health and safety type Executive ? So to conclude I feel that we must in future take the van to a reputable Garage for assessment then book it in Halfords so we can tell them how to service the vehicle correctly and advise them of parts that need replacing and how to correctly carry out safe repairs as they clearly have no idea..! Leaseplan vehicle Index NL72 ZYR Date of experience: 23 December 2023