Halfords 'reserve online'....or pay extra!!

Now that I'm really getting into my mountain biking, I bought a few accessories from Halfords today.

One was a CamelBak hydration pack, and the other was a CrudCatcher..........I'm more than prepared to get covered in mud, but I don't really want it flying up in my face and mouth like last week.

Anyhow, after looking at a few other items on line after I'd been to the store, I noticed that the CrudCatcher is half price if ordered online and reserved at the sore.

This doesn't make any sense to me........you still have to go in and pay someone for it, so the 'middleman' is still in the equation.

The only way around the situation is for me to reserve one online, drive back to the store, get a refund, and then request my reserved item...........is that aggro worth £6?........not to me it's not, but I'm still rather annoyed and confused as to some of the big savings available if you reserve items at their website.

I'll certainly be checking the site before I make any further purchases from them.

[zebra3]

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Halfords....

Originally Posted by zebra3

Bicycles | Bikes | Mountain Bikes | Road Bikes | MTB Bikes | Bike Parts | Bike Frames | Road Frames | MTB Frames
Bikes | Mountain Bikes | Road Bikes & Cycling Apparel | Wiggle
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Buy Road Bikes & Parts at Ribble Cycles | UK Online Bike Shop

Halfords....

Cheers for the links

I didn't get the bike from them..........the Carrera range are well speced, but the attention to detail is flawed to me.

I opted for a Claud Butler.

They are OK for the odd accessory as they are close by, but I've pretty much got all I need now, so I'll not be visiting them for a while.

[flicks]

Not all that unusual this. Both Comet and B&Q do a similar thing. Ordered a pair of headphones from Comet website and when I went in to collect them I was asked to go and get one from the shelf where they were marked up just over a tenner more than I paid online. Had the same thing at B&Q for some electrical cable where I saved £7 off the shelf price for the same item. Have to agree this seems very strange.

[Pud237]

It's not strange, they are competing in two different markets, so they have two different prices. They are trying to have their cake and eat it - pushing the online business off the back of their long standing high street reputation. If you are a Halfords walk-in customer you are most likely a lot less price conscious, the sort of customer that walks in, pays ticket price and leaves. Online shoppers are a lot more price savvy, they shop around for the best price. So Halfords are picking up both the low-margin online sales they'd otherwise lose if they didn't have the reserve and collect facility, and they still get the high mark-up sales from walk-in customers who haven't shopped around. Someone very clever and probably paid a lot more money than any of us will have looked into this in some depth and ran statistical modelling to determine it is the best course of action for them to take to maintain maximum profitability. I bet they even have a rough idea of how many customers will come back in for a partial refund after seeing the cheaper price online.

I use the reserve and collect feature on my iPhone from within the store

[cue2]

A friend recently bought his daughter a new bike from halfords instead of a bike shop and we had to cut short our first outing because they had not built it correctly . Not impressed but not surprised either.

[Elfred]

Same thing at Kwik Fit, always take the online quote in with you and they will match it. Usually about 10% -15% cheaper.

[Captain Slow]

Local Bike Shops

Halfords

[AlfaDrivingFan]

In some circumstances Amazon is your friend

[bazza]

I found this issue at halfords when buying car seats. 10% off if I bought online and reserved in store, and they weren't allowed to match it for me in the store.

So I stood at the checkout and reserved it with my phone, and got the discount. (This wasn't taking the mickey out of the staff - they suggested it as a solution!)

[cue2]

Originally Posted by ADF

In some circumstances Amazon is your friend

Not really , as their tax fiddling and contribution to the death of high street retail jobs hardly seem positive to me.

[Rushy55]

Same at PC World, today reserved webcam online £18 but in store £24...

[AlfaDrivingFan]

Originally Posted by cue2

Not really , as their tax fiddling and contribution to the death of high street retail jobs hardly seem positive to me.

You can't blame the death of the High Street on Amazon it was being killed by the supermarkets and stupid rents long before Amazon became popular.

Time to start a new thread me thinks !

[AndyMac]

Originally Posted by cue2

Not really , as their tax fiddling and contribution to the death of high street retail jobs hardly seem positive to me.

They don't break any rules in what they ae doing. They chose the most tax efficient country to base they operation in. If UK Plc was more friendly to business, they would be based in the UK. The UK is all about taxing people and businesses who actually do work heavily to pay the grunts and layabouts that don't.

The high street is dying because of business rates and rents that have been pushed up by by local councils and building owners. The cash mainly goes in tax! Vicious circle.

[cue2]

Sure they don't break the law but it's not a level playground when people walk into the bookshop that's employing local people and paying tax only to choose a book from Amazon who make no contribution to your area.