Halfords, very informed staff

Chrissie

Chrissie

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 Jul 2005
Messages
1,550
Location
Solent
Visit site
I bought a 12v 520 amp starting power battery as a dedicated engine start battery for my Beta 14 engine, but Ive had problems with it not holding a charge so not being able to start the engine in order to charge it!
I rowed the battery to shore, charged it christmas eve, then today, checked it again before taking it back to the boat, and found it down at 11.92v

I took it back to Halfords who put their measure on it which came up with '12.05 v good battery needs charging', then the assistant went on to explain to me that I needed a boat battery, theirs were only car batteries, he thought what I needed might be called a Gel battery.
He also said they do not guarentee their batteries for anything other than cars, and that boats break/ruin batteries because they dont have alternators to charge them up again.

I tried to explain to him about boat engines being marinised engines, and that they have alternators too, and that as an engineer, I do know a little about it, but he continued to be condescending and give me a load of rubbish. :o
 
Chrissie said:
I bought a 12v 520 amp starting power battery as a dedicated engine start battery for my Beta 14 engine, but Ive had problems with it not holding a charge so not being able to start the engine in order to charge it!
I rowed the battery to shore, charged it christmas eve, then today, checked it again before taking it back to the boat, and found it down at 11.92v

I took it back to Halfords who put their measure on it which came up with '12.05 v good battery needs charging', then the assistant went on to explain to me that I needed a boat battery, theirs were only car batteries, he thought what I needed might be called a Gel battery.
He also said they do not guarentee their batteries for anything other than cars, and that boats break/ruin batteries because they dont have alternators to charge them up again.

I tried to explain to him about boat engines being marinised engines, and that they have alternators too, and that as an engineer, I do know a little about it, but he continued to be condescending and give me a load of rubbish. :o
Click to expand...


Talk to the manager & then the CEO
The e-mail address you require for Halfords is
dennis.millard@halfords.co.uk
buy from
http://www.batterymegastore.co.uk/products/group/?c=Battery&a=Boat

for free delivery & a better price


bookmark this for future use
http://www.ceoemail.com/
 
Last edited:
Chrissie said:
I bought a 12v 520 amp starting power battery as a dedicated engine start battery for my Beta 14 engine, but Ive had problems with it not holding a charge so not being able to start the engine in order to charge it!
I rowed the battery to shore, charged it christmas eve, then today, checked it again before taking it back to the boat, and found it down at 11.92v

I took it back to Halfords who put their measure on it which came up with '12.05 v good battery needs charging', then the assistant went on to explain to me that I needed a boat battery, theirs were only car batteries, he thought what I needed might be called a Gel battery.
He also said they do not guarentee their batteries for anything other than cars, and that boats break/ruin batteries because they dont have alternators to charge them up again.

I tried to explain to him about boat engines being marinised engines, and that they have alternators too, and that as an engineer, I do know a little about it, but he continued to be condescending and give me a load of rubbish. :o
Click to expand...

Chrissie,

I once ordered a roof rack from Halfords in Chichester, but when I turned up the thing put aside wouldn't have fitted a bubble car.

My letter to the ' manager ' suggesting they ought to be performing in a Big Top tent strangely didn't get a reply...:)
 
Personally, I would never buy a battery at Halfords. They are very expensive although I can appreciate that sometimes you need a starter battery in a hurry.

The assistant obviously knows nothing about boats and should have refrained from offering opinions on something he has no knowledge on.

I would have asked for the manager.
 
I needed a wiper blade, it was after 6 so no proper shops open.
Parked outside Halfords, took the old blade off, went into the shop, couldn't find on the same length.
Went to spares counter, asked if they had any out the back or anything, got told I needed a blade 2 inches longer to fit my car, with a different fitting.
The computer does not lie!

The next morning I went to Euro Car Spares, 2/3 the price and helpful.
 
Ask him to show you where it limits the warranty, that you would have seen on purchase? It might just be the case but statutory warranties are a bit more general. It is a bit tricky with batteries because as you probably already know they can be damaged if left run down.

Make more noise in the shop. Did you buy on a credit card?

I don't go to Halfords any more since a combination lock I bought simply stopped working (lost receipt) and they told me that I "couldn't have bought it three months ago, as we stopped making those two years ago". So you sold me an old product as well as calling me a liar?

Car headlamp bulb. £9.95 at halfords - £1.85 (Lucas) at Proparts Waterlooville......

These people will definitely support you in the marine environment: http://www.furneauxriddall.com/
 
Last edited:
Dont know which one you went to but I do use the one in Hedge End from time to time. Mainly because I drive past it every time I go to the boat so its useful to be able to pick the odd thing up.

The manager is usually around the spares counter and is actually very helpful. I am sure if you reported your conversation he would be more than happy to help you, perhaps with a replacement.

I am not a great defender of "corporate" but to be fair it is the middle of the holiday period and I guess that most of the senior staff are on holiday.
 
PhillM said:
Dont know which one you went to but I do use the one in Hedge End from time to time. Mainly because I drive past it every time I go to the boat so its useful to be able to pick the odd thing up.

The manager is usually around the spares counter and is actually very helpful. I am sure if you reported your conversation he would be more than happy to help you, perhaps with a replacement.

I am not a great defender of "corporate" but to be fair it is the middle of the holiday period and I guess that most of the senior staff are on holiday.
Click to expand...

The problem is the low quality staff are so poorly managed they make stories up rather than get decent advise from their seniors. The manager may know his stuff, but if he doesn't pass that knowledge on to his staff and encourage them to learn he is almost as bad as the numpties he employs.

There are far to many organisations in the motor trade that act in similar ways regrettably but still survive amazingly.
 
Hi
I couldnt resist this one,
Having worked in the motor trade for nearly 30 years now, (so I have a small amount of experience)
We love Halfords, because they get it wrong so often, then people come to us to have it fixed properly.
In the last month alone we have seen and fixed 2 cars where they have broken headlights when fiting bulbs, then they dont want to know afterwards, because it wasnt their fault.
I believe they have also been on the end of an investigation from advertising standards over 2 missleading adverts on the radio recently.

Perhaps they should stick to bicycles !!!

Very basicly for boats there are 2 types of battery an engine start, which should idealy never go below about 90% charge. (exactly the same as a car battery)
Then a leisure or deep cycle, which can go down to about 50% charge again & again, for perhaps a couple of thousand times if your lucky.

I am sure someone else can & will make it more complicated.
 
Halcytwo said:
Hi

Very basicly for boats there are 2 types of battery an engine start, which should idealy never go below about 90% charge. (exactly the same as a car battery)
Then a leisure or deep cycle, which can go down to about 50% charge again & again, for perhaps a couple of thousand times if your lucky.

I am sure someone else can & will make it more complicated.
Click to expand...

Thread drift - but if you take any lead acid battery down to 50 % regularly it ain't gonna last a couple of thousand cycles!! You might get away with ones designed for golf carts but even so I wouldn't go below 70% on any of them.
 
Halcytwo said:
Then a leisure or deep cycle, which can go down to about 50% charge again & again, for perhaps a couple of thousand times if your lucky..
Click to expand...

I really do wonder if the so called leisure batteries really are proper deep cycle batteries rather than being little more than relabelled conventional batteries? The price difference between leisure batteries and the recognized deep cycle ones makes me think they are different animals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

Skipper Felice
Optimisation of the battery charger infrastructure
Replies
1
Views
153
PaulRainbow
PaulRainbow
W
Battery suicide
Replies
17
Views
598
Refueler
Refueler
N
Volvo Penta Alarm Module/Alternator Issues
Replies
1
Views
135
superheat6k
superheat6k
P
Adding fuses to my batteries
2 3 4
Replies
61
Views
2K
AngusMcDoon
AngusMcDoon

Share this page

Top