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Shoppers rank Halfords lowest on the high street

Laura Shannon
by Lovemoney Staff Laura Shannon on 21 May 2012  |  Comments 13 comments

Shoppers put beauty shop Lush at the top of the high street shop customer service charts, with Halfords ranked last.

Shoppers rank Halfords lowest on the high street

Shoppers tired of poor customer service, products or even store layout have taken their revenge by ranking high street shops - and Halfords was sunk to the bottom of the list.

The car and cycle repairs shop was voted the worst, with one punter referring to staff as “unhelpful and rude” in a damning verdict for the store, which received a customer satisfaction score of just 51%. WH Smith wasn’t racing much further ahead, with a score of 52%.

Consumer champion Which? carried out the research and questioned more than 11,000 people. Scores are based on price, products, service and store, as well as after sales or returns.

Top marks

Ethical cosmetics shop Lush topped the tables with a score of 83% - beating John Lewis and Apple, which both scored 81% and shared second place.

Lush was praised for its “friendly and knowledgeable staff” as well as its “high quality products”.

The ten highest rated shops all scored over 70% and in addition to first and second place the list includes: Lakeland, Clarks, Richer Sounds, the Disney Store, IKEA, Morrisons and Bon Marche.

Some of those on the list match the results thrown up by another, similarly-themed survey by Verdict Research. To find out who came top of that list read The UK’s favourite shop.

Bottom rung

The 10 lowest rated shops scored up to 58% and in addition to Halfords and WH Smith include: Blacks, Tesco, Poundstretcher, JJB Sports, TK Maxx, Brantano, BHS, Primark, Homebase and JD Sports, with some sharing the same score and rank in the list.

It’s highly likely that some of these stores are concentrating solely on cost-effectiveness over warm and fuzzy customer relations – Poundstretcher being a prime example. Anyone’s who has stepped inside a Primark is equally likely to appreciate the price more than the ambience of the shop, which often ends up looking like it’s been ravaged by looters at the end of a busy Saturday.

Here's what Halfords had to say: "At Halfords providing great products and a high level of service is a top priority.  Our feedback shows that thousands of customers each week love the help we provide. We are working hard and investing to improve our offer further and to provide an even better experience for customers." 

Squeezed budgets

Which? fired a warning shot to the big high street players to up their game, as people are becoming “choosier” about where they spend their money in the face of squeezed household spending and competition from online retailers.

More than half of shoppers admitted they were shopping less than this time last year and 41% of consumers said they preferred to shop online because it is cheaper and easier to compare prices.

The majority of respondents (57%) said they tend to buy more online than they do on the high street.

The winners and losers according to you

Do you agree with the survey? Or should it all be the other way around?

Let us know by leaving your comments in the box below.

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Comments (13)

  • MK22
    Love rating 142
    MK22 said

    Well, I have to say that the staff in my local Halfords are always cheerful and helpful when I shop there. As to Lush, well, never heard of it, which probably sums up the relevance of the survey. I checked the survey posting itself on Lovemoney and most of the winners are women's shops or shops I would never shop at because they are so awful. Just goes to show how out of touch I am with reality....

    Report on 23 May 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • PeterM42
    Love rating 3
    PeterM42 said

    EXCELLENT article - I needed a car headlight bulb urgently one bank holiday weekend and could only find Halfords open so ended up paying well over the odds for two (buy one get one free!) when I could have got one from my local motoring shop or the internet for about £3-50.

    When I complained to Halfords, they basically were not concerned and gave me a similar "potted" answer to the one in the article.

    Guess where I will NOT be shopping again.

    Report on 23 May 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • livepeanuts
    Love rating 1
    livepeanuts said

    I am sorry, I can't agree with Peter, my experience is that my not so local Halfords is fantastic, refreshing, and the employees are always helpful selling fantastic things which can't be found elswhere on the high street which has lost its balance and is so geared up to clothes, more clothes, trinkets, glass beads, and food. Halfords, like Robert Dyas and Maplins are shops increasingly rare but you only have to walk in there and you learn things. Perhaps if you ask customers of Lush about Halfords they might say that they just walk past Halfords as they might not like that kind of stuff. It would be nice to know how you chose your shoppers sample, any way I have never seen a Lush shop, and I would love to see more shops like Halfords selling mechanical products, and like Maplins and the now gone Tandy selling electronics stuff and like Robert Dyas selling hardware etc. The high street doesn't have the right balance in my view and Halfords goes a long way towards restoring this balance.

    Report on 23 May 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • Latman
    Love rating 0
    Latman said

    Agree about Halfords. A few years ago I bought a plug spanner from them. It wasn't able to undo the plug and started to slip, probably another piece of Chinese rubbish. They refused to reimburse me or exchange it. Since then I no longer shop in Halfords (not that I did that much anyway).

    Report on 23 May 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Mike10613
    Love rating 599
    Mike10613 said

    I got the impression that staff at Halfords need additional training, They often leave the till unattended. They weren't rude however, they just didn't seem familiar with a sales environment. Training at Curry's is better, but they have a lot of staff from their brands, Apple have their own staff in there for example. For fast efficient service I go to Aldi, but they don't always restock shelves fast enough. For really horrible staff, Asda has a few and I'm told Tesco is down there with them. In a competitive environment, service is as important as price.

    Report on 23 May 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • The Bank Manager
    Love rating 72
    The Bank Manager said

    I've just bought 2 bikes for my children from Halfords and the Manager, along with his staff could not have been more accommodating towards me.

    The Manager supported me buying on-line and reserving 3 weeks in advance, so that I could get the pre-MayDay discount that was about to end (saving me £20) and when I came in to collect on a Saturday, I had two very helpful chaps set the bikes up and my children were asked the right questions to make certain that they would be able to ride safely and securely.

    It's like ANYTHING in life, if you get a small sample and of those, some have had a bad experience with a company having perhaps only used one or two of that business's outlets, they can tar all of the others that are doing a sterling job.

    But I do understand their opinion and respect it. It’s just that we are a country of more than 11,000, so in the bigger scheme of things, this is a minute snapshot.

    In my opinion, well done Halfords for the service you've given to me. I'll be a returning customer.

    Report on 23 May 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • Talent
    Love rating 77
    Talent said

    I've always found the Blackpool Squires Gate Halfords staff helpful and knowledgeable. Although when it's busy you can't help feeling that they may be being too helpful with the people in front of you as you wait your turn for help ;-))

    Can't win, hey!!

    Report on 23 May 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • electricblue
    Love rating 643
    electricblue said

    People - it's that same meaningless survey of 6000 we've commented on before! Lovemoney journalists keep picking out these stupid, selective surveys and spinning out articles because they can't be bothered putting together some decent research.

    Report on 23 May 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • yocoxy
    Love rating 132
    yocoxy said

    @ Eclecticblue. It's a different survey and included 11000 people.

    As usual posters quote their 'survey of one' and conclude that the survey is rubbish because they have a different opinion to the majority.

    Report on 23 May 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • purple bladder
    Love rating 1
    purple bladder said

    The staff at Lush may be wonderful but the stink from their shops is truly awful. It sticks at the back of your throat and you can smell it hundreds of yards away; I have known it to stink out whole shopping centres.

    If I see one of their shops I do my best to avoid it and that part of the street because of the disgusting stink. It makes cigarette smoke seem fragrant!

    Report on 23 May 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • electricblue
    Love rating 643
    electricblue said

    The article link goes back to the original survey of 6000. Even 11,000 is statistically a joke to draw the conclusions in the article. I've never heard of 'Lush' and how many men would have voted for that retailer? These surveys voted Ikea as one of the top shops and I've never known anyone who actually likes the shopping experience there. I've been involved with marketing for years and listen to a lot of people. I can't believe very limited surveys which fly in the face of everything else I've heard. I'm not that impressed with Halfords, some of their buyers are total numpties but they are hardly anywhere near the worst retailer.

    Report on 23 May 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • GrannySandi
    Love rating 7
    GrannySandi said

    Our local Halfords are really good. We often seek advice from the cycling dept and they have always been very helpful. We sometimes need help elsewhere in the shop and have had no problems. To date haven't needed a refund but we have exchanged stuff without hassle. Till staff are fine - I don't expect them to be gushing but they are pleasant and certainly not off-hand.

    I don't know who 'Lush' is/are so can't comment.

    Report on 24 May 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • hopefultom
    Love rating 43
    hopefultom said

    Like many other readers I have never heard of LUSH. It makes you wonder about the terms of reference of the people who commission these surveys. Are we comparing Apples with Oranges ?

    I think that both TheBankManager & Electricblue are correct, inasmuch as people will always be subject to having good and bad experiences with large firms ( not sure how big LUSH are ); it is usually due to local factors.

    The firms to avoid IMHO are the ones who are responsible for undeniably huge volumes of complaints, such as Santader or TalkTalk.

    Report on 25 May 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves

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