Halfords quoting SIXTY euro for cable

quad_red

Need to replace radio head unit in 2002 Astra. I want to be able to use the steering wheel controls.

From reading here and the astra owners club UK site, you need a compatible stereo and a special cable to connect to the steering wheel controls. The cost goes from 8 to 20 pounds.

Halfords just quoted sixty euro just for the cable (excluding installation costs and the cost of the head unit).

Am I missing something here? :eek:

Owen

Sure are. Halfords are useless for anyone who wants to do more than buying a bottle of tire blackener. Plus, if you let the fit it, they may screw things up. Talk to EPM here who had his dashboard damaged by Halfords trying to fit a kit, leaving it half finished because the installer was going on holidays, and eventually not being able to do the job.

You're much better off finding your local stereo installer, or dealing with caraudiodirect.co.uk

langdang

So they're charging people 30 odd euro extra for
a) not being able to find out what exactly they want from the net and ordering it online for cheap
b) convenience of not having to wait for it to be delivered.

(obviously A doesn't apply to you, but it does to plenty of their target market)

So it's a tax on net-illiteracy and/or impatience. Sounds fair to me!

EPM

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Sure are. Halfords are useless for anyone who wants to do more than buying a bottle of tire blackener. Plus, if you let the fit it, they may screw things up. Talk to EPM here who had his dashboard damaged by Halfords trying to fit a kit, leaving it half finished because the installer was going on holidays, and eventually not being able to do the job.

You're much better off finding your local stereo installer, or dealing with caraudiodirect.co.uk

/bites tongue very very very hard:mad:

fonecrusher1

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Sure are. Halfords are useless for anyone who wants to do more than buying a bottle of tire blackener. Plus, if you let the fit it, they may screw things up. Talk to EPM here who had his dashboard damaged by Halfords trying to fit a kit, leaving it half finished because the installer was going on holidays, and eventually not being able to do the job.

You're much better off finding your local stereo installer, or dealing with caraudiodirect.co.uk

I wouldn't let halfords fit anything in my car let alone a stereo. Half of the staff are 18/19 year olds that really know very little about cars.

They 'fitted' a new stereo in my sisters car last year & scratched the sh!t out of the centre console & spent an hour doing it. I was well pissed off because all she had to do was ask me & i would have had it done in minutes with no scratches & no fee except a cup of tea.:pac:

Oh & by the way OP always take a look through Ebay for what you want before buying from halfords. Could save yourself a bit of cash.

Owen

Think the problem is how they portray themselves in ads as being helpful, knowledgeable, skilled. The UK TV ads have them doing SMART repairs (Which they don't do here), installing Stereos in a blink, showing people how to fit baby seats, how to use their SatNavs, correctly mixing up paint, etc. Halfords Ireland represents none of that, just low paid workers doing the best they can possibly do with no training, and no motivation from managament.

Even their pricing here is atrocious. They're doing half price on some Stereos all this week. The one I wanted to get for herself's car is 129 in the UK, here in the same promotion, it's 379.

fonecrusher1

I seen a satnav unit advertised on their website for a great price earlier this year & when i went in to enquire they seemed puzzled because they didn't sell this particular model. ??? WTF?
After a while a girl came out of the stock room & said they were all gone but would be getting more next month. So they were out of stock & not sold in this particular store? Hmmm????:rolleyes:

Do these advertised bargains actually exist or is just the classic old - just get the punter in the door any way you can - technique?

dr.fuzzenstein

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

I seen a satnav unit advertised on their website for a great price earlier this year & when i went in to enquire they seemed puzzled because they didn't sell this particular model. ??? WTF?
After a while a girl came out of the stock room & said they were all gone but would be getting more next month. So they were out of stock & not sold in this particular store? Hmmm????:rolleyes:

Do these advertised bargains actually exist or is just the classic old - just get the punter in the door any way you can - technique?

Halfrauds.

Bonito

Don't bother with them to fit stuff. They cut in to my dash to make a radio fit. Should have seen the state of the trim around the edges after them.

"Sure the radio frame will cover that up."

It didn't cover it up at all.

stackerman

DO NOT TOUCH

Shower of muppets :mad:

rebel.ranter

I was in getting a bottle of tyre blackener & overhead one of the young fellas giving "advice" to a car clueless couple about how to fix faded paint on their car. The customer had a bottle of blue turtle wax in his hand but the young guy reckoned they would be better off getting some spray paint cans mixed up in the colour of the car.
I thought that was bad enough until they went about getting the colour. The other side of the customer duo took out her Tesco card & pointed to the blue on that.
They all headed off to sort out the paint cans then. Saw them eyeballing a Fiat Seicento as I was leaving. Can you imagine the "quality" of the finish!
Paintdoctor you'll be under pressure from this lot!

Owen

rebel.ranter wrote: »

Paintdoctor you'll be under pressure from this lot!

Wish I was RR! Even in recessionary times people can't seem to afford SMART repairs either. Doh!

Having said that, I'm seeing a hell of a lot of hand done cars on the roads when I'm stuck in traffic, all out of a spray can, no prep work, no lacquer, just paint onto the damaged part of the bumper drying in a matt finish you can see a mile away.

EPM

rebel.ranter wrote: »

the young guy reckoned they would be better off getting some spray paint cans mixed up in the colour of the car

:eek::eek::eek:

I actually enjoy winding them up now. Even though I am banned from one outlet...

fcerullo

hi guys,

a bit off topic but was wondering if any of you had experience with fm transmitters for iphone/nokia like the one here

basically it allows you to play your mp3s through your car radio system.

thanks

Fabio

Owen

FM transmitters are terrible. CD Audio is sampled at 44Khz, which is good enough for listening purposes. FM Audio transmits over 22Khz, which means you've only half the audio quality coming through, tinny, washed out, and sometimes you can't even hear instruments playing in the background. Avoid unless you're constantly swapping cars.

Minstrel27

Cowboys with trained monkeys for staff.

jaffa20

Some of the guys in there don't have a clue about their product. The tallaght store is particularly bad. The guys in carrickmines are not as bad and won't bull**** around. If they don't know the answer, they'll at least be honest and point you in the right direction. Still, they never have anything you need in the stores which is a a pain.

Dilbert75

quad_red wrote: »

Need to replace radio head unit in 2002 Astra. I want to be able to use the steering wheel controls.

From reading here and the astra owners club UK site, you need a compatible stereo and a special cable to connect to the steering wheel controls. The cost goes from 8 to 20 pounds.

Halfords just quoted sixty euro just for the cable (excluding installation costs and the cost of the head unit).

Am I missing something here? :eek:

If this is the same unit that did the same job for a 1997 Vectra, I have one here which connects to a Sony HU - does MP3 data and all. Its an Autoleads part - check what p/n you need and post it here. I'll check what p/n mine is tomorrow. If its a match, I'm sure we can come to an arrangment

teednab-el

Halfords are clueless. Unless you are looking for an air freshner for your car I would stay well clear! I remember once, I was in Tralee buying a sat nav from its outlet and I asked one of the staff for advice and comparisons with some of the sat navs there. I had a fair idea what I needed but I wanted your man to tell me something on one particular garmin model. Guess what, he started reading the sat nav specs list next to the price tag. What a muppet. I quickly told him I can read that myself for g%d sake. He knew nothing at all about it. I was annoyed. Another girl came over after a while and in fairness she did know her stuff and had experience of using one already which was a help.

sean1141

pick up a job apclation form in halfords. its worth a read!!

nogoodnamesleft

teednab-el wrote: »

Halfords are clueless. Unless you are looking for an air freshner for your car I would stay well clear! I remember once, I was in Tralee buying a sat nav from its outlet and I asked one of the staff for advice and comparisons with some of the sat navs there. I had a fair idea what I needed but I wanted your man to tell me something on one particular garmin model. Guess what, he started reading the sat nav specs list next to the price tag. What a muppet. I quickly told him I can read that myself for g%d sake. He knew nothing at all about it. I was annoyed. Another girl came over after a while and in fairness she did know her stuff and had experience of using one already which was a help.

+1 i made a formal compaint about a run in I had with a female "manager" that was working in the Tralee outlet. Sales staff on the parts counter didnt have a notion regards what they were selling.