Halfords caused my car to fail NCT

sternn

During the summer I had my headlight bulb replaced by Halfords. The service cost me €8 + the cost of the bulb itself. I recently went for an NCT and failed it due to headlight alignment. The NCT guy showed me the problem. The light diffuser that sits over the bulb has been knocked inwards. This is evidently due to the installation of the bulb.

My question is, do I have a case to go back to Halfords to get it repaired, or ask them to pay for the repair? A couple of places I have phoned up say I might have to get an entire new lamp as they are unable to get inside the lamp to fix the diffuser.

djimi

6 months later? Not a hope unfortunately. Theyll just turn around and say that the bulb could have been changed any number of times since they worked on it.

Mister Man

I wouldn't think you have any hope at all tbh.
Do you have a receipt from Halfords? If not, you might aswel forget about it, and get the work done somewhere now. If you have it, it's worth going in a kicking up a fuss. See if it makes any difference.

Supergurrier

Lesson learned.

Halfords are not the people to let anywhere near a car.

MarkR

sternn wrote: »

During the summer I had my headlight bulb replaced by Halfords. The service cost me €8 + the cost of the bulb itself. I recently went for an NCT and failed it due to headlight alignment. The NCT guy showed me the problem. The light diffuser that sits over the bulb has been knocked inwards. This is evidently due to the installation of the bulb.

My question is, do I have a case to go back to Halfords to get it repaired, or ask them to pay for the repair? A couple of places I have phoned up say I might have to get an entire new lamp as they are unable to get inside the lamp to fix the diffuser.

Did you have wonky lights for six months? I think there should be a special flask you can use to alert someone that their car needs attention.

flutered

€8 to fit the bulb, that part of it may be breaking some law or other.

martinr5232

Op you have no chance after six months dont even annoy yourself going back near them.

In future just go to a proper garage chances are if its a straight forward bulb change you wont even be charged for fitting.

Chris_Heilong

Halford just changed your bulb, they didnt do headlight alignment, they are not meant to as this is a separate issue.

Voodoomelon

What car is it? Most headlamps are dismantleable.

ustari

flutered wrote: »

€8 to fit the bulb, that part of it may be breaking some law or other.

I'm not sure, they were times that I was replacing bulbs on an old mk4 golf I had and I would have gladly paid that to not have the annoyance of doing so.

kikel

What evidence is there to suggest that it was Halfords that caused the damage. Could the defuser have already been damaged? Maybe part of it was brittle? How old is the car?

sternn

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

Halford just changed your bulb, they didnt do headlight alignment, they are not meant to as this is a separate issue.

The problem is the headlights cannot be aligned because the diffuser has been dislodged. The light has to be taken apart in order for the issue to be resolved, after which alignment can be done.

I rang the store there and they are going to get one of their mechanics to look at it. Might be a positive outcome.

Pique

sternn wrote: »

I rang the store there and they are going to get one of their mechanics to look at it. Might be a positive outcome.

Halfords....'mechanics' ?:eek:

sternn

Pique wrote: »

Halfords....'mechanics' ?:eek:

"Apparently" they have some qualified mechanics who work there. They also have other "mechanics" who have just been trained inhouse to fix bulbs, wipers etc...

SleeperService

Pique wrote: »

Halfords....'mechanics' ?:eek:

Yeah, the same way other companies send out 'engineers' to install something for ya. ;-)

JohnBoy26

what kind of car do you have?

djimi

sternn wrote: »

"Apparently" they have some qualified mechanics who work there. They also have other "mechanics" who have just been trained inhouse to fix bulbs, wipers etc...

Just be wary of who in Halfords works on your car. There are some good lads who work there and who know their stuff, but theyre not all trained mechanics, and Im not sure that Id risk them making it worse in an effort to fix it.

Let them look at it by all means, but just be careful as to what they try to do with the car.

sternn

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

what kind of car do you have?

Ford Fiesta 06 model

colm_mcm

You may not want to hear this but strictly speaking you should check alignment after changing bulbs.

I can't figure out what part of the headlight they damaged, is the damage reversible or do you need a new headlight?

Stoolbend

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/martin6string/E46%20Retrofit/PIC-0038.jpg

I'd assume it's the metal piece in the middle of the reflector Colm.

Stavros Murphy

I think the OP is being a bit of a bulb tbh. Six months, sure the vibrations from driving could have caused the light to fail and good, used lights for a fiesta are cheap. I'm all for pulling people up on bad service, but stating "Halfords caused my car to fail the NCT" is just tosh. Not checking your lights before you did the NCT caused you to fail the NCT.

colm_mcm

Stoolbend wrote: »

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/martin6string/E46%20Retrofit/PIC-0038.jpg

I'd assume it's the metal piece in the middle of the reflector Colm.

Are they the headlights like the ST has I wonder? With the individual round lights in the cluster

Putting a headlight bulb in shouldn't affect that reflector I'd have thought?

Stoolbend

If they're not projector lamps, they have it. It's only on the dipped beams though.

It's built in to the H4 bulb so lots of older cars wouldn't have it.

colm_mcm

A h4 just has paint at the end though.

This is the unit?



How would you damage that?

mickdw

colm_mcm wrote: »

A h4 just has paint at the end though.

This is the unit?



How would you damage that?

Isn't there a cap sitting there in front of the bulb. I assume it's this that has been knocked away.

colm_mcm

That's what I'm saying. How could halfords have broken that?

I have a theory about a bulb smashing in the unit and someone using a screwdriver or something getting the broken glass out before the OP bought the car.

ottostreet

Oh dear. Of course Halfords are to blame. That 6 months maintenance window where...apparently, no maintenance was carried out, didn't give you ample opportunity to sort out your wonky headlight, no?

Definitely Halfords fault.

dougie-lampkin

The cap (actually called a casper shield) does not affect alignment, it just stops glare from looking directly at the bulb. Lots of cars with H4 and H7 bulbs don't have these shields. And since the dip segment on H4 bulbs points upwards, and the cap is mounted below the bulb, it could not affect alignment by being moved unless someone reached in and bent it up, although then the bulb wouldn't fit in.

I'd assume the problem is the reflector bowl has been knocked off its adjusters, and is floating inside the lamp unit. It might be a relatively easy fix if nothing has broken, it's possible for the ball joint at the reflector end to become dislodged, or for the arm to come off the threaded adjuster. It's very easy to do this if you're rough changing a bulb, the threaded adjuster is light plastic.

There's no come back to Halfords at this stage, there's no guarantee it's even their fault. A pothole or speed ramp could knock the bowl off the adjuster. I certainly wouldn't let them look at it, this is beyond the remits of changing a bulb or wiper, the lamp has to come off the car to take a look, which involves dropping the front bumper. Personally I'd call to a breakers yard and pay €30-40 for a good condition, working lamp, and install it myself. There's a good chance you'd even be able to get the reflector bowl back onto the adjuster if you take off the old lamp and look into it. No disassembly required, there's a big opening on the back of those lamps.

debabyjesus

Poor halfords lads get an awful bad rap. Why is it ok to blame a large multinational on here without a screed of evidence, if the same was done to a local mechanic or business there would be names snipped out and all that craic??

Chris_Heilong

debabyjesus wrote: »

Poor halfords lads get an awful bad rap. Why is it ok to blame a large multinational on here without a screed of evidence, if the same was done to a local mechanic or business there would be names snipped out and all that craic??

Actually, if you read all the posts you will see alot of us are saying it was more than likley not halfords fault.

debabyjesus

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

Actually, if you read all the posts you will see alot of us are saying it was more than likley not halfords fault.

I read all the posts, I was referring to the op's claim that halfords damaged his car.