Halfords apologises after ‘expert fitter’ sets van on fire

Fast Fit told customer to go to its retail shop to get new battery fitted but failed to check cause of problem

Halfords apologises after ‘expert fitter’ sets van on fire
Mr Lean said his vehicle wasn't inspected at Halfords Autocentre and staff assumed he needed a new battery.

Halfords has issued an apology to Benjamin Lean, whose van caught fire and was almost completely destroyed when a so-called ‘expert fitter’ from one of its retail shops installed a new battery onto his van.

Mr Lean originally went to Halfords Autocentre after his van failed to start but, without any inspection, was told to go to the retail side of the business to have a new battery fitted.

Mr Lean said: “Upon fitting, the retail member of staff tells me to start my engine, which I do and it turns over first time, he then tells me to turn it off quick as there is smoke coming from the engine.

Growing flames

“The alternator in my vehicle had caught fire and was starting to grow.

“The retail member of staff then runs into his shop in a panic and comes out with a less than adequate fire extinguisher which didn’t put out the fire.”

Mr Lean, who also works on the same retail park, then ran to his place of work for a suitable extinguisher and successfully put out the fire.

Halfords staff told him to remain with the vehicle to ensure it didn’t reignite before returning to the shop and was later told by the Autocentre that there was nothing they could do and that they were booked up for weeks.

halfords31“I feel I received very poor customer service from Halfords initially, the fact my vehicle wasn’t even inspected and they’ve just assumed I needed a new battery which caused a fire.

“But also after the incident with blank refusal to even book my vehicle in for repairs and just giving me a number for a tow company.

“It’s a very public car park, a full blown vehicle fire would have been very dangerous in this area.”

A Halfords spokesperson has said: “Our expert fitters at Halfords and technicians at Halfords Autocentres fit thousands of car batteries every year.

“Unfortunately on this occasion there was an underlying issue with the vehicle’s alternator, unrelated to the battery fitting.

“We have offered to reimburse Mr Lean for his car battery and fitting and also to bring his vehicle into the local Autocentre at his earliest convenience for an independent inspection so we can resolve to his total satisfaction.”

The news follows a spate of recent national fast fit bloopers, just last week a Kwik Fit customer shared the horrifying moment a car fell on its roof.

Have you previously worked at a national fast fit garage? Are you concerned about work practices that may compromise safety? Share your experiences and any concerns in the comments below.

34 Comments

  1. The actions of Halfords in this case have led to the vehicle catching fire irrespective of the fault. If they had bothered to check the vehicle over first they would have been able to correctly diagnose the problem and find a suitable method of repair. Instead of making an assumption and causing further damage. Consumer rights act 2015 covers an implied level of service which they have not met and therefore in my consideration should be held liable for all of the damage sustained to the vehicle, however the customer is still liable for the cost of a replacement alternator as this appears to be at fault.

    Reply
  2. The actions of Halfords in this case have led to the vehicle catching fire irrespective of the fault. If they had bothered to check the vehicle over first they would have been able to correctly diagnose the problem and find a suitable method of repair. Instead of making an assumption and causing further damage. Consumer rights act 2015 covers an implied level of service which they have not met and therefore in my consideration should be held liable for all of the damage sustained to the vehicle, however the customer is still liable for the cost of a replacement alternator as this appears to be at fault.

    Reply
  3. Halfords management structure is a farce and they are very arrogant, which is noted here by their stance. They have kids managing and working in their stores fitting bulbs and batteries and think they are offering a service. When it all goes wrong this is what happens and another reason for customers to beware.
    Halfords were also fined £47,000 some time ago for ripping customers off and in my opinion won’t be the last fine they ever get. The trade has to pick up the pieces after the many stories of woe which makes customers nervous when going to garages.

    Reply
    • Who the hell makes these young kids experts? Halfords staff seem to be young school leavers up to the age of 25, they should of diagnosed the fault before thinking it was a dead battery. Halfords should pay for the damage to the van, they caused it at the end of the day.

      Reply
  4. Halfords management structure is a farce and they are very arrogant, which is noted here by their stance. They have kids managing and working in their stores fitting bulbs and batteries and think they are offering a service. When it all goes wrong this is what happens and another reason for customers to beware.
    Halfords were also fined £47,000 some time ago for ripping customers off and in my opinion won’t be the last fine they ever get. The trade has to pick up the pieces after the many stories of woe which makes customers nervous when going to garages.

    Reply
    • Who the hell makes these young kids experts? Halfords staff seem to be young school leavers up to the age of 25, they should of diagnosed the fault before thinking it was a dead battery. Halfords should pay for the damage to the van, they caused it at the end of the day.

      Reply
  5. Yes i totally agree with you Mr Ahmed, the fault was not diagnosed properly in the first place this is what happens when you employ none level 3 qualified decent mechanics and pay them peanuts, all they do is give the industry a bad name, i have 2 Halfords near my garage, one shop and one fast fit Center,my customer comes to me for a mot, sorry sir you have failed your mot you have a bulb not right sir, what i have just been to Halfords and had one fitted, yes sure sir but it has been fitted upside down so i cant get a proper beam pattern so i have to fail it, HE SAYS CAN YOU DO IT FOR ME, YES SIR £10.00 then he gets the hump with me, sorry sir i do not work for free and if you would have come to me in the first place i would have safed you all the hassle in the first place end of story.
    I also wish Vosa would put a end to their cheap mots as well as we all now in the trade it is just a ploy to get them in the door and give the customer a long list of failures with a big bill to match, when most of what is listed is only a advisory and should not fail a mot anyway But all you get is we are not allowed to price fix any services it is against the law, but i can never understand that when they recommend a price of £54.00 for class 4 Mots.
    We Charge £45.00 you cannot possibly survive on charging 25.00/30.00 pounds but the customers falls for it every time because everybody wants to pay as little as possible so it is their own ignorance that is costing them money at the end of the day because small things like headlight aim adjustment, fill up water wiper bottle we do not charge for because we want to see our customer again yet the likes of Halfords charge for everything they do and they get away with it.

    Reply
    • Could not agree more.

      Reply
    • I agree on this one with you.
      I experience the same no end of time

      Reply
  6. Yes i totally agree with you Mr Ahmed, the fault was not diagnosed properly in the first place this is what happens when you employ none level 3 qualified decent mechanics and pay them peanuts, all they do is give the industry a bad name, i have 2 Halfords near my garage, one shop and one fast fit Center,my customer comes to me for a mot, sorry sir you have failed your mot you have a bulb not right sir, what i have just been to Halfords and had one fitted, yes sure sir but it has been fitted upside down so i cant get a proper beam pattern so i have to fail it, HE SAYS CAN YOU DO IT FOR ME, YES SIR £10.00 then he gets the hump with me, sorry sir i do not work for free and if you would have come to me in the first place i would have safed you all the hassle in the first place end of story.
    I also wish Vosa would put a end to their cheap mots as well as we all now in the trade it is just a ploy to get them in the door and give the customer a long list of failures with a big bill to match, when most of what is listed is only a advisory and should not fail a mot anyway But all you get is we are not allowed to price fix any services it is against the law, but i can never understand that when they recommend a price of £54.00 for class 4 Mots.
    We Charge £45.00 you cannot possibly survive on charging 25.00/30.00 pounds but the customers falls for it every time because everybody wants to pay as little as possible so it is their own ignorance that is costing them money at the end of the day because small things like headlight aim adjustment, fill up water wiper bottle we do not charge for because we want to see our customer again yet the likes of Halfords charge for everything they do and they get away with it.

    Reply
    • Could not agree more.

      Reply
    • I agree on this one with you.
      I experience the same no end of time

      Reply
  7. I am a auto electrician. I have a feeling the battery terminals where mistakenly reversed. If the original fault was the alternator the van would have caught fire long before it arrived at Halfords.

    Reply
    • That is exactly what I was thinking that the battery will have been connected Positive-negative & negative-positive hence, it catching fire. That van will now be totally shot as it’s ECU will have some severe problems lurking in it now!

      Reply
    • I think on the transit connects you would have to have an incorrect battery to do this as the terminal leads won’t reach.

      Reply
  8. I am a auto electrician. I have a feeling the battery terminals where mistakenly reversed. If the original fault was the alternator the van would have caught fire long before it arrived at Halfords.

    Reply
    • That is exactly what I was thinking that the battery will have been connected Positive-negative & negative-positive hence, it catching fire. That van will now be totally shot as it’s ECU will have some severe problems lurking in it now!

      Reply
    • I think on the transit connects you would have to have an incorrect battery to do this as the terminal leads won’t reach.

      Reply
  9. I have seen to many level III qualified mechanics I wouldn’t trust with my keys. It’s all to easy to gain a price of paper, it in no way means they have the ability.
    The fault is with the mechanic at their autocentre who didn’t diagnose the fault, assumption being the mother of all screw ups. The training today is inadequate end off.

    Reply
  10. I have seen to many level III qualified mechanics I wouldn’t trust with my keys. It’s all to easy to gain a price of paper, it in no way means they have the ability.
    The fault is with the mechanic at their autocentre who didn’t diagnose the fault, assumption being the mother of all screw ups. The training today is inadequate end off.

    Reply
  11. I have lets just say someone i know who worked for a well known outfit that i shall not name for legal reasons who once said to me the motor industry one way or another is one of the biggest cons going and as some of the previous folk who have commented above said these big outfits take a very different view when things go wrong i have an audi and had some paintwork done on the bonnet and had it done by a paintwork specialist i know and trust, i have used him for years, he charged me £400 i previously got a quote from an audi dealer who said it would be £800, and the guy i used did an outstanding job, even better than audi themselves in my opinion, so as this person i mentioned earlier said the motor industry on way or another is one big con, but i will ad this before i close its not what you know its who you know, the big outfits rely on jo public knowing nothing but they dont stop and think that some people are not daft/stupid i am the latter hope this helps some of the less educated of how the world works.

    Reply
  12. I have lets just say someone i know who worked for a well known outfit that i shall not name for legal reasons who once said to me the motor industry one way or another is one of the biggest cons going and as some of the previous folk who have commented above said these big outfits take a very different view when things go wrong i have an audi and had some paintwork done on the bonnet and had it done by a paintwork specialist i know and trust, i have used him for years, he charged me £400 i previously got a quote from an audi dealer who said it would be £800, and the guy i used did an outstanding job, even better than audi themselves in my opinion, so as this person i mentioned earlier said the motor industry on way or another is one big con, but i will ad this before i close its not what you know its who you know, the big outfits rely on jo public knowing nothing but they dont stop and think that some people are not daft/stupid i am the latter hope this helps some of the less educated of how the world works.

    Reply
  13. I despair of all the “fast fit” organisations. It’s nothing but advertising hype with no ability behind it. One customer of mine had a cat fitted at a well known chain, purely because it had corroded, but it came with a two year guarantee. The car comes into me 4 months later for an MOT and fails on emissions. After properly diagnosing the fault yes, you’ve guessed it, faulty cat. So back he goes to he fast fit to get another under warranty. They refused to replace it because they said it couldn’t possibly be faulty. So I phoned them and asked what testing they had done. They quite brazenly said none, we don’t have any way of doing that but we’re not giving him another cat because it can’t have failed. In the end the customer had to pay me to fit another (decent quality!) cat because they wouldn’t honour the guarantee because they had no way of proving it faulty. And so it goes round and round in circles until the poor owner just pays again.
    The really crazy thing is the cat I fitted with also a 2 year guarantee (which I will abide by if necessary!) was cheaper as well!

    Reply
  14. I despair of all the “fast fit” organisations. It’s nothing but advertising hype with no ability behind it. One customer of mine had a cat fitted at a well known chain, purely because it had corroded, but it came with a two year guarantee. The car comes into me 4 months later for an MOT and fails on emissions. After properly diagnosing the fault yes, you’ve guessed it, faulty cat. So back he goes to he fast fit to get another under warranty. They refused to replace it because they said it couldn’t possibly be faulty. So I phoned them and asked what testing they had done. They quite brazenly said none, we don’t have any way of doing that but we’re not giving him another cat because it can’t have failed. In the end the customer had to pay me to fit another (decent quality!) cat because they wouldn’t honour the guarantee because they had no way of proving it faulty. And so it goes round and round in circles until the poor owner just pays again.
    The really crazy thing is the cat I fitted with also a 2 year guarantee (which I will abide by if necessary!) was cheaper as well!

    Reply
  15. More on topic I share Jared’s suspicions in his earlier post! I can’t quite see how it started if the terminals were reversed but the fact is the van came not ablaze. Halfords fitted a battery without apparently doing any testing at all and then up it went. And to make things worse they couldn’t even put it out!
    If nothing else (and there should be a lot more!) someone should be looking into their fire precautions.

    Reply
  16. More on topic I share Jared’s suspicions in his earlier post! I can’t quite see how it started if the terminals were reversed but the fact is the van came not ablaze. Halfords fitted a battery without apparently doing any testing at all and then up it went. And to make things worse they couldn’t even put it out!
    If nothing else (and there should be a lot more!) someone should be looking into their fire precautions.

    Reply
  17. Another fault with the quick fit whizz kids, a car in for a service all goes well until the fitter road tested the vehicle, a few yards along the road it screeched to a grinding stop, they forgot to put any oil in it, I must cost the companies loads of money in claims, but they keep on taking on inexperienced kids, and their shop managers are very unsocably gruff and curt when speaking to customers, you would think they didn’t want to be bothered with customers, no customers, no job, simple

    Reply
  18. Another fault with the quick fit whizz kids, a car in for a service all goes well until the fitter road tested the vehicle, a few yards along the road it screeched to a grinding stop, they forgot to put any oil in it, I must cost the companies loads of money in claims, but they keep on taking on inexperienced kids, and their shop managers are very unsocably gruff and curt when speaking to customers, you would think they didn’t want to be bothered with customers, no customers, no job, simple

    Reply
  19. It seems a bit weird to me that the van drove to Halford without the van catching fire but then straight after the battery was fitted it catches fire I don’t think the cables where reversed cause the car wouldn’t have started the only reason I can think for the alternator to glow would either be if positive was shorted to earth somehow or Halford have maybe fitted wrong type of battery

    Reply
  20. It seems a bit weird to me that the van drove to Halford without the van catching fire but then straight after the battery was fitted it catches fire I don’t think the cables where reversed cause the car wouldn’t have started the only reason I can think for the alternator to glow would either be if positive was shorted to earth somehow or Halford have maybe fitted wrong type of battery

    Reply
  21. Did you know the number of fits charged was and may still be a measurable kpi? That the PPE required to be worn was often not available due to budget restrictions? That car owners don’t understand that having to remove an air box and battery to access a bulb is a ‘complex’ fit and would argue the toss. That customer complaints were a kpi too? The pressure to hit KPIs leads to people working the system, tackling things that should be refused, and inadvertently being caught in the cross fire. The procedures put in place to manage risk were lengthy and restrictive and in ever reducing staffing levels were difficult to adhere to.

    So if it does go wrong don’t shoot the kid working his way through college, and don’t blame the store and it’s manager. Do though blame a culture that was ruined when a grocer tried to run it as a supermarket, a culture that’s only concern is PE value, and a culture that in Q4 once laid off a load of ‘experienced’ fitting staff because they had done too good a job during the first three quarters.

    In quarter one we recruited again and struggled to regain the service level we had previously achieved.

    🙁

    Reply
  22. Did you know the number of fits charged was and may still be a measurable kpi? That the PPE required to be worn was often not available due to budget restrictions? That car owners don’t understand that having to remove an air box and battery to access a bulb is a ‘complex’ fit and would argue the toss. That customer complaints were a kpi too? The pressure to hit KPIs leads to people working the system, tackling things that should be refused, and inadvertently being caught in the cross fire. The procedures put in place to manage risk were lengthy and restrictive and in ever reducing staffing levels were difficult to adhere to.

    So if it does go wrong don’t shoot the kid working his way through college, and don’t blame the store and it’s manager. Do though blame a culture that was ruined when a grocer tried to run it as a supermarket, a culture that’s only concern is PE value, and a culture that in Q4 once laid off a load of ‘experienced’ fitting staff because they had done too good a job during the first three quarters.

    In quarter one we recruited again and struggled to regain the service level we had previously achieved.

    🙁

    Reply
  23. I worked at the Park Royal site during the recession for a few months believing I had been employed to be an assistant manager. It soon became clear I was the only person qualified to repair vehicles to any kind of standard. Even to call their “techs” fitters was pushing it. The manager was a lying, robbing and immoral individual who had me pushed into another centre when he realised I wouldn’t help him with his skullduggery. What’s worse was the hierarchy supported him. I won’t even add that job to my C.V. AAE MIMI

    Reply
  24. I worked at the Park Royal site during the recession for a few months believing I had been employed to be an assistant manager. It soon became clear I was the only person qualified to repair vehicles to any kind of standard. Even to call their “techs” fitters was pushing it. The manager was a lying, robbing and immoral individual who had me pushed into another centre when he realised I wouldn’t help him with his skullduggery. What’s worse was the hierarchy supported him. I won’t even add that job to my C.V. AAE MIMI

    Reply

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