Grrrr Halfords!

[Jonboy72]

Some advice please guys!

My company had changed my work mobile from a old Nokia to a Blackberry! The existing Bury hands free kit does not work with it as it is not bluetooth and has always been a little unreliable, but does work.

So, i went to Halfords on Saturday to buy a new kit and get it booked in for fitting. Bought a Parrot Mki9200 bluetooth hands free kit, fitting and a iso adaptor wiring harness. The guy came out checked the van, dashboard and fusebox and said all would be fine for fitting.

Booked the van in for a 11am booking on the Wednesday (a day I had booked off as holiday!) for a 2 hour fitting window. Turned up, left the van, walked into the town to kill the time. Got back to Halfords after an hour and half and a sheepish Halfords mobile fitting 'expert' told me that my 57 plate T5 transporter has newer wiring than it should have and he can't fit it.

Told me it needs a special adapter piece to get around the can-bus. Obviously I was not amused, especially when i went to go I found the remains of my old kit on the floor, so had no kit whatsover!

They promised me a call by today to see if they could source the miracle adapter piece, obviously no call! Got through to them in the end, spent over half an hour on the phone, ended up with a really arrogant store manager, who says they can't fit it, they can't get the adapter piece to give a switched live and if i come in they will refit my old kit and give my money back. Whats the point in going in again for them to refit my old kit (another couple of hours of my time!), which will be removed when I fit a new bluetooth kit!

No discount on the parrot kit for me to take it elsewhere, but I did get the fitting back on my company card on the Wednesday. I can understand they don't want to chop wires but this can't be right?

The manager says if i contact customer service I will maybe get £10 of fuel for my inconvenience!?

Any thoughts? Or anyone know this oh so rare adapter I need to make a new Parrot kit and new bluetooth iso wiring loom work in a 57 plate 130 T5 Transporter that has the 'wrong' new can-bus wiring!?

If I had time to spare I would so tempted to get them to refit the kit so it costs them time and then snag every little thing to bug the hell out of them to get a little revenge!

Thanks guys!

[JackG]

They call it an " IGNIGEN" lead, smallish bit of kit that costs around £30....we used to sell them but they were crap and took lots of fiddling to get to work, the problem will be that the kit stays on all the time I think, we just used to wire a ignition feed from the fuse box and that would stop the need for can bus leads

[Jonboy72]

They call it an " IGNIGEN" lead, smallish bit of kit that costs around £30....we used to sell them but they were crap and took lots of fiddling to get to work, the problem will be that the kit stays on all the time I think, we just used to wire a ignition feed from the fuse box and that would stop the need for can bus leads

Thanks Jack, I thought and a couple of friends have agreed, as they need a switched live, why not just take power from the cigarette lighter? Learnt my lesson not to use Halfords for any fitting work! Last time I used them they supplied me the wrong battery for my 1.8t new beetle 3 times! I had to show them their battery guide to prove they were wrong!

Gonna get a full refund and get VW or a proper company to fit one, just annoying the time I have wasted with them so far!

[JackG]

They could Take a 12v ignition from the 12 socket.....but they probably say you need a new one of those too as it's newer than they thought 
Hope you get it sorted 

[trs888]

halfords are crap apart from offers on car cleaning stuff in the summer. wouldn't buy anything else from there!

[StuF]

Had a nightmare getting them to fit my Alpine headunit - still doesnt work correctly and last time they damaged the dash!
Never ever going to use them again.
Lincoln Tritton Road branch if anyone is considering it - DONT

[MitchGTI]

Sorry to hear that mate! But halfords are known for this sorter thing any tom dick or harry can go work in there for a couple of weeks then become an audio speciaist! I have the parot mki9200 but i had it fitted by a ice specialist i know near me its in my work van now And works perfect! Good kit!!

[Oli]

I fit loads of these in transporters. Where are you based?

[ianc1990]

I had a sound system fitted there and I must say they are truly crap.

I had to show the guy how to get to the head unit as he stood there looking at the dash in confusion!

[dalco]

I get this in my Shop on a daily basis, Halfords are actually a good thing for me because I get a large amount of work fixing the customers cars they break.

I even had a Halfords employee come to me because their installers had poorly fitted a parrot to her Corsa, The top display stopped working along with steering controls and AirBag light on!!!

When I looked they had disconnected the Top display FOR NO REASON AT ALL!!!!!! I seriously wonder how / Why people continue to take there cars there.