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ATTENTION: Halfords Pro Tools


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Popped into Halfords this afternoon for a pair of wiper blades for the Pug, while I was there thought I would pick up a 1/2 to 3/8 adapter for my torque wrench...

Asked a guy (not a spotty Yooof :P), and he went to the shelf. None there. He made a statement along the lines of haven't had a delivery in a while, all this lot [pointing to all the tools] will be going soon. Said he doesn't know if they are just changing manufacturer or whether they are stopping all together??? :( :( :(

EEEEEEK!!!!!

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All their new tools are quite poor quality now.

I think the manufacturer changed when the tools changed from Halfords professional to halfords advanced, the quality certainly did.

I have also had problems getting replacements for brocken sockets, spanners & ratchets as they now want to see an original purchase reciept. I have bought various tools over the past 10 years & their reciepts are only printed on thermal paper which fades & can't be read after a few years.

3-4 years ago I would have recomended their tools, now I wouldn't touch them.

No big loss in my opinion but as they have a lifetime warrentee I think they should honour it!

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True, they are overpriced generally.

But with a trade card & a suposedly lifetime warentee their tools were well priced.

It was good in the past to be able to pop down on a Sunday afternoon to buy the tool required or swap the broken tools over for a replacement. It used to be that you hand over the old tool & find the replacement on the shelf with no questions asked, not even any paperwork to exchange them.

Times have changed though. Obviously they are spending too much money honouring their lifetime warentee!

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Both myself and a mate baught their 150pc professional kit a few years ago, and would have recommended it to anyone. However my brother just baught the same kit just last month (on my recommendation), and while the ratchets seem just the same, the sockets are a lot worse, and they're redesigned the box and removed some of the useful 1/2" drive deep sockets and external Torx bits, and replaced them with a little box containing some useless 1/4" drive bits.

The deep sockets they do still supply are all 3/8" drive, and also the actual drive section is the same length as a normal socket, so its not very useful at all.

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Teng are not that bad, and seem widely available now, but they insist on the crappy rough matt finnish on their sockets, which i think lets them down a bit.

Ive got all sorts in my tool box from Signet, Palmera, (spannish snap on? so i was told by their rep)

Mac, Britool, Bluepoint, All of which have never let me down.

I was lucky enough (or unlucky :ph34r: ) to have been in the motor trade for 14yrs so had reps come in,

But the man on the street seems stuck with the likes of Drapper or just cheap and nasty tat!

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How does sealey stuff rate?

I've been buying the odd bits and bobs to complement my halfords set, and have been chopping and changing between draper and sealey. Most recent purchase was a sealey torque wrench and breaker bar both of which seem pretty well made and were reasonably priced.

I fancy getting myself a full set of 1/2" 6 sided "Wall Drive" sockets sometime soon, as i find they can be invaluable for shifting stuck bolts without chewing up the heads that tends to happen with the 12point stuff.

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I've been a big fan of Halfords tools over the years. I abandoned SnapOn after their quality went down and the price went up!

I broke a breaker bar (using it within spec). Went to get it replaced armed with the receipt and was told they don't sell them any more - and thus the warranty is void! As it's over a year old, I'm not entitled to either a non like for like replacement nor a refund.

It seems that if they stop doing (or change) the range of professional tools - the 'lifetime' bit of the warranty goes with them.

I'll be looking for a new supplier too.

Si

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I only just managed to persuade them to give me a couple of replacement sockets a few weeks ago. They had to order them and couldn't guarantee that they had any. I think I may be looking for a new supplier too.

Just for the record - I've broken 3 Teng ratchet spanners, and only in light use. I won't be touching any of their other products.

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I rate the sealey stuff - seems pretty good.

I've got alot of second hand snap-on stuff, and some teng stuff. Have to say I dont really like the Teng stuff very much.

only got odds and ends of Halfrauds stuff, but as someone says - one a sunday afternoon they were always useful. Otherwise my local factors only seem to stock Laser stuff which is really cheap and nasty!

Jon

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I have always had some halfords pro stuff and have recomended to others.

I also have reps comming in and found that the signet stuff was identical.

Signets quality has declined in the recent past, so perhaps the people from halfords are changing over their suppliers???

Some of the teng stuff is realy good but i have snapped two sets of balljoint splitters and had them replaced.

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i have had a loads of tool from halfords and the ranchet spanners i have used them for 2 years and will scaffold bars on the them and none of them have broke.

i say they are bloody good tools for what you pay (still prefer snap-on)

cheers

sam

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I've got loads of Halfords Pro stuff, most of it is around 5-7 years old.. the quality is superb and equal to any other pro tools on the market (except maybe Snap-on) - however i've noticed the stuff they are knocking out these days isn't quite so good...

I'd recommend Teng or Britool as an alternative.

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Get down your local market and buy cheap stuff! I have only ever broken one ratchet, and I was beating the handle hard with a lump hammer! Still a tenner later and armed with knowledge of how far I can push the kit, I restocked and haven't broken anything since.

A FULL set of tools (1/4, 3/8 and 1/2) ratchets, extensions, all sockets, torx bits, allen key bits, etc etc all in cost me around £50, and I've rebuilt my landy with them!!

I think they are called toolzone!

If you curently have loads of extra cash lying around do buy big brand names, but otherwise, I don't see the point.

Yes top quality kit is a good investment, but you can break anything if you try hard enough. So why not just buy cheap stuff, and use your kit within what it's designed for.

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I've snapped cheap tools by removing my mudflaps. Split the socket over the entire length :blink:

Facom I definitely can vouch for, the breaker bars do break (or so I've heard, never done it myself but I've seen them destroyed a great many times :lol: ) but are replaced under (life-long) warranty.

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