Hi NC / All,
Judging by the date on this thread, it is most likely that this issue has been resolved, however, for the benefit of others that might face this problem I will outline the correct procedure.
First of all, there are a couple of things you would check prior to proceeding with any sort of action.
You need to ensure that you acted within the proper guidelines/policy for staff purchases, this will form the foundation upon which you act.
- * The Cycle should NOT have gone through on your own till number, you can check this by confirming that someone else's name (your colleague's) name is on the receipt.
- * If the purchase was made with staff discount (not usually applicable for Cycle 2 Work) then it must have been made with YOUR OWN staff discount card.
- * All the details on your Cycle 2 Work voucher are correct (i.e. YOUR details) and the normal procedures when processing the transaction were carried out (i.e. the transaction was processed as if you were any other customer - you were handed a receipt etc.)
A Lewis is absolutely correct when he says Halfords should know better than to brush it under the carpet, the fact that you work at Halfords does not mean that you should be treated differently than any other typical customer who walks through their doors. Nor does it mean that you exempt to any legislation out there that protects consumers.
"I brought the bike back within their 28 day return period and it has just been siting there."
As far as I am aware, Halfords don't *have* to refund the cycle, regardless of whether it is in '28 day' period unless there are exceptional circumstances that apply (I will get into this later). A bicycle is sold as a serviceable product and is exempt from Halfords' 28 day refund policy, (this is written into your purchase agreement [written on your receipt]) - in the same way as if you bought a car from a garage, the product would be repaired rather than refunded.
For example, you wouldn't buy a car from a dealership, then ask them to refund it - I doubt it would happen (unless exceptional circumstances applied - maybe someone else can elaborate on this), they would send in into their garage where it would be repaired, and given back to you.
The only time Halfords would *have* to refund or exchange the cycle, is if their mechanics were unable to repair the cycle to a suitable standard (fit for purpose/use), the parts were unavailable, the cycle could not be repaired within a reasonable time frame, or some other exceptional circumstance which prevented the cycle being repaired to a standard which made the product fit for purpose.
This is not to say Halfords would not refund/exchange the cycle anyway, this is a decision that is usually down to management discretion (or customer services) upon which they would factor in some of the issues described above. It can sometimes be the case, that if a customer has experienced huge inconvenience, they would refund/exchange regardless of any exceptional circumstances - this is of course in the interests of customer service, and will usually be described as a 'gesture of goodwill' as this is something they don't technically *have* to do (again unless exceptional circumstances applied).
"I had been told by my manager that as far as head office are concerned they can do nothing."
Rubbish. In fact if you just went over your Manager's head, and explained the situation to customer services properly, they probably would have overruled him, and even if they didn't you could have recorded the conversation and sent this to trading standards later on. Not the best way to make friends at work, or get in your Manager's 'good books' but hey ho, he's in the wrong.
"They are saying that as an employee I should have known that I should have a manual and a PDI form and not just taken the bike."
If this is what they told you, this is complete rubbish, and your manager is incompetent. It is not the customer's (your) responsibility to ensure a PDI (Pre-Delivery Inspection) form and Cycle Manual accompanies the cycle on the completion of a transaction - regardless of whether you know this information or not - (Granted, you shouldn't have taken the bike without these if you were privy to such knowledge and it would have saved you a lot of grief by the sounds of things, but hey ho - it still isn't your explicit *responsibility*). The person who is accountable to ensure this is so, is the store colleague who processed the transaction (the person who's name is on the receipt). If this was ever to progress further, it is without question that it is this person who should have ensured the cycle left the store with a PDI form, Cycle Manual etc as they were responsible for processing the transaction - (and if they failed to do this because 'they did not know' this is considered to fall into the area inadequate training and so is a result of poor management, and still Halfords' fault).
"But it just seems like their word against mine."
So long as you didn't process the transaction in your own name, your receipt is sufficient to prove it was the till operator who let the cycle leave the store without the proper documentation. It is *their* policy to send cycles out with a PDI form, so it is they who have acted wrongly. If the person who's name is on the receipt isn't the person who served you, it is up to Halfords to prove otherwise and this shouldn't be happening anyway due to security reasons in employment policy.
" What I was going to do was let them repair the bike and then take it further under consumer law so that even if I don't get anything else I still get am working bike."
So long as you keep all the relevant receipts which outline the costs of repairs, and if you want to be safe, request a mechanics report to state why the repairs were carried out (the Bikehut store should have proper forms for this purpose, if not, a sheet of A4 with the mechanics signature including date of repair, store number, and transaction number on repair till receipt etc. will suffice). So long as you have itemised receipts, you should be able to claim these costs back should you be successful.
"However I had an accident due to the incompetance of my colleagues. This is because my line manager said that someone would look over the bike to make sure that it was all ready to go as I had taken it out and on a test ride found the brakes were ridiculously poor."
If all else fails, check that the colleague responsible for checking the bike over was properly trained. Halfords' should keep on record whether that member of staff was 'PDI trained', an industry qualification would benefit, but is not the core requirement. The 'PDI training' will have been done in house by another trained mechanic, and so there should be a sheet of paper *somewhere* with the signatures of both the trainer and the trainee, and the dates of the signatures to identify when the training was performed. If this cannot be produced in front of you there and then, this means they probably don't have it, it was lost, the mechanic wasn't formally trained, or some other poor excuse etc. If you leave the store they'll probably just print one off and sign it, so it might benefit you to record the conversation to prove they couldn't produce it there and then. If you're having to resort to this stage you're probably going to ruffle a few feathers, so if you want to continue working there, probably best to do this as a last resort.
And that's it. Some last things to bare in mind are that the PDI form is Halfords way of 'covering their own back' to comply with health and safety and consumer legislation, if they haven't completed one, you've got a case. End of.
I know the original poster has probably sorted their problem out, but I hope someone else finds this post useful.
BS
