MYSTERY SHOPPER
Watford Halfords
It’s time, once again, for ‘Mrs Mystery’ to get her hands on a new bike for summer jaunts into the countryside. With countless connections to the countryside just outside Watford, BikeBiz’s undercover reporter tasks four stores with selling a £500 ladies mountain bike…
At risk of repeating an old adage, this Halfords branch proves that one good staff member worth their weight in gold, is far greater than ten idle personnel. With that in mind you can assume we’ve stumbled upon another branch of Halfords that’s well above average. Met at the top of the stairs by a young lad, I was asked if I needed help and listened to as I delivered my brief. The helper understood that a hybrid wasn’t what I had in mind and though conceding I’d best be served by an out of budget ‘unisex’ Boardman Bike, did his best to deliver anyway. I was shown various suitable bikes at around half my quoted budget, each pulled down from the racks, despite what looked like an inconvenience. The money off each was touted effectively, but not
relied on as the helper detailed Halfords after-sales service. The only fault I could place here was that the
Boardman wasn’t too far beyond my quoted budget and while looking them over I did hint at budget flexibility. This, however, wasn’t picked up on and we quickly ended up back with the Apollos.
14 BIKEBIZ JUNE Cycles UK
Once again, it’s always good to receive a friendly and prompt greeting. Impressing early, I could see that the assistant was making no assumptions about the girlfriend I was shopping for. He asked for the likely use of the bike, her height and my budget in quick succession, obtaining all he needed from me to make an informed recommendation. This recommendation centred around two Specialized bikes tailored for the female form. One of which, however, was a 29-inch wheeled rig, which the assistant insightfully explained might not be best suited to a female of 5 foot 3-inch height. It was explained that smaller builds can struggle with the handling of bigger wheeled bikes and that the 26-inch would offer a much more planted ride. This is where the experience began to worry me
slightly. The salesperson edged toward a point of sale machine where I could see detailed information on sizes. When mine was pointed out on the system I had all the information I would need to purchase the same bike either online, or down the road where the very same model was also available.
BIKEBIZ.COM
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