I’ve been taken for a ride by Halfords’s price-match promise

Halfords make a price promise but it has proved impossible to claim.Photograph: Timon Schneider/Alamy

Halfords’s price-match policy promises to refund the difference within seven days if you find the same item cheaper from elsewhere. Unfortunately, it makes it practically impossible to actually make a claim. I ordered a Xiaomi Mi Smart electric folding bike online at Halfords for £899.10. I then found it on scan.co.uk for £599.99. Halfords first told me I had to claim in store, and when I pointed out that this was not in the terms and conditions, it promised a callback that never came. I called again and this time was told that scan.co.uk did not count in the offer, as it was online only. That’s untrue, it has a branch. Moreover, the T&Cs don’t state that exclusively online retailers are excluded from the price match. When I mentioned this, I was put on hold for an hour until I gave up. Most laughably of all, Halfords then removed the item from its website and claimed that it couldn’t refund me the price difference as it didn’t sell it!
CC, London

Halford blamed the three incorrect claims by three different staff as “an isolated error”. To be fair, it paid out the difference and added a £30 goodwill voucher shortly before I contacted its press office, but I’d be interested to know how many other isolated errors are obstructing its price promise.

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