Anybody had a satnav fitted by Halfords ?

[mrgthomas]

Hi all

As you can see from my previous topic I got my Nuvi 310 yesterday.
Halford are going to "hard-wire" it for me for £40 ie. loose all the cables and the abilty to keep my cig lighter free.

Has anybody else had this done and what kind of job do they do ?
Do they side the TM12 cable ?
Is it worth the £40 or go somewhere else ?

[alix776]

personally I'd prefer to keep the nuvi portable you can achieve a similer thing by using a twin plug adapeter for around 10 pounds from halfords also if its a permanent fixing then its an easier tartget for thevies
_________________
currently using aponia truck navigation on windows phone. Good bye IOS don't let the door hit you on the way out .

Oh the joys of being a courier.
device Lumia 950 xl

[mrgthomas]

[swing]

Please do take some pictures of the finished article and let us all see them, so others can gain inspiration from them.

[mikealder]

Nice idea - the cables all neat and tidy etc. But we do recommend the removal of not just the device from the car but these days the mount as well. If its hard wired in to the vehicle it will make removal of the mount impossible.
Certain low-lifes will break into cars these days just because of marks left on a windscreed from the sucker, if the mounts in place its an advert that the car "could" contain an expensive nav unit. Either way it can result in a costly repair with a side window smashed - Mike

[mrgthomas]

Cheers for the advice and I will add some pictures during the week.

I understand what you are saying about the mount after all Im a Police officer myself. Im hoping when they install it they can fix so it will be mounted onto the dash meaning I can maybe cover it up when the sat nav is not in the car.

[locksmith]

Would it not be better to ask the person installing it ?

[snowboardcriminal]

Get them to wire the mount in so it is eletrically live when the ignition is off, that way the thieving scumbags will get a jolt when they try to nick it!!

Very peed off as burgled this week, but at least i had stupidly left my sat nav in the car so it was about the only thing they didnt nick!!
_________________
Don't eat yellow snow
i3, on the middle of the dash, works just fine!

There are things that I know and you don't know, there are things that you know that i don't know, but always remember there is much that we both don't know.

[mrgthomas]

[cantgetlost]

I wouldn't let anybody from Halfords any where near my car.
Touch the wiring - NO WAY.
A Halfords trained expert wired in my daughters stereo. The stereo worked more by luck than good judgement and the wipers then made more noise than the stereo as they had to undo the motor assembly to get wires throught the bulk head.
Renault didn't want to know as someone else had touched the car,some sort of spacers tha only come with a complete motor assembly had gone missing.
I went with my daugter to another Halfords to buy another Satnav, what the two trained monkeys told us about Tom and Nuvi was B**??@@S after correcting the two monkeys we were then told that the nuvi and tom tom she was interested in were out of stock !
Halford's "designed by computer and driven by muppets"

[mrgthomas]

In regards to the the above entry I have just found this.


Source: http://www.ciao.co.uk/Halfords_Motor_Repairs__Review_5607033

Speed Of Response Slow
Cost Expensive
Level Of Cover Very poor
Customer Service Very poor

Advantages: Cheaper than a car audio specialist
Disadvantages: Non familiarilty with all makes/ models of cars, lack of real knowledge

Recommend to potential buyers: no

Full review
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLEASE DO NOT USE HALFORDS IF YOU HAVE A 'NON STANDARD' CAR.....by this I mean a car that is not Vauxhall, Ford, Toyota...mainstream cars.

Last week we took my wife's 1998 Chrysler Neon 20.i LE to Halfords at Maidstone in Kent to have a car audio and speakers fitted to the car, we had to drive 20 miles to this branch as the fitter at our local branch was off sick.

When we arrived at the branch, three guys looked at the car, one was a detupy manager, and neither of them seemed to have much of an idea about how to remove the door panels to replace the speakers. Luckily we have a mechanci who had already advised me on how to remove the panels, and I passed this information to the 'trained' guys.

They began to remove the panels and then asked my sife and I if we could not stand over them whilst working and to go inside the store and await them to finish. We did this, but we were not happy.

When they had finished with the head unit and speakers they returned the keys to us and we checked th work of the installation. At first all seemed fine, since then we discovered that the passenger door trim as not refitted correctly, indeed, they had bent over of the door clips as they 'forced the trim back on', this was the opinion of our Chrysler trained mechanic. Then we found that the trim on the drivers door had not been refitted correctly, this has led to the window fouling on a component inside the trim and has actually scratched the window.
Lastly, they managed to blow a lamp in the gear shift consule also.

We are currently in discussions with the branch and the manager there to obtain a new fitted window and remedy for the damage and upset caused.

We would say that unless you have a bulk standard car, take it to a main dealer for them to fit a unit and speakers. It may be more expensive, but it will save the heartache and stress of guys trying to fit components in a car they are unfamiliar with.

All it would have taken it a bit of honesty to say 'sorry we are not familiar with the car and we would rather not fit it for you' that to go ahaead and then damage the car..

Think twice when you are offered 'free fitting' on a car audio at Halfords and consider if it is really worth it!

Personally we will NEVER have another item fitted by Halford and will endeavour to by our car items at another outlet not Halfords.

==============


I am now ringing around locals car audio fitters to find somewhere better.
Anybody suggest anywhere good around the Heathrow/Surrey area ??

[mrgthomas]

In regards to the above and my own personal feelings on Halfords I have canx the fitting with them and am now going to this company.

New Image Car Hi-Fi
537 Pinner Road
HARROW
Middlesex

http://www.mmsa.org.uk/installation_specialists/E_middlesex.html

£30 and they sound half decent.

[paulyoung666]

at the op of this thread , if it is a mk 3 mondeo i can tell you how to do this no problem , for me the hard wiring bit means splicing into the underside of the fag lighter and routing the cable neatly around dashboard , not permanently fixing it in to the car

[mrgthomas]

Since reading all the problems realting to power cables and knowing I have the "correct" ciggie lighter cable that works I decided against having it hard wired, as I knew they would install a 3rd Party power lead running for the power lead to the unit meaning all the problems would start again.

Ah well it only takes 2 mins to set up a couple of wires around the car.

[cantgetlost]

Must just say that if you have a Corsa, Nova,Clio or one of those little Saxo's or similiar you may be OK.
Every Halfords I pass seems to have this ilk of car blinged up in the car park outside the store

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