Gepetto et Vélos

To be short: AVOID this bike rental place. I am shocked how unprofessional and rude the owner is. We used to go to another rental company before, but our friends strongly advised this place as they had had good experience here when they rented bikes here two times in the past. As we did before, we sent all the details of the trip very much in advance to get the bicycles that are perfect fit for the trip - and that was not just a weekend ride, we rented for 2 weeks ride in Normandy and Brittany. Unfortunately, the owner stopped responding to any emails a week before the trip (however we were promised that we would be offered a choice a week or two before the trip starts, but that never happened). More than that, they moved to a different location, and we were never warned about that. At least we were lucky enough that they moved to the neighbour street, so we found it with no problems. But that demonstrates the attitude perfectly. Obviously, the bicycles were not ready and we were given just what was left out of big demand that weekend (which, I am strongly believe must NOT be the case as the whole purpose of contacting the rental place before was to secure the right bikes). The owner admitted that was the fact and that was the reasoning behind, we had a choice of taking whatever's left or going somewhere else to rent the bikes, even though we had a train in an hour and no other options whatsoever. Next point: bicycles. I am sure the owner will be arguing with me on that, but you know how they say: a customer is always right, and if I, as a customer, am left not happy with the service and attitude (which is even more important), I will not ever go there again and advise all my friends against it. Who is right now? WE GOT THE OLD BICYCLES. And, as I said before, there is a perfect bicycle type for every type of activity. What we got is nowhere close from being a perfect fit. The bikes were heavy, old, rotten in some places and were falling apart. The owner will be saying the opposite, but it was us who had to ride those bikes for two weeks and facing all the problems: some lights were not working, the chain were rotten and broke, the handle bars were not fixed properly, the breaks on one of the bikes made terrible noise, the back rack was not fixed properly because of the broken thread etc. We did survive all of those, but that never added any nice feeling to the trip. Last, but not least, THE ATTITUDE. Instead of listening to us carefully and having at least a little compassion the owner went arguing about every complaint we made making us look like we were liars. It was not a pleasant feeling and it definitely was not a nice experience. We were given a reasoning that they are just a small team, they do what they can to make sure the bikes were fine (and I appreciate that, but it happened that ours were not), that they had a major event due to which most of the good bikes were rented out etc. We tried to ask for a discount to make up for bad experience, and that was not taken nicely by the owner who just kept arguing that the bikes were good and we were telling lies. At the end of the day the owner just said that we should not come to their store next time. Please be assured, we will not.

Very friendly and helpful staff, loved the fact that you could rent the bike for a few days. Convenient booking application and good security system on the bike.

DO NOT USE this rental, if you do not want to have permanent problems and bad memories about your vacation. Used this rental 3 times. Last time we booked 4 bikes 2 months in ADVANCE. We have detailed our requirements. We agreed that a week before our date we will be able to choose specific bikes. But the owner stopped responding to our emails ... We decided that everything would be ok because this is not the first time we are using their services. As a result, we got VERY OLD bikes. The owner said that this is what is left as this weekend is very busy... 2 weeks we had constant problems with these bikes. Literally every morning began with a repair.

This is a great place to find a long term rental if you are on an extended stay in Paris and want a good deal on the equivalent of a rental that you purchase and sell back at the end of your trip! This summer I was in Paris for two months. I bought an excellent barely used bike for 350 euros. I returned it 2 months later and sold the bike back for half price. 175 euros. My daily cost was approximately 3.40 per day. The owner speaks great English and was flexible and patient in helping find a bike that I felt met my needs. I needed a low geared bike that could climb some of the steeper hills in Paris. During a previous long summer in Paris I made a similar deal at Gepetto et Velos, with an older less expensive used bike and my daily rental cost was closer to 2.25 euros per day.

Velo-Love ! Professional people, VALIDATE