Joyful Cycle & Fitness

Reviews 5

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Craig Wager

This store stole $50 from me, let me explain, I am an extremely credible reference and invite anyone to contact me for further details. I purchased a Trek 1000 back in 2006-2007ish when the store was in Highland Park, I was an undergraduate at Rutgers and I loved that bike. After a while I had a maintenance issue that required me to replace a tire and Joyful Cycle required that I put down a $50 deposit to order the tire. To no fault of this store, my bike got stolen when I was living in a common living arrangement. However, I must say that this back ordered tire was three weeks late at the time if my razor sharp memory serves me. When I informed the store that my bike was stolen they refused to credit back my money, instead, one of the employees of this business gave me a business card and wrote on it, "Customer Has Fifty Dollar ($50) Creidt in System for Anything in Store), signed by the employee. As a young naive student I accepted this, now as a cunning business man I would have demanded to speak to the owner. In fact, I had spoken to the owner probably about 7 years ago about getting my money back from the credit since it was clear that I was not in a position to buy a new bike soon (I was in grad school getting my Masters). Back then, the owner James, denied giving me money back and since I stumbled upon my $50 business card store credit recently I decided to go there again today. I told the owner, James, that I understand that my situation is incredibly bizarre and strange, but nevertheless true. He contemplated how it was possible and at even one point reflected upon his past employee as being a shady individual. I believe one of two things happened to me 10 years ago that the owner refuses to make right. Either his employee who gave me this business card refund for my deposit pocketed my money or the store (aka, the owner) kept the $50 surplus. Ive left James the owner my contact information and if he wants to right this wrong that happened to me at his business he can give me an email or a call and Ill immediately reverse my opinion and Ill wrap up this whole thing as a misunderstanding. I believe businesses have a moral right to correct wrongdoings and if they dont then they deserve to suffer the consequences of customers choosing to flock away from their business (such as the recent blunder by United and their initial cocky attitude which they are now reversing after feeling the pain of pissed off customers).

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Tom Ku

I own several high end mountain, road, and triathlon bikes and constantly upgrade/maintain them. So, I leave plenty of money at bike stores and know my prices. The employees are very helpful and know their stuff. They also have pretty good bikes and accessories. This store is unfortunately run by a owner/manager, who is greedy and not customer-oriented at all. Like others mentioned, he is a Chinese gentleman. He never interrupted his personal business when I approached the counter or entered the store. Even when I was personally greeted by his staff, who knew me from several visits and expert discussions. When I bought tubes and smaller parts, the prices were pretty much always made up by the owner on the fly. They always were substantially higher (10-20%) than the ones listed in their online catalog. For 2 non-catalog transactions, things got ridiculous. He priced me for 20 steel balls about $5.00 - 150 of a higher quality can be bought for less than $10 online from them. When I called about the availability of a tool, the owner promised me a good price for their used tool from the repair shop. He called me back and gave me a higher price than for a new one. When I pointed out that the new tool was cheaper, he commented "You need the tool now, right?". Finally, I placed an online order/store pickup to avoid his price hijacking (I live close by and therefore was reluctant to change stores only to buy some parts). The order was processed properly, a confirmation emailed, and my credit card was charged. After over one week of silence, I checked the order status and it was shown as canceled. My credit card charge was reversed. I emailed the customer service. After more than 10 days, the owner/manager replied and explained that there obviously was some problem with their online ordering system?! He never apologized or asked me whether to still process the order etc. In short, the manager/owner should really strongly consider to change to a non-customer-related business. I decided to leave my money elsewhere. I feel sorry for the many nice folks working there - they are really excited cyclists and know their stuff.

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Stephen Potter

I have spent close to $5000 at this store and have been going there for years. I am an avid road cyclist and bought and service my equipment at Joyful. It has always been overpriced. But in the beginning I didnt mind because the crew was so nice and dedicated to the sport. Since then theres been a regime change and the new crew isnt made up of the kind of devout riders it takes to make someone like me want to give my business. I bought a $3k bike and have been nickel and dimed ever since the original crew left. I was charged to replace a spoke on the expensive wheels they sold me. Most bike shops will do that for free because they know youre a dedicated customer. Overpriced. They dont care about you. Over the years Ive witnessed multiple events where they delivered poor customer service to others. The other day I asked to look at sunglasses and was left waiting for 20 minutes while they looked for the key for the case. Im done with this place and it sucks because I spent a long time building up what I thought was goodwill.

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Anthony Pulido

I was very glad for the work Joyful Cycles did on my bicycle. They replaced a broken spoke, tightened the others, did a power wash (I guess this means with a high pressure hose), properly aligned the brakes, replaced a brake cable and other fixes included in the tune up package. One benefit I didnt expect is that the wheels now rotate smoothly, possibly even better than when I first bought the bicycle. The power wash gave the bicycle a much need cleaning and the less worn areas of the bicycle look close to new, when I had thought they were permanently stained by dirt and debris. Not only is the bike now more useful, I would not be surprised if more years have been added to its life, for which Im grateful. For me the service was also fast: I left the bicycle on Saturday and picked it up on Monday evening. This, however, might depend on how much work the bicycle needs. The staff was also very pleasant, friendly and knowledgeable. I will go back!

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Loukia Lili-Williams

This bike shop is a joke and a rip off! Dont go there. They charged me $10 for a stainless still cable for a Shimano rear deraileur, where for the exact same product, Kims bike shop (3mi down the road) asked for $3 !!! I have worked at a bike shop for over 6 years and although I know that charging for a cable does not have a standard retail price, the highest acceptable price is around $5 or $6 !!! I also asked for a cable housing small component that does not allow water and debris to get into the frame (due to internal cabling) and the owner said that this is a proprietary component and I would need to call the bike company I got the bike from in order to order it. I went to Kims bike and not only they found the part but they did not charge me for it! Joyful Cycle and Fitness has completely lost me as a customer! Unless you are a recreational cyclist that doesnt care about cycling as much and wants to get ripped off ...

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