DecoBike

I «tried real hard» to love DecoBike, but they wouldn’t let me. It is great in concept, but I’ve wasted too much time (hours over the last year) just trying to get their stupid card to release a bike. The bikes are ok, the process stinks. The horrendous user interface completely kills the convenience of being a member in the first place. What’s the point if I spend 15 minutes trying to release a bike for a 15 minute? If they fix it, I’ll re-​subscribe. Otherwise, forget it.

Love the idea. Have seen in several other cities. Would prefer to bike myself than cab it. First time and the station interface would not work right. Tap tap tap. Nothing. Called the service number. He thought my station may be low on power. Apparently they’re off the grid and work on solar. Well, today was rainy but yesterday was all sun. So the battery doesn’t last over 24 hrs. He said just go to another station. Well I’m on Harbor Island. The closest was 1 mi away unless I wanted to swim. The bike I got had no rear brake — cable clearly broken. Second bike I got later had a broken shifter. Still like the idea — just wish they weren’t so poorly maintained!

Convenient, expensive and poorly maintained bikes. The brakes didn’t work on the one I rented!

I have used the DecoBikes on a few occasions and I have to say: convenience meets fun.
Not only are there plenty of pick-​up/​drop-​off locations in my area[Hillcrest/North Park/​Balboa], but they are easy to use, and 24 hour accessible! Pedal power lights, and plenty of reflectors made me feel safe on my night ride.
Plus the pricing is great running quick errands or a nice date ride.
I also found it very convenient to find them near OB’s dog beach and in Mission Beach. Riding along the boardwalk one way was a great ride, and way cheaper/​simpler than taking care of an all-​day rental. Although, you do have that option.
I recently just got my own bike, but for one way travel, or if my bike is ever in the shop, I know where I’ll go!

Easiest way to ride bikes around San Diego, extremely cheap, customer service is pretty awesome. Stations all around the area where I live, it’s pretty much a win win.

DecoBike is a really useful system of alternative transportation! It is easy and fast way to get a bike and cruise around San Diego. I like to use the service to go for a ride to Downtown, the Harbor and also the beaches. There many stations located on interesting spots. I also like to get a bike to go to the gym in Hillcrest and exercise at Balboa Park. Definitely, I recommend this bike rental.

Handy to have around but don’t become dependent on them if you have urgent activities. The maddeningly eccentric checkout, works great for weeks then goes completely down for days. For example, after a recent winter storm, all of the stations I use wouldn’t accept the little keychain swipe thing or even a credit card.
I’m starting to look into that really cool folding bike again.

I took the deco bike from
my house in PB to school at USD, the station was full on E mission bay drive & frier island so I had to bring my bike into class since I did not receive a lock with my rental. After class I tried to drop the bike off in the station to save money I’m in school, but guess what it’s still full…, so I Ride back to PB looking for a station to drop it off but they are all full. Long story short I ended up spending $ 42 dollars because the station was full. I guess there is a reason they are all full… I read the fine print later at home and if I hadn’t dropped it off in a station within 24hrs or if it had been damaged before I took it out I would have had to pay $ 800 for the crappy bike.

I had to cancel my membership after 3 months of the unlimited 30 minute rides. When it works, it’s a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, it only works about one third of the time. Often times I receive errors trying to undock the bike and am left without a bike. This happens at multiple stations around downtown. This leaves me late for meetings and scrambling to find a Car2Go.
I would have canceled sooner but there is a 3 month minimum for the regular membership.
When I hear that this has been resolved I will be happy to ride again.

I’ve tried the DecoBikes from August to October, mostly in the Hillcrest/​North Park area.
Although I’m a proponent of the bike sharing concept, I’ve had too many issues, the most annoying of which were bikes not unlocking and gears slipping (especially 3^rd gear, which for me is pretty much cruising speed). There was even an entire week where none of the stations in the Hillcrest/​North Park area worked. For the past few weeks I’ve had little problems with bikes not unlocking, so maybe it was a start up issue.
That being said, the membership is very reasonable and the customer service is good. They refunded me for the week that the stations did not work and they generally responded pretty quickly (in my case anyway).
I would probably have kept the membership (despite the issues) if they could have switched my three month membership into a year membership and only pay the $ 40 difference. Did not appear to be an option unfortunately. So I’ll spend my money on my own bike instead. At least it will always be there, function well, and I can sell it again when I don’t need it anymore.

It was a problem from the start. After paying for the rental we couldn’t even get the bikes out of the rack. We spent almost 20 minutes just trying to get the bikes we rented out of the racks. Then when we finally got our bikes and rode to our destination, the rack there was full, so we weren’t even able to return our bikes. We had to find a different location to return. This would have been OK, just a little annoying, if they didn’t charge you in 30 minute increments. At high prices I should add… $ 5 for each additional 30 mins…
What was supposed to be simple, easy and convenient was much worse then it needed to be all because there was no actual human to talk to to help fix our issues. Next time I’m just going to rent from a local shop where I can get real customer service.

I should have listened to my fellow Unilocalers I actually read the reviews for deco bikes prior to starting a rental or trying to start rental rather for some reason I thought my experience would be different. I watch the video in advance I read the instructions twice and after that I felt comfortable that yeah I can do this. I followed the instructions at the docking station at Liberty Station 131 entered the bike number executed the amount of time I wanted for rental which was one hour for $ 7. I tried the first bike no luck repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly no luck. I thought well I’ll read the instructions again at the station it says that within the rental term you can select another bike so I did. I selected the another bike. Push the bike forward and pull back — simple right??? This bike will not disengage from the docking station either. I give up this is an interesting concept but it actually has to work to be successful. My suggestion is skip deco bikes and rent a bike from a bike rental shop where there’s an actual human being that can help you if you have any trouble.

DecoBike in San Diego receives 5 stars not just for their bike service but for their commitment to customer care.
On a recent trip to San Diego I tried to utilize their bikes and there was an error in unlocking the bike from the dock. After calling and not being able to get through I sent an email message of my frustration.
I received an extremely respectful, timely response and a full refund for the incident.
Even though I did not get to participate in bike riding that day, I applaud a company that takes very good care of the people interested in their business.
DecoBikes has my full support and recommendation for a fun, reliable transportation resource — especially when it comes to tackling customers problems.
Thank you DecoBikes!

My fiancé became a yearly subscriber of deco bike a few months ago as he rides to and from work every day. He couldn’t say enough about the customer service! They are the nicest people on the phone, sent replacement fobs when his stopped working and just recently went above and beyond…
My fiancé left his entire set of keys in the basket of a bike and didn’t realize it until the end of the day after work. You can imagine the panic setting in. The next day deco bike called him and said a fellow deco biker found the keys, called deco bike and gave them the number on the key tag to report found keys (whoever you are, thank you so much — you’re our hero!) Deco bike sent a rep to actually pick up the keys from this person and had them waiting for my fiancé at their office for him to pick up. He couldn’t get over how much this Good Samaritan and deco bike did for him and for us. We thank you and couldn’t recommend you any higher!

I love bike share programs and that is the only reason this gets 2 stars. It would be 1 if it were any other business.
I have used both Seattle’s and New York’s bike shares (loved them both) and was excited to see San Diego had one I could use for my recent visit. My wife and I got one week passes to use for the four days we were there.
Good:
— It’s a bike share program.
— Had no issues checking a bike back into the dock.
— Lots of locations, lots of bikes, plenty of space to return them.
Just OK:
— Sign up online was just OK. I had to create two accounts to buy two weekly memberships. It also wouldn’t let me set a start date, so I had to remember to activate it the day before our trip.
— The cards arrived with clear instructions on how to set them up and check out a bike. But the were taped to the letter and were left with an impossible to get off sticky layer.
Awful:
— The basket on the bikes is loud. The whole time you’re riding it vibrates and hits the frame making a constant and annoying sound.
— The instructions on the docks don’t match the instructions that were mailed, which I didn’t save because: how hard could it be to check out a bike?.
— Turns out it’s impossible to check out a bike, even after you know the three very precise steps needed to do it. If you miss any step at all, by even half a second, your bike won’t come out. This was an issue at every single station and every single time we tried to check out a bike. Put your card down before you wake the machine? Fail. Leave your card on after the three blinks and try to pull your bike out? Fail. Pull your card off before the three blinks? Fail. Do all three steps correctly? Still fail about 60% of the time.
— The steps to check out a bike require you to see a green light flash once in step one, three times in step two, then at least one time in step three. The problem is you can’t see this light at all in daylight, so it was a constant struggle to duck down and cup the light in enough darkness to make this possible.
The whole experience was awful and changed the dynamic of our trip because we rode way less often than we wanted.

Love the concept of DecoBike, but there needs to be more customer education. At first, we didn’t know how it works but once you finally figuring it out it’s very simple. Depending on how long you rent the bike for example $ 5 for 30 min, you can take the bike from that station and return it back to whichever station is closest to your destination.
Some good advice to keep in mind if you’re constantly renting bike you should subscribe to a monthly membership, you end up saving more money. I registered for the standard membership $ 20 plus tax a month for unlimited 30 minute rides, just keep in mind that there is a 3 month minimum commitment. Every month they take out $ 21.60 which is not that bad. Keep in mind that most of the time it’s really hard to pull the bikes out because the stations won’t release the bike, they won’t change you again when you insert your credit card again. Enjoy!

Horrible! Tried to rent 8 different bikes — only 2 would come unlocked. All 8 charges went through — called deco bikes customer service and was on hold for 30 minutes before hung up. This was at 3pm on a Monday. Really??? Great concept but crappy product and crappy customer service. Don’t do it. Ruined an attempt at a group bike ride for 6 of us.
UPDATE: called three times and finally got through after an hour of total wait time. Talked to a customer service representative who told me I had not tried to unlock the bikes correctly. You have to not touch them and then walk up and wait for a green light — I suggested the company might want to post these instructions somewhere either at the station or on their online tutorial video about how to unlock a bike… because those directions are nowhere!
He assured me the charges would be cancelled — I just checked my statements today and they all went through. So my one star review stands and I am happy to provide the business owner with any additional information needed to improve this service. I am a frequent visitor to San Diego with family there — I would rather buy my own bike and keep it there.

I enjoy the city bikes. My friends and I first tried them in Chicago (7 $ 24hrs or or 2 $ every 30mins or 75 $ year membership) they’re really fun. Today we wanted to relive our Chicago trip & try the bikes in SD. It cost more 15 $ 24hr or 5 $ every 30mins or use Promo code from retailmenot and get 1hr for free. Nice to ride bikes in Hillcrest/​DT etc. the only downfall is having to return/​checkout the bikes every 30mins when there’s not enough bike stations in SD.
Overall it’s a fun & adventurous. Definitely worth to take advantage of.

Used the service for 2 bikes on 4 separate occasions while visiting San Diego.
The good: bikes are easy to pedal, in good shape, have a nice big basket to carry stuff, and there are plenty of locations to return them when finished. The bikes are super easy to pedal and smooth because of the internal worm drive.
The bad: my first rental had one bike that came out fine and one that got stuck. Was on hold with Decobike’s customer service for about ten minutes until someone answered. He was very helpful and made sure the next bike came out before he let me off the phone. They should really give folks a discount when this happens to keep them as loyal customers, especially if it happens often. We didn’t have any more problems with the next three rentals, but two girls ahead of us today couldn’t get either bike they rented out of the rack, gave up, and took an Über. Sad.
But overall, I was very happy with the rental and return, and despite the issues I would absolutely use them again, but they need to get the glitches fixed.

My husband and I tried to rent these bikes today (Memorial Day) and it just left us broke and frustrated.
Our first attempt at retrieving a bike was unsuccessful. We swiped our card, read the waiver, added the bike number and nothing. The bike remained locked in place. So we tried another bike… finally some success. Since we needed 2 bikes, we tried a third time and nothing. A fourth time and nothing. Fifth and final time (all different bike numbers) and nothing. We were so annoyed at this point that we shoved the bike that we did receive back in its place and left. Now I get to wait on the phone with customer service tomorrow in the hopes of getting a refund on our money.
It’s a great concept to explore the city, I just wish they actually worked!