La Digue Bicycle Rental Seychelles

"The only uneasy experience we had in two weeks of Seychelles. I read some bad words here about the company's behavior, but I am not using always this as a benchmark, because being a company that hires bikes only online, looked as a strength, but in reality, the sensation is that the proceed like this because their La Digue headquarter is around 3 km from the ferry terminal, so who will go there, for real? :)

This is not the problem, but the behavior. We have hired a package of 7+1 (one should have been added) days for 140 EUR, and of course paid in advance. Mentioned it is for honeymoon, so I was expecting some of the best bikes they have, because I am 100% sure not too many hire two bikes for 7 days. OK, so we got the bikes Sunday morning, on 4th of May, at 10:15. I saw them rusty (it is a common thing, though), didn't mind: they had bells, but didn't work. My switch gear was also stuck.

On the same evening, I have wrote to them to get some with bells - no answer. On 6th of May (on 5th we didn't use the bike) we went to the headquarter and they told us they have no working bells, and usually nobody has bikes with bells (I found out to be true, indeed), but committed to change the bike with the broken gear that evening. It didn't happen. Since on 7th of May we did not use them again, I have dropped a message for them to be changed, which they eventually did.

On 8th of May, we took the bikes: one had a completely flat tier, because the tiers were so worn off - see in the pictures. We left them at the L'Union entrance, and asked to be changed, a bit annoyed by the situation. The supplier replied even more annoyed (???) - what do I mean??? The bike was with me for four days. It was, yeah, but sent pictures to prove the deplorable state of the tire. They agreed to change that evening. Nothing happened.

As I saw this in the morning, and since on 9th of May we didn't use them again, I have wrote again to change my bike - second time wrote twice for a bike change. Annoying as f*ck! They did change it. We had two more days to use it, and we did on 10th of May. Surprisingly, on 11th of May, the so called "+1" day, the bikes were gone. We were told La Digue is a secure place, and we don't need locks, and so it is. Then what happened? "No, sir, we didn't pick them up! We are scheduled for tomorrow morning, we don't work today. It should have been another tourist". Haha!

Now, staying in a resort in a very crowded zone, and having experience in living in Romania, and as former journalist, I found instantly that precisely they picked it up, denying us the committed additional day. Instead of 7+1 we used the bikes 7-4, only three days. OK, it was not the supplier's fault that we didn't use the bikes in four days, it was our decision. But the point of booking and paying in advance 7+1 days was exactly purposed to have the comfort of picking the bike whenever we needed, without checking tire pressure, if the chain has fallen etc.

Alternative? We hired a bikes from Armstrong rentals, and for the same price (actually we paid in rupee, so it was around 9.3 EUR / day, not 10) we have enjoyed better bikes, with which you could go even uphill, without any problem. Best of advise: if you want to hire a bike in La Digue, go directly to somebody where you can see it. We might had some bad luck, but the attitude was rubbish.

What I am amused of, though, "maybe some tourists", is that I have learned in La Digue, most of the tourists were from Germany, Italy and France, and there is not the culture of picking up goods that don't belong to you. Especially, I repeat, the bikes look like in the pictures. In Romania this can be possible, so I know it, and I can't be scammed this way (we call it "țeapă"), because of my experience. This guy, though, could make a fortune here, by overpriced cars (it is true that many cars in Romania are worst than their bikes :)))), instead of rusty bikes.

Long story short: we paid 180 EUR for five days of bike usage, when we could have paid 93 EUR without any headache. My bad."

dominte88 com

"We cancelled well within the period required. We have been waiting over 5 weeks for a refund and despite chasing again have had no refund or reply. We could not recommend this company for treating customers fairly or responsibly. AVOID!"

cabanaman999

"Bikes are in very poor condition, we had four bikes as a family, all rusty, terrible breaks, even worse derailleurs, locked suspension. Good thing though, you have no bell but the breaks are so squeaking that the whole island can hear you coming. They were very late to answer, made us walk a long way to pick up the bikes. To be honest, most of the bikes on the island look like shit. Anyhow, don't book online, there are plenty of bikes available on the spot, search for a semi-decent one and haggle for a price."

Damir Obad