Performance Bicycle

I just wanted to give a shout out to the store and Sean. My wife and I came by on ⁸⁄₈ to pick up a Fuji bike for my wife that was purchased online and shipped to the store. Unfortunately the gear group that were described online was not shipped with the bike from the manufacturer; as a result, the ones that were installed on the bike did not match the online description.
Sean helped us by calling the Performance Bike corporate and offered us several options to resolve the difference between what the website described and what was available in-​store. Ultimately we were able to find a bike that fitted my wife even better (according to her testing in the parking) than the one I had originally ordered (ops) at a comparable price. Sean was very apologetic on behalf of Performance and genuinely made every effort to ensure that we were satisfied with our purchase.
The visit took a bit longer than anticipated due to the initial hiccups, but ultimately the staff made it right and we walked out of the store happy. While I live quite a few hours of driving away from the store, I would not hesitate to come by the store when it’s time for me to upgrade my bike.

I had a very good experience buying bike shoes. The ones i got just did not fit right after a few rides so they were able to exchange them no problem. The staff works very hard, it is a busy store and only a few staff members. Also, if they do not have it in the store, they will help you jump on the store phone to order it. I read the review about the lady and the pedals and my bike shop does do free installation on equipment purchased so I think Performance Bike needs to re-​think that policy. I think if you are standing there with 300 dollars worth of merchandise installation should be free.

Went in to get my bike tuned up a few months ago. I hadn’t been able to ride for quite some time after I got it tuned up for various reason, and within the first mile of riding climbing a shallow hill, my chain snaps. They installed a new chain and after looking and doing some research they installed a single speed bike chain on my 8 speed mountain bike. I also noticed in the first mile that the brakes were extremely loose and barely responsive after my $ 140 «tune up». Save yourself the time and money and go somewhere else or learn to do the tune ups and repairs yourself. If I could give zero stars I would have.

How can I give «ZERO» stars???
We have shopped here at the Performance Bike Store in Delaware 3 times. We have had three BAD experiences. I gave several chances before writing a review.
My husband and I were in the area. We reluctantly stopped in Performance Bike to purchase an «under 10.00 item/​handle bar grips. While he was looking at handle bar grips; I was looking at bike shoes. After choosing 7.00 grips we started to look at shoes and pedals as my husband was in need of both. After trying on several pairs of shoes and receiving assistance with the pedals, he found pedals and shoes he wanted to purchase. In the meantime, I also found shoes and pedals. So, we are now up to 300.00. At the register while paying we asked about bringing our bikes back and having the pedals put on. We were informed it would be 10.00 per set. I said, we came in to spend 10.00 spent 300.00, what about splitting it with us? We pay for one and then n/​c for the other set? NO, store policy is 10.00 a set. I stated, I totally agree if someone comes in and buys NOTHING but wants pedals installed but work w/​us. I also informed the «manager» that this bike shop was already not well liked among local cyclists. I rec’d a shoulder shrug. We asked again… he insisted NO. Then as we were leaving the «friendly» «manager» told us to «have a good night» in a sarcastic tone.
I came home and called customer service. This was last Tuesday; I finally rec’d a phone call yesterday/​Monday (almost a week later). The DM also stated the bike pedal fee of 10.00 per set. The DM also said they do hope/​try to provide good customer service and she would take my comments back somewhere… This is laughable!
My husband and I will be looking to up-​grade our bikes (potential 3,000+ sale) and we are looking for a good starting bike for our grandson. Over 10.00−20.00 they lost future business. And, the bottom line… no one seems to care!
I will never shop there again. I will never set foot in that store… even if they are GIVING away bikes.
I will tell every cyclist I meet about ALL our shopping experiences at Performance Bike Shop.
We did find someone that will install pedals for free. THANK YOU!
As for GREAT customer service… we now take our bikes up to Northeast, PA (a 5 hour drive) because of their OUTSTANDING customer service. If anyone is ever near Lake County Bike I suggest you stop in. My husband purchased an under 10.00 item and they installed it for FREE! While riding up there I got a branch stuck in my bike. The very friendly/​knowledgeable bike mechanic spent about an hour fixing my gears and re-​aligning my bike. Guess what? It was FREE!!!
Anyone can provide poor customer service, many can give average customer service but it is hard to find the ones that go over the top! Performance Bike provides POOR customer service; Lake Country Bike goes above and beyond. THANK YOU Lake Country Bike! Kudos. Maybe someone form Performance Bike should go in and be a «secret shopper». They just might learn something.
I hope this helps other people looking to purchase bicycles, bike accessories, bike clothing or needing work done on ANY bike.
Try Henry’s. If they can’t help… Bike Line or Wooden Wheels both on Main Street Newark, DE.

Let me start this review by saying that I am a loyal Performance Bike customer, and have shopped at several store locations without issue. I came all the way to Newark from Baltimore because none of the locations closer to me had the bike I wanted. I called Newark to check if it was in stock, and the guy I spoke to on the phone was very nice and polite, said they did have it in stock, and agreed to hold it for me so that I could make the drive. No problems there.
The problems started the minute my boyfriend and I arrived. We were in the store for at least 20 minutes before an employee noticed us as he was passing by and asked if we needed help. I told him that I wanted to take the bike I had pulled out for a test ride, and he brought it back to the mechanics to check it out as I signed the waiver. I rode the bike and decided that I definitely wanted it, so the mechanics took it back to do a final check on it before they let me leave with it.
My boyfriend had brought with us a bike he purchased from the Performance Bike website and had barely ridden, and he wanted to return it and use the refunded money to purchase the bike I was interested in. The store manager, Rick, started balking the minute we brought the bike into the store and he saw it. He made up some song and dance about how my boyfriend couldn’t return the bike because it was purchased with a PayPal credit card, and started spewing some garbage about how PayPal is like a loan system and blah blah blah, they couldn’t prove that my boyfriend had actually purchased the bike (which is bullshit because it was in the store’s system under his name and Team Performance number). Rick claimed to not know anything and said he would have to call his higher up, the DM, and then the Red Phone people at the call center in NC. He never did call his DM and just immediately called Red Phone, and only mentioned my boyfriend’s name to the person on the other end of the line, not the bike model or the transaction number or anything (which leads me to believe he wasn’t actually speaking to anyone on the phone at all, since my boyfriend’s name is not uncommon and Red Phone would need more information than just that to access his purchase history). Eventually Rick gave in and agreed to give my boyfriend a merchandise return card, guilt tripping us by saying, «Hope I don’t get into trouble for this!»
Finally we make the transaction and are able to leave the store, pretty annoyed and pissed off at the way we had been treated by the store manager. After we get home, my boyfriend hops on the bike to take it for a spin. The mechanics either didn’t check the bike thoroughly during the final they were giving it or they messed something up, because it wouldn’t shift into second and third gears at all. The brakes on the bike weren’t adjusted properly, the wheel needed truing, and the fenders were askew. I could have seriously injured myself, as I saw another reviewer here did, on a faulty or improperly adjusted part had my boyfriend not checked over everything and fixed it.
This store has a great selection of bikes, but that’s the only great thing about it. The staff leaves a lot to be desired, and I will definitely not be returning here. Performance Bike isn’t a bad company, but this is a bad branch of it, and I’d highly recommend going to another location before ever stepping foot into the Newark one.

So I’m updating this b/​c almost immediately after posting my review — the store contacted me to make things right. I have to say I spoke to the DM on the phone and she was a little rude to me — but was very nice to my boyfriend.
At one point in the call I chimed in about some specifics Matt left out (because he works nights and was running on no sleep when she was available to talk — so his brain was understandably foggy) and the dm snapped at me and said she needed to hear the info from him. I immediately went quiet (we were on a conf call) but I was upset. The only reason I volunteered more info was to be helpful to Matt because he doesn’t have a lot of time or energy during the day. She could have been a little more respectful of our relationship and his work schedule/​mental state! Imagine if I was calling you at 3 am — would you be at your most mentally alert?
So performance did fix the bike for free within a day, they gave us new cleats, refunded money for the cab– and made everything very easy (only AFTER we Unilocaled about it though) After this experience will I ever buy a bike there? Probably not– but I have to say that they did go out of their way to fix the situation and that means a lot!

Im satisfied with this business. The employees are knowledgeable & friendly however I took my bike out for its maiden voyage & was injured due to a faulty derailer. The part fell off & went into the spokes of my rear tire while traveling at a relatively high speed which caused me to fall over spraining my ankle, bruising my ribs & scraping my knee. I took the bike back today to get it fixed. They stood by their product & replaced the faulty parts as well as reimbursing me for my cab ride & replacing my cleats. The associates are extremely friendly & went out of their way to ensure my experience was satisfactory.

So that paid club card I mentioned in my last review? A while back, I got an email saying that they’d changed the program so that the renewal would be automatic and it would deduct the fee from whatever your current balance was. I called the customer service # provided pronto and opted right out of that nonsense.
And then… I get an email this week telling me that not only had I been automatically enrolled, but they’d kept my credit card info on file and charged it to that.
The good news is that when I called customer service AGAIN, they did refund it promptly. But still, I don’t think I’ll be shopping with them again.

Looking for a part and no one could help me as I waited 20 minutes before leaving.
I sometimes shop for various items at Performance-​Newark.
Usually friendly and efficient service except for the push to join their points club each time I pay.
Tonight was a different story. There was a couple in front of me and one guy behind me, so 4 customers in the store. There appeared to be 2 employees, a young man in the bike repair section and a man at the register. I don’t know what problems the gentleman working the register was having completing a sale with the couple in front of me, but after asking me what I needed, not a word about how long he might be and he avoided eye contact. I decided to leave after waiting at least 20 minutes during which time I looked for the elusive part (compression plug to fit a 1 ¹⁄₈ carbon fork) while waiting.
Bike Line-​Newark, Wooden Wheels, EMS-​Newark didn’t have the part, but each had staff that assisted me and looked for it. Good service from each of them.
I would email Performance-​Newark directly, but they don’t publish an online contact address on their website:
Hope you have better luck at Performance than I did tonight if you shop there.
The Store Manager contacted me.
The Store Manager apologized for the bad experience and offered to make things right, including providing me with the part I was looking for at no cost.
I am satisfied with the apology and commitment to good customer service.
I declined the offer of the part.
So, no quid pro quo with this amended post.
I’ve had good experiences there before and will chalk it up to a bad day.
I give them four stars for the contact, offer and apology.

At times you will have to wait for an available employee to help you, but, as Kerri W. said, the customer service is excellent.
I purchased a road bike at the Performance Bicycle in Santa Monica, Calif. and came to the Newark location to get a mountain bike to do some trail riding. The person helping me was very patient and helped me to explore all of my options. Ultimately, they recommended a less expensive bike for the type of riding I would be doing, which was great for my wallet, and I’ll be going back if ever I want to invest in better components.