Sixt - Sixt Brussels left me stranded for three days

I rented a car from Sixt Brussels and took it to the UK for a day trip this week. According to both the contract and the website, I was entitled to do so.
In the UK, the car breaks down and I call the Belgian Sixt number. I explained the situation to them, asked for help, and they got very angry and yelled at me, stating that I was not allowed to take the car outside of Belgium and I was on my own. I decided to contact Sixt UK. They sent Roadside Assistance out to me, and the guy said the car was barely driveable due to a clutch issue. He got on the phone with Sixt and again, the Belgian people refused to help out, stating that I was not allowed to drive the car there.
Sixt UK finally got a tow truck out for me, and they brought me back to the Chunnel Train. They put me on the train, and said I should call a tow truck on the other side, once I got to France, or try to drive if there wasn´t too much traffic on the road, because the clutch could give out any minute. I decided to drive once I got to the other side, and made it to my destination. In the morning (day II), I called Sixt Brussels again, and again they refused to help me. I explained that the car was not driveable anymore, and I needed a replacement. They said that, if I wanted a replacement, I needed to bring the car to the airport. I said I was not able to do so, and they said there was nothing they could do for me.
I got on the phone with customer service in the UK, and they did their best to help me out. They also confirmed that I was allowed to drive the car in the UK. After a lot of hassle and a day of calls, Sixt Belgium finally offered to bring me a very small car the next day, which I ended up accepting.
I received the new car today, and essentially I have been without a car for 3 days, due to their lack of cooperation. The new car is a lot smaller than what I reserved.
I rent a lot of cars, but I have never ran into this before. I decided to try Sixt because of the Platinum Status I received, but I don´t think I will use them again.
I´m trying to figure out what to do regarding compensation, etc...

hey dimramon, sorry to hear that, I was thinking of reserving car from sixt (to try my platinum status too) but this is really awkward what happened to you. On the sixt page they have some pretty good cars for decent prices and I was counting on upgrade, so basically you're saying that it is not gonna happen in Belgium? :confused:

What a terrible story. Will never think even remotely to do any business with this company....

I'm a big Sixt fan and use them wherever I can but that does sound a truly horrific story.

I would be writing to head office and pursuing this fully.

Dear Dimramon,

please let me first of all most sincerely apologies for the inconvenience caused by Sixt.
My name is Per Voegerl, Commercial Director Sixt UK. I've read your post yesterday, but had technical problems with replying to your entry. I will personally contact on Monday the Sixt Belgium Manging Director to sort matters out for you and would appreciate if you could email me your details to per.voegerl@sixt.com

kind regards,
Per

I am very sorry to learn of your experience.

First, a quick introduction. I am the Customer Service Manager for Sixt in the U.K.

Perhaps you would be kind enough to contact me, my e-mail address is gary.coughlan@sixt.com, I will speak with the MD in Belgium and come back to you shortly.

Hello Dimramon,

Sixt feels awfully sorry about what happened during your last trip with one of our cars. We distinguish ourself as a premium and full service car rental company and international mobility provider. Due to a combination of awkward circumstances you were not able to experience us as such a fine service provider. Again, sorry for that!

We will contact you tomorrow on your private line to find a smooth way to compensate possible additional cost or other items.

Pampering our most loyal customers with a Sixt Platinum Card is planned to be forever. Thats why we would love to welcome you at one of our Sixt service stations in the near future to prove your experience was just a bad coincident.

With best regards,

Sixt Belgium BVBA

Thomas Wolters
Director

Thomas - good of you to reply to this forum and to try and resolve it for the unfortunate OP.

Would be interesting to hear, from the OP or Thomas Wolters, how this was finally resolved but also why Sixt apparently refused to help the OP for 3 days straight (and is probably only doing so now because of the bad publicity?).

On 2/22 I received a message from Sixt customer service stating that they saw my thread and were going to pass on the information to Brussels.
On 2/23 I received a message from Mr. Wolters stating that he tried to contact me over the phone, and asked me to contact him back.
On 2/25 I respond to the email Mr. Wolters sent me and I cc Customer Service.
Today, 8 (eight) days later, I have not heard from anyone.

Keep it up, Sixt! I would really like to know how "pampering platinum customers" is defined or put in practice. :rolleyes:

Hello again, Dimramon.

We favor to solve such misunderstandings and/or disappointments in an efficient and fast way. Thats why I called you immediatelly the next morning. Too bad you were out of reach on your cell phone at that time. You have all my contact details to respond to me directly and to keep me posted in case you are not satisfied with our after sales service. Wondering why you dont use it...? We will get in contact with you on monday to get it sorted out, okay?

With best regards,

Sixt Belgium BVBA

Thomas Wolters
Director

Hello again, Dimramon.

We favor to solve such misunderstandings and/or disappointments in an efficient and fast way. Thats why I called you immediatelly the next morning. Too bad you were out of reach on your cell phone at that time. You have all my contact details to respond to me directly and to keep me posted in case you are not satisfied with our after sales service. Wondering why you dont use it...? We will get in contact with you on monday to get it sorted out, okay?



I sent you personally an email on the 25th to which you *never* responded. I cc-ed another employee named Kat on the same message. I waited for over a week, and never heard from either one of you.

Since you stated you contacted me by phone, I checked my phone records and do not have a voice mail nor a missed call from you.

It's interesting how you manage to contact me all of a sudden today after I post a follow-up message on Flyertalk, but you ignore the email I sent you both last week.

Hello again, Dimramon.

We favor to solve such misunderstandings and/or disappointments in an efficient and fast way. Thats why I called you immediatelly the next morning. Too bad you were out of reach on your cell phone at that time. You have all my contact details to respond to me directly and to keep me posted in case you are not satisfied with our after sales service. Wondering why you dont use it...? We will get in contact with you on monday to get it sorted out, okay?

With best regards,

Sixt Belgium BVBA

Thomas Wolters
Director

If one of my customer had to experience 1% of what yours endured, I would certainly call him more than once!!!!
What are you guys thinking?? Just put a few vague messages here will do it?
Tell us all what kind of compensation you offer for such unbelievably terrible behaviour of your company, that's all we want to hear.
Instead you are complainingto the customer!!!

What kind of company are you????

Hello again, Dimramon.

We favor to solve such misunderstandings and/or disappointments in an efficient and fast way. Thats why I called you immediatelly the next morning. Too bad you were out of reach on your cell phone at that time. You have all my contact details to respond to me directly and to keep me posted in case you are not satisfied with our after sales service. Wondering why you dont use it...? We will get in contact with you on monday to get it sorted out, okay?

With best regards,

Sixt Belgium BVBA

Thomas Wolters
Director

I am a Sixt Diamond Member renting 40-50 cars a year from them, mainly in Germany and UK and unfortunately Brussels. Brussels is by far the worst Sixt location I have ever encountered, the staff are unfriendly, unhelpful and downright rude. The cars are frequently dirty, scratched and often not fully fuelled.

The above response however is not exactly what one would expect of a Director of such a big and successful company. Highly unprofessional and not fit for a service company. Surely, Sixt can do better than that!

Aside form that, Sixt has been a good rental company for me so far, so I will stay loyal for the time being.

I am a Sixt Diamond Member renting 40-50 cars a year from them, mainly in Germany and UK and unfortunately Brussels. Brussels is by far the worst Sixt location I have ever encountered, the staff are unfriendly, unhelpful and downright rude. The cars are frequently dirty, scratched and often not fully fuelled.

....

How companies having these kinds of behaviour with customers can still be in business is well over my understanding...

Good afternoon MNO

Im the reservations manager for Sixt in the UK

If you would like to send me a copy of the hire details you request I will be more than happy to see if we can help

Please send these to adam.wilkes@sixt.com

Many thanks

What an odd thread. dimramon, you reported your problem 6 weeks ago. We've now had 4 senior SIXT employees respond, yet I have not seen a resolution. Has anyone actually been of help?

I've been out of the country with no internet access, but now that I am back, here's an update.

For starters, I have to say that during the whole process, especially when the car broke down, the people in the UK were wonderful. I talked to several people in the UK and they were very helpful and did their best to assist and follow up on the problems I was experiencing. It was their dedication and effort that eased an extremely frustrating experience.
I do hope that the Customer Service staff in Belgium gets retrained, because I would not want anyone to have to go through this. It would be wonderful if the Belgian staff gets on the same level as its counterpart in the UK.
I will follow up with management in the UK, because I want to make sure that a particular employee in the UK gets recognized for his efforts.

Nevertheless, in the end, Sixt gave me a *substantial* discount to compensate me for my troubles. My wife and I looked it over, and we are happy with what Sixt did for, us after the facts.

Cool glad to hear it was resolved in your favour.

Is this the record for the most employees offering to help a FTer? Glad the problem got resolved and I hope the customer service initiative that Sixt is putting forth can help with problematic stations.