Beware of Dubai and Doha SIXT

Old Apr 27, 2015, 3:51 am
  #16  
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
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Had a overall OK rental with SIXT DXB in Feb. despite some concerns from reading this thread.

Reservation was a IDAR (MB A Class) for a week. At early morning pickup in DXB T1, booth was staffed by a single (male) SIXT employee. I asked if a Plat upgrade was available and was told that he unfortunately didn't have any cars available for upgrade.

During the lenghty processing of my reservation a second employee arrived (female - seemed senior). When she started to assist the first employee with my rental, I casually asked her if a Platinum upgrade is available (without mentioning I'd asked before), to which she answered "Yes of course, we'd be happy to upgrade a you to a MB C Class as Platinum" :-)

When he heard her answer, the first employee asked her "But their car is already prepared" to which she answered him "Just bring out a C Class to them". He then walked us to the parking, where an A class was parked on the curb, and asked us to wait a minute until he brought out our car, a new C Class Sedan (FDAR), that was a nice upgrade for our weeklong rental :-)

Lesson learned: If a junior service worker in UAE says "not possible, due to <xxx>", he/she just as likely may be saying "not possible according to my process", "I'm not empowered to do that" or "that's a little to much work for me to do"...

Not really the first time I've learned that lesson, but next time an upgrade is turned down by Sixt UAE because of no availability, I'll ask if it's possible to bring out an upgrade car instead of the one they've prepared.

Last edited by raunow; Apr 27, 2015 at 3:58 am
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Old May 28, 2015, 9:57 am
  #17  
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 5
Hi, booked 6 or 7 times from sixt Dubai, as a Diamond member, and always book a MB C class only once was upgraded to MB E class, all other times was upgraded to MB C with bigger Engin!! From C180 to C200 or C240 (what a joke) as the say no cars available and one can see at least 20 MB keys in the locker. The Diamond discount was good. Gave up and moved to Avis. Booked Audi A4 and upgraded to A8. (Avis president circle).
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Old Dec 19, 2015, 12:23 am
  #18  
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I am still renting with Sixt in Dubai, but I have moved from renting from the airport to renting from the Mercedes dealer on Sheikh Zayed Rd. Since doing that, things have been going a lot better.

I have always received reasonably good upgrades from the SZR location and on my last booking I booked a Mercedes E200 and was upgraded to a brand-new S400.
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Old Jan 9, 2016, 4:42 pm
  #19  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
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My experience of sixt Dubai ! I booked via Expedia, and the car I booked was a vw golf or similar for 1 week (clar category). They advertise collection from terminal 3, in which they have no office. I arrived to find this out from one of there representatives who was waiting and touting for customers at arrivals. He refused to take us to the office as he had no record of us having a booking, and told us to get on a bus to terminal
1 where the office is located. Again this is false advertising as I was expecting to collect the car from terminal 3 and spent an hour trying to find the correct bus to get to the other terminal! My wife and I had just got of a delayed 8 hour flight and were very tired!
At the office I was rudely informed that my class of car was not available after they found the booking having looked for 20 minutes (aileen was her name). They gave me a larger car, a vw Jetta. I had specifically requested this smaller car as I have difficulty driving larger and more bulkier vehicles, especially as I'm used to driving on the right! I was told reservation can be cancelled but I had already paid Expedia. A phone call to Expedia and they said no refund was available and that sixt should give me a car in the same category. The lady at the desk was adamant this was not possible. I requested any other smaller compact car, and was told NO, even a cheaper class! The staff were very rude and were not bothered.
My main concern is the lack of customer service, and why I could not receive a car in the class I booked, or similar as advertised!
Sixt operate in an Arab country which abides by Muslim law. I am a Muslim and believe this to be directly against the principles of Islam. The uae prides itself on ensuring fraud is not committed by or against any individual, and I hope somebody will take action against this misrepresentation and false advertising. The website shows this class of car available and still is! Why take a booking if you do not have that class of car!
My wife and I were sick and tired of the hassle and decided to accept the vehicle as we had no other option.
The car I received was damaged on every part of the body. It was dirty and smelt of cigarettes. I currently have this car parked at the hotel. On the journey to the hotel, the engine cuts out after certain periods when you are stood still at traffic lights. I have informed sixt who don't care. I will be taking pictures and taking the car to the Dubai transport department to inform them of how unsafe this car is and my experience as a whole. I am worried that whilst driving it may cut out and cause an accident! It is an automatic so shouldn't be like this.
I saw this review site and want everyone to know my experience of sixt in Dubai so they can make a wise choice when booking!!
I look forward to hear from somebody in there customer services if they can be bothered! Spend thousands on a holiday to start of with these rogue car hire companies!
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Old Jan 10, 2016, 2:44 am
  #20  
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Expat in SIN
Programs: UA Plat, TK Gold, *G
Posts: 1,452
Originally Posted by Aamer
My experience of sixt Dubai ! I booked via Expedia, and the car I booked was a vw golf or similar for 1 week (clar category). They advertise collection from terminal 3, in which they have no office. I arrived to find this out from one of there representatives who was waiting and touting for customers at arrivals. He refused to take us to the office as he had no record of us having a booking, and told us to get on a bus to terminal
1 where the office is located. Again this is false advertising as I was expecting to collect the car from terminal 3 and spent an hour trying to find the correct bus to get to the other terminal! My wife and I had just got of a delayed 8 hour flight and were very tired!
At the office I was rudely informed that my class of car was not available after they found the booking having looked for 20 minutes (aileen was her name). They gave me a larger car, a vw Jetta. I had specifically requested this smaller car as I have difficulty driving larger and more bulkier vehicles, especially as I'm used to driving on the right! I was told reservation can be cancelled but I had already paid Expedia. A phone call to Expedia and they said no refund was available and that sixt should give me a car in the same category. The lady at the desk was adamant this was not possible. I requested any other smaller compact car, and was told NO, even a cheaper class! The staff were very rude and were not bothered.
My main concern is the lack of customer service, and why I could not receive a car in the class I booked, or similar as advertised!
Sixt operate in an Arab country which abides by Muslim law. I am a Muslim and believe this to be directly against the principles of Islam. The uae prides itself on ensuring fraud is not committed by or against any individual, and I hope somebody will take action against this misrepresentation and false advertising. The website shows this class of car available and still is! Why take a booking if you do not have that class of car!
My wife and I were sick and tired of the hassle and decided to accept the vehicle as we had no other option.
The car I received was damaged on every part of the body. It was dirty and smelt of cigarettes. I currently have this car parked at the hotel. On the journey to the hotel, the engine cuts out after certain periods when you are stood still at traffic lights. I have informed sixt who don't care. I will be taking pictures and taking the car to the Dubai transport department to inform them of how unsafe this car is and my experience as a whole. I am worried that whilst driving it may cut out and cause an accident! It is an automatic so shouldn't be like this.
I saw this review site and want everyone to know my experience of sixt in Dubai so they can make a wise choice when booking!!
I look forward to hear from somebody in there customer services if they can be bothered! Spend thousands on a holiday to start of with these rogue car hire companies!
Sorry to hear about your experience. However, many rental companies outside the USA and EU do not adjust their online inventory. When you book a small car, you will receive that category or larger (ie an upgrade). That can be done to maximize revenue as people are more likely to book cheaper cars and most are happy with an upgrade. Or it's due to local systems not being linked to the online inventory.

Now, if you are worried about the actual vehicle. Take it to their office on SKZ and exchange for another car. No use in ruining your vacation due to this.
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Old Jun 30, 2016, 5:30 am
  #21  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 1
Dubai Sixt Platimun

Actually I had a not too dissimilar, unpleasant experience with Sixt Al Quoz office. Arrived in June, and was staying for about 3 weeks, decided to flex the Sixt platinum card and grab an upgrade while renting the equivalence of a VW Passat. However before renting on the app, a colleague of mine had suggested going to Sixt and booking on the spot as it would ensure the upgrade. Following his advice, I turned up at Al Quoz and asked if I booked a Passat, would they upgrade me to an A-Class (the next class from the Passat). The answer was a straight, undefined "No!"

I mentioned to the sales clerk that I am a Sixt platinum holder, I gave him my card with details and he responded to me with two answers at separate times in our discussion. His first answer was, "we do not accept Platimun membership here" to my dismay, I was speechless! At Sixt, they did not accept their own membership privileges! Strapped for time as this took approximately an hot and a half to simply pick up a car, I asked him to recheck whether I could get an upgrade if I booked the A-Class instead, (again his tune changed and said he would look at my Platimun card), no mention of 24 hour reservation advances necessary on the A-Class, however he mentioned this for the Passat. He then came back and said I was not eligible for an upgrade. Again what he hell is happening! First he mentions we do not accept this membership (clearly stating it was Sixt and the company is was renting from was also, surprise, surprise Sixt) and then he said I was not eligible for an upgrade (now effectively accepting the card and its existence).

Having spent almost too long there, I ended up renting the A-Class with no benefits (even having been told there were multiple other classes I could rent - hint, hint... There are upgrades available). The satnav spoke in Arabic and I was only just able to change the instructions to English only to find it was asking me to make U-turns on Sheikh Zayed Road as if I could enter one side and quickly cross to the other without using an exit. I used google maps instead to save me from causing an incident using a severely outdated navigation system.

All in all, this was a terrible experience! And I am contemplating renting with a different rental company for future. And before anyone from Sixt says, that Sixt provide high quality customer service and this is a one off, I would advise you to read any of comments on this page and reconsider your reply. This is an experience I do not wish to have again, should that mean renting from Hertz or Avis or other companies, I will certainly keep my option open!
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Old Nov 15, 2016, 6:58 am
  #22  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SIN
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Posts: 1,461
Does anyone have experience picking up a car at Sixt Dubai and dropping it at Sixt AUH? Seems to be no problem judging by the booking engine, but just want to make sure I avoid any surprises.
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Old Nov 16, 2016, 4:46 pm
  #23  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 570
If I remember AUH, Sixt don't have any desk there. Only keybox.
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Old Apr 24, 2017, 4:34 pm
  #24  
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Programs: HHonors Diamond, TK E+, Sixt Diamond
Posts: 120
Mixed experience of diamond customers.

There are current experiences from the airport?

Granted Upgrade for Diamonds?

Have booked an E-Class on Thursday.
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Old May 2, 2017, 4:06 pm
  #25  
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Programs: HHonors Diamond, TK E+, Sixt Diamond
Posts: 120
Originally Posted by fvn1312
Mixed experience of diamond customers.

There are current experiences from the airport?

Granted Upgrade for Diamonds?

Have booked an E-Class on Thursday.
Report from last week.

Downgrade to Mercedes GLC, without apology or refund.

Worst customer service ever.

Also in 2017 "Beware of SIXT" Dubai!
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Old May 28, 2017, 12:58 am
  #26  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 570
I need small car for few days and for fun I go to Sixt wab page and make booking smallest and cheapest car what they have in offer (Mazda 2 Aut.).
I want see what they do with my Platinum membership ... we finaly have this car what we booked (Mazda 2) and on question about upgrade I hear form one man 'You are not allowed to free of charge upgrade'. He show me same thing and and this I will check in EU Sixt stations that they have this same info.

This Platinum upgrade policy is big scam in Sixt. In UAE I use different rental company which have better customer support than Sixt.
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Old Jan 23, 2018, 11:02 am
  #27  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 570
Next experience with Sixt Dubai, standard I switch to Hertz in UAE but this time I was with my father and we want drive little more around country and I want use Mercedes SLC. It was possible only by Sixt, booked pickup at DWC airport and return in Abu Dhabi.
I lost 20min on DWC arrival looking for staff from Sixt ( they still don't have any desk at this airport ) don't use any signboard with your name or SIXT brand name. I found him because he keep in hand credit card reader ....
Returning in Abu Dhabi disaster again, any desk at this airport they told you that you contact 30min before returning car with their staff and he will came to airport but I had 45min driving to airport and don't want using my mobile phone in car (international calls) try to make fixed time on airport but answer was no, you maust contact with our staff on his mobile .... finally I ask this staff if it is possible to pickup our car from our hotel, he told OK. I had rental till 10pm, he came to hotel around 11pm and now I see on my credit card statement extra charge for one extra rental day ?!

On returning way from Abu Dhabi we booked car (cheapest what thay have in offer) with delivery to our hotel booking time was at 4pm, SIxt came to hotel 1h later and first question was 'Did I have any problem if it will be BIGGER car than we ordered. My reply was if you don't bring here truck it is not problem for me. We go outside and I saw that he bring Jeep Wrangler ....' For me no problem, but for different driver my be it will be problem and than what : next exchange to smaller car and loosing next hours ?
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Old Nov 4, 2018, 9:04 am
  #28  
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Munich
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Posts: 36
Had a car from DXB the last week. Pleasant experiance with helpful staff.
Last time I was in Dubai they had the meet and greet, now they have their own counter and dedicated parking. Did the paperwork at the counter and collected the carkey in the parking lot. The Sixt representative even helped me with my luggage. Everything went smothly, was in the car within a few minutes.
Drop off was easy as well. Shortly after turning into the parking lot a representative came to check the car and confirmed everything is okay.
Car itself was brand new and very comfortable.
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