After lurking on this site for the past three years and benefitting enormously I would have hoped that my first post would be a more positive one, but maybe the below can be used as a warning for others regarding SIXT Copenhagen Airport.
I rent around 40 times per year of which about half are from SIXT in various locations in Europe (around 5-6 times per year at Copenhagen Airport). Over the years I have had some minor issues with flat tires, scratches, and over invoicing which have always been resolved to mostly mutual satisfaction; I did fight a flat tire from SIXT TXL in 2014 since they wanted Euro 254.63 which I thought was excessive, but in the end I just paid and moved on.
Unfortunately I have now hit a brick wall and am soliciting suggestions for how to proceed with the following; apologies for the very lengthy story but wanted to get as many facts in as possible.
Rented an IDMR car with LDW with an excess of DKK 3,000 (approx. USD 450) from SIXT Copenhagen Airport on February 26th, 2015. Picked it up at 20:12 and returned it on February 28th at 18:23 (according to the invoice) after having logged 151 km. At pickup checked the car for visual damage; parking garage at CPH is very dark and at the end of February there is of course no daylight in that part of the world so inspecting a car is not easy.
Upon return the check in person produced an 8” LED flashlight and spent approximately 10 minutes checking under, above, and everything in and on the car. After inspection he pointed out a dent less than 1” in diameter with no visible paint damage on the bonnet and asked me to sign for it.
I refused and then walked over to the terminal and to the SIXT counter where I politely explained why I was refusing to sign. The next day I received the invoice by email with the correct (original) amount so I presumed that they had reassessed and decided that the dent was either normal wear or not caused by me.
Was I surprised when my credit card statement came a couple of weeks later and I had been charged an additional DKK 2,876.25 (approx. USD 430) by SIXT Copenhagen. I immediately contacted my credit card issuer and disputed the charge.
Here 3 months later I finally received the documentation as provided by SIXT Copenhagen and I have to admit that I am questioning whether I have entered the twilight zone. SIXT Copenhagen in their cover letter state that they have included the following documentation (my comments posted behind):
1.
Signed rental agreement: yes, they sent a signed rental agreement. Just one small issue; it isn’t mine. But now I know someone in Grove City, OH who rented a Renault Clio for 15 days and returned it on February 24th. I even know the driver license which combined with the address gave me some interesting information when I tried to google it.
2.
Invoice: they did include a copy of an invoice. But now we move from the bizarre into the realm of possibly fraudulent behavior. Their invoice copy matches the one I received by email on March 1st, 2015 in all aspects; invoice number, date, car group, rental expenses etc., with only one very important major difference. There is an extra line inserted under charges: “Damage Compensation……2,876.25 DKK”. In the cover letter they assert that this was sent to me by email which did not happen. I only received one invoice from them, with what was the correct original amount.
3.
Check sheet: included. Interestingly, although the date mentioned is February 28th and the time mentioned is 15:35 the paper also includes the cost specifications which are split in two parts:
a. “charge 1875 for scratch on bonnet”
b. “charge 3x333.75 for
deprevation days”
Since there is a time indication given on this paper I have to presume that someone was immediately able to calculate how much I should be charged on the spot; pretty impressive. Wish my car repair shop was as good
.
4.
Damage claim: included. Not sure who prepared this, but since my personal details are included I will presume that SIXT prepared it. At least I hope that SIXT prepared this paper since I would expect that they would not give my personal details to a third party. The “scratch on bonnet” from the check sheet has now changed to “collision (bonnet)”. Pretty drastic change in designation in my humble opinion. No workshop invoice included even though part of the charge mentions that the car was unavailable for 3 days so there must be some type of workshop proof.
5.
Pictures: according to SIXT these were included but I did not receive anything, excepting if they mean that the drawing of the car in their check sheet is a picture.
6.
Terms & conditions: the one and only item that that was included and seems to be correct. Only comment I have is that this document is not included in the rental agreement but I am sure that they have a disclaimer for this.
I am of course refusing to pay, and plan to continue to do so. I am happy to let this continue but am also hoping that the SIXT lurker here might be interested in having a look at this.
Suggestions are welcome on how I should proceed. And promise to update here as this moves along.