Ksomji

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 I used google maps instead to save me from causing an incident using a severely outdated navigation system.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!