Last Summer we rented a car from Sixt in Cologne, Germany for my family that came over from Israel. The car was rented from the 17 of July 2012, reservation number 4238575953.
When picking up the car, the troubles with Sixt service started:
The car was reserved at 5 AM. Since it was before the opening time of the customer service desk, we paid extra for pickup the keys at the fast key pickup. Sixt customer service was present at the desk, but didn't accept customers yet. They sent us to the parking lot to a vague location, which we couldn't find. We had to go back to the desk, where we received a map with which we could find the car pickup point. By then it was already after 6, the keys were now located at the desk. The people at the quick pickup didn't speak a word in English, and were shouting at us in German (not really nice if you are Israeli). My parents are old, my father is disabled, next to that, there were also 3 young children after a long night flight with us. They refused to bring us the key (we paid for this extra service) and had to go back to the CS desk, where we got the key (after 2 hours of walking back and forth). As all the papers were already signed before (because of the quick pickup) there was no check of the car and we were only given the key with the comment to fuel Benzin 95 (not E10).
We then started our trip to the Mosel area. Eventually we had to fuel on the 22nd of July and fuelled Benzin 95. The car broke down, since it needed Diesel. There was no such indication in the fuel cap and based on the information we had, we didn't even think about checking it in the paper work.
The car was towed, and we could pickup the car replacement in the airport, the taxi costs for the way to the airport (Frankfurt Hahn) would be covered according to Sixt customer service. When we sent the receipt, they broke their promise and told us they were not going to pay this bill of EUR 46,00
After we returned from our trip, we received an invoice from Sixt, for the additional insurance we didn't take. We had to call few times in order to get this additional insurance undone.
Finally we thought we were done with this car rental story. But no, on the 22nd of November we received a reminder for a damage claim (because of the wrong fuelling) without receiving a first letter, to pay the amount of EUR 871.12 before the 30est of November, damage number 0111756472. We immediately took action, called them and send emails about this damage. The only response is that Sixt is not obliged to give us information on the fuel type, and of course they didn't say it needed Benzin (and how can we ever prove otherwise).

Needless to say that we are totally not happy with the service provided by Sixt. Cannot advise anybody to rent a car from them. The customer service, at least the German one, is very bad (and this is an understatement).

Any advise?

check what kind of fuel the car needs before you put in the wrong one?
obviously you have to pay for the damage, the amount is completely normal (please include in your calculation that a full tank is needed as well)

the thing with the pickup I don't understand to be honest. why would there be a difference between where the cars are located and the desk? one of the stations in cologne moved in the summer, maybe they were in the process of that. otherwise very strange.

btw, where does it say that they have to speak english? would a french expect that the rental agent in israel speaks french?
btw2, the you can print the contract in english and I am pretty sure the type of fuel is mentioned on it.
btw3, Sixt doesnt have cars which do not run on E10. doesnt make any sense this comment.

Hello,

From your reply it's pretty obvious that you try to protect Sixt at any cost but I'm afraid that you missed the point.

1. Sixt specifically said that I should fuel Benzin and not Diesel. why shouldn't I trust Sixt representatives and check it myself in the contract ?

2. After the car broke down, I called Sixt from the vacation location in Krov and had to pick up an alternative car from the nearest location in Frankfurt-Hahn airport. Sixt promised on the phone to reimburse the taxi cost and later denied it - Again Sixt proved themselves to be not trustworthy.

Regarding the language - Sixt is expected to talk English to foreign customers. English is the acceptable international language around the globe.
Also in Israel (and other countries) all service giving companies speak English.

In light of the facts mentioned above, why should I pay for Sixt mistakes and accpet the hostile customer service from Sixt ?

Maybe the agent did make a mistake, they have a large fleet of cars to deal with. But it seems unlikely. Surely if you ended up collecting keys from a desk, they would have given you the little receipt thing, and I think fuel type is on there.

I'm struggling to work out how you could be driving a car around for nearly a week and still be unaware what fuel it takes.

What was the car? It sounds like there were about 7 of you, so an MPV most likely, which are rarely bought as petrol, especially in Germany.

The last two cars from Sixt I have had, have had model badging which gives it away (120d / TFSI). And they have both had little repeater labels in the fuel flap.

sixt would have paid the taxi bill, I guess, if it would not be your mistake. why would they pay if it is not their fault? at the time of your phone call Sixt could not know who's fault it was.

No receipt was received when picking up the car - only the car keys.
I had to base my knowledge about the fuel type only based on what I was told by Sixt, I didn't have a reason to doubt it.
The car was indeed MPV and the replacement car that we got was also MPV but then Diesel, so the MPV only Benzin theory doesn't really work.
Besides that, how could I notice anything strange during the week that I drove it until fueling it ? It came fully fueled by Sixt and the problem happened immediately after the first time that I fueled it.
Regarding the taxi, if Sixt cannot commit to paying the taxi cost without knowing first whose blame is it, they shouldn't promise it.

The story is quite simple : I just fueled what I was told, I didn't have a reason to doubt this information, nor a warning on the fuel flap or anywhere else to do something else, and now I'm requested to pay for their mistake.
I think that it is unacceptable. Dudi

Yeah, you can argue that they tricked you into believing that you are driving a petrol vehicle when in fact you have a diesel, and vice versa, but that will be hard to prove. My suggestion is to accept that a mistake was made partially on your side (unless you have hard time acknowledging mistakes) and pay penalties/fees and move on...it would be troubling to have a same thing happen again.

Also, i would never have a party travelling with me follow me around to get to the counter to pick-up keys for the rental or room, only when all is settled.

Hi DudiGura,

I am reacting to your post on our Nederlands Facebook page.

I didn't want to let the rest of guys think a was ignoring DudiGura ;-)

Thanks...Gary

Welcome to flyertalk. Always nice to see someone join FT only to complain. It's your responsibility to check which fuel your cars needs.

BTW it's very strange that sixt in Germany doesn't speak any English. All the people from Sixt I met sproke English to me although I spreak and understand German very well.

but you should NEVER *ask* anyone at the facility, correct????

Or ask, look at the decal if it exists, then look at the paperwork, and then look at the cars' manual?????

Of these 4 possible locations, which is the ONE that can always be trusted?

Simple question.

Note that I am not looking for an "if you have doubts" reply, just what it the ONE path that will ensure I am protected.

If you feel that strongly about it, surely you could contest it with your CC and explain them the situation. One should NEVER blindly accept & believe the agents that work there. Like one mentioned, they deal with hundreds of cars, and the probability of them mixing up information like this is quite high. Please also note I'm not blaming you for the error. But from reading your post, I feel like you might not have that strong of a case here. Gary could probably help you out a bit here though