SIXT: Worst-Ever Car Rental Experience
Aug 3, 2015, 5:26 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 1
SIXT: Worst-Ever Car Rental Experience
I recently rented a car from Sixt at the Aix-en-Provence TGV station and had what was, without exaggeration, the worst experience I have ever had with any company.
I received a defective car from Sixt, and was treated as if it were my fault, and as if Sixt was doing me a favor by making meager attempts to solve the problem. Even once Sixt determined I was not responsible for the damage, I had to jump (and am still jumping!) through numerous hoops to receive a refund that did not even cover all the costs I incurred related to this rental fiasco.
To make a long story short(-ish), when I picked up the car from Sixt, I did a visual inspection of the car and noted no problems. Two days later, I heard a "scraping" sound coming from under the car. Further inspection indicated that the piece of plastic under the car had come loose. When I looked under the car, I noted that the undercarriage of the car was, quite literally, being held on by a piece of tape (this required me to lie on the ground to look under the car--something I don't believe anyone would mandate someone do when picking up a rental car). Once we realized that the problem could not be fixed, I immediately contacted the Sixt service number as I wanted to ensure that no further damage was done to the rental car.
I then had to spend hours and hours of my vacation calling different divisions of Sixt until a "solution" was reached. This "solution" was to take a (150 euro, hour-long each way) taxi ride from where we were staying back to the Aix TGV station to receive a replacement rental car from Europcar. This solution, while totally frustrating (who wants to spend their vacation driving back and forth to a Sixt rental counter?), was slightly better than the first solution, which was to wait a few days until a closer car became available.
Over the course of this ordeal, I explained what happened numerous times--20 or 30 times is probably not an exaggeration. Even so, every time I called Sixt I had to explain the situation all over again, and was always told to send an email to customer service, from which it would take days to get a response. Adding insult to injury, while I was not receiving responses from customer service, I was receiving "updated" bills with additional charges added on (perhaps most infuriatingly, a penalty for "returning the car early"). When Sixt finally determined I was not responsible for the damage--about a month after I returned the car--I was told the 150 euro taxi ride would be refunded, and I would be receiving another 100 euro refund "as a courtesy." However, this "courtesy" refund is less than the penalty for "early return," and the other additional charges.
Sixt gave me a defective car, made me lose a day of my vacation and spend tons on international calls, and over a month later has not even fully addressed these problems. I would urge anyone to avoid this company at all costs.
I received a defective car from Sixt, and was treated as if it were my fault, and as if Sixt was doing me a favor by making meager attempts to solve the problem. Even once Sixt determined I was not responsible for the damage, I had to jump (and am still jumping!) through numerous hoops to receive a refund that did not even cover all the costs I incurred related to this rental fiasco.
To make a long story short(-ish), when I picked up the car from Sixt, I did a visual inspection of the car and noted no problems. Two days later, I heard a "scraping" sound coming from under the car. Further inspection indicated that the piece of plastic under the car had come loose. When I looked under the car, I noted that the undercarriage of the car was, quite literally, being held on by a piece of tape (this required me to lie on the ground to look under the car--something I don't believe anyone would mandate someone do when picking up a rental car). Once we realized that the problem could not be fixed, I immediately contacted the Sixt service number as I wanted to ensure that no further damage was done to the rental car.
I then had to spend hours and hours of my vacation calling different divisions of Sixt until a "solution" was reached. This "solution" was to take a (150 euro, hour-long each way) taxi ride from where we were staying back to the Aix TGV station to receive a replacement rental car from Europcar. This solution, while totally frustrating (who wants to spend their vacation driving back and forth to a Sixt rental counter?), was slightly better than the first solution, which was to wait a few days until a closer car became available.
Over the course of this ordeal, I explained what happened numerous times--20 or 30 times is probably not an exaggeration. Even so, every time I called Sixt I had to explain the situation all over again, and was always told to send an email to customer service, from which it would take days to get a response. Adding insult to injury, while I was not receiving responses from customer service, I was receiving "updated" bills with additional charges added on (perhaps most infuriatingly, a penalty for "returning the car early"). When Sixt finally determined I was not responsible for the damage--about a month after I returned the car--I was told the 150 euro taxi ride would be refunded, and I would be receiving another 100 euro refund "as a courtesy." However, this "courtesy" refund is less than the penalty for "early return," and the other additional charges.
Sixt gave me a defective car, made me lose a day of my vacation and spend tons on international calls, and over a month later has not even fully addressed these problems. I would urge anyone to avoid this company at all costs.
