I have rented from Sixt before, but this was my first experience renting from the Puerto Rico…read morelocation. Unfortunately, it was also my last.
According to the Sixt website, I believed the location was at the San Juan Airport. However, I later discovered that the rental location is actually about nine minutes away from the airport without traffic. When I arrived for my reservation, there were two counter attendants assisting two customers. I even observed one customer leave visibly upset and swearing under his breath, which should have been my first warning.
One of the attendants, who was with another customer, did not greet me or offer a smile. She simply asked whether I was picking up or returning a vehicle. I explained that I was there to pick up a reservation. She asked for my name, wrote it down on a pad, and told me that I had three customers ahead of me.
I asked, politely, "Oh, isn't my car ready so that I can just pick it up and go?" Her response was, "You have to wait because there is a process." I then politely asked her not to be rude because I was simply asking a question. She responded, "I am not being rude. You just need to wait."
I sat down, and when my sister walked in, she noticed that something was wrong and asked what happened. While I was explaining the situation to her, the same attendant yelled from across the counter, while still assisting another customer, "I am not being rude, but if you are not happy, I can cancel your reservation."
I told her that I did not want to cancel my reservation. She then responded, "Well, I just did."
I was completely shocked. When I asked why she canceled my reservation after I specifically told her I did not want it canceled, she replied, "Because it was my decision to cancel it."
In my 62 years of life, I have never experienced such disrespect from someone who was supposed to be providing customer service. At no point did I yell, curse, threaten her, or behave disrespectfully toward her. I was simply asking a reasonable question about my reservation.
What made the situation even more unprofessional was that she was behaving this way while another customer was standing at her counter. Instead of focusing on assisting that customer, she was yelling across the room at me.
I calmly left the location and asked another employee if they could arrange for the Sixt shuttle to take me back to the airport. Fortunately, I was able to rent a vehicle from Avis instead.
This experience completely changed my opinion of Sixt. Unfortunately, because of the way I was treated at this location, I will never consider renting from Sixt again--not in Puerto Rico and not anywhere else.
Customer service matters. Respect matters. Professionalism matters. I hope Sixt takes this complaint seriously and provides additional training to ensure that other customers are not treated this way.
Based on my experience, I strongly recommend considering another rental company.