Sixt auto rental in Europe
 

Stay away from Sixt rental in France. Terrible customer service. They did not tell me the drop off location (which for me was different from the pick up location) was CLOSED, as in new location, not just closed for lunch. When I went to the location on my reservation form, I found out, and it really messed up my day. One would think that they would mention this when I picked up the car. They also told me not to worry about the gas upon drop off and then charged me a ton to fill it up. Stay away from Sixt unless you want headaches and bad service.

I rented from SIXT in Italy on my last trip, and had no problems with them whatsoever. I will likely rent from them again.
I am a firm believer in taking the lion's share of responsibility for my own travel experience.

So I did my research beforehand, which of course included calling the two possible locations that were potential drop-offs. I got the numbers from the website.

I also remember that they (at least in my case) explained that gas fill-up policy at the beginning, but not the price. I knew the price would be more, because it usually is when your rent a car and return it with less than a full tank. (This policy is normal, in my experience, everywhere, including here at home.)

In Europe, where gas is more expensive, it can indeed cost a bunch if you don't prepare for it by just filling the tank before dropping the car off.

Sorry your day was so messed up though. I hope the rest of your trip was worth it!

I rent from Sixt most of the time and never had any problem in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, but I did have a similar problem you had when returning in Paris. I believe the French staff is very blasse/not that helpful. Outside of France, I still prefer to rent from Sixt because they do have better cars and service.

In other countries they went out of their way to please their customers. They used to deliver their car to my hotel in Berlin & Munich at no additional charge when other companies charge 20 euros. A couple of times, Sixt gave me a free upgrade when I needed a larger car.

The biggest favor I received from Sixt is when we had to return our car early in a different country due to terrible/undrivable weather. Sixt let me return the car early in a different country without drop off charge and they prorated the rate down. Our friend was charged an additional $150 by Budget/National for doing the same thing at that time.

I rented many times from Sixt when I traveled to Germany on business. One thing you really have to watch is to make sure that the auto make and model you want is available. I drove Mercedes primarily for safety. On several occasions I flew into Frankfurt and had to take another make auto--no Mercedes to be had. Otherwise, I had good service from Sixt.

"They also told me not to worry about the gas upon drop off and then charged me a ton to fill it up."

When was the last time a rental car company gave you a free tank of gas - and at European gas prices!? If you believe that you were foolish enough to think that you were getting a free tank of gas, then the problem is clearly you.

I have rented with Sixt before and they have told me not to fill up the car upon return, and to leave the car with what it has upon pickup. So no, they do not provide free gas and I did not expect them to. The point is I did what they said and I was charged for it, and they their customer service was poor in not telling me the drop off location was closed.

To the others who replied, yes we had a great trip, but this was an unnecessary inconvenience caused by Sixt.