This by the way is my way of a complaint at my dissatisfaction of the sixt car rental in marbella. I am very disappointed at the service there. They have totally spoilt my day today.

I was very excited to be going to a wedding in Huelva with my wife the weekend of 16/7/2011. We were dropping our kids off at our friends on saturday morning then setting off to Huelva just the two of us. It would be the first time in years that we have been anywhere on our own so we were really looking forward to it.

So, I thought it would be a really nice surprise if I hired a nice luxury car to make the journey to Huelva just that little more special, my wife is very deserving after having to put up with our two little kids during the school holidays, she has been an absolute soldier through it all so far so the very least I could do is treat her to some pampering.

We had rented a car from Sixt in Marbella during the last xmas and the prices were okay, simple pricing all inclusive tarif etc, so I thought I would book something online and pick it up the following day.

So on the afternoon of Thursday 14th of June I booked online at the Sixt Car Rental web site a Medium Sized saloon model for collection at 17.00hrs on Friday 15/7 and would return it on Monday 18/7. According to the site I had booked an Opel Insignia or a Passat. I was very excited because I had heard very nice things about the Insignia and knew the Passat was a solid car, so we were really in for a treat.

I printed my booking slip, I even made the effort of filling in all the extra details online because, according to the Sixt Car Rental Marbella web site, if you do that, its quicker to pick the car up and saves the clerks alot of time, so I thought I would do them this service.

Ok, so great, everything is booked, my plan was that I would take a quick break from my busy friday schedule and go and collect the car promptly at 5pm the next day, drive back home by 5.15, surprise the wife at 5.20.

Or so I thought.

I took a taxi to the Sixt Car Rental Office in the Alanda Hotel opposite the Puento Romano and was there at 4.50pm. I was seen to immediately by a nice polite lady, who spoke excellent english. After taking all my particulars she informed me that the car I had booked was not available yet, as I had only booked it the previous day and it was not enough time. I thought that was odd as the web site lets me choose the time I want to collect the car and there was no mention that its short notice and I had chosen 5pm, however I gave her the benefit of the doubt at this point.

I asked the Sixt Car Rental lady when does she think the car will be there? She told me its being driven from Malaga so will be about an hour.

An Hour? What am I supposed to do in an hour, in fact I just caught a taxi here and the Sixt Car Rental office is in the middle of nowhere, what am I supposed to do, catch a taxi back home and then catch another back again? I will be out by €25 befroe I have even started.

So I will admit, the Sixt Car Rental lady did the decent thing and offered me a courtesy car so at least I could get around for an hour. Not sure where I was to go though, I mean I could not go home as I live slap bang in the middle of marbella and it would take me 45 minutes just to find parking, after which I would have to come back to the Sixt Car Rental office anyway.

She told me she was giving me a “Peugeot Partner”. At this point I did not know what a “Peugeot Partner” was. However I was shown to the “Peugeot Partner” and it turns out that its a damn cargo van with seats. I am thinking bugger me, I have to drive this around for 1 hour? Anyway, I took up the offer of this chunky grey van and called a friend of mine asking him if he wants to meet for coffee so I can kill an hour until my proper car turns up.

The Sixt Car Rental lady told me that she would call me when the car arrives. So I expected that would be in around 45 minutes as I had already been 15 minutes in the Sixt Car Rental office, so I set off to see my friend who is 5 minutes down the road.

I drove to see my friend to have the coffee, showed him my temporary chariot and bragged how I will be getting a beautiful saloon car in the next hour which will be great for the weekend and how happy the wife will be with my wonderful surprise.

So during coffee I waited for the call. 6pm. No call. 6.15pm no call. Is my phone on? Yes. 6.30pm no call. Check to make sure that I have no missed calls. 6.45pm, still no word from the Sixt Car Rental office. I am thinking maybe its a good idea that I go back to the Sixt Car Rental office to find out whats going on.

I drive back to the Sixt Car Rental office and get there at 6.50pm only for my phone to ring just as I am walking through the door. PERFECT TIMING I thought. The Sixt Car Rental lady as happy to see me.

I was told my car had arrived. GREAT I thought. It was a bit of a wait but finally we can get moving. So I was led down to the garage and the Sixt Car Rental lady was pressing the remote on the keyfob to locate the car, and in the distance at the other end of the garage the lights of a VW Passat blinked on and off indicating that this is my ride for the weekend.

Now, from the distance I could only see the front of the car and it was obvious it was a Volkswagen Passat so I was getting very excited that soon I would be behind the wheel of a luxury saloon and could treat my wife to a lovely weekend of driving.

However as I approached the rental vehicle closer, it became apparent that yes, it was a Volkswagen Passat, but it was the 7 SEATER STATION WAGON VERSION.

It was the size of a U Boat no less.

I explained my disappointment at this and told the Sixt lady that it was only my wife and I that were going away for the weekend and we leaving our two young children with close friends so there was no need for such a large monster of a vehicle. I explained to the Sixt Car Rental lady that this was a Passat Station Wagon, I had ordered a Saloon car. The Sixt Car Rental lady responded with yes, this is a large car, is this not what you ordered?

I asked if she had anything else because clearly if I wanted a family U Boat for the weekend I would have ordered one. I would not be able to even park this thing anywhere let alone drive it in comfort. No, it clearly wont do.

So, the Sixt Car Rental lady told me to hang for a few moments and she ran upstairs to the office and came back a few minutes later saying she had a Peugeot 308………convertible.

What am I? 25? I am 40 years old and I am going to be driving to Huelva some 400 km +, I dont want to hear the rattle rattle of soft top fabric annoying me for the 4 hour drive. I asked her if she had anything else at all, in the hope maybe I would get upgraded to one of the fine, shiny BMW’s or MERCS many of which were scattered around the parking spaces in front of me.

But that offer never materialised and she asked me if I wanted to cancel my order to which I had to agree to because either I had to drive a U boat for the next 72 hours or drive a rattling soft top for 800 kilometers.

So now I have just wasted two and a half hours which i can never get back, time I could have spent finishing off some client jobs and getting paid or spending them with my wonderful kids laughing and playing with them.

Now we have to get to Huelva in a 9 year old Volkswagen Polo and my wife will be in the tiny front seat for 4 hours whilst the drone of the small 1.4 litre engines drowns out any possibility of conversation.

I dont know who thought it would be “nice” to give the client a U boat instead of the Saloon car he ordered and I dont want to sound ungrateful for the offer of the lovely cabriolet, I am sure it would be appreciated by a younger couple but both of these cars are not what I asked for.

It would be terrible of me to say that my weekend has been spoilt seeing there are families in countries where they travel by donkey or dont even have enough water to drink, but i am sorry, I work very hard and dont treat myself often, I have little time to spend with my family so when my time is wasted in this way and I end up being disappointed then I feel I have a right to complain about it.

So SIXT, unless you redeem yourselves in some glorious manner, then I will have no choice but to never use or recommend your company again. You can look up my reservation number on your system, its 6047653257.