Can't rent a car at Sixt with bunq travel cards

New-Blue-Zebra-1040553289

Today was refused a Sixt rental car at Eindhoven Airport because it was prepaid (not guaranteed) with Bunq mastercard. Offered to use ING card for deposit. But still refused as they referred to their policies that they “dont want to work with Bunq Bank in general”. “Unfortunately our systems cannot recognise bunq payments in the Sixt app”). Felt like breach of an existing agreement (prepaid..). Went to Avis next door. Onacceptable.

Pascall

Hans ... same here with Avis, Sixt, Hertz, Alamo ... in short, it is not possible to rent a car in the Netherlands with Bunq. This is ridiculous in 2021, i will quit Bunq after very pleasant 3 y because this is for me a major issue as i often rent cars.

New-Salmon-Marten-3570790816

Non au pays bas impossible apparemment avec les cartes bunq !
Par contre France,Espagne....usa pas de problème !
J'espère que l'on pourra avoir un retour rapide de bunq afin que le problème soit résolu

Bran-Damon-Jalink

I tried renting a car in the Netherlands at Sixt today. They denied my Bunq cards. “Bunq is not a real bank” they told me. I had no other card unfortunately.

pqckmqn

Bran strange that sixt is nowadays deciding about banking licenses. Thought they offer cars to rent.
But fun aside, that’s against Mastercards policy to accept all cards.

thijsoost

Bran Really strange, since bunq has the same banking license as the rest of the Dutch banks.

Bastiaan

Bran Maybe they should take a look at this page (tab "Vergunningen"):
https://www.dnb.nl/openbaar-register/registerdetailpagina/?registerCode=WFTKF&relationNumber=R127999

Sebastien-Magenta-Kiwi

Bran

I unfortunately just had exactly the same experience today... For a car that I rented on their website the 31/05, so it was already payed even.

People at the desk told me "We are not allowed to say it publicly on our website, or even refuse payments from those cards on the website, but we do not accept credit cards from Bunq, Revolut of N26 anymore"

First time I heard about this was in one of their mail yesterday. Needless to say how upsetting that is personally, but I also have very strong doubts about the legal aspect of this practice?

Funny enough I rented a car at Sixt in Slovenia in March this year, without any issue, using the exact same card!

For reference, also posted a complaint on klachtencompass. I hope at the very least that they will refund the whole thing. :(

Jakob-Y

Sébastien but I also have very strong doubts about the legal aspect of this practice?

First: unfortunate to hear from your experience! This shouldn't happen and was surely a lot of trouble for you to go through. Thanks a lot for sharing that here on the community forum.

People at the desk told me "We are not allowed to say it publicly on our website, or even refuse payments from those cards on the website, but we do not accept credit cards from Bunq, Revolut of N26 anymore"

There is no doubt: they are not upholding their own contractual obligations. And because they have been reprimanded for that in the past, now they just do it less in plain sight. If you have anything in writing (email etc.) about this, definitely hold on to it and if it isn't too much of a hassle for you, inform bunq and Mastercard about their actions. They're free to not accept Mastercards, but they're not free to pick and choose. They simply can't have their pudding and eat it.

Funny enough I rented a car at Sixt in Slovenia in March this year, without any issue, using the exact same card!

It seems to be only an issue in The Netherlands. Sixt and Hertz in other countries don't discriminate against certain banks.

Gerhard-Yellow-Frog

Sébastien This will not really help you, I know. I rented from Sixt in Gran Canaria some time ago and paid with my Curve card from Revolut; If Sixt NL also doesn't have Curve on their radar/forbidden list, then you can still pay with Bunq through Curve... not sure that's a great option for you, but might be a better way out than an old bank... on the other hand, if they don't want your business you can also see if another car rental company has less problems with taking our money....

Sebastien-Magenta-Kiwi

Jakob @Gerhard Thanks!

Just back from holiday (thanks to MyWheels, I could find a quick backup plan to save most of these holidays), sent a mail to Bunq and Sixt, with relevant e-mails attached. Can't find any contact info for 'basic users' for Mastercard, I guess they only deal directly with businesses and let end user handling to the banks themselves...

At least Sixt refunded the payment.

Sebastien-Magenta-Kiwi

Sébastien Aaaaand answer from Sixt:

Thank you for for contacting us.

As I see, your reservation has already been cancelled and a refund was issued.

The reason we do not accept certain types of cards is due to them being considered for electronic transactions and/ or prepaid.

This applies to all corporate Sixt branches, while branches operated as franchise, such as Slovenia, have their own Terms and conditions.

We apologise for the inconvenience and remain at your disposal for any additional information!

Jakob-Y

Sébastien Well, even if we travel back 40 years in time where terms like "electronic transactions" still had a meaning, then bunq cards would still be neither. They have offline functionality and they're not in any shape or form, prepaid cards.

Sixt trying hard to say nothing while saying something.

pqckmqn

Jakob I had no issues renting cars in Germany and Hungary with bunq, so its obvious Sixt in the Netherlands has some kind of „personal“ issue with bunq.

New-Cyan-Pony-1419306447

Today, I was denied to rent a car at Avis in Schiphol (the rental had been prepaid via Rentalcars using the same BUNQ card.) At the same place, on the same day I was also told by Europecar and Hertz that they do not accept BUNQ cards. One of them mentioned some "problems". I was lucky enough to rent a car finally at Sixt, overpaying for the last minute rent. It is shame! Mastercard should refund my Rentalcars rent. If BUNQ complies fully with Mastercard rules, this is a major violation. Seems like a plot against new banks. Unfair!