A woman charged $8,000 from a rental car company for driving the “distance of Earth’s circumference” in just 3 days.
A recent case has captured attention and sparked widespread discussion after a woman was hit with $8,000 charge from a rental car company.
The company claimed she had driven nearly the distance of the Earth’s circumference within just three days.
This incident led to a hefty bill that has left many questioning the company’s practices and policies.
The woman rents a car from Avis company for a brief trip
A woman in Canada, Giovanna Boniface, experienced a shocking situation when she received an $8,000 bill from Avis after renting a car.
The company claimed she had driven over 20,000 miles in just three days, an amount that would require driving at extreme speeds continuously.
Boniface rented a GMC Yukon Denali for a brief trip in August 2022.
Her plan was simple: she intended to drive between downtown Toronto, the airport, and Kitchener to visit her mother-in-law.
Boniface faces an $8K charge for driving over 20,000 miles in three days.
In total, she only covered about 300 kilometers (approximately 186 miles) during this time.
After returning the vehicle, she checked her bank account while waiting for her flight to Paris, only to find a staggering charge from Avis.
“I noticed this charge for over $8,000 from Avis,” Boniface recounted.
The bill indicated she had supposedly driven 36,482 kilometers at a rate of 25 cents per kilometer.
To put this into perspective, she calculated that covering such a distance would require driving non-stop for 72 hours at an average speed of about 500 km/h (300 mph).
Clearly, this was not possible.
The woman attempted to resolve the issue immediately.
She wanted to speak directly with someone at the Avis counter but found the security lines too long at the airport.
Instead, she tried calling Avis, but her calls went unanswered.
After finally reaching someone through the general customer service line, she was cut off multiple times while trying to explain her predicament.
“It was just ringing and ringing and no one was answering,” she recalled.
“It was really frustrating just trying to get to somebody,” she emphasized.
Eventually, she had to board her flight with the enormous charge still pending.
“They didn’t seem to really get what my issue was and I really needed them to remove this $8,000 charge,” she said.
Avis company issues apology and resolution on the matter
Once she arrived in France, Boniface reached out to Visa for assistance, but they could not help since the charge was still pending.
Fortunately, two days later, Avis called her to assure that the mistake would be rectified. They also promised her a refund.
An Avis spokesperson later confirmed that the company apologized for the error and that a refund was issued.
However, they did not explain how such a significant mistake occured.