Woman charged $8,000 after rental car company claims she drove 36,000 kilometres in three days
A woman who rented a car in Toronto said she was charged $8,000 after the company claimed she drove nearly the distance of the Earth's circumference in three days.
Vancouver woman Giovanna Boniface said she rented a car from Avis for three days after she travelled to Toronto Pearson earlier this month to help get her daughter settled at university.
She said she drove the GMC Yukon Denali between the airport, downtown Toronto, and to Kitchener, where she visited with her mother-in-law.
In total, she said she drove approximately 300 kilometres by the time she returned the car at the airport and checked in for a flight to Europe.
Boniface said she prepaid about $1,000 to rent the car. While waiting for board her flight, she said she checked her credit card statement online to make sure the charge had been processed correctly.
"That's when I notice this charge for over $8,000 from Avis," Boniface told CTV News Toronto on Thursday.
She said she then looked at her receipt from Avis and noticed the company had charged her for driving 36,482 kilometres at a rate of 25 cents per kilometre.
Boniface said she would have had to drive for 72 hours straight at approximately 500 km/h for this to be possible. It is also approximately the same distance as driving from Toronto to South Africa three times.
"The first thing I wanted to do was actually go back through security and just walk to the counter," she said. "But I wouldn’t have had time to do that because the security lines were really long."
Instead, she tried calling the Avis location at the airport, but no one would answer the phone.
A GMC Yukon Denali is seen in this undated file photo. (CTV News)
"It was just ringing and ringing and no one was answering,” she said. "It was really frustrating just trying to get to somebody."
Boniface said she then called Avis through their general phone number, but still had issues sorting out the problem.
"They didn't seem to really get what my issue was and I really needed them to remove this $8,000 charge," she said.
She said she was disconnected twice while trying to speak with an Avis manager, and eventually had to board her flight.
After arriving in Paris, Boniface said she called Visa to dispute the transaction but there was nothing they could do since the charge was still listed as pending.
She said it wasn't until days later, when media got involved, that she got a call back from Avis notifying her the extra charges would be refunded.
In a statement to CTV News Toronto, Avis said it has apologized to Boniface for the error and has issued a refund.
They did not say what caused the error to occur.
She said she understands companies do make mistakes, but doesn't like the way the ordeal was handled and how it took going public to get the problem solved.
"Overall, it was not good customer service," she said, adding that the ordeal put unnecessary stress on her while travelling.
"The most frustrating thing was not getting through to customer service in any kind of timely way."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
U.S. Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with big bipartisan vote
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.