Have you ever paid 6,000 euros to rent a car three days? Horror story in the house of Avis
If you have ever rented a car, you know that there are risks involved. Choosing an agency is very important, as is informing yourself [...]
If you have ever rented a car, you know that there are risks involved. Choosing an agency is very important, as is properly informing yourself online. Depending on the country you are in, there are some that are particularly recommended and others that are not recommended. We are not here to point the way forward, but to tell a real spine-chilling story. Whether it is body damage, routes taken off-road that are not covered by any insurance, or something else, the handover of the rented vehicle can often involve some bitter surprises. It's hard to imagine, however, that you've ever heard a story as absurd as that of the woman who saw herself Charge as much as $6,000. The reason? He would travel a little "too many miles."
Car rental with Avis: an absurd fine
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It has become infamous that the story of Joan Boniface, a North Vancouver resident who rented a car, specifically a Yukon Denali, from the offices Avis of Toronto's Pearson International Airport. She found the car keys in her hands on August 13, and after three days she returned the vehicle and got the receipt with the amount to be paid.
A decidedly excessive calculation on the part of the company, considering how it demands as much as $6,000 from the woman. Giovanna Boniface rented the Yukon to join her daughter so she could help her return from college by bringing her things home. A journey that is anything but incredible, considering a total of about 170 km. Too bad. Avis claims it has run as many as 36,000.
Can u can drive 36,482km in 3 days? @Avis thinks so & charged us $8k+ for the km🤣 Also, no-one answers the phone at YYZ, so this should be fun to get a refund. While we wait, let's see how far this is...I could visit my fam in Capetown with 3600km to spare #help pic.twitter.com/Vo0r5fbNq7
- Joan (she/her) Boniface, OT (@BonifaceGio) August 16, 2022
To best emphasize the absurdity of this figure, just consider that the circumference of the Earth is 40,075 km. The North Shore News website, which first broke the news, had fun making an easy calculation. What would the poor client have had to do to actually manage to cover this impractical distance in just 68 hours? It sounds like the math assignment of an elementary school class, but it is actually very helpful in pointing out the serious mistake made. Boniface would drive the entire time, without a single stop (not even time to refuel), to the speed of 536.5 km/h.
How the story ends
The poor unfortunate woman's job often led her to rent a car. This was certainly not her first time with Avis. For this reason she had not bothered to check the receipt. She would pay later, without too much trouble, a reasonable amount. Curiosity caught her only while waiting for her flight home, when she discovered that the charge request was just over 8,000 Canadian dollars (6,000 U.S. dollars).
UPDATE-$8K overcharge refunded at 9 days-. @Avis sent apology citing human error in mileage input. Thanks all for the support to get this resolved. Media was THE major factor that led to resolution @BrentRichter @impaulharper @935todayradio @stevelehto @DailyHiveVan #media https://t.co/qpVHgViKr7
- Joan (she/her) Boniface, OT (@BonifaceGio) August 26, 2022
Although the error was obvious, Avis customer service was not very cooperative. The customer tried to call for more than an hour without receiving an answer. Then when someone spoke to her on the other end, lo and behold, the call was brutally disconnected after a request to speak to a supervisor. This was repeated several times, all of which led to the withdrawal of the money; VISA takes up to 45 days to handle issues like this. Does the story have a happy ending? Fortunately, yes. After contacting the woman and apologizing, Avis issued a refund in 9 business days.
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