36,000km in three days: $8,000 car rental charge shocks Canadian woman

It took nine days and local media picking up the story for Avis to acknowledge the mistake and promise a refund. Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Car rental companies have long earned a reputation for gouging customers, penny-pinching on frills and finding new and unscrupulous ways to charge for add-ons.

But a Canadian woman says she was billed thousands in extra mileage after a rental company claimed she drove a distance nearly the circumference of the Earth over a three-day period.