In a latest development, the government directed the cab aggregator Ola to implement a mechanism which could help in allowing the customers to choose their preferred method of refund.
Ola To Implement Refund Choices For Customers
CCPA, the Central Consumer Protection Authority under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs Food and Public Distribution directed Ola to provide a bill, receipt, or invoice for each and every auto ride booked through its platform.
It appears that the Bhavish Aggarwal-led cab aggregator is to implement customer choice for refunds and provide receipts for auto rides after numerous complaints about unfair practices, as they are required by the CCPA.
With this latest move, the regulator is emphasizing on the current policies infringe on consumer rights.
This started when 2,061 complaints were registered against Ola from January 1, 2024, till October 9 as per National Consumer Helpline (NCH) data.
In these complaints, NCH cites Ola charging higher fares than those displayed at the time of booking, failure to offer refunds and drivers failing to reach the correct location or dropping passengers at the wrong destination.
In regards to this development, CCPA directed the ride hailing platform to offer consumers the option to choose between refunds being credited directly to their bank accounts or provided as coupons during the grievance redressal process.
Unfair Trade Practice
Considering the current process, when a customer raises any grievance on the Ola app, Ola only provides a coupon code which could be used for the next ride.
Here, the traveler doesn’t have a clear choice to opt between a bank account refund or a coupon, CCPA noted.
“This violates consumer rights and the no-question-asked refund policy cannot mean that the company incentivises people to simply use this facility for taking another ride,” said the CCPA Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare.
Besides this, if a consumer attempts to access an invoice for Auto rides booked on Ola, the app shows the message “Customer invoice for Auto rides will not be provided due to changes in Ola’s auto service T&Cs,” the regulator noted.
According to the CCPa, this constitutes an “unfair trade practice” under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, hence they directed Ola to offer bills to its customers.
