The ban imposed on surge by taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber is turning out to be a pain for these companies since the drivers are not willing to ride in usual areas without the extra money they were earning earlier. However, Ola seems to have found an alternative for that.
According to a report by IANS, Ola was overcharging its customers by adding up extra on the toll prices across Delhi-NCR. The incident has happened to a few specifically while going from Noida to Delhi or vice-versa.
Delhi to Noida or the other way is only Rs.60, while the amount charged has not been same for the customers demanding a look into case. Some have been charged more, including double the actual amount. The cabs usually have a toll sticker on their vehicle, which doesn’t give the option of claiming the toll tax receipt.
A resident from East Delhi told IANS, “I am an occasional traveller by taxi and I prefer Ola cabs for commuting from Noida Sector 16 to Mayur Vihar or in reverse direction. A month back the bill used to be around Rs. 170-180 for the 4.2 km distance; but on April 11, I had to pay Rs. 286.”
While coming from Gurgaon to Delhi, there is an MCD tax of Rs.100 which again seems to have been charged higher for certain customers. The bill once generated can only be disputed with the customer care executives, which might or might not have a concrete resolution to the problem.
Who could be at fault?
Ola’s customer service is actually more active than that of Uber. Ola has a dedicated number for the same and I’m sure if customers do have an issue with the billed amount, the executives will help them out.
Aditya Bhalla, Corporate Communication head at Ola, told IANS that the passengers can lodge a complaint with their customer care executives to get instant resolutions. Having personally dealt with them, I know what Bhalla is talking about. They will see the beginning and ending locations from your ride to calculate the actual fare.
However, It most definitely cannot be a bug if only a few people are being extra tolls tax. Quite possibly it is an insider working on fleecing customers, if at all. Last year, there were some cases as well where the bills could not match between the drivers and the commuters.
Ola has also been known to overcharge some customers bases waiting and other taxes which are usually not present in the city. This will have to be investigated further if not stopped soon, since customers have been facing this issue for quite some time now.
Ola Says They Have Refunded Some NCR Passengers
After IANS broke the story of overcharging, Ola executive took note and agreed that customers were actually charged extra toll charges and will be refunding back the amount to some customers. In an email sent to IANS, Anand Subramanian, Marketing and Communications Head of Ola said: “Based on customer feedback regarding a minor addition of toll on certain instances in Delhi NCR, we have reviewed all trip data from the recent past. We found a few genuine cases of erroneously calculated toll charges on certain rides and have initiated refund to all genuine and eligible customers.”
Ola, Uber etc are charging customers 100 rs for every entry and exist to Delhi from satellite towns be it, Noida or Ghaziabad or Gurgaon. Actually, they are paying a fixed costs to the govt on monthly basis but still overcharging the commuters. Regulatory bodies should take a look at this and save commuters from this harrassment.
[…] to a report by IANS, Ola was overcharging its customers by adding up extra on the toll prices across Delhi-NCR. The incident has happened to a few […]