Consumer rights agency issues notice to Ola Electric over 10,000 complaints
The National Consumer Helpline (NCH) has been getting complaints against Ola Electric for the last year, which were escalated to higher levels at the company for redressal, ”but there was little interest shown in redressing these complaints”, said a source.
Subsequently, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) ”started examining these complaints for class action and found that over the last one year, NCH received over 10,000 complaints”, the source added.
According to the source, the major categories of consumer complaints include charging during the free service period/warranty, delayed and unsatisfactory services, refusal or delay in warranty services, inadequate services, recurrent defects despite services, inconsistent performance with advertised claims, overcharging and inaccurate invoices.
Also, a source highlighted that the aggrieved consumers highlighted failure to provide refunds and documentation, unprofessional conduct and complaint closure, and multiple issues with battery and vehicle components.
As per the CCPA, the major grounds for issuing show cause notice are alleged violation of consumer rights, service deficiencies, misleading claims, and unfair trade practices.
On October 7, the CCPA issued the show cause notice against Ola Electric and gave 15 days for the company to respond.
Before issuing the notice, the CCPA, headed by Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare and Commissioner Anupam Mishra, examined those consumer complaints for class action.
On October 7, Ola Electric informed stock exchanges that the company received the show cause notice from the CCPA. The filing had said that the authority has provided a timeline of 15 days for the company to respond to the show cause notice.
The company said it would respond to the authority within the given timeframe with the supporting documents.
The Department of Consumer Affairs has revamped the National Consumer Helpline (NCH), which has emerged as a single point of access to consumers nationwide for grievance redressal at the pre-litigation stage.
It is available to all consumers of the country, and consumers can register their grievances from all over the country in 17 languages through a toll-free number 1915.
These grievances can be registered on the Integrated Grievance Redressal Mechanism (INGRAM), an omnichannel IT-enabled central portal, through various channels- Whats App, SMS, mail, NCH app, web portal, and Umang app as per their convenience.
Ola Electric sells three models of electric scooters, and in August this year announced its foray into the electric motorcycle segment.
Earlier this week, a war of words broke out between Ola founder Bhavish Agarwal and stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on social media platform X over the after-sales and service quality of the company’s electric scooters.
Kamra had taken up after-sales and service issues faced by Ola Electric customers.
