Voice Of Customer: 'I Was Jaw Dropped When I Saw The Fare At The Airport, Are There No Regulations?'

Voice Of Customer

“I had seen similar posts regarding cheating and fraud by Ola and other cab service, but never had faced one. I had a flight this morning from Bangalore to Jaipur. So, around 5.15 AM i booked a Ola cab. As there was no other alternative, i had to book this cab and i was charged a “Peak Time Charge” of 3X the normal!

I had to shell out INR 2767 to go to airport, as no other alternative was there. I was jaw dropped when i saw the fare at the airport. Its cheating and looting. They are butchering customers in the name of Peak time charges. How on the earth, they can charge Peak time Charges at 5.15 in the morning.

I want to escalate this matter to the proper authorities, who can look into the matter and take appropriate action, accordingly.

The pickup was from Koramangala, Bangalore.”

– Akash

This shows the exploitation by online cab aggregator service providers. There is no regulation from the government which can control the extra charges they levy on the customers at any point of the day, they charge on their own will. Many could argue, that the cab companies can charge these unreasonably high amount, it is upto customers to decide whether they want the services or not. This can never be a valid reason because there must be a profit limit to any of the services or products otherwise any company with monopoly in market can charge any price. This needs to be regulated. We argue with auto drivers if they don’t run on meters or even charge Rs. 10 extra to the meter price but we pay the unreasonably high ‘Peak Time Charges’ to online cab aggregators.

we request our community members to help it reach to the government so that the govt. comes with regulations and we don’t have any option other than paying exorbitant amount the online cab services charge.

Even when the all the cab aggregators currently operating in the country are charging upto 4x to the normal prices, but with passing time, their services deteriorating . Few of the commonly faced problems as per our observation and as per few consumer complaints we have received over time are listed below-

■ Even after accepting the request, drivers refuse to pick up if the drop location isn’t of the driver’s choice.

■ Many times drivers don’t know the directions and destinations resulting into harassment to the customers.

■ To complete their “last ride” and earn the incentive for the day, drivers accept the request, starts the trip keeping the customer in hope that they are arriving and finally cancels the ride.

■ The per-minute pricing model also motivates few cab drivers to drive slowly or take routes with high traffic congestion.

There are other critical issues too when it comes to online cab aggregators . It raises a concern and definitely calls for some regulations/guidelines from the transport ministry.

Post Updated (as on 15th January 2016, 4:00 PM): We have found a blog on Ola’s official website which explains the peak time charges and how does it work. You can visit the link here.

How does ‘peak time charge’ works?

Peak pricing is triggered when there is too much demand and not enough cabs to service the additional demand. This is usually during peak travel hours; during office hours like 9 am or 6 pm, special events such as a strike or periods of extreme weather. It is NOT at fixed times, but varies depending on the demand at the hour , the category you select and your location. For e.g.: 4 am may not seem like a peak time for traffic, but a large number of travelers who have an early morning flight to catch rely on us to ferry them to the airport, and hence you might find peak pricing.

If you too have a similar story to tell, send us your story at [email protected]