A technical error, which Ola rectified later.
Cab aggregator Ola shocked a passenger with a bill of Rs 83,395 (around $1200) for traveling a distance of about 350 kilometers, from Mumbai to Pune, and back.
According to a report in the Times of India, Ola revised the amount to Rs. 4,088 later and finally, waived off the full amount afterward.
Kamal Bhatia, a Ghatkopar-based businessman booked a cab on September 4 to attend a marriage in Pune. He traveled to Pune along with his family of wife and two daughters and returned to Mumbai the same day.
According to Bhatia, the family left for Pune at 6.30 am and reached back home at around 9.25 pm after attending the marriage. He was shocked to see the bill of Rs. 83,395 when the driver gave him the invoice.
The bill showed that he had traveled 7,092 km and used the cab for more than 14 hours.
“We were there at the wedding through the day and started for Mumbai in the evening. We reached our place at 9.25 pm. When the driver, Rakesh, closed the trip, I received a soft copy of the bill. I went numb for a moment as it showed the amount as Rs 83,395,” Bhatia told The Times of India.
Bhatia initially argued with the driver who also admitted that it was a mistake. The driver then advised him to contact the Ola call center.
Bhatia had a heated argument with the call center officials for an hour. They blamed the cab driver for the faulty bill. He had to talk to the co-coordinator to solve the issue.
“I had never imagined that I would be a victim of such a hefty bill. Even if I traveled by plane to Pune, it would not have cost so much. It is common logic that a car cannot cover 7,000 km in 14 hours. The coordinator agreed there was an error. Finally, I was charged for 347 km. I paid them Rs 4,088 and gave Rs 100 to the driver as tip,” he said.
However, Ola waived off the full amount and refunded the money. Bhatia had thought of taking up the issue with the state transport department but decided not to go ahead with the decision when the cab aggregator revised the bill.
A few days back, a Hyderabad-based man Rathish Sekhar had got a shocking bill of Rs. 9.15 lakh for traveling a distance estimated at Rupees 5000. Realizing the technical error, the company revised the amount and apologized for the mistake.