[kisharchit]

I have used Ola twice now.
First time, it was good though could have been better as the driver was having difficulty finding the pickup location which wasn't difficult.

Second time, we had found ourselves in the middle of the night without a ride back home and instantly fired up the Ola app. Only Ola big was there so got an Innova though the confirmation sms said it was a xylo though registration was same of innova. The fare from Noida to Dwarka via Janakpuri (had to drop a friend) was only 335 rupees. Super VFM! And the car was well maintained! Great experience!

[JD1]

Couple of weeks back when I used OLA extensively in evenings (from ITPL), on all the days there was a surcharge ranging from 1.3 all the way to 1.6. The surcharge even applies to waiting time (which itself is calculated in a non transparent manner and always seems higher than actual waiting time). Also twice I faced problem when Ola driver refused duty and asked me to cancel ride. I also agree on the time shown on app is never the realistic time (app showing cab few minutes away and after booking it shows 20+ mins away). I have also faced problem with the phone numbers of Ola driver (one driver called me using 3 separate phones for pickup directions totally confusing me!).
I have started to use Ola Auto for shorter distances and so far it has been satisfactory except couple of instances when auto driver refused duty after accepting (he cited reason as problem in auto) and another instance of different phone number and auto number!! (he had the Ola app on his phone etc - just that the auto itself was different than what i received the sms for!).
Lastly, these days the email invoices and sms are so much late! Have experienced booking sms after the ride to no sms at all!

Taxiforsure is the worst! I have never been able to use Ride now successfully. Once when I booked one day in advance, the driver never showed up (even after getting a confirmation sms 30 mins before the ride) and he was unreachable over phone as well. Rs 50/- surcharge is there on 90% rides booked via TFS. I am infact contemplating removing the app and just stick to Ola and Meru.
I also once tried booking TFS for 8hrs/80 kms via calling them in advance and they said they don't have any vehicle. Later one TFS driver said that they make more money via regular trips and so no driver accepts 8hr/80 kms duty.

One Meru Genie driver even tried to cheat me by asking full amount in cash inspite of the amount being deducted from wallet!

Oh one more thing - drivers constantly on phone during the ride .. Except couple of drivers, this was very common problem. Only TFS app has send me an sms asking whether the driver was on phone or not - nothing from Ola inspite of giving them the feedback.
For a negative feedback on Meru once (driver's phone stopped working in between the ride so the entire ride was manually calculated and overcharged ofcourse!) , Meru offered a Rs 100 voucher.

I would still continue using Ola just for the simplicity of app and hope that they invest in driver education, driver screening etc and not just blindly expand for the sake of expansion.

[Chetan_Rao]

Ola's app is all over the place in terms of time calculations (estimates go up the moment you confirm the booking), the in-ride wait times also seem inaccurate.

A colleague was recently asked by an Ola cabbie to pay the INR 115 toll charge on top of the airport drop fare. Ola's fare notes clearly mention that they add INR 75 as toll charges for all drops to the fare itself.

He has written to Ola for a refund, still awaiting response.

[phamilyman]

Meanwhile for those raving about how the world has changed? No it hasn't.
Its just another day in the ecommerce boom (and bust?) story.
http://www.livemint.com/Companies/t7...s-sellout.html

Be prepared for the honeymoon to end in 6-12 months and rates to go back up to rational numbers.

Ola’s rival, across town, TFS, was watching the firm’s every move closely. Ola’s logic was clear. The company had raised Rs.250 crore in a round of funding in July 2014 and was burning money to get more customers and drivers on its platform. In the process, it was losing as much as Rs.200 on every ride.

Read more at: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/t7TozTlZCAmvtSxog3OQ7L/Behind-TaxiForSures-sellout.html?utm_source=copy

Ola’s rival, across town, TFS, was watching the firm’s every move closely. Ola’s logic was clear. The company had raised Rs.250 crore in a round of funding in July 2014 and was burning money to get more customers and drivers on its platform. In the process, it was losing as much as Rs.200 on every ride.

On 1 November, TFS decided to play the game. It came up with a simple strategy. Thanks to the higher per km rates, consumers weren’t using the service for short distance travel. So, at the consumer end, TFS dropped rates. To Rs.49 for the first 4km and then Rs.14 per km. But at the driver’s end, it needed to incentivize drivers to pick up rides. So it held on to the old rates for drivers (Rs.200 for the first 10km). So if a customer was paying Rs.49 for a 4km run, the driver would still receive Rs.200. To put it simply, TFS was losing Rs.150 per ride.
On an average, TFS was losing Rs.36 lakh every day.
In November, TFS burnt through $1.8 million (almost Rs.11 crore).

[balajisv]

Uber partners with Times Internet!

Times Internet is making a "strategic investment" in cab hailing app Uber, joining forces with one of the world's hottest startups as it tries to make inroads into the lucrative but treacherous market in India.*

http://<br /> http://m.timesofindia....8387.cms<br />

[rajivr1612]

Had a good experience with Ola Chennai last Saturday.
I had booked a mini cab with ride later option for 6:15pm from my office at Nandambakkam to home at Iyyappanthangal.
At 5:45 pm cabbie calls me to inform that he is at Vadapalani and it is not profitable for him to come to pickup point and asked me to cancel the ride. I didn't argue, cancelled ride and gave option as driver not interested in ride.
Within ten minutes I got a call from Bangalore customer care regarding trip cancellation and was offered a new upgraded booking on Indigo XL at mini rates.
Way to go Ola.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Be prepared for the honeymoon to end in 6-12 months and rates to go back up to rational numbers.

With Ola buying TFS, some consolidation has already started. Uber has been pushed back at least a couple of years after the Delhi incident - it will take them some time to become mainstream again but even they are not rolling out offer after offer every week. Fares have started getting realistic.

I am sure the Radio Cabs guys must be heaving a sigh of relief as these 'tech' aggregators slowly raise their rates.

[nambiarshreyas]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Guess that is more to do with the application logic than anything else. They call themselves a technology company for nothing.

On that note, I found this interesting link where an ethical hacker was able to recharge his OLA wallet for free using the security loopholes in their system architecture.

http://www.nextbigwhat.com/ola-hack-297/

Thought this was relevant to the thread as the author has also made some remarks about how their customer support and management responded once he bought it to their notice.

[Aditya]

Ola, has landed in a spot of bother over its fare structure. Its office in Bengaluru was visited by officials from the transport department for inspection following complaints from users that it was resorting to surge pricing during peak hours. The transport department declared that surge pricing is illegal and has served a notice to Ola. The company has agreed to stop the practice.

Link to Team-BHP News Article

[gsurya]

Ridiculous, if airlines & even Govts own IRCTC now uses surge pricing, why cant cab companies use it as long as it is transparent & available to all equitably? Should be challenged in court by them.

[libranof1987]

This probably is a result of the rape case in India and similar cases elsewhere in the country: Uber now charges $ 1 as a "Safe ride fee" for every ride in the US.

https://help.uber.com/h/4fa83c50-ab3...1-f63ad11cd4d9

So, they charge you more just so you could be (probably) safer!

Also, interesting observation: here in the US, Lyft is a competitor for Uber and most drivers drive for both the services. Surprisingly, most mention that Uber is stricter to get through because they have a detailed background check which involves taking info from the police. Clearly, they have/had different standards for India.

Let's hope they ensure quality/safety at least after this surcharge.

[shobhitk]

I have been using Ola right from the day it was launched in Lucknow. Very good service and pretty economical too.
Recently however i was without my car and was counting on Ola. I started the ola app only to find that there was not a single car available. so i called their customer support who dittoed the situation. Somehow i managed to reach home. I wrote a mail to Ola cabs regarding the issue, to which they replied that the services in Lucknow, U.P. have been stopped for the time being. ok.
But after a few days it struck me that i have some good cash as Ola money, which i had deposited for cashless ola rides and which now stands stuck. i again wrote a mail to Ola regarding my unused Ola money issue. 3-4 days have passed but till date they have not cared to reply.

this is unprofessional. either they should have given me a tentative date of resumption of their services in Lucknow or they should refund my money in full.

[GrammarNazi]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

.... Surprisingly, most mention that Uber is stricter to get through because they have a detailed background check which involves taking info from the police. Clearly, they have/had different standards for India.

Let's hope they ensure quality/safety at least after this surcharge.

Maybe they didn't follow water-tight cross-checks, but also remember the difference between the police in India and in America.

The unfortunate truth, and IIRC this came in the NEWS too, is that the Taxi drivers somehow managed to get themselves certified by cops here. Apparently thats what happened in the Nirbhaya incident too, the serial rapist paid a bribe & got himself certified.

'Safety Charge'!? , firstly do they value the safety of their customers at 1$ ?

IMO a tactic used to simply milk that extra buck from the customer.

There will always be rotten apples in any system. That's what makes a system I guess. To penalize the entire pvt taxi industry is short-sighted. It is only the Police who can give a character certificate. If they take a bribe and issue one, what can anyone do. Even the passport office is helpless. So many criminals get passports because some police station gives a clean chit to criminals. :-)

[freakmuzik]

Just wanted to share reviews of Ola here in chennai. I used them thrice in the last two days through their mobile app and must say I'm really impressed and happy with their service. On all the occasions, I used Ola Mini and when the app showed the ETA of 5 mins, the cab actually did arrive in 5 mins and the driver called me as soon as i received the confirmation message. Regarding the rates, OlaMini worked out to be cheaper than AutoRickshaw here for the distances I travelled (above 8 kms). And since they bill using GPS, the fares are very predictable.

Most important thing is the App is so damn easy to use. Uber app seems to be slower and a tad more costlier while I checked out the rate estimate.

Will definitely use Ola in the future.

Cheers