[CrAzY dRiVeR]

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued a showcause notice to Bhavish Aggarwal run Ola Electric after over 10,000 complaints were received on the National Consumer Helpline.

A timeline of 15 days has been provided to the company to respond to the notice.


(Image source)

OLA Electric shares are down 46% as compared to the recent high, and fell 9% over the past days with the company CEO Bhavish having a public spat over service issues with comedian Kunal Kamra.

[ninjatalli]

Meanwhile the CEO - Bhavish Aggarwal is doing his part to improve the public opinions and get more workforce to solve the problems.

Bhavishya Aggarwal - Kunal Kamra online spat

Kamra shared a picture of an Ola service centre where the EVs are parked in a tight space biting dust. "Do Indian consumers have a voice? Do they deserve this? Two-wheelers are many daily wage workers' lifeline," Kamra said while retweeting a post by Aggarwal where the latter had shared the photo of a picturesque Ola Gigafactory.

"Since you care so much @kunalkamra88, come and help us out. I’ll even pay more than you earned for this paid tweet or from your failed comedy career. Or else sit quiet and let us focus on fixing the issues for the real customers. We’re expanding service network fast and backlogs will be cleared soon," Aggarwal tweeted.

[Mr.Ogre]

All those companies that quit India because they could no longer bear the losses should take inspiration from Mr. Bhavish's business practices on how to influence people and make money in spite of selling poor quality products.

Quality control and customer service can take a backseat.

[srini1785]

A product rushed through is a product brushed off. OLA probably thought that making a eVehicle is as simple as getting into a Cab and driving away. We need to see how OLA is able to get off the ground with such complaints. I don't know if Indian Law provides a scope for a Class action suit and subsequent compensation for a faulty product through the courts.

[PreludeSH]

People sometimes seem to think they are doing a favour. The CEO should try not to get into social media spats and let others at the company handle things. I am not sure why he is not bothered about the quality of the product.

The scooter is not new and by now they should have figured out the issues and sorted them out. Its a electric scooter and should be simple to fix.

[Srini76]

The number of complaints seem staggering , 10 k plus and for the CCPA to take notice and issue a show-cause only demonstrates that the consumer voice is getting heard. I know of a couple of people who bought these products to save on fuel and running costs (not the green angle) and when they go back for constant repairs they lose their livelihood in some form (sales team members) - a product in my opinion should be functional & Reliable that's the current basic ask - EV cater to the convenience segment which is a notch higher then functional or reliable to to have this is sad.

If proven that there is deficiency of service the legal system should come down hard - all companies should know that taking customers for granted is not done in this country ! Remember freedom phones ? Chinese scooter manufacturers, jugaad Ev's - and strangely now OLA - OLA cars anyone ?

we need a system where the manufacturer is held accountable for unreasonable failures by default , some standard , some metric !

Srinivas

[the.dogfather]

I had followed Ola on Linkedin, and the amount of complaints I see there are crazy. I have also followed other brands like Ford, Hyundai, but I never see these kind of complaints, even though they have far higher number of sales.

While Ola definitely has a price advantage, the service issues and the requirement for service even though its an electric vehicle is appalling.
When I had an issue with my Duke 390, I had called for Porter to tow the vehicle to the service center. The porter guy heard that I need to transport a vehicle and the first thing he asked was if its an Ola.

While transporting my bike, he told me its the first time its a non Ola vehicle he was transporting that month. He said that on a daily basis they take at least one scooter to the Hosur road service center and once he had taken 3 scooters on the same day.

[SmartCat]

The problem is that Ola Electric does not have decades of experience in making two or four wheelers, unlike traditional automobile companies. While Ola has probably hired people from traditional 2 wheeler companies, that will not result in complete transfer of manufacturing know-how.

The above is what Bajaj Auto chief alluded to in his now infamous interview where he mocked 2 wheeler startups like Ola.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...rq-smarte.html (Rajiv Bajaj says BET (Bajaj, Enfield, TVS) will eat OATS (Ola, Ather, Torq, SmartE))

Ather does not have so many issues as Ola, probably because Hero Motocorp has been a major investor for a long, long time. It is quite likely that Ather consulted with Hero Motocorp regardng best sourcing/ manufacturing/ assembling processes.

[anshumandun]

I just think that Ola is a marketing company while Ather is an engineering company.

In the short term, people will always fall for marketing and therefore Ola is still selling scooters (available in million different colours).

In the long term, it's always good engineering that wins over good marketing. Just 3 colours for the 450x but a scooter that won't leave you stranded. That's what a consumer needs.

[darkchild82]

Originally Posted by anshumandun

I just think that Ola is a marketing company while Ather is an engineering company.

In the short term, people will always fall for marketing and therefore Ola is still selling scooters (available in million different colours).

In the long term, it's always good engineering that wins over good marketing. Just 3 colours for the 450x but a scooter that won't leave you stranded. That's what a consumer needs.

Exactly why I tell my friends and family that if they're opting for an EV bike, go for Ather. The guys at Ather spent their time perfecting their engineering first -- because the company was founded by engineers at heart (just like Honda was). Ola's Bhavish was more interested in selling himself and using farzi nationalism and jingoism to sell a bike. Ola has no engineering history nor did their top management want to waste time on that. All Ola did was buy a Dutch startup and their design, then rushed their product to market.

Ola's sales are purely down to price. That's it. Eventually the better engineered EV bikes from Ather, TVS, and Bajaj will catch up on sales when consumers realize they are built better and are comparatively hassle-free, despite the higher price tag.

[saikishor]

Go to an Ola experience center, and you will feel a government post office is better than this. Shoddy products, horrible experience centers, poor service experience and the nut who runs the company himself knows nothing about it.

As someone said, Ola is just a marketing company with their million color options. I would go even further and say Ola is a service company, not really an automobile company. Such stuff was bound to happen when the nut running the company has no prior experience in such things.

[volkman10]

Ola Electric confirms show cause notice from CCPA but says it has no bearing on its financial, operational, or other activities and imposes no penalties or financial fines.

The Company will respond to the Central Consumer Protection Authority within the given timeframe with the supporting documents

According to the National Consumer Helpline portal, of the nearly 10,000 complaints received, the most common issues raised by consumers are about service and repair delays, totaling 3,664.

There are approximately 1,899 complaints about delays in new vehicle deliveries, as well as 1,459 complaints about promised services that were not delivered.

Additionally, 761 customers reported manufacturing flaws in their vehicles, and 672 were dissatisfied with the company's response after filing complaints with the consumer helpline, according to the data.


Link:

[Motard_Blr]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

The problem is that Ola Electric does not have decades of experience in making two or four wheelers, unlike traditional automobile companies. While Ola has probably hired people from traditional 2 wheeler companies, that will not result in complete transfer of manufacturing know-how.

The above is what Bajaj Auto chief alluded to in his now infamous interview where he mocked 2 wheeler startups like Ola.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...rq-smarte.html (Rajiv Bajaj says BET (Bajaj, Enfield, TVS) will eat OATS (Ola, Ather, Torq, SmartE))

Ather does not have so many issues as Ola, probably because Hero Motocorp has been a major investor for a long, long time. It is quite likely that Ather consulted with Hero Motocorp regardng best sourcing/ manufacturing/ assembling processes.

From what I've read and heard on the engineering community grapevine is that both ather and Ola hired experienced people but ather actually allowed them to do their jobs. It seems Bhavish Agarwal is a terrible boss. Fancies himself the Indian Elon Musk but doesn't have the same raw genius.

A hardware product needs a different mindset and approach from a software product. "Move fast and break things" motto can be fatal if your life depends on the hardware!

[volkman10]

Ministry of road transport & highways (MoRTH) may seek explanation from Ola Electric regarding customer complaints,

[Comrade]

I always felt that the Ola executives have a mindset of catering to the consumer mindset, especially after tasting success with Ola Cabs. They seem to be stuck in this mindset even with Ola electric, where a customer-centric mindset is necessary to address the long-term relationship. It shows in how the company's CEO takes feedback from others, especially from an industry veteran like Hormazd Sorabjee.

Brand perception is important and once ruined, it cannot be fixed easily. I hope Bhavish realizes that before its too late. I had previously avoided purchasing Ola S1 scooter as I never felt comfortable with the company's vibes. This was after Bhavish's spat with Hormazd and Ola scooters' front suspension issue surfaced! Now, after Kunal Kamra's episode, it feels like the company (rather CEO) has not changed at all. Meanwhile, his PR team is hard at work and invoke the desi card at each and every opportunity. How is celebrating desi-ness going to help 100000s of customers, who are facing issues with the scooters?