[Miel]

Originally Posted by wanderer4x4

Asking just out of curiosity, which car did you book? And did they not offer any other car, not even a different model? That's too bad on Zoomcars part.

Originally Posted by zenren

It is understandable if there is no backup vehicle at a particular location but it is hard to believe that they do not have any model available across the city, may be at a different location. Just to confirm before putting the blame on them, did you mention it was okay for you to wait for some time if they could arrange a car from some other location?

I booked a Mahindra Scorpio LX, from Aloft Hotel at Bellandur.
The representative told me that they had tried to find another vehicle for me but they couldn't. His words were quite final and binding, but very polite indeed, when he repeatedly stated that, "No other car is available. All cars are booked."
He did mention that they even tried to source a BMW for me (as if the marque makes a difference in this case), but they weren't able to since it was the weekend and all cars were booked.

Also, the representative never asked whether I could wait for some time while they arranged another car for me. But then, though I did not tell him so, I couldn't wait either (we have a 7-month baby, and you know how carefully planned roadtrips need to be if you have infants that young). Again, the rep's tone was very polite and considerate, but the confident message was more or less like, "No car! Period." He simply gave me no further options or suggestions to help resolve my situation.

Am I blaming Zoomcar for anything? Have a look at their FAQ #21. I guess the web page needs an update

Originally Posted by Vid6639

It looks like weekend and that too near the year end plus their operations in Pune and Delhi means they have not been able to have backup vehicles.

Possibly! In retrospect I reasoned the same too.

[wanderer4x4]

Originally Posted by Miel

The representative told me that they had tried to find another vehicle for me but they couldn't. His words were quite final and binding, but very polite indeed, when he repeatedly stated that, "No other car is available. All cars are booked."

This is very bad on part of Zoom. In fact, with expanding operations and larger fleet they should have managed to arrange a replacement vehicle even if a different make. It seems that they do not have a single back up vehicle for such a large fleet. Such last minute cancellations can lead to some long cherished vacations go for a toss for the hapless customer.

[ozzyrules]

I'd booked a Scorpio over the weekend. Some quick notes:

• Did not face any trouble with cops/RTO authorities. Drove to Coorg and Kerala border.
• Pickup point was Hebbal at Godrej Woodsman Estate - spent more than 30 min trying to figure out where the car was parked. The SMS lock/unlock facility does not apply at this location. You have to call the Zoom rep and he brings the car to the back entrance of the apartment complex. Zoom needs to clarify this in their confirmation email and SMS.
• The vehicle was clean and in good condition. Had only 6.5K on the odo.

[Aston Singh]

I've booked the GLA in Pune for Jan 6 (my birthday gift )
12 hours with the beauty but the wait is killing me!
Any suggestions for a 150 km odd return trip close to Pune? I had rented the A class in Oct and went to Lavasa. What an experience that was! I'll be posting about it soon.

[GTO]

Zoom Car releases the following statement, in reference to the recent issues some people have reported.

Fellow Self-Drive Enthusiasts,

Over the last few weeks we have increased the size of our fleet by more than 2X and taken the Zoom experience to fellow enthusiasts in Delhi NCR. We hope this addresses the number one improvement that you wanted to see in our service – car availability. We have also diversified our selection of cars by adding Honda Amaze, Mercedes GLA Class, 2015 Mahindra Scorpio and Tata Nano (coming soon).

We have added over 25 new pickup locations across Bangalore and Pune, while in Delhi NCR, we launched with 10 locations! This boom in locations was based on our community’s feedback of wanting a Zoomcar in their neighbourhood.

While we pursued this expansion, we were keen to hear feedback from you – and you rightly delivered! The entire Zoomcar team is fanatical about providing a smooth, hassle free, self-drive car rental experience and we acknowledge that on certain occasions we have not lived up to the high standards you have come to expect from us.

Be assured that every word of your feedback has been closely monitored and reviewed. Over the next few weeks, we will make process refinements around critical areas like refunds, vehicle cleanliness, and keyless entry. We're also selectively hiring more talent and refining our technology alongside our operations overhaul to make sure that customer experience stays in top shape.

During this period of evolution, we request all of you to bear with us.

Keep Zooming!

Greg Moran and David Back

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Aston Singh

I've booked the GLA in Pune for Jan 6 (my birthday gift )
12 hours with the beauty but the wait is killing me!
Any suggestions for a 150 km odd return trip close to Pune? I had rented the A class in Oct and went to Lavasa. What an experience that was! I'll be posting about it soon.

Pune to Lonavala is around an hour, ~ 70 km. You could try that - but make sure you can drive that much car around ghat roads, of course.

Also - my experience of zoomcar in bangalore - reached the airport around 9.30 pm yesterday night having ordered a figo. A polite young driver who spoke some english (and luckily fluent telugu) came over in the figo assigned to me. He drove me to a small parking area next to the McDonalds just outside the airport toll gate, where a walkthrough of the car was done to note down some minor existing scratches on the body, and car papers (insurance, RC etc) were handed over in a folder. A battered looking micromax phone with 3G SIM and a windshield mount were also fitted in the car.

The figo was pretty decent - top of the line diesel model with 66k odd km on the clock and about a year old. Engine in excellent condition, good punchy pickup as expected from a figo diesel. It took a while to get adjusted to Ford's idiosyncracy of placing controls built for a left hand drive car on a right hand drive model sold in India - indicator on the left and wiper on the right, but anyway I went off.

The drive was smooth except for some minor niggles:

1. Slightly excessive play in the brake, so that the brake descended for an inch or two without biting, and then tended to slam on after being pressed down sufficiently. The accelerator and clutch were decent though, which was a relief. And I didn't need to apply a sudden brake despite fairly insane traffic when I was driving to a meeting today and then back to the airport. For which I thank god.

2. Persistent but mild squeaking noises from either the rear doors or the boot hatch - possibly due to loose beading.

3. The worst niggle - the multipin USB charger they gave me didn't work - the indicator light on the charger was lit up but the phone they gave me (already low on battery) suddenly stopped charging, and ultimately switched itself off after it reached 1% battery. Luckily I had a spare mini USB cable in my bag and was able to use the figo's USB connector (for some strange reason, placed inside the glove box, so that I had to bring the cable out close the glove box lid around the cable in order to connect the phone). And the windshield mount was faulty too - drive over a bumpy road and the vibrations would shake the mounted phone off and make it fall to the car floor. My personal phone was plugged into that mount as the micromax they gave me was totally out of battery and needed several minutes of charging before it could be used again, even continuously plugged into the USB. Luckily no damage to my phone, if it'd broken after falling on the car floor I wonder how much of a go around I'd have ended up with Zoomcar customer service trying to claim for a new one. Phew.

Anyway - once I returned the car at the same location (pity zoomcar insists on that, they don't want you to drop the car off at any other zoomcar location), I and their staffer performed a second walkaround to confirm that the car body hadn't sustained any fresh scratches, and I signed a handover sheet. I was then dropped off in the same car to the airport terminal (which is 8 km away down a link road - and they bore the airport road toll charges for both pickup and drop, besides the cost of diesel being covered in the car hire rate).

A couple of hours later I received an email informing me that the security deposit of Rs. 5000 would be credited back to my card, and a credit of Rs.60 was now in my zoomcar wallet, redeemable against any future rental.

Overall a decent experience I would say. The car was surprisingly better than I expected from a vehicle that has done over 60k km in a year with several different drivers.

[Aston Singh]

Originally Posted by hserus

Pune to Lonavala is around an hour, ~ 70 km. You could try that - but make sure you can drive that much car around ghat roads, of course.

Hello.

I actually had this in mind, heading to Lonavala and then taking the road to Aamby valley. That piece of tarmac is a beauty! I do Pune-Mumbai a lot, almost every alternate weekend so the expressway is not something I am really excited about. But yes the twisty tarmac road till Aamby valley will be a great stretch to drive the GLA on. So let's see where I finally end up going

[Ajitsingh208]

Last weekend I traveled to Panchgani, faced lots of traffic and saw few Zoom cars as well. One of them was being driven rashly.
Now this raised a query, what happens when someone is involved in an accident with a Zoom Car. What is the liability of the driver?
Can he just walk away as the car is not his?

[hserus]

There is a deduction from your security deposit, a minimum of 1k for minor scratches and if necessary more. You're covered by some degree of insurance for riding their cars.

If you get into an accident they ask that you reach their call center and they'll assist with a tow, help work out any police issues etc

[Aston Singh]

Originally Posted by Ajitsingh208

Last weekend I traveled to Panchgani, faced lots of traffic and saw few Zoom cars as well. One of them was being driven rashly.

I hope it wasn't the A/GLA or 3 series.

The security deposit is 5000 per reservation which is the maximum liability of a member, if no laws or zoomcar rules were violated. But in case the member was found over-speeding or driving under the influence of alcohol, then legal action can be taken against the member and they will have to pay all damages.

Their website gives out clear instructions and information regarding the same. Check it out for further details.

[Waxeloquent]

Well I had a couple of visitors from US and we needed an additional car to drive to Coorg - Kutta. As a companion to my Duster, I booked Ford Ecosport. There were hiccups as my
invitation for the first booking with a discount was not accepted with very long-winded explanation. No it was not possible to have the pick-up point changed from Ibis Hotel Silk Board to Ibis @ Bellandur. No not even 1 month before and no booking was pending against that location. All you can is to cancel, re-book at current costs which was 20% higher. No there is no manager you can talk to. Rules are rules.

Then on pick up, the instruction was I would Sms, gain entry to car, look for key in glove compartment, fill in checklist in iPad and drive off. Well, I could other find the key in that place. Looked around to find a Zoom rep, got a phone number, contacted the person,found the key near gear shift hole. So after 1/2 hour delay, left the place.

On reaching Coorg, just at the check post near Nagerhole exit, had to move to the left, off road to let an on-coming HTV pass. Next thing I knew was my vehicle was dragging me to a side and I braked to a stop. On checking found front left tire flat absolutely. Well, changing the Ecosport tire was lot easier than in my own Duster. The wheel spanner of Ecosport is a nice design which folds to rotate easily. As the flat was immediately on getting to shoulder of the road, looked around and I found a metal piece similar what you find in horse drawn carriages, U shaped just about 2, 3 inches jutting out! So it was well past 2pm by the time we could eat lunch @ Spice Glade.

Then calls to Zoom went unanswered as I wanted to inform about the incident and check what I should do to get a Stepney. Went to a tire repair shop at Kutta and the guy said no repair was possible as sidewall was hit. So returned without doing anything. By evening a Rep of Zoom called. Explained the issue. He said go ahead and do what is required and get the bill. Then next day before venturing out, returned to the tire shop, learnt no tire for Ecosport was available, could fix the issue with a tube tire so I would have a Stepney for the travel and I could do what I want after getting back to Mysore.

As we had to travel next 2 days, did a tube tire in place of tubeless for the Stepney and completed the trip. Well Ecosport is fine to drive in plain but not even in Coorg or Wayanadu as I found.

Returning the vehicle was event free. Then Zoom said that they would charge the cost of tire as I damaged it and it was Rs4K. I gave a couple of bills fuel Rs800, Rs550 for fixing the tube tire.

No they have not responded to my email why Ford/insurer/Zoom would not cover such damage. Sad part is they have not even acknowledged my email.

Yes Zoom like Uber is a great concept. Then the devil is in details and that is where they slip. I will be very cautious if at all I ever use Zoom.

Cheers

[hserus]

I can see their point. An insurance claim for a slashed tyre worth 4k? Also, vehicle breakdowns or similar and they wouldn't charge you, but if you didn't notice a sharp metal piece on the road and got a flat as a result, that is still classified as driver caused damage and would attract a penalty from the deposit. Granted, the rather high seat on an ecosport doesn't let you see that sort of thing very easily.

[Waxeloquent]

Hserus thanks! I just returned from US with my relatives who live there. They were surprised that I had to pick up the cost as such damages, particularly relating to tires. I understand and have experienced also personally while there these costs are picked up by tire manufacturers! Well then we are here and even self-driven car is a new concept. May be with more competition and more customers, things may change in future for the better. Cheers

[Vid6639]

That's not acceptable from Zoom imo. A flat tyre due to the road should be borne by them.

Why should a customer have to pay for a flat tyre. A sharp metal piece or stone whatever it maybe should be part of insurance cover. The car is insurance whether 1K or 2K, it's not like a personal car insurance.

Waxeloquent, did you e-mail them? or facebook them? Social network sites work well.

[Waxeloquent]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

That's not acceptable from Zoom imo. A flat tyre due to the road should be borne by them.

Why should a customer have to pay for a flat tyre. A sharp metal piece or stone whatever it maybe should be part of insurance cover. The car is insurance whether 1K or 2K, it's not like a personal car insurance.

Waxeloquent, did you e-mail them? or facebook them? Social network sites work well.

Vid I have written to them. They are not even acknowledging. Aside the rather one-sided decision of theirs, they owe me 2 bills fuel and tire repair and the balance of the deposit assuming I forfeit this tire cost. If I could spot a 2 inches horseshoe stuck in soil in road shoulder from a moving car from driver seat even at 10km speed, I should be an eagle. I wrote to them as they have tire mended by me with them, they could do forensic on that! Well again as I said this is India and the customer is no king here, he is a beggar! Cheers