[RJ411]

I wanted to post my experience with Zoom car chennai. I had booked a XUV for a day trip for 30th Dec.I also requested a 6Am door delivery. I got a call on 27th afternoon mentioning that there is a mechanical problem with xuv and was requested for a change to Scorpio. I told ok as we were 6 people only & it should be fine .I called them on 29th evening to re confirm the same and was told everything is fine.

On 30 th morning I got a call at 5:30 AM mentioning that Scorpio had a problem and I will be sent an Xuv from a different pick up point. I contacted the customer care who had no idea about that and told will get back in 15 mins. As promised got a call and was told that no vehicles are available and the booking will be cancelled

I was completely un prepared for this and whole family were ready for the days occasion ( my dad's 70 th birthday & temple visit plans to kanchipuram ). After
2 hour of other hassles managed to book an OLA and started off at 8 AM to the temple. It was a very bad start to that day

Later got a call again in evening for a mandatory template apology and booking money was refunded back to citrus wallet with a 500 Rs free zoom credit which I doubt will be never used

The day ended in a bad with me falling over in the temple and left with a torn ligament in right leg ankle. I am still not able to withdraw money from that citrus wallet due to some technical problem and was told will be started today .

Lessons learnt:

1. Never blindly trust Zoom car and be prepared for other plans.

2. Keep calm and trust OLA ..!

[tazmaan]

A similar incident happened with my friend who had booked a XUV in Delhi (railway station). But at the last minute Zoom said the car is not available. He had to get a cab to Gurgaon and pickup the alternate scorpio.

Such incidents are not acceptable since a vacation is planned in advance with the sole purpose of relaxing and enjoying. And if zoom doesn't improve I guess they won't have anything left to improve upon.

Originally Posted by RJ411

I wanted to post my experience with Zoom car chennai. I had booked a XUV for a day trip for 30th Dec.I also requested a 6Am door delivery. I got a call on 27th afternoon mentioning that there is a mechanical problem with xuv and was requested for a change to Scorpio. I told ok as we were 6 people only & it should be fine .I called them on 29th evening to re confirm the same and was told everything is fine.



I was completely un prepared for this and whole family were ready for the days occasion ( my dad's 70 th birthday & temple visit plans to kanchipuram ). After
2 hour of other hassles managed to book an OLA and started off at 8 AM to the temple. It was a very bad start to that day



Lessons learnt:

1. Never blindly trust Zoom car and be prepared for other plans.

2. Keep calm and trust OLA ..!

[freedom]

Anyone rented A class from zoomcar in Bangalore? Are these costlier cars in better shape than say a Figo or i20 etc?

[anshumandun]

I had to do a trip from Hyderabad to Warangal and back on 17th Dec for a family function. Booked XUV for the trip. Booking experience with the app was good and easy. But that's the only good thing I can say about Zoom cars.

Went to GVK mall at 6 am to pick up the car. The zoomcar representative there told me to take a video of the car before taking it out. It was pitch dark at the place where the car was parked so I could not see any damage that might have been on the car. The zoomcar representative there told me to take a video of the car before taking it out. I used the phone flash to record a video. The car was in a bad condition. It had dents and scratches all over. Plastic cladding was broken on most places. There was dent at the boot and the hood. Aesthetics wise, it was a very poor looking broken car.



Close to 90k on the odo.


As I started driving out, there was a warning on the screen and audio beeps indicating that hood is open. I went back and was told that the warning will go away in sometime. I was getting delayed so just left. The warning never went away. A dent on the hood was the reason for the warning.



From my past experience with zoom couple of years ago, they would provide you a spot to park your personal car when you hire from them. This makes sense as they will have an empty spot when you take a car so you can park your car there. But it was not the case anymore. They had an empty slot when I took the XUV but I was not allowed to park my car there. So I had to park in the GVK mall parking for full day which costed me a lot.

As I started driving towards home to pick up my family, I noticed in daylight that the interiors were super dirty. There were pieces of chips all around. The car had not been cleaned since a long time. I'll let some photos do the talking.









I picked up my family and we started driving towards Warangal. The music system did not work. In fact, the touch screen was not working at all. It had continuous warning that the hood is open. Neither would any other buttons in the infotainment system work.

Thankfully, the AC was working but as it became hotter, we realized that the AC too was in a bad condition. We had to keep it in full cooling mode to stay just comfortable. One knob was missing too which is probably used to set the temperature.



Hitting the highways, we picked up speed and the car started to vibrate. 90 kmph was the max we could do to be able to drive comfortably. Anything above 90 kmph and the vehicle would start to vibrate. The vibrations were most evident on the steering and the ABC pedals. So driving experience gone to drain.

And then the continuous beeps warning of 'hood-open' was not pleasant either.

There were a lot of other little niggles too that I would skip. Overall, a bad experience with zoom cars.

Is there any email id or contact of anyone senior in zoomcars where I can give my feedback?

[noopster]

I rented a Mahindra Scorpio from Zoomcar Mangalore on a recent visit there. We planned to drive out to Udupi and back so booked it for 12 hours starting 9 a.m. Since we were staying at a hotel in Mangalore, asked for a dropoff/pickup service @Rs 300/-

Overall experience was very pleasant. We got a new vehicle, shiny red with 18,000 clicks on the odo and not too much damage within or without. It was an entry level (S4?) with jump seats in the back but that didn't worry us too much since we were 5 adults and 2 kids, no luggage.

Zoomcar rep arrived on time both for dropoff and pickup. Different guy each time but very professional and courteous. The checklist process was painless both times, though Zoomcar really needs to do something about their technology platform failing when you need it most. Last time I rented it was the auto lock/unlock that needed customer care intervention, this time it was the OTP to submit the checklists that was rejected. Manual workaround exists but it spoils the overall interaction. The service reps also seem resigned to the bugginess of the software and don't seem too hassled by it.

Car was clean and had a functioning audio unit. Ran clean as a whistle too. Cost me some 3400/- which I think is extremely reasonable- I opted for the 180 km package and ended up only 8 km short.

Haven't had a bad experience with Zoomcar yet personally so will continue to be loyal. In fact had booked the new Endeavour in Pune this weekend but something came up and needed to cancel. Well...maybe some other time!

[tp_dominator]

Well, here's my ordeal and a very frustrating one at that!

PS:- It's going to be a long post.

Some backgroud first, I was a proud owner of Fiat Grande Punto Emotion diesel until this incident happened and which shook my belief to the core.

So here it goes, my girlfriend was to visit Pune on a monday in December 2016 and was going to stay for three days. So on the previous friday, one of the pipes supplying the coolant to the engine of my Punto broke from the middle and the part had to be replaced entirely which was done at a roadside garage. Needless to say, it was a duplicate part and the car started experiencing problems soon after and on the next monday had to be left at the dealership for further repairs. The exact day when I had to go to Mumbai in the night to pick her up.

I trusted Zoomcar as we also had plans to visit Lavasa or Mahabaleshwar, so needed a ride anyways. I booked a Swift through Zoomcar and went to pick it up after office (during daylight though). The car was dirty but was washed immediately before being handed over. Odo showed 65k which I thought was pretty normal for the Swift and the DDiS engine could handle abuse since its a Fiat product. I checked the car thoroughly and even clicked pics of some minor dents present and showed it to the executive over there. I took the car, went home and off I went to the Mumbai Pune Expressway. As I neared Lonavala, the car threw up the Check Engine light. I got a bit worried and my heart sank since I knew it's going to be a long night. I stopped the car over the shoulder of the road and waited for 10 minutes. I started the car once again and Voila! The light was gone. I resumed my journey towards Mumbai and after the Lonavala ghats ended, just before the Food Mall, the car started losing power and my heart sank to the deepest levels imaginable.

I started picturizing the events that might follow soon. I would have to call up the Zoomcar assisatnce, would have to get the car towed away and would have spent the night at the food mall sipping coffee. But as luck would have it, the car started once again after waiting for 10 minutes. I immediately called up Zoomcar and told them about the problem and asked for a replacement car (they have a parking in Navi Mumbai). They told me to wait for 10 minutes. I got the next call after about an hour when I had already reached Kharghar in which they informed me that they don't have any replacement car available and would have to abandon my journey. But I kept my cool. I told them about my situation and the person on the call asked me whether you can drive back to Pune and he would get the car replaced the next day. I agreed and said that I anyways needed to return Pune that night. All the while the Check Engine light would come on and after stopping the car for 10 minutes, it would go away and the cycle continued. On my return journey to Pune, the car again started losing power once. But after stopping it for 10 minutes, the problem went away once again. I somehow reached Pune and decided to get the car replaced first thing in the morning.

The next day, I called up Zoomcar and asked them to take away the vehicle and provide me with a replacement car. They denied the same and said they would have to tow the car away and if I drove a meter further and anything happens to the car, I would have to bear the whole cost of repairs. I got scared and told them to take the car away. I needed a car badly since our travel plans were at stake. I tried to book another car but the Zoomcar app was not letting me do it since my current booking was not cancelled and it was live.

This was the moment when I had enough. I blasted the guy on the other end of the phone and asked him to connect me to his superior. He connected me to a lady after a lot of haggling over the phone. She understood my case and told me to make another booking as she had cancelled the current one from the backend. I thanked her whole heartedly and with shivering hands (due to fear and anger) I booked a Zoomcar Swift once again!

This time the car was clean and was driven just 9K. I took a leap of faith and continued with our plans. I kept the issues related to the previous booking on hold till my girlfriend went away. The next Swift performed splendidly save for a moment when the wheels locked up during an emergency braking manoeuvre and I missed the ABS of my Punto at that moment. Thankfully, it was just to avoid a speed breaker which was almost invisible in broad daylight too and I did not have anybody following me. The next night I dropped the car away after dropping my gf at the airport and went home.

The real deal started after two days. A point to be noted here is that I did not hear anything from Zoomcar in the meantime. I called up Zoomcar and asked for the refund for the number of hours I paid for the first Swift and did not use it since it was towed away. My conviction was that since it was their car which had an engine problem and why should I bear the cost for a problem which was not created by me. The executive told me that he will call back. I got a call after about three hours and the executive told me that the car they towed away did not have any problems as per the workshop report and hence they would not refund me anything. I was astounded!

This time I again lost my temper and asked him that this is what they pay back to the customers who identify problems with their cars and report it to Zoomcar diligently. I would have kept driving the car until it finally broke and then would have called for assistance. In that way, they would have incurred higher costs but I would have had the car for a longer time with me. I told them to give me the location of the workshop and that I would personally visit and make the SA aware about the problems otherwise someone else might face the same issues on booking the car through Zoomcar. I even asked for the address of their local office so that I could visit their place and explain my situation. I kept on screaming on the phone and told him that I had it enough with Zoomcar and even threatened that I will take this up on social media and other platforms (I was till then a Team-BHP fan and not a member). This time he seemed to be uneasy and told me that he will call me back. I got a call after about an hour and the same guy told me that he was really sorry since I had to suffer so much and had to drive an unreliable car which would have broken down at any moment. He said that they were processing the refund and would also send an official mail regarding the refund. At this point, I apologized to the executive profusely for having shouted on him and told him that it was for Zoomcar and the ethics they have and nothing was personal. He was also pleasantly surprised since I was apologetic.

In the end, I had mixed feelings but have decided not to book Zoomcar even if the need arises. I had it enough with them and I do not want to fight every time I have to face such a situation and Zoomcar needs to have some policies designed for such instances.

I so missed my Punto during the whole ordeal but that love ordeal ended soon after. I sold it off and got myslef a Hyundai Grand i10. But that story is for another thread. I hope Zoomcar ups their level of customer service and makes sure that such instances do not end up as a bitter memory for the customers.

[freedom]

I was thinking about getting a A class or q3 for a 3 day trip. I will consider something else now.
I have heard enough bad stories about zoomcar. It's becoming a pattern.

[mashmash]

Hi,

Just thought I would pen down my recent experience with two zoom bookings.

Booking 1: Excellent Experience

This booking was done from Bangalore for a 7 seater Scorpio in Delhi. The car was to be picked up by me from their New Delhi station center. The car was literally brand new with only 4k on the Odo. It was a October 2016 model. Not a single scratch on the car. This actually put me under pressure as I did not want to be the first one to scratch or dent her. An earlier Honda City was scratched by someone while it was parked outside the house. The scorpio was clean inside out. Covered around 2000 kms in a week and returned it in the same condition I had picked it up in. Phew. Did give her a good bye glance as I loved driving her in absolutely shameful and atrocious Delhi traffic, then through the amazing Jim Corbet and back.

Booking 2: Started badly, but was good after that

This was a continuation to our family trip from Delhi to Mumbai where I had again booked a Scorpio. This time the pick up location was Mumbai Domestic airport. Unfortunately, Zoom shifted out of airport and changed the Pickup location 10kms away in a mall in Andheri West. They agreed to reimburse any cab charges I would incur while travelling to the center. Reaching the center was a huge inconvenience, especially for someone on a family trip in an unknown city. Ola was used to reached the center.

On reaching the center, I was told that the car I had booked is not available. Apparently it was a KA registered car and was being transported back to Bangalore that day. We were tired, had tons of luggage (Packed for a month of travelling). The center guy told us that he had informed the Zoom office about the unavailability of the car, yet nothing was done. After a lot of talking with customer, where negotiations went from No other car available to a 5 seater Honda City to an XUV which was allotted to another customer later that day. We were lucky that another XUV came in early and could be readied for that booking. The 2015 model XUV had 92k odd on its odo, looked a bit tired with a few scratches here and there but overall, was in decent shape. Not so clean on the inside. All controls worked, AC was a chiller. This was a relief as we were coming from Delhi/Jim Corbet/Kanpur/Lucknow where it was biting cold(4-9 Deg) and then 30 Deg in Bombay felt like 40 Deg. This XUV though old, was actually better than a newer XUV I had used in Bangalore earlier. Enjoyed driving the XUV in a much much better Mumbai traffic.

Overall, I am a huge fan of Zoom. The convenience it offers is unparalleled. 1 really bad incident and 1 slightly inconvenient experience out of 20-30 bookings is a very good average in my opinion. Need to think of how to use all the points I have accumulated so far. A free Merc ride for a day is also an offer available.

MaSh

[Tanmay K]

Originally Posted by anshumandun

The car was in a bad condition. It had dents and scratches all over. Plastic cladding was broken on most places. There was dent at the boot and the hood.

I find this strange. They charge customers a bomb if the car gets a scratch, but don't actually fix the damages from the money they charge. The older Zoomcars are always in a messed up condition.

Anyway, I'd contacted the founder/CEO of Zoomcar once about similar issues way back in 2015 and he had someone look into the matter for me. I think he's probably familiar with the problems you're facing, but I suppose you could write to him: greg@zoomcar.com. (I usually avoid people's email addresses on the forum but in this case it can be found on the internet easily anyway)

Running a startup of this sort in India is never easy.

[vigvr]

This is very concerning :(

This whole week I've been reading out such incidents and it's given me second thoughts about cancelling my upcoming Zoomcar booking at Chandigarh. Have a Scorpio booked for 3 days and my friends and I would be driving to McLeod Ganj. Need a niggle free renting experience.

Cancelling Zoom and moving to Myles would be wiser? Myles has a XUV available and it works out cheaper, even taking fuel into count.

A pov from a Myles customer would be very helpful!

[hserus]

Originally Posted by vigvr

Cancelling Zoom and moving to Myles would be wiser? Myles has a XUV available and it works out cheaper, even taking fuel into count.

A pov from a Myles customer would be very helpful!

I rented a myles honda jazz in hyderabad a couple of months back. SV version so had a reverse camera and bluetooth in the stereo deck. 25k on the clock, quite new vehicle.

Well maintained except for maybe some roughness in the gears compared to my Amaze which has almost the same mileage (well, 22k) - in fact far better maintained than any Zoomcar I ever drove before.

I will probably book another one or two Myles cars and see if my experience matches, if so will stick to Myles. Else its back to that known bad quantity Ola

[anshumandun]

Originally Posted by Tanmay K

Anyway, I'd contacted the founder/CEO of Zoomcar once about similar issues way back in 2015 and he had someone look into the matter for me. I think he's probably familiar with the problems you're facing, but I suppose you could write to him: greg@zoomcar.com.

I sent them a message through their "contact us" page on their website and got an apology in reply. That's it! They don't want their customer back.



I've also emailed Greg about this discussion going on here at tbhp. Let's see if I get a response.

Originally Posted by vigvr

Cancelling Zoom and moving to Myles would be wiser? Myles has a XUV available and it works out cheaper, even taking fuel into count.

A pov from a Myles customer would be very helpful!

2 or 3 years back, I did the same trip. Flew from Bangalore to Chandigarh and rented a car from Myles at Chandigarh airport. Drove to Mcleodganj and back. Zoomcars was not available in Chandigarh then.

It was a decent experience, nothing specifically good or bad. I rented a swift. It had around 50k on the odo. Decent to drive condition. The number plates were yellow like regular taxis (unlike zoomcar where it is yellow number on black plate). Due to this, I was stopped in Mcleodganj by cops and they were puzzled to see how a taxi is being used as a hired car. I spent good 15 minutes convincing them that Myles is a company that gives self driving cars on rent. Fortunately, Myles had given a lot of documents with the car that I could show to the cops. They jut got more confused and let me go finally!

Myles had just one point of contact for the whole trip so that was good. While returning, that person inspected the car and told me that there is a fresh scratch on the rear. There were several scratches already but based on the colour of the scratch, he was convinced that this was a new small scratch. He considered himself an expert in calculating the age of scratches based on the colour and texture.

I had nothing to argue with this stupid logic. I just laughed it off and left. Later, they charged me Rs 500 extra for damages.

[gkveda]

Originally Posted by RJ411

I had booked a XUV for a day trip for 30th Dec.I also requested a 6Am door delivery. I got a call on 27th afternoon mentioning that there is a mechanical problem with xuv and was requested for a change to Scorpio. I told ok as we were 6 people only & it should be fine .I called them on 29th evening to re confirm the same and was told everything is fine.

On 30th morning I got a call at 5:30 AM mentioning that Scorpio had a problem and I will be sent an Xuv from a different pick up point.

I somehow feel, this is unintentional. I have not used Zoom cars so far, but curious as to why they would keep changing the booked car models /Pickup points and commitments if they are changing intentionally? I can think of only few possibilities

1. There is a real mechanical problem in the car booked at the nth moment. Hence, they would change the car to retain their reputation
2. Another party would have offered them extra money by booking at the nth moment. Not sure if there are routes to this channel
3. Since there is no driver to drive the car to the said pickup point, they would request the customer to come to another pickup point(I do not see any other reason for this since they anyway reimburse the travel amount)
4. Another customer would have booked the car for a longer distance / Duration so that they can earn more money
I can't think of any other reasons. Out of these 3, I think, 1 and 3 are genuine contingencies that can happen anytime (But, good planning can reduce the frequency) and only 2 and 4 is not acceptable.

Others can add to this list if there are any other wrong intentions that they may have.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by vigvr

A pov from a Myles customer would be very helpful!

I am a regular Customer of Myles/Carzonrent for several years now - mainly from their Mumbai (Domestic Airport) Location.

My experience has always been good and on par with the rentals I have done in Europe or UK from the likes of Avis, Hertz, Sixt etc. Never once have they reverted with last minute excuses or non availability of the type of vehicle I had booked for,

Myles of late have started copying Zoom by putting a "Myles" sticker on their cars - hope it stops there and they wouldn't copy the other Zoom practices/manners being reported here (as I have no first hand experience of Zoom so far).

Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

[Passiautonate]

Well I have disappointing experience with Zoom cars. Cleanliness, vehicle condition and to top of it all pricing which way exceeds chauffeured cars. Yes people would want privacy and self drive experience but having vehicles delivered in pathetic condition does not really provide anything.

My experience below-
XUV5oo - Booking period - 04:30 AM 30th Dec to 7 PM 1st Jan. Total KM included in package- 630. Price estimate 17,400 after discount

Vehicle condition- High beam not working, Blue tooth connectivity fault. PUC expired had to bribe to get TN permit as no PUC center was open at 5 AM. Vehicle dirty inside out with scratches. Rear seat torn of, indicator broken. Mileage 106k with car display showing service time. Low air pressure.

Driven 130 km extra plus so overall bill amount INR 20,205. Driving pleasure I got from roughed up vehicle - Nil. Left my JABRA hands-free car Bluetooth device further putting me back by 6k. Called customer care which directed me to local office but we know it's not coming back.

Regretting the decision of not taking a chauffeured Innova which would had cost 12,600+ Driver allowance.

Learning- Quality has gone down with company focusing on milking as much money as possible. Poorly run affairs with no quality control. Expensive and seriously not worth it.