[Ithaca]

What does ZoomCars do about morons like this
Tweet by Madhur Verma IPS.

Gang of cheaters arrested by Connaught Place, PS @DelhiPolice
🚘Were targeting @ZoomCarIndia and such other car rental apps.
🚘Fled with their SUVs and removed their GPS
🚘Mahinder xuv recovered
🚘Confessed stealing 3 more high end SUVs

Source: https://twitter.com/IPSMadhurVerma/s...24604874104833

[boniver]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

This has seriously put me off and am upset about how rigid they are being. I don't know what, if any, options I have except writing off 15500 :(

Did Zoomcar finally budge or have you decided to cut your losses and move on? Rs. 15500 is a pretty tidy sum in an average Indian household, and if this happened to anyone else they'd be pretty bummed too.

[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by boniver

Did Zoomcar finally budge or have you decided to cut your losses and move on? Rs. 15500 is a pretty tidy sum in an average Indian household, and if this happened to anyone else they'd be pretty bummed too.

I'm going to have to go. I'll drive myself instead of the original guy who was going to drive (who is going to be unavailable). Hence been asking around for advice on the Siliguri route guide thread.

To add insult to injury, I had to extend the booking duration because of the unavailability of the driver. That cost me a cook 4.5k more.

Taught me a lesson to read the fine print closely.

[boniver]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

I'm going to have to go. I'll drive myself instead of the original guy who was going to drive (who is going to be unavailable). Hence been asking around for advice on the Siliguri route guide thread.

To add insult to injury, I had to extend the booking duration because of the unavailability of the driver. That cost me a cook 4.5k more.

Taught me a lesson to read the fine print closely.

Ah well, I would've done the same tbh. It's now time to brush all this aside and focus on the journey ahead! All the best for the trip, and hope you have a good experience with Zoomcar. Do update this thread with your review.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

I'm going to have to go. I'll drive myself instead of the original guy who was going to drive (who is going to be unavailable). Hence been asking around for advice on the Siliguri route guide thread.

To add insult to injury, I had to extend the booking duration because of the unavailability of the driver. That cost me a cook 4.5k more.

Taught me a lesson to read the fine print closely.

Wouldn't hurt to ask. Did you try asking them to convert the 15000/cancellation fee as user credit that you can use in the future? Perhaps even an upgrade for yourself since you are retaining one car for the trip. Or at least waive the damn 4500 for the extension.

Medical emergencies are exceptional and you can send them a copy of the appointment or something like that.

I hope Zoomcar realises the value of retaining their first time customer.

[digitalnirvana]

I did ask them over the support email and also over Twitter tagging their CEO too. They said that the booking was done via the 50% discount offer (in the month of May I guess, and that offer had a 100% cancellation fee). I gave up after 2 emails and 4 tweets, they said they cannot help.

The same offer of 50% discount plus a 50% cashback in the form of zoomcar credits came in June, with 0% cancellation fee, plus with half the booking deposit (2500 instead of 5000). I'd made a second booking as well for the same amount of 15500 rupees so it's not that they would have lost their money.

Anyway I now just hope that they will give back the 5000 deposit after the trip. Honestly the next time I need to go for a rental car, I'll probably hire with a driver rather than a self drive. Or go to one of their competitors. I use the Cred app which gives discount coupons on drivezy but they aren't available in Kolkata yet.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

I did ask them over the support email and also over Twitter tagging their CEO too. They said that the booking was done via the 50% discount offer (in the month of May I guess, and that offer had a 100% cancellation fee). I gave up after 2 emails and 4 tweets, they said they cannot help.

That's unfortunate. Do they provide support over the phone?

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

Honestly the next time I need to go for a rental car, I'll probably hire with a driver rather than a self drive. Or go to one of their competitors. I use the Cred app which gives discount coupons on drivezy but they aren't available in Kolkata yet.

When will some companies realise this?!

The cost of getting a new customer is several times more than retaining an existing customer.

[boniver]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

Honestly the next time I need to go for a rental car, I'll probably hire with a driver rather than a self drive.

More convenient, I agree. But the special feeling of travelling with your family is lost when there's a stranger in the car.

Why not travel in your Estilo? The luggage could be packed in bags (not suitcases) so as to avoid taking up a large space. Even the roads to Darjeeling are not that bad. If you're concerned about the reliability of your car on a long trip, the Rs. 15500 that you're spending on the Zoomcar would've been more than enough to cover any maintenance expenses that you'd have to undertake prior to the journey. In addition, the maintenance on the car would pay off not just on this trip, but over the next several years as well. Maybe you could evaluate this option on your future trips

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

I did ask them over the support email and also over Twitter tagging their CEO too. They said that the booking was done via the 50% discount offer (in the month of May I guess, and that offer had a 100% cancellation fee). I gave up after 2 emails and 4 tweets, they said they cannot help. ...

The lesson here is to read the small print.

I guess it is like flight tickets. With them, we accept that a fully flexible booking costs a fortune, and that cheaper options are inflexible and expensive to change when if it can be done

[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by kiku007

That's unfortunate. Do they provide support over the phone?

They do and I had tried that too. Same answer.

Originally Posted by boniver

Why not travel in your Estilo?

The Estilo is good for 4 because a child always needs more luggage, and we were going to be 5 with the now-unavailable guy. If I'd known it would be like this, I would have booked flights instead - costs are approximately the same!

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

The lesson here is to read the small print.

I guess it is like flight tickets. With them, we accept that a fully flexible booking costs a fortune, and that cheaper options are inflexible and expensive to change when if it can be done

Thad I agree with you, it's my fault alone. But if you do a cursory search for zoomcar cancelation policy, the first page that comes up shows rs200 as the fee.

Now I get your point about the 50% discount offer. But they had kept the same offer in May and June (I booked in May)
Compared to the May offer, the June one has:

1. Exactly the same 50% discount
2. Additional 50% cashback as zoomcar credits
3. Zero cancellation fees compared to 100% earlier
4. Half the booking deposit (Rs 2500 instead of Rs 5000)

So when I came to know that the May booking might need to be cancelled, I booked one under the June offer (for different dates) and told them to keep the June one and cancel the May one without the 100% fees. They refused. It's not like they were not going to get the Rs 15500, but they did not even consider the case

[Biker Ram]

I had my first experience with Zoomcar last week. I don't think I'd use Zoomcar again.

On various occassions I had been looking up Zoomcar site but never rented one from them mainly because of pricing. I own a Ritz, so at times I have had need for a 7 seater to carry upto 5 adults and my Labrador. Of course Zoomcar will cost a lot more compared to a own vehicle, plus their 'no pets' policy kept me away from them.

Last week I was in Mangalore for 2 days and I needed a car just for 4 people. Rented an Ecosport from them. Automated pickup and drop procedure were hassle free. Car condition was just okay. I didn't check thoroughly for scratches and dents before picking up the vehicle, and later I was worried they might charge me for some dents that were already there. Fortunately nothing of that sort happened.

Car was fitted with a speed governor with max speed of 80km/h. This in my opinion is a very serious handicap. Probably Zoomcar does it in their own interest, but for a driver it's plain annoying and unsafe too. On highways it becomes a serious problem how much distance to maintain from other vehicles, and whether to attempt overtaking a slow moving vehicle or just tail along.

Secondly the accident charges (if any) to be borne by us dissuades from taking such self driven cars. Scratches and minor accidents in city traffic are very common these days. I wouldn't want to pay 2-3 times the value of rental charges just for repairs.

Thirdly returning the car with exactly same level of fuel is tricky for me. Fill a bit less and they will charge you, fill a bit more and you'd lose that money anyway.

I do like the privacy and freedom of driving in a self driven car, but considering the other aspects I think it's more peace of mind to just hire a normal taxi.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Biker Ram

Car was fitted with a speed governor with max speed of 80km/h. This in my opinion is a very serious handicap. Probably Zoomcar does it in their own interest

Secondly the accident charges (if any) to be borne by us dissuades from taking such self driven cars. Scratches and minor accidents in city traffic are very common these days. I wouldn't want to pay 2-3 times the value of rental charges just for repairs.

80 kmph is a government regulation for commercial vehicles. Cabbies will bypass it by altering the speed governor, corporates like Zoomcar, Hertz etc cannot do that.

Scratches and accident damage are capped at what, 5k I think, and their insurance covers the rest. Any damage not covered by insurance is yours to deal with.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by Biker Ram

Car was fitted with a speed governor with max speed of 80km/h. This in my opinion is a very serious handicap. Probably Zoomcar does it in their own interest, but for a driver it's plain annoying and unsafe too. On highways it becomes a serious problem how much distance to maintain from other vehicles, and whether to attempt overtaking a slow moving vehicle or just tail along.

I am actually glad for this. After the initial frustration when one doesn't get to drive and overtake "dilli ishtyle", it becomes a far more relaxing way to get somewhere. But yeah, it may get to be a bit of a challenge when trying to overtake someone doing 75.

[motorguy]

Just used Zoomcar to pick up some relatives from the Bangalore airport as they had many suitcases and these wouldn't fit in my i10 or Elite i20. Had taken a Hyundai Verna for the same. Car was not very clean and there was a smell of stale sweat in the car. The car ran very well though. There was a speed governor as per the sms I received, but noticed the car going to 85km/hr and capable of pushing it to 90 or even more (if you exceed 125 km/hr you get a Rs.2500 fine and get blacklisted after two occurrences.
So I don't understand whether they say the governor is there for the sake of law or is it really working?
The only issue I had was that my wife's co-driver license was declined for no obvious reason multiple times (they say that the license I say said expiry of 2016, but despite uploading the license 2 times of their web site, they had no clue of why it was happening - in fact they asked me to ask my wife to open an account on Zoomcar (for what reason I don't know) and ask her to upload her license which is ridiculous because it has not connection to being a co-driver.
I just gave up - told them why should she open an account on zoomcar when I'm just adding her as a co-driver? The call center is clueless on how their app operates.
Otherwise, overall reasonably good experience.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by mayankk

is there any self-drive service which would allow me to pick up a car in Bangalore and drop it off later in the day at Coorg? I think Zoom has it, but only from Bangalore to Mysore.

Went with revv finally and it was a totally hassle free experience.
The car was delivered in Bangalore, albeit a couple of hours before time. It had run 80k kilometers, the driver's seat was torn slightly, and there was a scrape on one of the doors. I diligently photographed and video'd everything. It had 60% fuel, which is what I returned.
The entire rental was for 4.5 days, and involved a to and fro between bangalore and coorg. The engine was well maintained, though the alignment was off, which was apparent between 90 and 110 kmph. There was no speed limiter, though it had one of those beepy thing which are supposed to warn of impending doom. Howver, it was not stuck anywhere, and was just lying on the dashboard to one side, giving out random wails at odd times.

The entire running was 600+ kilometers, and the car took 2500 bucks worth of diesel. With rental included, it cost me about 10k, which is supremely cheap for the comfort and convenience of having one's own wheels in a place like coorg.