[low_rider]

My grudge against the Ola drivers in Gurgaon is that they always call for guidance to reach the pick-up location. Always. The standard response is that GPS is not working. On the contrary Uber drivers reach the location almost 95% of the time on their own.

When you are in a known neighbourhood, then you can guide them, but when you are yourself in an unknown neighbourhood, then it is very difficult to guide them.

Another grudge that I have against both these drivers is that in most cases, you have to call them and inform that his majesty has received a booking and needs to get going. Otherwise, they will keep standing where they are, and you will only get to know once you check the app after some time, wondering where is the cab.

[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by low_rider

My grudge against the Ola drivers in Gurgaon is that they always call for guidance to reach the pick-up location.

This happens all over. It was a standard practice when using Ola to call and guide drivers to the pickup point. I once spent 15 minutes in an unfamiliar city trying to guide the driver on phone.

And then one day I decided to try Uber. I was utterly shocked to find the cab exactly at the pickup point. I actually double-checked the cab details because I could not believe that a cab can reach me without having to call the driver.

Needless to say, I stopped using Ola since then!

[binand]

Originally Posted by low_rider

My grudge against the Ola drivers in Gurgaon is that they always call for guidance to reach the pick-up location.

I am serving a sentence in Gurgaon these days; I have had this experience with Uber as well (maybe once or twice, in about 50 rides from my office). I think the reason is that Gurgaon is way too confusing (especially the area close to the Delhi border which is where I am), and many drivers in DL/UP cars visit this side of NCR rarely. Google Maps also doesn't mark roads correctly; there are way too many carriageways, under and overpasses, ad-hoc one-ways etc. here.

I also get RJ-registered cabs here, is that allowed? For that matter I have once had a TN-registered Uber in Bangalore too.

When the driver calls me for directions I just let my office guard speak to him. That fellow knows all the buildings and landmarks in the vicinity and can easily guide the driver to the correct location.

[the_skyliner]

Sorry to say but seems like Ola has lost it.

Have been using Uber/Ola since last couple of years and must have availed the service for at least 50+ times.

Had following bad experiences with Ola so far in Pune/Mumbai:

1. Don't accept cash: This happened multiple times. I booked cab with card payment option and called the driver to check where he is. He asked me first question: "will you pay by cash or Ola money?". I told him that I will be paying by card to this he replied rudely saying he only deals in cash. I register a complaint with Ola help and got nothing more than an apology in return.

2. Driver abusing other customer: This is just from last week in Mumbai. The moment we sat in the car, the driver seemed frustrated due to cancelation of earlier trip by a customer. And he was just abusing him without caring that there are kids in the cab. Worst behaviour. On top he expected us to give 5 star rating.

Didn't have such experience with Uber. The worst with Uber was delay in arriving and wrong route selection by the driver but it didn't seem deliberate.

[hrman]

Originally Posted by low_rider

My grudge against the Ola drivers in Gurgaon is that they always call for guidance to reach the pick-up location.

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

This happens all over. It was a standard practice when using Ola to call and guide drivers to the pickup point.

Originally Posted by binand

When the driver calls me for directions I just let my office guard speak to him. That fellow knows all the buildings and landmarks in the vicinity and can easily guide the driver to the correct location.

I saw a post by the founder of a successful cashless payment startup. He mentioned that whenever a taxi aggregator driver calls him asking for directions to his place, he tells that he is not from India and is not familiar with the route. In all cases, the driver turned up at the correct spot without any further directions.

This may be worth trying if not gone out of fashion already.

My experience with Ola was positive yesterday in Mumbai. I booked an OLA Suv to take me from Dahisar to the airport. The estimated fare was mentioned upfront at the time of cab booking. The cost was about 1.5 times the hatchback, but I needed a larger vehicle for my parents.
The vehicle was a Xylo, well maintained and clean. The driver was a young chap and quite helpful with the luggage. We reached without a hassle.

[skyrocket003]

Uber is the first choice for me, always. Major differences between Ola and Uber as per my experience:

1. Cars : Ola cars are generally not well maintained & clean (with a few exceptions) while on Uber, I have always got well maintained cars and very clean as well (got a brand new Vento on Ubergo a few days back)

2. Drivers : Ola drivers are rude, Period. In addition to being rude, they are mostly unprofessional. They refuse certain routes more often, payment modes don't work with them sometimes (they don't like Ola Money or credit cards), and finding my location is like a whole project for them. With Uber, I have never faced these issues of route rejection, payment modes or professional drivers.

3. Customer care: Whenever there is an issue, I make it a point to raise it immediately on the App. Ola customer care is simply pathetic as you will only get an apology from them with no action whatsoever. Uber customer care is just a notch better that they actually take time to respond to your issue and resolve it.

4. Fares: Last but not the least is fares. Uber fares are mostly lower than Ola in my case. Uberpool fares are definitely lower all the time than OlaShare. Add to that the usual coupon codes that Uber throws more often and you end up paying really less than Ola.

So that was it from my side on Ola vs. Uber.

[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by hrman

He mentioned that whenever a taxi aggregator driver calls him asking for directions to his place, he tells that he is not from India and is not familiar with the route. In all cases, the driver turned up at the correct spot without any further directions.

I was in Ahmedabad for the first time and Ola driver simply refused to budge and come to pick-up point without guidance. They have a standard reply of GPS not working and this is common across all the cities I have been to. The other day in Aurangabad, driver kept waiting on the main road even though the pick-up location was hardly 100 m away. I finally had to walk upto him and then travel with him back to the pickup point.

[pcpranav]

Hi,
In my cases I drive my car within Mumbai, but sometimes I do need taxi locally. I think just around a year back, I first joined Ola, and then soon joined Uber, and slowly understanding all these concept & their apps etc. Initially I used few times Ola, and then Uber started giving better service and even better pricing. Overall Im happy with Uber. Best part is that Uber is fully integrated with my Paytm (which again I enrolled last year and have been regularly using it wherever possible instead of cash), and even storing Credit Cards is quite easy in the Uber app. I recollect just few months back Ola started accepting Credit Cards within their app!

I think 1-2 times I did face driver issues (being late / not agreeing to my drop location), and I raised the complaint within Uber app. The refund was processed within a day, so no loss of money to me.

These days all major apps, including Ola & Uber, keep asking for Update on Android phone, which I do it regularly. Few months back, I remember some version of Ola and later a specific version of Uber app, they didnt just picked my location for a long time. After restarting phone and waiting for long, manually trying to pin-point location etc, it would finally select the current location. In the subsequent app update this issue was not noticed.

Few days back I was in Singapore and 3-4 times booked taxi using my Uber. This international usage gives Uber an upper hand. However, I had to change the payment mode to my Credit Card (alternative would be Cash too), as Paytm wont be accepted to proceed for booking. All these times I noticed, when I tried calling the driver from within the Uber app, it landed to an IVR and asks to enter my mobile number associated with the taxi booking. I tried few combinations, including prefix country code, only number, etc, but each time the IVR would say '... no booking associated with this number'! This was weird. Even more, there was an option to "message" (SMS) the driver, which opened my regular Messaging app on phone, and my SMS did successfully reach the driver, which I confirmed later. Even if I tried calling the same number (from my phone's dial pad, not from Uber app) to which my SMS was send, the call didnt connect ! All this was very strange, but drivers were good to call me once they near my area. fyi, my phone was on international roaming, activated with 4g data, didnt face any issue with regular tasks on phone, like calling or surfing etc. Post the ride, I saw SG$ amount being debited from my Credit Card, all OK.

regards,
Pranav

[dark.knight]

UBER is finally getting it together, not entirely but to a large extent. After a spate of maniacs who called themselves drivers, I've been getting highly rated drivers (minimum 4.7+) and they are highly rated for a reason. I feel their filtration system is tighter now, and I hope every driver who is under 4.5 is weeded out in due course (YES I mean it, I've taken a lot of trips and even the 4.5 guys are bad leave alone lesser than that).

Now its also possible to view the driver history within the app when the ride is booked, this may put intense pressure on drivers or it may simply motivate them to achieve more. By history I mean you can see the rider comments, the badges (compliments earned) and perhaps even negative comments when there are any. On average the drivers are at 600-1000 trips in total (newbies) but they are no match for the higher ranked 4000-6000 trips veterans who still managed to get 4.6+.

I feel there is much more accountability now, and women riders can also feel much safer than before.

[dhuli]

Originally Posted by Abby28

(between July to Oct 2017)

I assume your enumeration of service is ongoing! Unless you have concluded here and I missed that.

[dhuli]

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

This happens all over. It was a standard practice when using Ola to call and guide drivers to the pickup point. I once spent 15 minutes in an unfamiliar city trying to guide the driver on phone.

Unlike Uber, Ola has a driver incentive scheme that can be gamed. To prevent that and Ola, to ensure incentives go to deserving only, relies on metrics such as enter an OTP, etc. I conjecture that # of calls or calls based metrics is one of those. Again, given Ola has a bigger vehicle base compared to Uber, there are drivers as unfamiliar as the customer. Further, large cities are difficult to master like with the rigour of a London black cabbie. Incidentally, the average brain mass size/volume of London cabbie is greater than the normal human being. There is a report on that. Lastly, migrants from nearby regions who join city workforce often lack the knowledge. Moot point is to balance growth with quality for Ola during enrollment.

[searacer932]

I face repeated problem with Ola whenever I take Ola in Chennai. I primarily use it in OMR. People who take OMR know that OMR has entry/exit tolls i.e. you pay at an entry toll plaza (Perungudi,Navalur, Sholing,ECR) and you can exit via again any of the other tolls. i.e I enter via Perungudi and exit via Sholingnallur. The charge for this is only Rs 25 if enter via one toll plaza but exit via any of the other three but everytime Ola double charge me saying I have crossed two tolls. Their billing system is crap and their customer service is even worst. Every time I need to fight with them to get a refund. For my recent trip they charged me Rs 60 for entry/exit when the actual charge should only be Rs 25. If you exit via the same toll that you entered that it's treated as 'return' and you pay Rs 50.

I don't know how many customers OLA loot through this billing of theirs. OMR has IT crowd and I suspect OLA must be making lot of additional revenue through this at the cost of the customer!!

[ontheroad]

Had a bad experience with Uber today morning in Bangalore. Booked a Taxi from Madiwala at about 8 10am. Taxi arrival time was about 15 minutes. Taxi arrived near to my location, but keep on changing position, so i couldnt locate it physically. I called the driver and told him my specific location. But after some time he cancelled the trip and left. I was debited cancellation charges, which Uber reversed later, upon request. Had to book another taxi, which arrived in about 15 minutes. He dropped me to the destination without much issues. I think the Uber drivers in Banglore is less now.

[AltoLXI]

More bad news for Uber.

Uber Loses Licence To Operate In London

https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/22/ub...ate-in-london/

The regulator added that Uber’s “approach and conduct demonstrate a lack of corporate responsibility in relation to a number of issues which have potential public safety and security implications” — including for the following issues:

Its approach to reporting serious criminal offences.
Its approach to how medical certificates are obtained.
Its approach to how Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are obtained.
Its approach to explaining the use of Greyball in London — software that could be used to block regulatory bodies from gaining full access to the app and prevent officials from undertaking regulatory or law enforcement duties

http://www.business-standard.com/art...2200567_1.html

[abhisheknandan]

I believe this choice depends on the location as well. Here in Pune, Ola once used to be the preferred choice because of the fleet size and option of getting an Auto with Ola. However, after a few instances coming to light with Ola drivers and Uber improving its fleet size and services, it has clearly taken over Ola. The drivers in Uber are also very well behaved as compared to Ola and we generally get a sedan at the same rate of a Mini or a Micro Ola.