Ola: Book Cab, Auto, Bike Taxi

I recently downloaded this app on my visit to India. I have two main problems with Ola, one of them about the service itself and the other about this app. 1. Service issue: I am visiting a tier-2 city and so far, I haven’t really been able to book one ride on it just yet because of drivers calling up and asking me to give them more money in cash that what is shown in the app. I don’t carry a lot of cash and I have selected my PhonePe wallet as the default payment option with sufficient funds in that wallet. However, every time I try to book, the drivers call me after accepting and start saying things like it won’t work out because of the distance or time or something else and ask that I pay another 50, 100, or more in case upon reaching. Figure out the proper fares and show the same in the app rather than allowing this false-advertising. It feels shady. 2. App issue: I have enabled notifications for this app so I am notified about the details of my ride. However I am not interested in any marketing or promotional notifications. The app does not provide any way for users to choose the type of notifications they want to receive. It’s neither in the app, nor in the iOS settings. It’s like the developers just want to use this opportunity to push as much advertising as possible, and abuse the need for ride-based notifications. Unprofessional, and reeks of desperation.

Many of us are good at pointing out our disapprovals and make sure it’s know to the company that gives you the service. This time my experience with OLA in in Mumbai was similar. Off course, wouldn’t rate all under one pretext. There were few of them who could have done better and few who should be trained better. Like this driver who brought himself to service my ride. He never stopped chewing tobacco and would open door at every traffic halt to spit. Yes, you read this right. Until, I blurted it out not to carry out this behavior as it’s our beloved city of Mumbai and we need to keep it clean. Though he might have ignored my comment, he chewed more and more. Overheard him saying to a friend it was his first day at work. So my kind side did not want him to be out of a job. OLA does not give me option to explain my experience, which is surprising. So it falls under an OTHER category. There should be a CONDUCT option which comprises how the driver conducts his professional side in his dress to work, and unpleasant habits at work place.

This morning I scheduled a pickup from hotel to airport at 4:00 am for my 6:30 flight. The driver was assigned 10 mins before the scheduled pickup and the driver was insistent in calling me to find out where I was going and just 2 mins before the scheduled time he cancelled because he was going to the airport. The fare was 700 The app was supposed to reassign and send someone in the scheduled time but to my surprise the app cancelled the full trip and rebook I had to rebook another cab luckily unlike in Bangalore waiting time usually is 30 min this time I got a cab within 10 min. The fare I got was 737 inclusive of everything The driver started from my hotel with in 2 mins he said he had a flat tire and will take 5 mins to fix but then I realised he did not have the necessary jack to fix the puncture tire At 4:20 in the morning there were no one and used archaic way of lining up stones and fixing the tire When I reached the airport I was in for a surprise to find my fare was 200 more than what I booked and the driver drove pretty rashly to get to the airport Overall nightmare hope Ola take action