Fix customer complaints or else face penal action, government warns cab aggregators

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs in a meeting held today with all the App-based cab aggregators has instructed them to fix issues related hygiene in cabs, bad service, immediate refusals and training of drivers.

Government has asked cab aggregators to protect the interests of consumers and create a system for redressal of their complaints and related problems. Pic: Reuters

The government has asked cab aggregators to protect the interests of consumers and create a system for redressal of their complaints and related problems. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs in a meeting held today under the chairmanship of Secretary, Rohit Kumar Singh with all the App-based cab aggregators has instructed them to fix issues related to hygiene in cabs, bad service, immediate refusals, and training of drivers.

Nidhi Khare, Additional Secretary, highlighted major issues which affect consumers while availing services through these platforms. Major categories of consumer grievances as per the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) were highlighted during the meeting. As per the data received from NCH, deficiency in services occupied 56% of the overall grievances during the period 01.04.2021 to 01.05.2022.

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Instructions have been given to cab aggregators to stop the alleged Unfair Trade Practice immediately, failing which penalty will be imposed.

All cab aggregators including Ola, Uber, Meru, and Jugnu participated in this meeting. The government also took the inputs from the aggregators on different aspects of their operations.

The government not only took the inputs of the aggregators on all the questions but apprised them of other complaints as well.

Also Read: https://www.zeebiz.com/automobile/news-government-to-meet-cab-aggregators-on-tuesday-amid-rise-in-consumer-complaints-184391

During the interactions, the companies claimed to have a robust mechanism of redressal of consumer grievances. They however assured that concerns raised in the meeting will be duly taken into consideration. As regards the cancellation charges, they stated that it is levied to compensate the drivers for efforts made towards fulfilling the order.

All companies were directed to become convergence partners in the National Consumer Helpline, to enable better grievance redressal for consumers and also compliance with Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and E-commerce Rules, 2020.

All online ride-hailing platforms were advised to take the above concerns with utmost priority and take remedial steps to ensure adequate protection of consumer rights.

The major grievances highlighted during the meeting were:

Deficiency in service

Lack of proper response from customer support
Pre-ticked boxes including add-on services such as insurance with the ride charges, without obtaining consent by explicit and affirmative action.
Driver refusing to take payment by online mode and insisting for cash only.
Higher amount charged despite going on the same route previously at a lesser charge
Unprofessional driver behaviour
Driver refusing to switch on AC when the consumer is promised AC ride on the app.

Inaccessible customer support

No customer care number is provided on the platform.
No details of grievance officer is mentioned on the platform to which consumers can address their grievance.
Automated pre-written support message is given to consumers without redressing the grievance.

Unreasonable levy of cancellation charges

User is not shown the amount of time within which cancelling a ride is permitted.
Cancellation Charges are variable and inconsistent.
The amount of cancellation charge is not displayed prominently on the platform before booking the ride.
Drivers, not willing to take the ride and forcing users to cancel the ride, which entails undue cancellation charges to be borne by the consumer

Fairness of the algorithms that calculate the charges for the user

If it is learnt that in case someone is using the OTA services consistently for going from point A to point B, the charges for him may be higher than somebody who is using it between the same two locations for the first time.
Users are not shown the algorithm or method used by the company to charge different fares for the same route from two individuals.
Due to this, users are forced to take rides at arbitrary fares which are much higher than what is charged ordinarily for the same route

It may be mentioned that grievances registered on NCH are at a nascent stage as not all consumers register their grievances on NCH.

An official statement has been issued by Uber in this regard in which Nitish Bhushan, Head of Central Operations for Uber India and South Asia said “We are engaged with the Department of Consumer Affairs and deeply appreciate the feedback provided by them and will continue to provide our inputs. We strive to be the platform of choice for riders and drivers alike and continue to invest in technology and customer support to deliver an excellent experience for them. We are committed to continually raising the bar – for ourselves, our industry, and most importantly for the people who use our services.”

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