MUMBAI, 9 OCTOBER, 2024 (GPN): The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued a show cause notice to Bhavish Aggarwal-run EV company Ola Electric following a rise in consumer complaints about their electric scooters.

The notice that was issued on 3rd October flags potential violations of the Consumer Protection Act, including allegations about manufacturing defects, sales of second-hand vehicles, incomplete refunds on cancellations, recurring issues post-service, overcharging, inaccurate billing, and battery and component problems. The notice also highlights complaints about unprofessional behaviour and improper complaint resolutions. Ola Electric “appears to be in violation of several provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019″, the showcase notice read,

There has been a significant rise in complaints regarding Ola e-scooters in recent times. The National Consumer Helpline, managed by the Department of Consumer Affairs, is said to have received 10,644 complaints against the company from September 1, 2023, to August 30, 2024. Of these, 3,389 relate to service delays, 1,899 are for delays in delivery, and 1,459 complaints allege unfulfilled promised services.

According to Nidhi Khare, Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs, “the CCPA is looking into a large number of complaints about Ola Electric, mainly related to service inefficiencies. We hope the company addresses these concerns promptly and resolves the issues faced by consumers”.She mentioned that the CCPA has categorised all 10,000+ complaints under 10 broad categories and asked Ola Electric for urgent redressal.

On October 8 GPN received reports that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways may seek an explanation from Ola Electric regarding customer complaints. They said the ministry is “aware” of the customer grievances against Ola Electric but no action has been taken as yet.

There has been no official word from Ola Electric about the show cause notice yet. The company is expected to submit its response within 15 days.

A day before receiving the CCPA notice, too, Ola Electric founder Bhavish Aggarwal was in the middle of a social media storm over the company’s poor service.

Do indian consumers have a voice?
Do they deserve this?
Two wheelers are many daily wage workers lifeline…@nitin_gadkari is this how Indians will get to using EV’s? @jagograhakjago any word?
Anyone who has an issue with OLA electric leave your story below tagging all… https://t.co/G2zdIs15wh pic.twitter.com/EhJmAzhCmt

— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) October 6, 2024

The social media furore started after comedian Kunal Kamra posted a tweet with a picture of numerous Ola scooters gathering dust outside a service centre questioning Ola’s service and tagged Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, and Consumer Affairs ministry.

Chot lagi? Dard hua? Aaja service center. Bahut kaam hai. I will pay better than your flop shows pay you.

Show your audience how much you truly care and whether you’re only gas and BS. https://t.co/yEvxhoGTvR

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) October 6, 2024

To this, Aggarwal sarcastically invited Kamra to “help” with the services of the electric vehicles and offered to pay him “more than you earned for this paid tweet or from your failed comedy career”.

“Or else sit quiet and let us focus on fixing the issues for the real customers. We’re expanding service network fast and backlogs will be cleared soon,” Aggarwal added.

But this escalated quickly as numerous disgruntled Ola customers joined in to point fingers at poor service.

Ola Electric made its stock market debut in August after its Rs. 6,145 crore IPO was subscribed 4.45 times. Having listed exactly at its IPO price of Rs. 76, Ola Electric’s shares quickly doubled, having made a post-IPO high of Rs. 157.4.