Ola Electric could be in for a difficult journey. Due to the electric two-wheeler major’s failure to respond to more than 10,600 customer complaints in the previous year, the Consumer Affairs Ministry may file a class action lawsuit against the firm under the Central Consumer Protection Act (CCPA).
Nidhi Khare, the secretary of consumer affairs, said Fe on Wednesday that Ola received a letter from the ministry on October 3 regarding service deficiencies, deceptive advertising, infringement of consumer rights, and unfair trade practices. This led to the ministry starting a class action against the firm. Ola has been given fifteen days to react, and a class action lawsuit will be filed if the ministry is not happy with the answers and the company’s actions.
Khare stated that Ola would have a fair and reasonable amount of time to present their side of the story. “This case is fit for class action because of violation of consumer rights, unfair trade practices, misleading advertisements, and deficiency in services,” Khare added. She stated that if the corporation does not provide consumers with adequate services, they will be forced to make amends by offering refunds and compensation. If this does not work, legal action will follow.
There have been 19 different types of grievances filed against Ola in the last year. These include charging outside of the free service period or warranty, charging more than was agreed upon, receiving subpar service, manufacturing flaws, and providing inaccurate information about the vehicle.
Although the class action clause of the CCPA allows the consumer affairs ministry to impose fines of up to Rs 10 lakh for deceptive marketing, the ministry may also bring a lawsuit on behalf of the consumers in civil court or before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC). In the second instance, as the compensation would be combined based on the amounts requested by many customers, it might be far more than Rs 10 lakh for the consumers.
The Consumer Affairs Ministry has previously handled instances such as deceptive advertising by coaching centres, sales of non-standard consumer electronics, and false promises made about LED lights as class action proceedings. Additionally, in one instance during COVID, the government instructed travel agencies to reimburse the cost of tickets that were cancelled due to the COVID lockdown. These things were more than just penalties; they gave customers what they deserved. Customers received a refund of Rs 1,454 crore, according to Khare.
Regarding Ola’s situation, she stated that a thorough study will be conducted to determine the reason behind the product’s persistent issues. Khare continued, “At the same time, CCPA is broadening its purview to include the electric mobility industry and investigating whether other businesses in the space also experience a comparable volume and kind of customer complaints.”
Consumer complaints about Ola scooters became worse on Sunday when comedian Kunal Kamra slammed founder Bhavish Aggarwal for the subpar service at the company’s service facilities in a post on X. Aggarwal retaliated at Kamra by saying that if he was so worried about the complaints, he need to come assist, and he would pay him more than he would for a salaried position.
