Alarmed at growing customer complaints against Ola Electric and poor conditions at its service centres across the country, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) on October 7 issued a show-cause notice to the Bhavish Aggarwal-run EV company, asking it to respond to the notice within 15 days of receipt.
According to the disclosure made by the company to both the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), OLA Electric has said that the notice has been issued for “alleged violation of consumer rights, misleading advertisement and unfair trade practices”. It also said that the company will file a reply to the show cause notice before the CCPA. “Currently, the show cause notice has no impact on financial, operational or other activities of the company. Furthermore, the show cause notice which is issued by the Central Consumer Protection Authority does not impose any penalties or financial fines,” Ola Electric said.
The notice has been sent reportedly taking note of the complaints by consumers related to manufacturing defects, partial or no refunds on booking cancellations, recurring defects despite servicing, overcharging, inaccurate invoices, and multiple issues with batteries and vehicle components.
Moreover, the National Consumer Helpline, operated by the Department of Consumer Affairs, received 10,644 complaints since September last year related to Ola Electric. 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”.
Meanwhile, the company’s shares on Monday, October 7, dropped about 9% to close at Rs 90.26 apiece after Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal and comedian Kunal Kamra had an online over the alleged poor services offered by the company.
(With IANS inputs)