Ola Electric has been served with a show-cause notice for the ever mounting amount of consumer complaints against its electric scooters. While these complaints are visible everywhere online, it has also led to extreme incidents of frustrated consumers setting up Ola’s showrooms and service centers on fire. The show-cause notice has been issued against the company, citing numerous violations of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
This development is hardly surprising and comes after Ola Electric’s products and services have garnered public criticism for months (the volume of complaints surged to 80,000 a month, as of September). It also comes on the heels of complaints from multiple consumers regarding Ola Electric’s services. This includes delayed deliveries, poor customer support, and issues with the quality of their vehicles.
So far, The National Consumer Helpline (NCH), which operates under the Department of Consumer Affairs, is said to have received over 10,000 complaints (10,644 complaints, to be exact) related to Ola Electric’s e-scooters between September 2023 and August 2024. 3,389 of these complaints were regarding delays in service, while 1,899 complaints were linked to delays in the delivery of new EVs. Another 1,459 complaints focused on promised services that were either delayed or not provided at all.
The show cause notice, issued on Monday, reveals these deficiencies in services, misleading advertisements, and unfair trade practices as key areas of concern. It adds that Ola Electric’s EVs contained manufacturing defects alongside issues with vehicle components and batteries, while it was alleged that the firm also passed off second-hand electric scooters as new units. In addition to this, Ola Electric is accused of denying refunds after consumers cancelled their bookings, as well as providing inaccurate invoices.
Nidhi Khare, the Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs, confirmed that the government has taken note of the complaints against Ola Electric. “The CCPA is looking into a large number of complaints about Ola Electric, mainly related to service inefficiencies,” she said, adding, “We hope the company addresses these concerns promptly and resolves the issues faced by consumers.”
These allegations do not paint a pretty picture for Ola Electric, which aimed to increase its network of service centers in the country only a week ago. For now, it has been provided a window of 15 days to respond to the allegations.
“Pursuant to Regulation 30 read with clause 20 of Para A of Part A of Schedule III of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (“SEBI Listing Regulations”), we wish to inform you that the Company has received Show Cause Notice from the Central Consumer Protection Authority. The Central Consumer Protection Authority has provided a timeline of 15 days to the Company to respond to the show cause notice. The Company will respond to the Central Consumer Protection Authority within the given timeframe with the supporting documents,” Harish Abichandani, Ola Electric CFO, commented on the matter.
Ola Electric has been in hot waters ever since it launched its EV scooters. From the first day of the launch, consumers have raised complaints about extremely delayed deliveries. Those who did receive the product, have frustratingly complained of faulty hardware, undercooked software and other similar issues. On the contrary, its Hero group backed rival Ather Energy, has been outshining every other competitor, with minimal consumer complaints, excellent hardware and timely deliveries. Ola Electric’s Bhavish Agrawal has now also had instances where he has had public spats with people reporting about his company’s faulty electric scooters.
